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Fred Armisen

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Fred Armisen
Armisen at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Occupation(s)Actor, comedian, musician
Years active1987–present
Spouse(s)Sally Timms (1998–2004)
Elisabeth Moss (2009–present)
Websitehttp://www.fredarmisen.com/

Fred Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live.

Personal life

Armisen grew up in Long Island, New York. His mother is of Venezuelan descent and his father is of German and Japanese ancestry.[1] He attended the School of Visual Arts (NYC).[2]

With Darrell Hammond gone from the cast at the start of the 35th season, Armisen is now the only SNL cast member to be born before the 1970s and the oldest cast member at age 43.

Arimsen was married to English singer and songwriter Sally Timms from 1998 to 2004. He dated actress Martha Plimpton from 2004 to 2006. Armisen married Elisabeth Moss of The West Wing and Mad Men on October 25, 2009.[3]

Music career

Armisen began his career in 1988 when he moved from New York to Chicago to play drums for the punk rock band Trenchmouth.[4] In the 1990s, he played background drums with the Blue Man Group in Chicago. He currently endorses Shine Drums.

In 1997, he toured with Those Bastard Souls, a project of David Shouse of The Grifters which also featured The Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd. [citation needed] He plays drums on three tracks on Les Savy Fav's 2007 album, Let's Stay Friends.[5]

Trenchmouth publicity photo

Discography

Year Title
1996 The Broadcasting System
1994 Trenchmouth Vs. the Light of the Sun
1993 Inside the Future
1991 Construction of New Action: Volume 1: First There Was Movement

Television and film career

While playing with Trenchmouth, Armisen's interests switched to performing. In a January 2006 interview with The AV Club, he explained it this way:[6]

"I wanted to be on TV somehow. For some reason, I always thought it would be an indirect route, I didn't know that it would be comedy and Saturday Night Live. I just wanted to do something with performing that would lead me there".

Armisen's subsequent television work, such as some "memorable Andy Kaufman-esque appearances" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien as well as work for Crank Yankers and Adult Swim, led in 2002 to a role as a featured player in the cast of Saturday Night Live.[7] In the 2004 season, he was promoted to a repertory cast member.

Armisen has done a handful of supporting roles in comedy films, such as the creepy Italian man in the film Eurotrip and roles in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Deck the Halls, The Ex, The Promotion, The Rocker and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Controversies

Saturday Night Live drew criticism for having Armisen portray Barack Obama starting in February 2008, with at least one journalist comparing Armisen's Obama makeup to blackface.[8] Although, many black comedians have portrayed white characters on SNL without any blacklash.

In December 2008, Armisen's impression of New York governor David Paterson drew criticism from the National Federation of the Blind and from the governor's office, which said the skit ridiculed people with physicial disabilities.[9]

Television

Year Title Role First Episode Notes
1999 Fred Himself-Various unknown writer, director, music
Reverb Interviewer unknown
2001 Late Friday Father Fred/ Fericito "Episode 1.8" 2 episodes
Premium Blend Sergeant Fred "October 12, 2001" 2 episodes
2002 Late World with Zach Various Unknown 1 episode
Next! Various "Pilot" Failed TV pilot
2002–present Saturday Night Live Various "Matt Damon/ Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band" 138 episodes
2003 Crank Yankers Chip Douglas "Episode 2.1" voice only, 13 episodes
2004 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Poncho/ Robot Husband "Hypno-Germ" voice only, 2 episodes (one in 2008)
Comedy Lab Jeremy "12:21" 1 episode
2005 Looking For A Thrill: An Anthology of Inspiration Himself TV documentary
New York Noise Himself "Beggars Group 10th Anniversary in NYC Party" 1 episode
Squidbillies Miguel/ Jesus/ Hippie Killed with Chainsaw "Take This Job and Take It" voice only, 4 episodes
2006 Freak Show various "Elections" 3 episodes, voices
Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Event of Autism Education Himself/ Prince TV special
Tom Goes to the Mayor Phillip Priest "Jeffy the Sea Serpent" voice only, 1 episode
2007 30 Rock Raheem Haddad "Somebody to Love" 1 episode
Tim and Eric Nite Live Dr. Pat Gordon Hall "Episode 1.3" 1 episode
2008 Human Giant Dr. Marker "Still Here, Man. Still Here" 1 episode
The Sarah Silverman Program Taylor Magenheim "Patriot Tact" 1 episode
Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday Various "Episode 1.1" 6 episodes
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! K.J. Nutt/ Tennis Buddy "Pepperoni" 2 episodes
2009 Parks & Recreation Raul "Sister City" 1 episode
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Himself "Episode 85" 1 episode

SNL characters and impressions

The following is a partial list of notable roles Armisen has played in Saturday Night Live sketches.

Notable characters

  • Billy Smith — a Native American stand-up comedian who tells Native American themed jokes that no one gets.
  • Fericito — a Venezuelan nightclub comedian and host of ¡Show Biz Grande Explosion!
  • Gabe Fisher — a Jewish man who takes many adult classes as a member of the Adult Students.
  • Gunther Kelly — a man who performs songs on Weekend Update with his brother Patrick (played by Will Forte)
  • Leonard — The strange European host of the foreign music show Club Traxx.
  • Mackey — a senile drummer who often does rimshots at inappropriate moments and appears in the "Rialto Grande" sketches.
  • Nooni Schoener — a quirky, foreign art dealer who appears with his wife Nuni Schoener (played by Maya Rudolph) in the "The Schoeners" sketches)
  • Frondi — a mentally challenged character who criticizes Ben Affleck's movie Gigli to Ben himself.
  • Manuel Ortiz - Host of 'The Manuel Ortiz' show on television dominicana where he "helps with whatever it is" his audience are going through.
  • Nicholas Fehn — a political commentator whose mind races and wanders so much that he is incapable of finishing a sentence without starting a new one.
  • Roger A. Trevanti — Greedy studio head and AMPTP member who rails against the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.
  • Roger Brush – a producer of multiple talk shows that help people with their problems, who stars when the actual hosts are sick, repeatedly tells the person relating his/her problem to speak up, and, after not relating to their problem at all, offers them either useless advice based on his experience or no help at all.
  • Garth, part of the duo Garth and Kat, a musical duo who come to Weekend Update unprepared and make up songs on the spot, alongside Kristen Wiig.

Notable impressions

Armisen has done impressions of political figures such as Hugo Chávez, Vicente Fox, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Barney Frank, George H. W. Bush, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and Mike Gravel. He has also impersonated celebrities such as Martin Scorsese, Desi Arnaz, Corbin Bleu, Sam Waterston, Joy Behar, George Carlin, Dov Charney, Howie Mandel, Alan Osmond, Liberace, David Gregory, Larry King, Penny Marshall, David Lee Roth, Gene Simmons, Lawrence Welk, Paul Lynde, Randy Newman, and John Oates.

His list of impressions has also included:

  • Barack Obama — recurring in Season 33 and Season 34 episodes as the Democratic presidential candidate (Season 33), the Democratic nominee, President-Elect, and President (Season 34), beginning on February 23, 2008.
  • Prince — parody of the musician as the host of a talk show called The Prince Show, with Beyoncé Knowles (played by Maya Rudolph) as his co-host. Armisen, a fan of Prince since childhood, created the sketch as a way of improving his chances of meeting the musician.[6]
  • Steve Jobs — Apple CEO who appears on Weekend Update to show off strange new technology. Armisen has stated that Steve Jobs is the celebrity he enjoys impersonating most.[10]
  • David Paterson - African-American Governor of New York, appears on Weekend Update, played as obnoxious, and frequently makes rude jokes about New Jersey and Upstate New York; fumbles around the studio underlining the fact that Paterson is legally blind.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Guide to Music and South by Southwest Various Short film, writer, director
2002 I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Himself
Like Mike New Age Dad
2003 Frank International Film Festival Frank Short film, video
Melvin Goes to Dinner Vesa
2004 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Tino Nominated MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Performance
Eurotrip Creepy Italian Guy
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie Tino Video
2005 Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo Frenchman uncredited
2006 Deck the Halls Gustave How to be a Megastar Live! (Blue Man Group)
The Ex Manny
Griffin & Phoenix unknown
Kiss Me Again Professor Szabo
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny Security Guard
2007 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Time Lincoln voice only
2008 Baby Mama Stroller Salesman
Christmas on Mars Noachis
Grand Theft Auto IV Pervert/ Hot Dog Vendor/ Internet Nerd Video Game
Largo Himself
The Promotion Scott Fargas
The Rocker Wayne Kerr
2009 Confessions of a Shopaholic Ryan Koening
Post Grad Guacanator Pitchman
2010 Cop Out Russian Lawyer
Our Family Wedding Phillip Gusto
2011 The Smurfs Brainy Smurf filming

Other work

In 1998 he posed as a music journalist for the short film Fred Armisen’s Guide to Music and South by Southwest. It was filmed by then-girlfriend Sally Timms and featured Armisen's "pranking musicians and industry types" during the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.[11]

Armisen performing at Webster Hall in 2001.

Armisen is part of ThunderAnt, a comedy duo with former Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein. The duo specializes in creating comedic short skits oftentimes about independent vocations such as one man shows, feminist bookstores, and bicycle rights activists.

Armisen has directed music videos for bands like The Helio Sequence. Armisen also had a role in the Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which featured footage from his stint opening for front man Jeff Tweedy's 2001 solo tour. He also appeared in video segments on Blue Man Group's How to be a Megastar Tour 2.0. Armisen occasionally writes for Pitchfork Media and interviewed Cat Power for that company.[12] Fred appeared as Jens Hannemann on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 19, 2007, promoting a 28-minute DVD called Fred Armisen presents Jens Hannemann: "COMPLICATED DRUMMING TECHNIQUE".[13] In 2010, Armisen briefly joined Joanna Newsom's tour for her album Have One On Me as his character Jens Hannemann. [14] On SNL, Armisen often plays musical instruments in sketches, has two recurring characters who are musicians (Mackey the drummer from the Rialto Grande and Ferecito from Showbiz Grande Explosion) or impersonates famous figures in the music world such as Liberace, Phil Spector, Lou Reed, and Prince.

Armisen appeared in the official music video for Man Man's song "Rabbit Habits", playing a man who charms his blind date (Charlyne Yi) but runs away after she turns into a werewolf.[15]

Along with Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis, Armisen voiced radio characters in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Fred Armisen performed as a singer/drummer/comedic actor in the Blue Man Group's "How to be a Megastar Live!" He played the part as a salesman on TV who advertises for the "Megastar Rock Manual." He also drummed in the performance and was a backup singer.

See also

References

  1. ^ 'SNL' star Armisen drums up a career in comedy
  2. ^ "Fred Armisen: Biography," TV Guide, accessdate=2009-11-10.
  3. ^ Barnes, Brooks (June 7, 2009). "She's Nothing Like Peggy, or Is She?". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  4. ^ www.jimdero.com website
  5. ^ Allmusic.com website
  6. ^ a b January 2006 Interview with The A.V. Club
  7. ^ 2006 Interview with Fred Armisen on Cult Cargo
  8. ^ "'SNL' Fauxbama Fauxmenting Backlash". New York Magazine. 2008-02-29.
  9. ^ Associated Press (2008-12-15). "N.Y. governor not laughing at 'SNL' skit". MSNBC.com.
  10. ^ Armstrong, Josh E. "Seven Questions with Fred Armisen". Armstrong Interviews. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  11. ^ Smooching Deadlines, November 5, 1998 column in The Austin Chronicle
  12. ^ Pitchfork Feature: Interview: Cat Power
  13. ^ Jens Hannemann "COMPLICATED DRUMMING TECHNIQUE" on Drag City Educational Music DVD
  14. ^ Fred Armisen Joins Joanna Newsom In Concert
  15. ^ Man Man: "Rabbit Habits (with Fred Armisen, Brett Gurewitz, others)"

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