Fred Armisen on ‘Portlandia’ Inspiration: “It’s Never Ending … So Far!”

“[Portlandia is] mostly for us and for our fans, so when we’ve done a season of a type of sketch, we just think, ‘Let’s change it up this year.'” At the beginning of every writing session we just think, ‘What’s the goal for this season?’ And we’ve done that every year so far,” Fred Armisen told The Hollywood Reporter during its Comedy Actor Emmy Roundtable.

He considers the inspiration for Portlandia sketches to be “never ending … so far.” He and his co-star/ co-creator Carrie Brownstein draw inspiration from things they’ve noticed happening in their lives, which they keep track of in their notes app on their phones.

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Armisen first learned what funny was, and that he himself was funny, from his friends, and “then cartoons. Watching Bugs Bunny and stuff,” he shared.

Before he became an SNL castmember, he and his friends were fans themselves. “It was a way you could impress each other, by doing impressions of impressions, [and] different characters.”

He pegs his dream comedy collaborator as Prince, but says he would also love to work with Louis C.K. on Portlandia.

Armisen joined fellow comedians Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley), Jordan Peele (Key & Peele), Ricky Gervais (Derek), Will Forte (Last Man on Earth), and Don Cheadle (House of Lies) for the Roundtable, where they discussed how they developed their humor and how they use it today.

The full Comedy Actor Roundtable can be seen on Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter when it premieres on Sunday, Aug. 23, at 11 a.m. ET/PT on Sundance TV and HollywoodReporter.com.

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