WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.160 Welcome to the deep dive today. We're tackling 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:05.620 someone who's just incredibly hard to pin down 00:00:05.620 --> 00:00:09.279 a real master of, I guess, synthesizing different 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:11.699 worlds. Absolutely. You know, he moves between 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:15.099 punk rock clubs and and big TV sound stages sometimes 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:17.640 like at the same time. It's pretty wild. Yeah, 00:00:17.739 --> 00:00:20.420 exactly. So we've done a really deep dive into 00:00:20.420 --> 00:00:23.239 the life and career of Fred Armisen, one of modern 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.370 comedy's most. well, prolific and adaptable creators, 00:00:26.530 --> 00:00:28.570 and maybe one of the most perpetually surprising 00:00:28.570 --> 00:00:30.469 ones, too. Right. And the challenge with someone 00:00:30.469 --> 00:00:33.070 like Armisen, you know, he's the ultimate creative 00:00:33.070 --> 00:00:36.210 polymath. You just can't define him by one thing. 00:00:36.329 --> 00:00:40.070 No way. So our goal for you today is to try and 00:00:40.070 --> 00:00:44.009 quickly but thoroughly pull together all these 00:00:44.009 --> 00:00:46.310 different sides of his career. You've got the 00:00:46.310 --> 00:00:48.310 serious punk drummer, the sketch comedy legend, 00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:50.880 the TV showrunner. Uh -huh. And try to figure 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:53.039 out what really makes him tick. What makes him 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:54.759 so unique? We're kind of looking for those aha 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:57.780 moments, you know, the things that tie his interest 00:00:57.780 --> 00:01:01.240 together, especially music and that really fascinating 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:03.460 ancestry. OK, let's start with the basics. The 00:01:03.460 --> 00:01:06.959 quick snapshot. His birth name is Faridun Robert 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:11.340 Armisen, born December 4th, 1966, down in Hattiesburg, 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:14.629 Mississippi. His path seems set pretty early. 00:01:14.750 --> 00:01:16.370 He went to the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, 00:01:16.549 --> 00:01:19.430 but then, and this is key, he dropped out. Why? 00:01:19.569 --> 00:01:21.829 To focus completely on rock drumming. Yeah, that 00:01:21.829 --> 00:01:23.629 music part is crucial. He's been active since 00:01:23.629 --> 00:01:27.750 84. And his core identity, it's this mix, isn't 00:01:27.750 --> 00:01:31.890 it? Comedian, actor, musician, writer, all of 00:01:31.890 --> 00:01:33.569 it. And just a quick look at his recent work 00:01:33.569 --> 00:01:36.250 tells the story. Co -creator, co -star of Portlandia. 00:01:36.269 --> 00:01:38.329 That show basically defined a certain kind of 00:01:38.329 --> 00:01:40.730 satire for years. Totally. And then documentary 00:01:40.730 --> 00:01:44.230 now. with Bill Hader and Seth Meyers, which is 00:01:44.230 --> 00:01:46.650 just incredibly niche and smart. Like you need 00:01:46.650 --> 00:01:48.469 to know documentaries to get it. Right. And it 00:01:48.469 --> 00:01:50.689 doesn't stop there. He also co -created, wrote 00:01:50.689 --> 00:01:53.609 and produced Loss of Spookies for HBO, a Spanish 00:01:53.609 --> 00:01:56.069 language horror comedy. It shows this real commitment 00:01:56.069 --> 00:01:58.870 to, well, different cultural stories. Absolutely. 00:01:59.030 --> 00:02:00.810 And all this is built on that massive foundation, 00:02:01.090 --> 00:02:03.609 the 11 years at Saturday Night Live. Yeah. And 00:02:03.609 --> 00:02:06.250 running alongside that for 10 years, he was the 00:02:06.250 --> 00:02:08.509 band leader, the music director, often the drummer 00:02:08.509 --> 00:02:11.270 for the 8G band on Late Night with Seth Meyers. 00:02:11.449 --> 00:02:13.030 It's almost overwhelming when you list it all 00:02:13.030 --> 00:02:15.569 out. But when you dig into the source material, 00:02:15.830 --> 00:02:18.590 it's the origins, the roots that give you the 00:02:18.590 --> 00:02:22.449 most kind of striking insights, especially about. 00:02:22.870 --> 00:02:25.090 identity itself. Okay, yeah. Let's unpack this 00:02:25.090 --> 00:02:27.270 early life. Yeah. Because the backstory here 00:02:27.270 --> 00:02:30.270 is, it's really something super layered, especially 00:02:30.270 --> 00:02:33.550 the family lineage part. So he moved to New York 00:02:33.550 --> 00:02:35.930 as a baby, grew up in Valley Stream out on Long 00:02:35.930 --> 00:02:38.469 Island, and get this, he was high school classmates 00:02:38.469 --> 00:02:42.129 with Jim Brewer, another SNL guy. Huh? Small 00:02:42.129 --> 00:02:44.189 world. Right. And the sources also mention he 00:02:44.189 --> 00:02:45.830 lived in Brazil for a bit when he was young. 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:48.860 Which just adds another layer, you know, language, 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:51.300 culture. Definitely. And his parents, they immediately 00:02:51.300 --> 00:02:53.860 reflect this international blend. His mother, 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:56.240 Hildegard Mirabel Lovell, she was a schoolteacher 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.840 born in Venezuela, San Fernando de Arpure. Okay. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.919 And his father, Feridun Herbert Armisen, worked 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:04.740 for IBM, born in Soltau, Germany. So right there, 00:03:04.780 --> 00:03:07.780 you've got this mix. german structure maybe venezuelan 00:03:07.780 --> 00:03:10.120 vibrancy you can kind of see how that might feed 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:12.259 into his characters the ones who cross cultural 00:03:12.259 --> 00:03:15.099 lines like farisito that venezuelan comedian 00:03:15.099 --> 00:03:17.860 character oh totally but here's where the story 00:03:17.860 --> 00:03:20.719 takes a really sharp turn a connection to like 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:23.939 major world history for most of his life fred 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:26.199 armisen thought his paternal grandfather ihara 00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:29.659 masami was japanese right that was the name the 00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:32.639 identity that was presented but it was well it 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:35.349 was constructed Adopted out of necessity, really. 00:03:35.750 --> 00:03:38.009 Necessity, how so? The truth, which came out 00:03:38.009 --> 00:03:41.509 through genealogy and family research, is way 00:03:41.509 --> 00:03:44.349 more complex. His grandfather's birth name was 00:03:44.349 --> 00:03:47.310 Park Young -in. He was actually Korean, born 00:03:47.310 --> 00:03:49.990 in Ulsan. Oh, okay. And not just any Korean family. 00:03:50.050 --> 00:03:51.650 Park Young -in's family was part of the Korean 00:03:51.650 --> 00:03:53.949 aristocracy. They traced the lineage back to 00:03:53.949 --> 00:03:57.009 the 1600s. That's incredible. A huge historical 00:03:57.009 --> 00:04:00.300 reveal. So the big question is, why? Why would 00:04:00.300 --> 00:04:03.020 someone from the Korean aristocracy adopt a totally 00:04:03.020 --> 00:04:05.659 Japanese name and persona? Masami Kuni, was it? 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:08.539 Exactly, Masami Kuni. It was tied directly to 00:04:08.539 --> 00:04:11.199 this moment of just horrific geopolitical trauma. 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:14.120 He adopted the Japanese name and identity after 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:18.079 the massacre of Koreans in 1923. Oh, wait. context 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:20.639 here. Right. So 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:24.240 hits Japan. In the chaos right after, there was 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:27.500 this intense wave of violence against Koreans 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:31.879 living in Japan, fueled by false rumors, deep 00:04:31.879 --> 00:04:34.439 -seated prejudice. It was incredibly dangerous. 00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:36.779 God, that's awful. Yeah. So for Park Young -in, 00:04:36.860 --> 00:04:38.920 who was just a high school student then, survival, 00:04:39.300 --> 00:04:42.100 his ability to even get an education, it depended 00:04:42.100 --> 00:04:44.220 on adopting this new identity, the identity of 00:04:44.220 --> 00:04:46.620 the dominant culture, which at the time... well, 00:04:46.699 --> 00:04:50.579 Japan occupied Korea. So as a teenager, he had 00:04:50.579 --> 00:04:53.180 to essentially perform the identity of his colonizers 00:04:53.180 --> 00:04:55.040 just to stay safe and go to school. That puts 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:57.220 things in perspective. It really does. And he 00:04:57.220 --> 00:04:59.199 maintained it. He studied aesthetics at Tokyo 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:01.540 Imperial University, became a professional modern 00:05:01.540 --> 00:05:03.980 dancer. Then he moved to Germany. That's where 00:05:03.980 --> 00:05:06.480 Armisen's father was born later. After the war, 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:09.120 he kept going with his art, formed a top modern 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:11.720 dance company in Japan, eventually moved to the 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.360 U .S. He even taught dance at Cal State Fullerton 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:18.519 for over a decade. from 64 to 75. So his grandfather 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:20.860 wasn't just someone who changed his name. He 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:23.819 was a professional artist, a dancer, who had 00:05:23.819 --> 00:05:25.920 to build and perform this entirely different 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:29.480 identity across decades, continents, all stemming 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:31.939 from this historical conflict. Exactly. So when 00:05:31.939 --> 00:05:34.259 we talk about Fred Armisen's talent for characters, 00:05:34.459 --> 00:05:38.620 it's not just like a skill he picked up. It feels 00:05:38.620 --> 00:05:40.480 deeper. It's almost like a family history of 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.899 adaptation. of necessary performance. So if you 00:05:43.899 --> 00:05:46.319 put it all together, Venezuelan, German, and 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:49.060 this hidden Korean aristocratic legacy involving 00:05:49.060 --> 00:05:51.560 identity shifting for survival, it's incredibly 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:54.120 complex. It almost demands adaptability, doesn't 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:56.300 it? And maybe that's the root of his skill, that 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:58.600 ability to slip into different personas, sometimes 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:00.740 conflicting ones, with this weird authenticity. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.160 It's not just comedy. For his family, it was 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:05.720 life or death. And even before he really understood 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:07.959 all that family history or even found comedy, 00:06:08.139 --> 00:06:11.379 he knew what he wanted. Music. He saw The Clash, 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:14.120 saw Devo on TV as a kid. And that was it. He 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:16.620 wanted to be a performer. And that led him straight 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:18.579 to dropping out of art school to play drums. 00:06:18.779 --> 00:06:21.720 Music was the foundation. Okay, so before he 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:25.939 was like Nicholas Fenn stuttering through political 00:06:25.939 --> 00:06:29.259 commentary or Ian Rubbish singing about Thatcher, 00:06:29.379 --> 00:06:32.319 he was a serious punk drummer. Let's track this 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:34.699 music career because it spans, what, four decades? 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:37.500 And it runs completely parallel to the comedy. 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:39.740 Feels like it informs everything. Oh, it's absolutely 00:06:39.740 --> 00:06:41.620 crucial. You got to see his time in the punk 00:06:41.620 --> 00:06:43.720 scene, not just as like some youthful phase. 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:46.500 It's foundational. It's where he got his timing, 00:06:46.660 --> 00:06:49.639 that sort of anarchic energy, his like encyclopedic 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:51.800 knowledge of subcultures. Right. Started playing 00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:55.420 drums in high school, 84. Then 88, big move, 00:06:55.620 --> 00:06:59.420 goes to Chicago specifically to drum for Trenchmouth. 00:06:59.790 --> 00:07:01.769 And Trenchmouth wasn't just some garage band. 00:07:01.810 --> 00:07:04.230 Right. They were part of that whole 90s Chicago 00:07:04.230 --> 00:07:07.850 post -hardcore math rock scene. They had records 00:07:07.850 --> 00:07:09.970 out. Construction of new action. Trenchmouth 00:07:09.970 --> 00:07:11.949 versus the light of the sun. Exactly. They were 00:07:11.949 --> 00:07:14.750 serious. So what does playing that kind of music 00:07:14.750 --> 00:07:17.350 teach you? If you're going to become a sketch 00:07:17.350 --> 00:07:21.209 comic later. It teaches rhythmic precision. And 00:07:21.209 --> 00:07:26.160 controlled chaos. Math rock. Post -hardcore. 00:07:26.339 --> 00:07:28.839 It's all about shifting time signatures, sudden 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:32.339 stops, complex rhythm, syncopation. It's organized 00:07:32.339 --> 00:07:34.879 noise, basically. As the drummer, you can't be 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:37.560 loose. You have to be incredibly precise. You're 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:39.819 controlling the structure while pushing the energy. 00:07:40.379 --> 00:07:43.740 And that skill set, mastering complex, precise 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:46.079 timing, that's exactly what makes his best comedy 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:48.220 characters work. That makes total sense. Like 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:50.680 Nicholas Fenn, the humor is all about that impeccable 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:52.980 rhythm, right? Disrupting the flow just so. You 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:54.779 needed drummer's precision for that. Totally. 00:07:54.819 --> 00:07:56.459 And while he was in that scene, he also did some 00:07:56.459 --> 00:07:58.699 other kind of surprising gigs that needed that 00:07:58.699 --> 00:08:01.139 physical control. Yeah. Like playing drums with 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:03.379 the Blue Man Group in the 90s. Oh, yeah. Yeah. 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:05.800 Background drums. And later he actually toured 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:07.639 with them in their How to Be a Megastar Live 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:10.439 show. He played this deadpan salesman character 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:13.100 advertising a rock manual. So he was already 00:08:13.100 --> 00:08:15.839 mixing the music in that specific absurdist humor. 00:08:16.170 --> 00:08:17.829 And he kept playing, right. Guest drumming on 00:08:17.829 --> 00:08:19.889 other people's stuff. Yeah, totally. Played on 00:08:19.889 --> 00:08:22.589 a less savvy fab album in 2007, Let's Stay Friends. 00:08:23.089 --> 00:08:25.329 Played on a Matthew Sweet album, Modern Art, 00:08:25.430 --> 00:08:29.050 in 2011. He's genuinely just a lifelong music 00:08:29.050 --> 00:08:31.610 guy. He shows up in punk documentaries like Salad 00:08:31.610 --> 00:08:33.690 Days, The Damned. Don't you wish that we were 00:08:33.690 --> 00:08:35.830 dead? He never left the scene, just added like 00:08:35.830 --> 00:08:38.720 three other careers. Huh. Right, which leads 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.379 us straight to that big, steady gig outside SNL, 00:08:42.519 --> 00:08:45.179 the bandleader job. Yeah, the late night with 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:47.500 Seth Meyers gig, 10 years, starting February 00:08:47.500 --> 00:08:50.440 2014, music director, frequent drummer for the 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:52.559 AG band. It was kind of the perfect fit, right? 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:54.899 Musical skill, plus that quick improbability. 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:58.000 That was such a great run, but it just ended 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.639 recently. Yeah, sadly. The AG band, they were 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.399 laid off end of the 2023 -24 season. NBC budget 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:08.100 cuts, apparently. Oh, that's tough. It is. But 00:09:08.100 --> 00:09:10.399 what's interesting is how Armisen just like immediately 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:12.480 pivots back to pure music projects. It shows 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:14.440 he never stopped seeing himself as a musician 00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:17.600 first. And his projects are so Armisen. Like 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:20.240 he got a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:22.960 for Stand Up for Drummers. Right. The title alone, 00:09:23.179 --> 00:09:25.620 Stand Up for Drummers. It's comedy for drummers 00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:28.799 about being a drummer. So hyper niche. It's him 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:31.799 loving a subculture with that intense, detailed 00:09:31.799 --> 00:09:34.659 focus. It's the ultimate inside joke. Totally. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:36.779 Making comedy for the guys always stuck at the 00:09:36.779 --> 00:09:39.559 back. And he got to play drums with Devo at John 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:41.940 Waters Festival in 2018. That's like a perfect 00:09:41.940 --> 00:09:44.980 storm of his heroes. Wow. And the upcoming project 00:09:44.980 --> 00:09:47.580 sounds maybe the most purely Armisen thing ever. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:50.759 An album of sound effects. Yeah. September 2025. 00:09:51.580 --> 00:09:54.019 A hundred sound effects on Drag City. Okay. It's 00:09:54.019 --> 00:09:56.159 just peak Armisen, an album that's all about 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:58.320 abstract sound, performance art almost. He's 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.279 got collaborators like Tim Heidecker, Ricky Lindholm 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:02.980 on it. And significantly, he dedicated the album 00:10:02.980 --> 00:10:05.860 to Steve Albini. Oh, wow. The legendary engineer. 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:08.240 Yeah, who he worked with way back on a Chevelle 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:11.080 EPK thing. It just shows how deep his connection 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:13.899 is to the technical side, the sound design, the 00:10:13.899 --> 00:10:16.740 abstract bits of performance. He uses his comedy 00:10:16.740 --> 00:10:20.360 fame to push this really niche, obscure stuff. 00:10:20.659 --> 00:10:23.600 So, okay, this deep foundation in music, in precise 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:27.039 performance, rooted in this family history of, 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:30.379 like, shifting identities, it naturally leads 00:10:30.379 --> 00:10:32.840 to comedy. But what's interesting is he apparently 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:35.919 saw TV as an indirect route at first. Right. 00:10:35.980 --> 00:10:37.500 He was still playing with Trenchmouth when he 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:39.500 started thinking about acting. Like he'd do something 00:10:39.500 --> 00:10:41.320 performance related and maybe that would lead 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:43.700 to TV eventually. And that early stuff included 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:47.100 those memorable Andy Kaufman -esque appearances 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:49.659 on Conan? Oh yeah, those were weird in a good 00:10:49.659 --> 00:10:52.559 way. Very awkward, meta, messing with the whole 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:55.379 late night format, like Kaufman. Exactly. That 00:10:55.379 --> 00:10:57.399 plus some voice work he was doing, crank anchors, 00:10:57.399 --> 00:11:00.480 Adult Swim stuff, that led straight to SNL. Featured 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:03.080 player in 2002. Got bumped up to the main cast 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:07.399 in 2004 and then just stayed. For 11 years. Left 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:10.240 in 2013. Which, at the time, made him the third 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.139 longest tenured cast member ever. Behind Seth 00:11:13.139 --> 00:11:16.120 Meyers and Daryl Hammond. That's huge. And maybe 00:11:16.120 --> 00:11:18.240 even more impressive, he was in the second highest 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:24.620 number of sketches. 856 sketches. 856? Wow, that 00:11:24.620 --> 00:11:26.360 just screams versatility, right? They could plug 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:28.559 him in anywhere. Often multiple times a night. 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:30.759 Totally. He wasn't just one thing. Okay, let's 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:33.039 talk recurring characters. The fan favorites. 00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:35.700 Because they often perfectly reflect everything 00:11:35.700 --> 00:11:39.299 we've been talking about. Heritage, music, absurdity, 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:43.809 like... Ferocito, the Venezuelan nightclub comic. 00:11:43.950 --> 00:11:46.230 Yeah, Ferocito is a direct line to his mom's 00:11:46.230 --> 00:11:48.929 Venezuelan roots, right? It let him play with 00:11:48.929 --> 00:11:52.549 that rhythmic, physical, slightly absurd lounge 00:11:52.549 --> 00:11:55.590 comedy style. He's synthesizing his own background 00:11:55.590 --> 00:11:58.169 into this really specific persona. Then you have 00:11:58.169 --> 00:12:00.330 the pure absurdists, characters where it's all 00:12:00.330 --> 00:12:03.009 about timing and structure, like Nicholas Fenn, 00:12:03.129 --> 00:12:05.450 the political guy who can't finish a sentence. 00:12:05.490 --> 00:12:07.509 Oh, classic. That's pure rhythmic disruption. 00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:09.850 Controlled chaos. It goes right back to the drummer. 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:12.019 precision you're always waiting for the downbeat 00:12:12.019 --> 00:12:14.100 and it never quite lands you know totally and 00:12:14.100 --> 00:12:17.639 bringing it back to music ian rubbish oh ian 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:21.659 rubbish the late 70s british punk rocker Look, 00:12:21.799 --> 00:12:24.740 accent, everything. Who shocks everyone by writing 00:12:24.740 --> 00:12:27.320 these super earnest songs supporting Margaret 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:29.639 Thatcher. The genius of that is just, it's so 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:32.299 Armisen. Takes his deep knowledge of punk, the 00:12:32.299 --> 00:12:35.399 super anti -establishment genre, and flips it. 00:12:35.580 --> 00:12:39.139 Makes the punk guy pro -establishment. It's parodying 00:12:39.139 --> 00:12:41.519 the intensity of punk, like Johnny Rotten, but 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:44.360 twisting the message. You have to know punk to 00:12:44.360 --> 00:12:47.120 fully get the joke. Exactly. It's meta. It requires 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:49.340 that inside knowledge. And then speaking of music 00:12:49.340 --> 00:12:52.600 and improv, Garth. From Garth and Kat with Kristen 00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:55.299 Wiig on Weekend Update. Oh my God, Garth and 00:12:55.299 --> 00:12:57.700 Kat, their whole thing was being completely unprepared, 00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:00.240 right? Making up these totally nonsensical songs 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:02.379 on the spot, but with total confidence. Yeah, 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:04.700 which needed not just quick wits, but like a 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:07.220 musician's instant grasp of basic harmony and 00:13:07.220 --> 00:13:09.259 timing, even if it was used for total nonsense. 00:13:09.580 --> 00:13:11.440 And we have to mention Stuart from the Californians. 00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:13.720 The soap opera parody with those ridiculously 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:16.059 specific driving directions and the accents. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.399 Huh, yeah. That sketch was all about hyper -local 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:23.980 observation. Nailing that very specific language, 00:13:24.259 --> 00:13:28.919 the mannerisms, shows his ear for cultural detail. 00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:31.899 His celebrity impressions were great, too. He 00:13:31.899 --> 00:13:34.779 played Barack Obama for years, from season 33 00:13:34.779 --> 00:13:38.340 to 38. Jay Pharoah took over after. It was a 00:13:38.340 --> 00:13:40.879 solid impression. Maybe not flashy, but steady. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.889 Right. But the music impressions. Yeah. That's 00:13:43.889 --> 00:13:45.629 where his inner fanboy really came out. Like 00:13:45.629 --> 00:13:47.529 Prince. There's that great story, right? He created 00:13:47.529 --> 00:13:50.169 the Prince show sketch with Maya Rudolph as Beyonce. 00:13:50.330 --> 00:13:53.039 Yeah. Specifically hoping it might. get Prince's 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:55.500 attention, maybe even lead to meeting him. Exactly. 00:13:55.580 --> 00:13:58.100 That's pure dedication. Using your massive platform 00:13:58.100 --> 00:14:00.320 as a way to try and connect with your idol. It 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:02.639 shows how, for him, comedy is often the way into 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:04.659 the subculture, not just making fun of it from 00:14:04.659 --> 00:14:06.559 outside. He also said Steve Jobs was the one 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:08.860 he liked doing most, popping up on Update and 00:14:08.860 --> 00:14:10.740 the Black Turtleneck to show off some weird new 00:14:10.740 --> 00:14:13.000 gadget. Uh -huh. But maybe one of the best and 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:15.320 most, like, fruitful impressions was Ira Glass. 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:18.759 Oh, yeah. He nailed that cadence, the This American 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:22.179 Life voice. He nailed it so well that Ira Glass 00:14:22.179 --> 00:14:25.120 himself saw an unaired sketch, was super impressed, 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:28.299 and invited Armisen to co -host an actual episode 00:14:28.299 --> 00:14:30.899 of This American Life about doppelgangers. No 00:14:30.899 --> 00:14:33.940 way. Yeah. So, again, the impression wasn't the 00:14:33.940 --> 00:14:36.809 end point. It opened a door to this cool collaboration. 00:14:37.110 --> 00:14:39.470 It's a pattern with him. So Armisen doesn't just 00:14:39.470 --> 00:14:42.370 like fade away after SNL. He uses that momentum, 00:14:42.490 --> 00:14:44.750 those relationships to build this whole other 00:14:44.750 --> 00:14:47.149 thing, this empire of really specific collaborative 00:14:47.149 --> 00:14:50.809 niche comedy and wins two Peabody's doing it. 00:14:50.850 --> 00:14:53.570 One for SNL's political stuff, one for Portlandia. 00:14:53.710 --> 00:14:55.669 Right. And Portlandia is probably the defining 00:14:55.669 --> 00:14:58.950 post SNL series for him. Co -created, co -starred 00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:00.690 with Carrie Brownstein from Sleater -Kinney, 00:15:00.789 --> 00:15:03.669 premiered in 2011, ran eight seasons on IFC. 00:15:04.160 --> 00:15:06.980 became this total cultural touchstone. It really 00:15:06.980 --> 00:15:09.840 did. It just perfectly captured and, yeah, satirized 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.960 that specific kind of urban, maybe slightly pretentious, 00:15:13.019 --> 00:15:15.220 but also hyper -earnest culture. Yeah. You know, 00:15:15.259 --> 00:15:17.419 localism, weird hobbies. Totally. And it worked 00:15:17.419 --> 00:15:19.139 because they were part of that world in a way. 00:15:19.179 --> 00:15:21.200 They observed it with real affection, even while 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:22.879 they were making fun of it. Got Emmy nominations, 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:25.860 too, for writing and acting. And the collaborations 00:15:25.860 --> 00:15:29.620 kept coming. Working with other SNL guys. Documentary 00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:32.850 now. With Bill Hader and Seth Meyers. Which is 00:15:32.850 --> 00:15:34.590 brilliant. It's not just parody. It's like this 00:15:34.590 --> 00:15:36.950 deep love letter to documentaries. Yeah. They 00:15:36.950 --> 00:15:39.470 recreate the look, the feel, the style of famous 00:15:39.470 --> 00:15:42.389 docs like Grey Gardens or Jiro Dreams of Sushi 00:15:42.389 --> 00:15:44.929 with incredible accuracy. You really have to 00:15:44.929 --> 00:15:47.110 respect the originals to do that show well. Yeah. 00:15:47.129 --> 00:15:49.490 Which fits Armisen's whole approach, right? Master 00:15:49.490 --> 00:15:52.590 the subculture, then gently poke fun at it. The 00:15:52.590 --> 00:15:55.950 detail in documentary now. Costumes, editing, 00:15:56.250 --> 00:15:58.889 pacing, it's intense. You need to know film history. 00:15:59.129 --> 00:16:00.700 Definitely. And then there's the project that 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:03.679 connects right back to his heritage. Les Espookys. 00:16:03.820 --> 00:16:08.360 Ah, yes. 2019 to 2022. Co -created, starred in 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:11.200 it, wrote, executive produced. Spanish language 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:13.539 series. About these friends who turn their love 00:16:13.539 --> 00:16:15.559 of horror into a business creating scares for 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:18.990 people. It's such a unique show. Surreal, funny, 00:16:19.169 --> 00:16:21.830 deadpan, a perfect Armisen blend. And it feels 00:16:21.830 --> 00:16:23.309 like a really important step, too. You know, 00:16:23.350 --> 00:16:25.309 actively using his platform to make something 00:16:25.309 --> 00:16:27.690 outside the usual English language comedy box 00:16:27.690 --> 00:16:30.330 reflects his own multicultural background. Absolutely. 00:16:30.389 --> 00:16:32.350 And we really have to talk about that partnership 00:16:32.350 --> 00:16:34.370 with Cary Brownstein. It goes way back before 00:16:34.370 --> 00:16:36.909 Portlandia to their sketch duo, Thunder Ant, 00:16:37.029 --> 00:16:39.769 making these little videos often about, like... 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:42.700 indie stuff feminist bookstores. Right. And their 00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:44.659 relationship, people always talk about how unique 00:16:44.659 --> 00:16:46.919 it is. Brownstein called it one of the most intimate, 00:16:47.019 --> 00:16:49.399 functional, romantic, but non -sexual relationships 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:52.080 she's ever had. Yeah. And Armisen said something 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:55.340 similar about the intimacy being like no other, 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:58.360 just without the physical side. Yeah. It points 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:02.080 to this really deep platonic creative bond that 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:04.799 seems to fuel their best work together. It seems 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:07.769 like that's where he finds real stability. intense 00:17:07.769 --> 00:17:10.190 working partnerships. Beyond the shows he created, 00:17:10.289 --> 00:17:12.549 he pops up everywhere. Voice acting. Oh yeah. 00:17:12.670 --> 00:17:14.789 He was Speedy Gonzalez on the Looney Tunes show. 00:17:15.069 --> 00:17:18.390 Did voices in the Smurf movies, Lego Ninjago, 00:17:18.650 --> 00:17:21.329 Mitchell's vs. the Machines, the Super Mario 00:17:21.329 --> 00:17:23.849 Bros movie. And live action guest spots too. 00:17:23.950 --> 00:17:26.329 Always memorable. Like Geraldo, one of Spanish 00:17:26.329 --> 00:17:28.910 Jackie's husbands in Our Flag Means Death. Fit 00:17:28.910 --> 00:17:31.390 right into that show's weird, funny, affectionate 00:17:31.390 --> 00:17:34.099 tone. Perfect casting. And he was Uncle Fester 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:36.539 in Wednesday. Totally unsettling. Great look. 00:17:36.700 --> 00:17:39.960 And just recently, the FDA guy Mike Puntz in 00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:42.319 Seinfeld's Unfrosted. Ah, right. He just slots 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.420 into these wildly different universes, which 00:17:44.420 --> 00:17:46.380 again kind of reflects that adaptability we talked 00:17:46.380 --> 00:17:49.039 about. And video games, too, which speaks to 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:51.799 his fandoms. Voiced radio bits in Grand Theft 00:17:51.799 --> 00:17:54.720 Auto IV. And he was in both Red Dead Redemption 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:57.920 games, a pharmacist in the first, a theater host 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:00.180 in the second. And apparently he's a huge fan 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:02.720 of the Red Dead games themselves. Right. See, 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:06.059 it all connects. Music, niche comedy, specific 00:18:06.059 --> 00:18:09.180 fandoms. It all feeds the work. Whether he's 00:18:09.180 --> 00:18:11.319 parodying Yacht Rock or playing a character in 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:14.079 a massive game, he's always deep inside some 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:17.019 subculture looking out. Hashtag, hashtag, hashtag 00:18:17.019 --> 00:18:20.240 CS. Personal reflections and the question of 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:22.400 persona. Okay, so to really try and understand 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:24.599 an artist who's so good at impersonating and 00:18:24.599 --> 00:18:26.579 embodying other people, other characters, we 00:18:26.579 --> 00:18:27.960 kind of have to look at his own reflections on 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:29.980 his personal life. And there's this, well, this 00:18:29.980 --> 00:18:33.480 challenging split, isn't there? incredibly successful, 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:37.039 seemingly generous collaborator and the private 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:39.559 self that seems more complicated. Right. He's 00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:41.960 had several public relationships. Married to 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:45.619 musician Sally Thames early on, 98 to 2004. Then 00:18:45.619 --> 00:18:48.519 married actress Elizabeth Moss, 2009 to 2011. 00:18:49.099 --> 00:18:52.210 Dated Abby Elliott from SNL for a bit. dated 00:18:52.210 --> 00:18:55.730 Natasha Lyonne from 2014 to 2022. Lyonne said 00:18:55.730 --> 00:18:58.009 they split amicably, still love each other, still 00:18:58.009 --> 00:19:00.309 talk all the time. And then he married comedian 00:19:00.309 --> 00:19:03.410 Ricky Lindholm in late 2022. But it's the reflections 00:19:03.410 --> 00:19:05.630 on the marriage to Elizabeth Moss that seemed 00:19:05.630 --> 00:19:07.490 to really highlight that tension you mentioned. 00:19:07.769 --> 00:19:10.970 Yeah. Moss described their time together as extremely 00:19:10.970 --> 00:19:14.930 traumatic, awful, and horrible, which is just 00:19:14.930 --> 00:19:17.329 such a stark contrast to how his creative partners 00:19:17.329 --> 00:19:19.829 talk about working with him. And she had that 00:19:19.829 --> 00:19:22.500 quote. It's pretty brutal, but maybe insightful 00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:24.900 about his character work. Oh, right. The one 00:19:24.900 --> 00:19:26.720 one of the greatest things I heard someone say 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.000 about him is he's so great at doing impersonations. 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:31.440 But the greatest impersonation he does is that 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.619 of a normal person. Wow. Yeah, that hits hard. 00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:36.940 It suggests the guy who can flip between Ian 00:19:36.940 --> 00:19:39.579 Rubbish and Steve Jobs and a Californian homeowner 00:19:39.579 --> 00:19:41.579 maybe struggles most when he's just supposed 00:19:41.579 --> 00:19:45.099 to be himself. Consistent, the normal person 00:19:45.099 --> 00:19:47.619 in her relationship. It raises that fundamental 00:19:47.619 --> 00:19:50.079 question, doesn't it? about performance versus 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:53.599 self is the ease with characters linked to a 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:56.759 difficulty with just being it's tough to square 00:19:56.759 --> 00:19:59.779 those two images the brilliant collaborator nailing 00:19:59.779 --> 00:20:02.359 every niche and the person described as well 00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:05.720 struggling to perform normalcy did armisen ever 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:09.180 address that tension himself sort of yeah later 00:20:09.180 --> 00:20:11.119 on in an interview he seemed pretty self -aware 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:13.319 maybe even remorseful he said something like 00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:16.160 I think I was a terrible husband. I think I'm 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:17.980 a terrible boyfriend. I feel bad for everyone 00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:20.420 I've gone out with. Okay. So an acknowledgement 00:20:20.420 --> 00:20:23.559 at least that his interior self maybe doesn't 00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:26.420 line up with what partnership requires. Reinforcing 00:20:26.420 --> 00:20:29.299 that idea that maybe stability for him is found 00:20:29.299 --> 00:20:32.059 in adopting those external personas. It suggests 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:34.440 that maybe the thing that makes him great, that 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:37.319 ability to embody anyone, is somehow tied to 00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:38.920 the thing that makes personal life difficult. 00:20:39.779 --> 00:20:42.779 Maintaining one single consistent self. Hmm. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:45.480 Maybe we can balance that heavy personal stuff 00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:47.539 with some of his other interests, where he does 00:20:47.539 --> 00:20:49.940 seem to find certain terror. Like he's openly 00:20:49.940 --> 00:20:52.779 atheist. That's a clear stance. And back to music. 00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:55.140 He's a huge black metal and death metal fan, 00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:58.200 like deep cuts. He mentions bands like Immortal, 00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:00.680 Beherit, Liturgy, Death Heaven. Right. Another 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:03.759 layer of intense niche, sometimes dark subculture 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:06.539 that he fully embraces. And maybe those scenes, 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:09.000 those genres, they offer their own kind of structure, 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:11.799 rules, aesthetics, language he can master and 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:14.180 inhabit. Maybe that provides a kind of comfort. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.660 Interesting thought. So putting it all together. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:19.880 What do we have? Well, you've got the enthusiastic 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:23.920 global collaborator, master of obscure subcultures, 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:26.960 music expert on one side. And on the other, the 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:30.779 self -described terrible husband who maybe, according 00:21:30.779 --> 00:21:34.130 to Moss, excels at impersonating normalcy. And 00:21:34.130 --> 00:21:36.710 the actual work, the comedy, the music, the acting, 00:21:36.750 --> 00:21:39.009 it all involves putting on a specific lens, right? 00:21:39.069 --> 00:21:41.269 A persona. Whether it's Garth making up a song 00:21:41.269 --> 00:21:44.109 or delving into punk history or speaking Spanish 00:21:44.109 --> 00:21:46.410 in Loss of Spookies, he's always being a character. 00:21:46.789 --> 00:21:49.009 Ferrisito, the game host. Maybe that's where 00:21:49.009 --> 00:21:51.730 the civility lies because just being Fred is 00:21:51.730 --> 00:21:54.509 harder. And it loops back to his ancestry, doesn't 00:21:54.509 --> 00:21:58.170 it? That impulse to adapt, to learn new rules, 00:21:58.269 --> 00:22:01.150 to use performance to navigate. It feels like 00:22:01.150 --> 00:22:04.200 this deep generational echo. in his family's 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:06.380 story. Wow. Okay, this has been a really fascinating 00:22:06.380 --> 00:22:09.559 look into, yeah, one of the most complex, rhythmically 00:22:09.559 --> 00:22:12.779 driven minds in comedy today. Let's try and recap 00:22:12.779 --> 00:22:15.079 the key takeaways for you, the listener. The 00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:17.460 sheer depth of his career, it's really only matched 00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:19.400 by the depth of that surprising family history. 00:22:19.619 --> 00:22:22.319 And his core identity seems firmly rooted in 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:25.099 music. Punk rock, drumming, that's the bedrock, 00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:27.599 the technical foundation for all the comedy timing, 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.789 the character work. Right. So takeaway one, he's 00:22:30.789 --> 00:22:33.970 a true comedy polymath, but his best, most defining 00:22:33.970 --> 00:22:36.329 work comes from these intense, functional, creative 00:22:36.329 --> 00:22:38.890 partnerships, especially with Brownstein, Meyer's 00:22:38.890 --> 00:22:41.490 hater. That professional intimacy seems key to 00:22:41.490 --> 00:22:44.490 his post -SNL success. Second takeaway, that 00:22:44.490 --> 00:22:46.829 ethnic background is just incredibly complex. 00:22:47.410 --> 00:22:50.450 Venezuelan mom and a paternal grandfather who 00:22:50.450 --> 00:22:53.430 was Korean aristocracy, a dancer, forced to hide 00:22:53.430 --> 00:22:55.529 his identity as Japanese after that historical 00:22:55.529 --> 00:22:58.700 trauma in 1923. It's not just background info. 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:01.140 It's a story about forced identity shifts that 00:23:01.140 --> 00:23:03.619 resonates through his life and work. And third, 00:23:03.779 --> 00:23:07.539 his comedy is fundamentally musical. It's rooted 00:23:07.539 --> 00:23:09.599 in that rhythmic complexity, the precision he 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:11.900 learned as a drummer. You see it everywhere from 00:23:11.900 --> 00:23:14.480 the chaos of Nicholas Fenn, the spontaneity of 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:17.339 Garth and Kat, to those really personal projects 00:23:17.339 --> 00:23:19.200 like Stand Up for Drummers and the 100 Sound 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:21.500 Effects album concept. It's all about timing 00:23:21.500 --> 00:23:24.109 and sound. Which brings us to that final provocative 00:23:24.109 --> 00:23:26.309 thought for you to chew on. We talked about his 00:23:26.309 --> 00:23:28.309 grandfather, Park Young -in, having to adopt 00:23:28.309 --> 00:23:30.670 a new name, Masami Kuni, basically to survive 00:23:30.670 --> 00:23:33.569 after that trauma. So if Fred Armisen's greatest 00:23:33.569 --> 00:23:35.930 strength is impersonating everyone, even maybe 00:23:35.930 --> 00:23:39.369 a normal person, is it possible that this constant 00:23:39.369 --> 00:23:42.170 shifting, this embodying of external identities, 00:23:42.470 --> 00:23:45.170 is that maybe unconsciously a form of artistic 00:23:45.170 --> 00:23:47.980 survival for him? Does it echo his family's own 00:23:47.980 --> 00:23:50.220 history of needing to adapt, reinvent, perform 00:23:50.220 --> 00:23:53.000 just to navigate the world? It definitely makes 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:54.839 you wonder, doesn't it? Is the performance itself 00:23:54.839 --> 00:23:56.660 a kind of necessary adaptation?