Fred Armisen

	File:Fred Armisen-header.png
Gender	Male
Age	57
Hair Color	Dark Brown
Eye Color	Hazel
Occupation(s)	Musician, Actor, Voice Actor, Writer, Producer, Director, Singer, Comedian

Fred Armisen is a co-creator, co-writer, and co-star of Portlandia. Fred's love of music led him to play drums in the Chicago-based post-punk band Trenchmouth as well as playing with the Blue Man Group. His transition to comedy came with the 1998 underground short film Fred Armisen's Guide to Music and SXSW which followed him through the Austin, Texas "South By Southwest Music Festival" posing as a music journalist. In 2006, he interviewed Cat Power for the influential music website Pitchfork.com. He then combined his love for music and comedy by creating the role of drummer Jens Hannemann and releasing an instructional DVD, "Complicated Drumming Technique," in 2007.

Fred would eventually audition for Saturday Night Live with the character, Fericito, a Venezuelan nightclub comic and percussionist. Upon joining the official cast, Fericito would pop up every now and then with the sketch "Show Biz Grande Explosion". Fred would join the cast as a featured talent in 2002, but would be promoted to the regular cast in 2004. On SNL, Fred appeared in sketches portraying the U.S. Senator turned President Barack Obama, as well as New York Governor, David Paterson. Other characters include the vaguely European home design enthusiast Nooni, the Native American comic Billy Smith, the political comedian Nicholas Fehn, and Prince, the often-silent host of the musician's talk show, "The Prince Show". One of the most recognizable characters in Armisen's back pocket would be the British Pun rocker, Ian Rubbish, inspired by Sex Pistols own John Lydon. Armisen has also contributed memorable impressions of Muammar Gaddafi, Queen Elizabeth, Steve Jobs, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the popular Digital Short "Iran So Far Away." Fred would leave the show in 2013, but would return to host the Season 41 finale on May 21, 2016 with musical guest Courtney Barnett. Armisen would come back from time to time for cameo appearances, mostly notably for hosts Natasha Lyonne & Bad Bunny.

In 2003, Fred had heard that Sleater-Kinney would be performing in NYC, but it would be around the time that he would be working on SNL. Fred was friends with the drummer, Janet Weiss, and had known her for years. It was even confirmed by Carrie Brownstein that during Fred's time in Trenchmouth that her and Fred traveled in the same circles and it seemed whenever she was in Chicago for a gig that Trenchmouth would be performing elsewhere. At some point, Carrie did end up staying in his apartment when he wasn't there. Despite not being able to attend Sleater-Kinney's concert, Fred would extend an invitation for the band to come to the post show party. The band would show up, and from there Fred instantly bond with Carrie or their shared interests. In an interview with New York Magazine, Carrie noted that Fred was wearing a button with her face on it when they met. Fred confirmed it as when the Sleater-Kinney Album One Beat came out, it had three buttons with each of the band members on it. The buttons with Corin and Janet were on Fred's bulletin board back at his office in 30 Rock. From there, Fred and Carrie would develop a strong friendship and a desire to work on a project some day. A few years after their meeting, Fred would take a trip to Portland, Oregon to film a few sketches with Carrie. They decided to put these sketches online and call themselves Thunderant.

Fred has landed on Rolling Stone's "Hot List" as well as twice on Entertainment Weekly's "Must List" (for his performance as a politically incorrect deaf comedian and his witty iTunes playlist). He recently appeared in the feature films Easy A opposite Emma Stone, Confessions of a Shopaholic opposite Isla Fisher, The Rocker opposite Rainn Wilson and The Promotion with John C. Reilly. He has also appeared in the films Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny with Jack Black, The Ex with Zach Braff and Jason Bateman, as well as Eurotrip, and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Within the past few years he's also appeared in movies like Band-Aid as David, The Bubble as Darren Eigen, The Super Mario Bros. Movie as Cranky Kong,

He has made guest appearances on NBC's 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and the cable comedy shows The Sarah Silverman Show, Human Giant and Tim & Eric, Awesome Show, Great Job! He was also seen in the smash kids show Yo Gabba Gabba on Nickelodeon.

In 2018, Fred had a comedy special for Nexflix called "Standup for Drummers". Mixing his unique brand of comedy and passion for music, only drummers were allowed to attend the recording. Fred would also share the stage with Green Day's Tre Cool, Vinnie Colaiuta, Clem Burke, Stella Mozgawa, Sheila E., etc. In recent years, Fred has transitioned his comedy show to welcome all audiences as has been touring the U.S. as well as the U.K.

Armisen lives in Los Angeles. His birthday is December 4.^[1]