Quotes from Fred Armisen

Something about Portland just really resonated with me.

The worst art is when it's really convenient and comfy.

I would never play a character that wasn't true. It's not a moral thing; it's just that it's more convincing if it's a little bit like me.

I loooved Sleater-Kinney like a crazy person.

I'm not by nature a cynical person. But sometimes your expectations are different from reality.

Ever since I was really little, I started doing a - I don't know how to put this - mentally challenged person on my street. I meant no harm by it, but I remembered how this person talked, and I did it for my mom, and she was not into it. She said, 'You can't do that!' But my dad really laughed.

The bands that were big in '77, like the Clash and the Sex Pistols and Talking Heads, I got into them in the early '80s. And it changed my life. It got into my DNA.

Talking Heads were a big influence on my comedy. For David Byrne, every album had to be different. With 'Portlandia,' every season has to be different. You gotta reinvent the look, all of it.

I'm obsessed with my 20s. I buy things that I wanted in my 20s. It's weird; it's a weird thing that I didn't grow out of.

Sometimes 'Portlandia' can be pretty traditional. But the stuff I've always loved on 'SNL' has always been the weirdest stuff I've done. The stuff that went on at 10 to 1 in the morning.

That's one of the great things about Los Angeles, that people just play music, and it's all very welcoming and welcomed.

I like to think Portland and L.A. are not rivals; they're cousins. As cities on the West Coast, they're distinct in their own way but still culturally similar.

I'll just say that there are times when TV shows, like 'The Honeymooners' or 'I Love Lucy' or something, where they're totally in their stride, and this thing happens, where you can tell they got everything they wanted. And it starts to look a little relaxed. No criticism to the shows whatsoever; these people are geniuses.

I think a comedian has a more specific job. Whereas a musician can fall into different categories, you know, of making background music or doing a soundtrack or wanting to be in a band or writing the song, or writing your own songs. And then comedy is a very black and white thing. You want to make people happy.

For me, I would get so frustrated because I would see these other bands just whip by us.

I like that 'Broad City' exists, and I love being around at the same time as 'Key & Peele.' I love those guys - I just, I love their faces.

I would really like to do a movie. Schedule-wise I don't know when exactly, but I think it would be great to do a Portlandia movie. Some of my favorite television shows have done it and they've been great. Like Monty Python. I think it would be great.

Panned or not, 'Dune' is a real part of science-fiction filmmaking.

I'm glad I get to do characters. It's just like a Polaroid shot of whoever the person is, and to me, anyway, that's kind of what life is like. You get a general sense of somebody, and then we're all good, we get it. We understand each other.

I will always consider myself a punk because of those experiences in high school. It will always be a part of me.

I will always, no matter what, be a punk more than anything.

I was actually late to the punk movement because I was too young.

When punk came along, it made perfect sense to me. I found it melodic. The Clash, Buzzcocks.

When 'Pale Fire' came out, that album was a big friend of mine. I've just always purely been a fan of El Perro del Mar.