SNL Best of Fred Armisen

When SNL returns in September for its 39th season, it will be missing 3 of its most popular and longest running cast members. We've been a little delayed in giving each cast member his proper "Best Of" farewell post, but we're gonna try to fix that during the next few days.

First up is Fred Armisen, one of our favorites, who joined the show back in 2002 and left the show this year completing 11 seasons. The great thing about Fred is he could play any race, either gender, do any accent, and always came up with crazy and original characters. Below, we provide our favorite Fred Armisen sketches during his 11 year stint on the show, organized as a "Best Of" DVD (though sadly they don't seem to be releasing SNL DVDs as often as they used to).  

Cold Open: Obama

Fred may have passed the Obama baton to Jay Pharoah last season, but to the casual viewer Fred will probably be remembered as "They guy who played Obama".  

The Californians

Fred really seems to love this sketch. While the format can be a little repetitious with each time it recurred, it was one of his most popular sketches from his later years on the show. 

Ferecito

One of Fred's earliest recurring characters was Ferecito, known for his catch phrase "Ay Dios Mio!".

A Familiar "Dana Carvey Show" Sketch

Last night, we watched the complete series of The Dana Carvey Show on DVD for the first time.  The 1996 sketch comedy show starred Dana Carvey shortly after he left SNL, and featured a supporting cast that included Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert before either were a household name.  The show also featured an impressive writing staff that included Louis C.K. (Louie), Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation), and Robert Smigel (SNL's TV Funhouse cartoons).  I had seen a few sketches online before, but never actually watched whole episodes.  The show only lasted 7 episodes before it was canceled, but the DVD set includes an 8th episode that never aired.  I got the DVD set for Chanukkah this year, so I was very excited to watch it.  

Unfortunately, the show hasn't aged very well, with lots of topical sketches about Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Ross Perot, OJ Simpson, and other old news stories to which we  didn't even get the references. Some sketches were kind of funny, but the show overall was rather disappointing, especially considering the all-star cast of actors and writers on the show.  Nevertheless, there was one sketch that really stood out to us.  The sketch featured a deleted scene from The Wizard of Oz which included the deleted character of "Dennis Blanchard", who wanted to see the wizard because he wanted a, well, I'll let you see for yourself:  (BTW, Steve Carell plays the Tinman and Stephen Colbert is the Scarecrow!)

The sketch stood out to us for a few reasons.  First, it aged much better than the others since it wasn't spoofing the forgotten headlines of 1996.  Second, it was actually pretty funny.  And third, it very closely resembled a recent Saturday Night Live sketch, which also featured a deleted character from The Wizard of Oz!  See for yourself:

Obviously the deleted character from both sketches are quite different, but still, the premise of a sketch about a deleted character from The Wizard of Oz is oddly specific.  Were the SNL writers inspired by the old Dana Carvey sketch?  Or did they both happen to thing of the same random idea?  We'll probably never know, but still, it's hard not to wonder...

Portlandia Live!

As we've previously written about on this blog, we are big fans of the IFC comedy series Portlandia starring SNL's Fred Armisen and rocker Carrie Brownstein.  Therefore, we were very excited to attend a special event entitled "Portlandia Live" earlier today.  It was part of The New Yorker Festival going on in New York City this weekend, and was originally advertised as "Join Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein for an afternoon with the IFC show Portlandia featuring songs, sketches, and surprises, as well as a conversation with Margaret Talbot [writer for The New Yorker]".  As you might expect, we were very excited to attend this event and see what Fred and Carrie would do on stage!

We got there shortly before the show started, and were disappointed to learn that all of the good seats were taken, so we had to sit on the side where we couldn't really see their faces (hence the bad photos).  Then Fred and Carrie came out, along with co-creator/director Jonathan Krisel.  There wasn't really any songs or sketches as promised, but they did talk about some very funny topics and did some interesting things with the audience.   First, each of the three of them asked general questions to the audience and asked them to raise their hands if they agreed with their statements.  They then asked that for one response, they keep their hand raised, and asked more and more specific questions, until only one person's raised hand remained.  They then asked the three lucky winners to come up on stage, while they engaged in a funny discussion on what decade will be remembered as the greatest.  (The general consensus was the 1990's, as the main point of Portlandia can be summed up by episode 2 opening sketch "The Dream of the 90's is Alive in Portland".)  The three audience members on stage didn't really contribute much to the discussion, so we weren't really sure why they bothered to bring them up, but it was an interesting bit nonetheless.

We were then treated to an exclusive video of one of the sketches from the show's upcoming 3rd season.  The very funny sketch featured Fred and Carrie as the recurring characters Kath and Dave (the couple who freed the dog at the restaurant in season 1 and appeared in the "AO River!" sketch in season 2) as they tried to shoot a video of themselves in their backyard reviewing a tent kit as they put it together.  As you might expect, hilarity ensued.  It was great being one one of the first to get to see a piece of season 3, and we're really excited to see the rest of the season when it debuts in January!

After that, they did another interesting thing with the audience, where they asked the crowd if there was anyone there who was seriously thinking about moving to Portland.  A few hands went up, and after a few follow up questions, they narrowed it down to one person who actually has an internship lined up in Portland and is looking for a place to live.  A short while later, they asked the audience if anyone had a personal object on them that they'd be willing to part with, and after various audience members offered up many random things, the winning object was a ceramic cacao (a popular catchphrase from one of the show's most memorable sketches).  The owner of the ceramic cacao said that it was given to him as a gift since he sells chocolate.  Fred told him to sign the cacao, and then Fred, Carrie, and Jonathan all signed it as well.  They then auctioned it off to the audience, starting at $5.  The winning bid was for $100.  After the exchange was made, Fred announced that the money was going to the woman who was moving to Portland to help pay for her move.  He gave her the cash, and everyone applauded.

Next, the New Yorker writer joined them on stage, and asked them a series of questions. After she finished, they opened up questions to the audience.  As is usually the case with these types of things, we can never thing of anything to ask at the time, and then after it's over, we think of lots of questions we should have asked. ("I heard that there will be a holiday special airing this December, what can we expect to see?", "Lorne Michaels is an executive producer, how involved is he in the show?"  "Many of Fred's SNL co-stars have appeared on the show [Jason Sudeikis, Krisen Wiig, and Andy Samberg]. Did you ask them to appear or did they ask to be a part of it? Any other SNL stars lined up for season 3?")  Oh well, maybe next time.

Overall, while the event wasn't quite what we were expecting, it was great to see Fred and Carrie live in person as themselves, and the show was a lot of fun.  Really looking forward to season 3 of Portlandia in January!  Only 3 more months!

Jay Pharoah to Take Over Obama Impression from Fred Armisen on SNL

About 3 hours ago, we reported that Jason Sudeikis will be returning to SNL through the election season, which presumably was largely due to wanting to keep consistency in the presidential election impressions and not have someone else step in to play Mitt Romney after Jason Sudeikis has become so identified with the part.  And while it seems that Romney will still be played by Jason Sudeikis this season, it was just reported that despite still being on the show, Fred Armisen will NOT reprise his trademark impression of President Barack Obama, as the part will now be played by Jay Pharoah.  

While it is rare for political impressions to change cast members while the original cast member is on the show, it is not unheard of.  In fact, after Will Forte took over the impression of President George W. Bush from departed cast member Will Ferrell, Jason Sudeikis did Bush a few times while Forte was still on the show.  While it is certainly unexpected that Fred Armisen will no longer be playing Obama, it does make some sense. Many have criticized the quality of Armisen's impression, and Fred himself even admitted in a recent interview about how his Obama impression has evolved that he's "tried to do it more as [himself]"  (in other words, his Obama talks more like Fred Armisen than the real Obama). Many have also pointed out that Armisen is not actually black (he is of Venezuelan, German, and Japanese decent) so some even considered it racist that Armisen was essentially going under black face to do the impression, especially with black cast member Jay Pharoah sitting in the sidelines. 

Here's a clip of Jay Pharoah doing his Obama impression at a comedy club, before getting cast on SNL:

And in case you've forgotten, here's Fred Armisen's Obama impression:

And in other SNL political impression news, it seems that Taran Killam will have the honor of playing Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.  This is also a bit surprising, as in my opinion Paul Ryan more closely resembles Bill Hader, but Taran certainly does do great impressions, and I suppose that if Bill Hader played Paul Ryan, then he couldn't play Shephard Smith as the VP Debate moderator, and that would just be a shame.

One thing's for sure, Lorne certainly seems to giving the younger cast members more prominent roles this season.  Should be a very interesting year!  SNL's 38th season premier is this Saturday night in just 3 days!  

Clip of the Day: Brunch Village

It's late Sunday morning, which means only one thing - Brunch!  

Today's clip of the day comes from last Friday's special hour long Director's Cut version of the "Brunch Village" episode of Portlandia.  The special episode, which is also our favorite, breaks from the typical sketch format to feature multiple story lines and multiple versions of Fred and Carrie all intersecting over a Sunday morning brunch in Portland.  Here's the beginning of the episode:  

I would write more, but we're heading out to brunch ourselves.  Hope we eat before noon!

TV Star Web Series Round Up

As a continuation to our previous Web Series post, here are some more summer Web Series featuring some of our favorite TV stars:

We've previously posted the first 3 episodes of John Lutz's (30 Rock) hilarious web series "The Front Desk".  Now here's episodes 4-6 featuring Miriam Tolan (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon), Fred Armisen (SNL, Portlandia), and Scott Adsit (30 Rock):

We also previously posted the first 3 episodes of Abby Eliliott's (SNL) web series "The Assistant", so now here's episodes 4 and 5!

Also, sitcom legend Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld) has a new web series called "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee", where he and his famous comedian friends talk about random stuff in the car on their way to get coffee.  It doesn't start until Thursday, but here's a promo:

And lastly, while not quite a web "series", here's a fun College Humor parody trailer for a Dora the Explorer movie starring Modern Family's Ariel Winter (who plays Phil and Clair's middle child Alex):

New SNL Web Series: The Front Desk

It's been 3 long weeks since Saturday Night Live had its season finale, and we're already ready starting to get SNL withdrawal.  HOW WILL WE POSSIBLY SURVIVE THE LONG SUMMER UNTIL SNL RETURNS???  Well, good news!  SNL has just released a new web series called The Front Desk starring our favorite 30 Rock star (and former SNL writer)...Lutz!  According to the show's website, "The Front Desk stars John Lutz (30 Rock) as the front desk clerk of a boutique hotel in New York City."  And not only that, the first episode stars SNL cast member Bill Hader as a set of triplets!  Check it out below!

Dying to know what else is coming up on The Front Desk?  Here's a little preview of the series, which (repeats part of Bill Hader's episode but then) features upcoming guest appearances from Fred Armisen, Paula Pell (SNL writer and Pete's wife on 30 Rock), and comedian JB Smoove (also former SNL writer)!

We'll be sure to post upcoming episodes when they're released online.  This should definitely hold us over until the fall!

Ferecito (Fred Armisen) on Late World with Zach (Galifianakis)

While most people first became aware of comedian Zach Galifianakis from his breakout role in 2009's hit film The Hangover, he has actually been around for a very long time.  And back in 2002, he had a short lived talk show on VH1 called Late World with Zach, which combined his trademark piano-playing one liners, "AL-TV" style interviews (inter-splicing Zach asking one question and a celebrity answering another question, to make it look like a real interview, as made popular by "Weird Al" Yankovic's AL-TV specials), and  Between 2 Ferns-style interviews with real guests.  The show usually ended with a musical guest as well.  While the show was canceled after only 9 episodes, it still lives on today thanks to YouTube.

Now, while this show sounds amazing enough, we came across an episode that featured SNL cast member Fred Armisen in character as Ferecito as Zach's sidekick! Ferecito is a character that Fred has frequently done on SNL (known for his catch phrase "Ay Dios Mio!"), but it seems that this aired in the Spring of 2002, a few months before Fred joined the cast of SNL in the Fall of 2002.  Therefore, this is a clip of Fred was doing Ferecito before he was even on SNL!

Check out the 3-part episode below.  Ferecito appears throughout the episode in all 3 clips, but is most heavily featured in the first one.  In the second clip, Zach interviews Laura Prepon and Topher Grace from That 70's Show, and in the final clip, musical guest Pete Yorn performs.  Be sure to stay tuned until after the performance in the 3rd clip until around the 4:50 mark for lots more Ferecito! Ay Dios Mio!

And to refresh your memory, here's Fred Armisen as Ferecito on Saturday Night Live:

30 Rock Live - Fred Armisen

This week's 30 Rock live episode had lots of huge guest stars from Paul McCartney, Jon Hamm, and Donald Glover, to SNL alums Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fallon, Will Forte, and Chris Parnell (and if you live on the West Coast, you got Kim Kardashian and Brian Williams).  But one of the best surprise guest stars in my opinion was SNL/Portlandia star Fred Armisen.  For the other stars, they were the main focus of the scene.  They came on, everyone applauded, and they delivered some funny lines.  But for Fred Armisen, he just stayed in the background, never getting a big applause, and never even uttering a single word. It was almost like a little inside joke to see how many times you could find Fred Armisen hidden in the show.  So how many times did you find Fred?  We found him 3 times (plus the farewells of course).  Let us know if we missed any!

The first appearance of Fred was at the beginning of the episode, just after the opening theme.  He's just standing in the background, wearing a mustache, as Tina Fey walks by.

Fred's second appearance, and the hardest one to spot, was as Frank's fill-in while Judah Friedlander was off-camera getting ready for his streaking scene.  I actually did a double take when I first saw Frank sitting there, and had to rewind my DVR to confirm it was really Fred Armisen.

In Fred's most obvious appearance, he appeared as a woman answering phones at the telethon.  As he crept into the shot, he nearly made Jimmy Fallon break on air.

And of course, here's Fred during the farewells, standing with his doppelganger.

Fred Armisen and Penny Marshall

On last night's Portlandia, TV legend Penny Marshall guest starred as one of the original founding member's of the Women and Women First feminist bookstore.

It was fun seeing Fred Armisen share the screen with Penny Marshall, because on Saturday Night Live, Fred has often impersonated Penny Marshall.

For those of you who have been reading this and have no idea who this Penny Marshall lady is, she is an actress best known for playing Laverne on the classic TV comedy Laverne and Shirley from 70's.  Here's the iconic opening theme:

  

She is also the sister of Garry Marshall, the legendary director who created Laverne and Shirley (and Happy Days, from which Laverne and Shirley was spun off), and more recently he has directed the holiday ensemble films Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve.

The Dream of the 90's is Alive in Portland

Back in December of last year, I saw online that Fred Armisen would be doing a signing at the NBC Store in New York.  As big fans of Fred Armisen on Saturday Night Live, we were very excited to go and meet him. But it turns out that Fred wasn't there to promote SNL, but rather to sign DVDs of his new IFC sketch comedy show Portlandia.  We had heard of the show, but never really watched it, so we decided we'd buy the DVD so we could meet him and get his autograph.

When we got to the NBC Store, turns out it was much more than just a DVD signing.  Fred had a bunch of instruments set up in the staircase, and he was giving everyone in the store a free concert!  He used a loop machine to record his own accompaniment.  He sang some covers as well as two songs from Saturday Night Live.  Here is some exclusive We Like TV footage of the live performances of "I Sent A Bottle of Sparkling Apple Juice to Your House, Did You Get It?" and "Massachusetts Afternoon" from SNL.

 

But enough SNL.  We've talked about that show enough on this blog (for now).  The point is that we now had an autographed copy of the first season of Portlandia in our hands, so we decided to give it a watch.

The show basically features Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (from the bands Sleater-Kinney and Wild Flag) playing a variety of characters who live in Portland, Oregon.  Each episode features a group of random sketches, as well as one sketch that continues in 3 parts throughout the episode.  The show pokes fun at the hipster culture of Portland, and the many types of people who live there.  Many of our favorite TV actors have also guest starred on the show, such as Fred's SNL co-stars Jason Sudeikis, Andy Samberg, and Kristen Wiig, as well as Jack McBrayer (30 Rock), Aubrey Plaza (Parks & Rec), and Sean Hayes (Will & Grace).

While the show can get a little strange at times, it really is a very funny show, and we look forward to watching it each week.  Catch a new episode tonight and every Friday night at 10:00pm on IFC!