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Fred Armisen
Armisen at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	(1966-12-04) December 4, 1966 (age 58) Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, music, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1987–present
Genres	Character comedy, sketch comedy
Spouse	Sally Timms (1998–2004) Elisabeth Moss (2009–2011)
Notable works and roles	Saturday Night Live Portlandia
Website	fredarmisen.com

Fred Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American comedian, musician, and actor best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and portraying "feral foreigners" in comedy films including EuroTrip, Anchorman, and Cop Out. With his comedy partner, Carrie Brownstein, Armisen is the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series Portlandia.

Early life

Armisen was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and moved to Manhattan, New York City as a baby. He was raised in Valley Stream, New York, on Long Island. His mother, Hildegardt, a school-teacher, is Venezuelan, and his father, who worked for IBM, is of German and Japanese descent. He attended the School of Visual Arts (NYC) before dropping out to begin a career as a rock drummer. He has mentioned watching the bands The Clash and Devo perform on television, and wanting to be a performer since he was a child.

Career

Music

In 1984, Armisen played drums in a local band along with his high school friends in Valley Stream, New York, but the group ended soon after. Armisen began his career in 1988 when he moved from New York to Chicago to play drums for the punk rock band Trenchmouth. In the 1990s, he played background drums with Blue Man Group in Chicago.

He plays drums on three tracks on Les Savy Fav's 2007 album Let's Stay Friends.

He also played on the Wandering Lucy album Leap Year.

Television and film

While playing with the band Trenchmouth, Armisen's interests switched to acting. In a January 2006 interview, he said, "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. In the 2004 season, he was promoted to a repertory cast member.

Armisen has landed several minor and supporting roles in comedy films such as Eurotrip, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Deck the Halls, The Ex, The Promotion, The Rocker and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Armisen stars in the IFC sketch series Portlandia alongside Carrie Brownstein (formerly of Sleater-Kinney); the first season debuted on January 21, 2011.

In the Cartoon Network series The Looney Tunes Show, Armisen voices Speedy Gonzales. Armisen, along with Carrie Brownstein, appeared on the Simpsons episode "The Day the Earth Stood Cool," in which they play The Simpsons new neighbors who encourage everyone to be cool like them.

Saturday Night Live

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The following is a partial list of notable roles Armisen has played in Saturday Night Live sketches. Armisen is currently the second-longest tenured cast member (second only to Seth Meyers), having been a member since Season 28.

Recurring characters

• Billy Smith – a Native American stand-up comedian who tells Native-American-themed jokes that no one understands.
• Fericito – a Venezuelan nightclub comedian 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 members 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. Was a one-time character on SNL (his only appearance was on the last episode of season 33 before the show went on hiatus for the WGA strike hosted by NBC news anchor Brian Williams), but has appeared in several Internet videos around the time of the WGA strike.
• Roger Brush – a producer of multiple "Dr. Phil"-type talk shows (focused on teen issues, marital issues, sexual issues, and pregnancy issues respectively), who stars when the actual hosts are sick, repeatedly telling the people relating their problems to speak up, and, after not relating to their problems at all, offers them either useless advice based on his experience or no help at all.
• Garth – part of Garth & Kat (with Kristen Wiig), a musical duo who come to Weekend Update unprepared and make up songs on the spot.
• Giuseppe – the saxophone player for What Up With That?
• One of the "Dictator's Two Best Friends from Growing Up" (with Vanessa Bayer) who come to Weekend Update to secretly trash-talk the various dictators (such as Muammar al-Gaddafi and Kim Jong-un) with whom they grew up.
• Regine- a pretentious and condescending girlfriend who displays blatent euphoric and erotic facial expressions when "touched" on certain parts of her body.

Celebrity impressions

Armisen has done impressions of political figures such as Hugo Chávez, Vicente Fox, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Barney Frank, George H. W. Bush, Ben Bernanke, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Mike Gravel, Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak and Michael Bloomberg. He has also impersonated celebrities such as Martin Scorsese, Desi Arnaz, Corbin Bleu, Sam Waterston, Joy Behar, Tony Danza, George Carlin, Dov Charney, Howie Mandel, Alan Osmond, Ben Gibbard, Harrison Ford, Liberace, David Gregory, Larry King, Penny Marshall, Kevin McHale (actor) (as Artie Abrams from Glee), David Lee Roth, Gene Simmons, Lawrence Welk, Paul Lynde, George Lopez, Randy Newman, Thom Yorke, John Oates, and Ice-T.

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. As of season 38, Jay Pharoah replaced Armisen as Obama.
• 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.
• 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 most enjoys portraying.
• Ira Glass — After seeing an unused SNL sketch, Glass invited Armisen to co-host a This American Life about doppelgängers.
• David Paterson – Governor of New York

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. A year later, Armisen starred with alternative rock legend Steve Albini in Chevelle's Point #1 EPK.

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. 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". In 2010, Armisen briefly joined Joanna Newsom's tour for her album Have One On Me as his character Jens Hannemann. 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.

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

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.

Personal life

Armisen was married to English singer and songwriter Sally Timms from 1998 to 2004.

Armisen became engaged to actress Elisabeth Moss in January 2009. The two had met in October 2008 when Moss' fellow Mad Men star Jon Hamm hosted Saturday Night Live, and Moss joined Hamm in onstage sketches. The couple married on October 25, 2009 in Long Island City, New York. On August 13, 2010, the trade press reported that Moss and Armisen had separated earlier that year. Moss filed for divorce from Armisen on September 20, 2010; the court papers specified June 26, 2010 as the date of separation. The divorce was finalized on May 13, 2011.

In August 2010, media outlets reported Armisen was dating fellow Saturday Night Live cast member Abby Elliott. Armisen and Elliott ended their relationship in September 2011.

Armisen stated on Real Time with Bill Maher that he is an atheist.

Discography

Television credits

Filmography

References

1. Duncan, Alasdair (August 03, 2012). "Fred Armisen on Portlandia, video games and cross-dressing". Crikey. Retrieved April 07, 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
2. ^ Itzkoff, Dave (2005-09-30). "Eccentric on 'S.N.L.' Is 'Jus' Keeeeding!'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-03. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
3. Muther, Christopher. "'SNL' star Armisen drums up a career in comedy", Boston Globe, January 30, 2004 (fee required for full article)
4. Karni, Annie (2010-12-02). "Painting the Town Fred | New York Post". NYPOST.com. Retrieved 2012-05-30.
5. AP Photo (2012-01-05). "Photo from AP Photo - Fred Armisen, Hildegardt Gemer News, photos, topics, and quotes". 1click.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2012-05-30.
6. "Fred Armisen: Biography," TV Guide, accessdate=2009-11-10.
7. Heisler, Steve. "Devo Made Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen Want to Be on TV", New York Magazine, February 11, 2011
8. DeRogatis, Jim (February 5, 2003). "All Ke-e-e-ding Aside". Jimdero.com. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
9. Allmusic.com website
10. ^ Armisen interview, The A.V. Club, January 2006.
11. ^ Lavery, Lisa. Interview: Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Cult Cargo, 16 November 2006.
12. Portlandia at IFC.com, 2010.
13. "Fred Armisen". Voice Chasers. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
14. "Critic's corner". The Boston Globe. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
15. Armstrong, Josh E. "Seven Questions with Fred Armisen". Armstrong Interviews. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
16. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/484/doppelgangers
17. Smooching Deadlines, The Austin Chronicle, 5 November 1998.
18. Pitchfork Feature: Interview: Cat Power
19. Jens Hannemann "COMPLICATED DRUMMING TECHNIQUE" on Drag City Educational Music DVD
20. "Fred Armisen Joins Joanna Newsom In Concert". Stereogum. March 25, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
21. "Man Man: "Rabbit Habits (with Fred Armisen, Brett Gurewitz, others)"". Punknews.org. April 8, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
22. Borrelli, Christopher. "Fred Armisen: The Chicago Years", The Chicago Tribune, 11 January 2012. Accessed 5 February 2012.
23. "Mad Men Actress and SNL Star Are Engaged", People, 2009-01-23. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
24. Barnes, Brooks. "She’s Nothing Like Peggy, or Is She?", The New York Times, June 5, 2009
25. "Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss Marries SNL's Fred Armisen", People, 2009-10-26. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
26. "Fred Armisen and Elisabeth Moss split", The Hollywood Reporter, August 13, 2010. Access date 2010-08-14
27. "Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss and SNL's Fred Armisen – Split!". Life & Style. 2010-08-13. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
28. "Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss Files for Divorce", Entertainment Tonight, 20 September 2010. Accessed 29 September 2010.
29. "Elisabeth Moss, Fred Armisen divorce official" May 19, 2011, MSNBC
30. Oh, Eunice; and Charlotte Triggs (19 August 2010). "Fred Armisen and Abby Elliott's Relationship in 'Early Stages'". People.
31. Ravitz, Justin (27 September 2011). "SNL's Fred Armisen, Abby Elliott Split". US Weekly.
32. "Real Time with Bill Maher". Episode 242. HBO. March 23, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
33. Fred Armisen's Guide to Dance and Self-Defense, YouTube, includes interview with Butch Vig at 14:36

External links

• Official website
• Fred Armisen at IMDb
• Template:Amg name
• Template:Myspace

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• 1966 births
• Living people
• Actors from New York
• American atheists
• American comedy musicians
• American punk rock drummers
• American film actors
• American voice actors
• American impressionists (entertainers)
• American music video directors
• American stand-up comedians
• American television actors
• American television writers
• American people of German descent
• American people of Venezuelan descent
• Hispanic and Latino American actors
• People from Valley Stream, New York
• Valley Stream Central High School alumni
• People from Hattiesburg, Mississippi
• Actors from Mississippi
• Musicians from New York
• Musicians from Mississippi
• American male actors
• American people of Japanese descent
• Actors of Japanese descent