Salon.com > Carrie Brownstein

“Portlandia’s” Fred Armisen: My Carrie/Chloe three-way!

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Now that "New Girl" has finally gone there -- answering the "will they/won't they" question between Nick and Jess with a resounding yes -- the hottest sexual tension on TV is between, yes, "Portlandia's" Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.

OK, maybe not the hottest. The most awkward? The strangest?

But for the time being, Chloe Sevigny has come between Fred and Carrie. Chloe dated both of them, before settling on Fred -- and as the third season concludes the two friends are barely speaking. But as a Portland is struck by a massive blackout, well, you know what can happen during a blackout!

So, Fred, will they or won't they?

Armisen raises an eyebrow. "Who knows," said the comedian, also a "Saturday Night Live" star, when we met for lunch in New York this week. "Have they?"

Wait, what? "It’s a good thing to think about."

The third season of "Portlandia" has sometimes been awkward and strange. Two misfires during the first three episodes -- a drawn-out attempt to take over MTV and reinstall Kurt Loder and Matt Pinfield (as if those were the glory days of anything) and an oddly dated sketch with Patton Oswalt as the king of Evite responses -- had some critics ready to pounce. That's the danger with a show that lovingly satirizes of-the-moment cool culture -- your audience wants to be first to discover the show, and then first to lead the backlash.

“Portlandia”: As good as its best sketch

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:02:00 +0000

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s sketch comedy series “Portlandia” is, very much, a show of our time, and not just because it skewers the obsessions and neuroticisms of the cosseted and well-meaning urban bourgeoisie, the subset of Americans, found in many locations other than Portland, that are so concerned with living right they cannot enjoy that they are already living well, and so obsess upon minutiae — what they eat, what they drink, what they do with their leisure time — as though these things can provide the satisfaction a materially abundant life has not. “Portlandia” is both a gentle skewering of this supremely privileged lifestyle — the one that considers a friend’s extravagant birthday party an ultra-serious event, one worth taking a bank loan out for — and an embodiment of it, because you have to be familiar with the extravagant birthday party to laugh at such a “Portlandia” sketch.

Carrie Brownstein: “A lot of these characters are permutations of myself”

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 23:00:00 +0000

Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen's anthropological sketch-comedy series "Portlandia" returns to IFC on Friday, Jan. 4, for a third season of gently mocking and dissecting the behaviors of niche Portlanders and their kin across these United States. Brownstein, who was Sleater-Kinney's front woman and now performs with her band Wild Flag, spoke with me while her dogs barked in the background. We discussed the series, the proliferation of Portland culture, her fascination with couples' behavior and the qualities she shares with Kath and Dave.

How many of the characters on "Portlandia" would make you insane if you encountered them in real life?

No, really. Stop comparing everything to “Portlandia”

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:37:00 +0000

Trendspotters, take note: We asked you in February to please stop comparing everything with a quirky bent to "Portlandia."

And for a while there, the fact that every magazine writer and blogger used the Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein comedy show as their go-to metaphor made it a little uncool. Only now "Portlandia" metaphor creep is back. (In a retro and nostalgic way!) Next month, the show returns for Season 3 on IFC, and that means January will bring a wearying new onslaught of references.

But as you'll see, there's almost nothing left to compare to "Portlandia." A street fight has been compared to "Portlandia." The Republican National Convention. Rock bands and classical groups. Restaurants in every city. Waiters. Diners. Authors. Laura Linney. (And, yes, we know! That could be a "Portlandia" sketch itself!)

So before you make the same simile as everyone else, consider this list of recent comparisons fair warning: