Heading To Fred Armisen's Aussie Shows? Here Are Some Of His Iconic Comedic Moments

20 August 2019 | 1:28 pm | Staff Writer

His new show 'Comedy For Musicians But Everyone Is Welcome' lands in Australia later this month.

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To celebrate Fred Armisen's upcoming Aussie tour, we've pulled together some of our favourite moments from his three-decade career – from his show with Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein (lovingly) eviscerating hipsters in the Pacific Northwest, Portlandia, to some of his rib-tickling guest spots, to highlights from his 11 years in the cast of Saturday Night Live

Portlandia

There are so many characters on Portlandia we could talk about. Do we want to talk about the feminist bookshop owners, Candance Devereaux and Toni Rose, or about extremely, exhaustingly active couple, Dave and Kath? We couldn't go past this sketch featuring Jeff Goldblum, the proprietor of a very useless knot store. 

Saturday Night Live

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Fred Armisen returned to his stomping ground of over a decade to host Saturday Night Live in 2016 on an episode which featured our own Courtney Barnett as a musical guest. In this sketch, he plays Jason Sudekis' extremely excitable new girlfriend, Regine, who puts her foot in the guacamole and doesn't care about letting the audience see up her skirt. 

Big Mouth

In Nick Kroll's animated series, Big Mouth, where he and John Mulaney play teens, Nick and Andrew, as they go through puberty, Armisen has a notable guest role as Nick's dad Elliot. He encourages Nick's blossoming sexuality, is open about his own vasectomy, and never fails to aggressively flirt with his wife, played by Maya Rudolph.  

Anchorman

Did you forget that Fred Armisen has a guest role in newsroom romp Anchorman? He's the owner of the jazz club where Ron Burgundy takes his love interest, Veronica. Without Armisen in the role of Tino, we wouldn't have probably the best jazz flute moment in cinematic history. 

Late Night With Seth Myers

As the bandleader for The 8G Band on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Armisen and the host, former SNL colleague, Meyers sometimes have a bit of banter, dubbed online as Fred Talks – including this one, where he claims to have an unlikely role in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Their relationship isn't all that honest. 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Someone cut together the best of Mlep(clay)nos, Armisen's somewhat unsettling bit role on Brooklyn Nine-Nine (although not as discomforting as his role as real-life killer, Robert Durst). Mlep(clay)nos and Jake Peralta becoming fast friends was basically inevitable from the moment the former opened the door. And he plays violin like an angel. 

At Home With Amy Sedaris

We're pulling out a lot of guest spots here, but this isn't even the half of them – go check out his part in Lady Dynamite and you won't be disappointed. On the criminally underrated At Home With Amy Sedaris, Armisen plays a rather threatening house guest, who is more than he seems. 

Documentary Now!

Armisen co-created doco spoof Documentary Now! with Bill Hader, Meyers and Rhys Thomas. There are almost too many hilarious scenes from this to wade through to find our favourites, but this clip, actually made as a tribute to David Letterman, captures a lot of the cheeky – and uncanny – spirit of the show.

Forever

Fred Armisen starred in the short-lived Alan Yang (co-creator of Master Of None) dramedy Forever alongside his Big Mouth cartoon wife Maya Rudolph. It's less of a laugh-out-loud deal, and more of a mediation on love and marriage, where you become too invested in the characters – even if for much of the season they're actually ghosts. 

Standup For Drummers

For a taste of Fred Armisen's stand-up, his show Standup For Drummers is on Netflix. There are plenty of impressions there, from a '50s doo-wop fan to a person impatiently waiting to check in to the W Hotel to the always cheery Ringo Starr to a decomposing fox. That's what we call range. 

Tickets to Fred Armisen's Australian shows, Comedy For Musicians But Everyone Is Welcome, are available now. Scroll down to theGuide for all the details.

Fred Armisen tours from 29 Aug.