Fred Armisen, AZITA

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Koury Angelo

Fred Armisen and guitar sitting on a couch.

Fred Armisen

Although it now seems like Fred Armisen was a Saturday Night Live cast member during one of the show’s periodic golden eras, at the time SNL did not appear to be putting Armisen to his best comedic uses. That came with IFC’s stealth hit series Portlandia, where Armisen’s boggled earnestness meshed perfectly with then it-city Portland’s, well, boggled earnestness. His current show, Comedy For Musicians But Everyone Is Welcome, draws on his background as a musician and features his on-point routine about the history of punk rock. With AZITA (aka, Azita Youssefi of Scissor Sisters).

media release: Fred Armisen is a comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He is the co-writer and co-star of IFC’s Emmy-nominated series Portlandia, which he created alongside Carrie Brownstein. He is currently in the hit Netflix series Wednesday as Uncle Fester. He stars as “Tico” in HBO’s Los Espookys, which he co-wrote and executive produced. He can also be heard in the hit animated Super Mario Bros movie. Armisen stars in, writes, and produces IFC’s hit show Documentary Now, for which he has received two Emmy nominations. He has also appeared in HBO’s Our Flag Means Death, Judd Apatow’s The Bubble, andAmazon’s series Forever (which he was also an executive producer on). He has appeared as a voice actor in Big Mouth and The Mitchells vs. The Machines.

Armisen’s career began as a musician in the Chicago-based post-punk band Trenchmouth as well as the Blue Man Group. His transition to comedy came with the 1998 underground short film, Fred Armisen’s Guide to Music and South by Southwest. An 11-season veteran of Saturday Night Live, Armisen has engaged audiences with memorable impressions and characters. In 2014, Armisen was named band leader of the 8G Band on Late Night With Seth Meyers. The band, curated by Armisen, includes members of indie rock bands Les Savy Fav and Girls Against Boys.