Fred Armisen, a former writer and cast member of Saturday Night Live, has a relatively new show called Portlandia.
Like SNL, Portlandia is a sketch show. Each episode features Armisen and his co-star/creator, Carrie Brownstein, in a bunch of skits ranging from two shopkeepers who will do anything to deter customers to two musicians meeting with the mayor of Portland to write a song.
Each episode, like SNL, has a few guest stars, but they only make an appearance in one sketch each. To gain an idea, the first episode featured Jason Sudeikis and Steve Buscemi.
Unlike SNL, where the skits are geared around the week’s news and the host of the episode, Armisen said Portlandia’s skits don’t have to be timely. However, they do poke fun at American culture. One of the sketches that recurs in the first season is “Women and Women First.” It features Armisen and Brownstein as two clerks in a bookstore whose ultimate goal, it seems, is to not sell any of books all. They are rude and unhelpful to their customers.
In the first episode, they make it impossible for their customer to pay for a book, telling him he can’t buy just one book in a series and refusing he leave his change as a tip. In the second episode, they say it will take them a year to order the customer’s book because it must be handwritten.
If your favorite part of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was the random musical number that didn’t quite fit in, you’ll enjoy Portlandia. Since both Armisen and Brownstein are musicians, they often incorporate music into the sketches in any way they can. The very first episode opens with a musical number that describes the town of Portlandia, or Portland. The song says, “The dream of the 90’s is alive in Portland.”
While I appreciate the humor and creativity behind the show, it’s really not my style. I found the show to be obnoxious and bizarre. All of the characters were similar in that they lacked basic social skills or understanding of cultural norms, there wasn’t much variety. I did, however, like the ideas behind the sketches.
I really wanted to like the show. I thought Fred Armisen was funny on SNL. I guess I was hoping for characters similar to the ones he wrote.
Overall, I’d give the show a 3 out of 5 stars. While I only laughed once or twice during each episode, I understand the creativity behind the sketches. It just isn’t my sense of humor.
The first three seasons of Portlandia are available on Netflix, and the fourth season aired on IFC in February.
