Fred Armisen

All you want to know about Fred Armisen

Fred Armisen

Armisen at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Born December 4, 1966 (1966-12-04) (age 41)
Valley Stream, New York
Years active 1987 - present
Spouse(s) Sally Timms (divorced)
Official website
Armisen performing at Webster Hall in 2001.
Armisen performing at Webster Hall in 2001.

Fred Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American musician, comedian, and actor, best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live.

Contents

Music career

Armisen began his career in 1988 when he moved from New York to Chicago to play drums for the punk rock band Trenchmouth.[citation needed] In the 1990s, he played background drums with Blue Man Group in Chicago, and in 1997, he toured with David Shouse of The Grifters' side band Those Bastard Souls, which also featured The Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd.[citation needed]

Discography

Year Title
1996 The Broadcasting System
1994 Trenchmouth Vs. the Light of the Sun
1993 Inside the Future
1991 Construction of New Action: Volume 1: First There Was Movement

Television and film career

While playing with Trenchmouth, Armisen's interests switched to performing. In a January 2006 interview with The AV Club, he explained it this way:[1]

I wanted to be on TV somehow. For some reason, I always thought it would be an indirect route, I didn't know that it would be comedy and Saturday Night Live. I just wanted to do something with performing that would lead me there.

Armisen's subsequent television work, such as some "memorable Andy Kaufman-esque appearances" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien as well as work for Crank Yankers, and Adult Swim, led in 2002 to a role as a featured player in the cast of Saturday Night Live.[2] In the 2004 season, he was promoted to a repertory cast member. Armisen has done a handful of supporting roles in comedy films, such as the creepy Italian man in the film Eurotrip and roles in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Deck the Halls, The Ex, The Promotion, and The Rocker.

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2008 Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job KJ Nutt Guest star, episode: "Pepperoni"
2008 Squidbillies Miguel Guest star, voice only, episode: "Krystal Light
2008 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Male Robot Guest star, voice only, episode: "Robots Everywhere"
2007 30 Rock Raheem Guest star, episode: "Somebody to Love"
2006 Freak Show Dane Cheff Guest star, voice only, episode: "Elections"
2006 Tom Goes to the Mayor Phillip Priest/Serpent Expert Guest star, voice only, episode: "Jeffy the Sea Serpent"
2006 Squidbillies Jesus Guest star, voice only, episode: "Giant Foam Dickhat Trouble"
2005 Squidbillies Miguel Guest star, voice only, episode: "Office Politics Trouble"
2005 Squidbillies Miguel Guest star, voice only, episode: "Take This Job and Love It"
2004 12:21 Jeremy Television special
2004 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Poncho Guest star, voice only, episode: "Hypno-Germ"
2003-present Crank Yankers Chip Douglas Guest star, multiple episodes
2002-Present Saturday Night Live Various Characters Series regular
2002 Late World with Zach Various Characters Guest star, multiple episodes
2002 Next! Various Characters Series regular, failed television pilot
2001 Late Friday Fericito Guest star, episode: "Episode #1.12"
2001 Late Friday Father Fred Guest star, episode: "Episode 1.8"

SNL characters and impressions

 This section is missing citations or needs footnotes.
Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (October 2008)

The following is a partial list of notable roles Armisen has played in Saturday Night Live sketches.

Notable characters

Notable impressions

Armisen has done impressions of political figures such as Hugo Chávez, Vicente Fox, Barney Frank, and Mike Gravel. He has also impersonated film and television celebrities past and present such as Martin Scorsese, Desi Arnaz, Corbin Bleu, George Carlin, Dov Charney, David Gregory, Larry King, Penny Marshall, Efren Ramirez, Gene Simmons, and Lawrence Welk. His list of impressions has also included:

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2008 The Rocker Kerr
2008 Baby Mama Stroller Salesman
2007 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Time Lincoln
2007 The Ex Manny
2006 Deck the Halls Gustave
2006 Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny Security Guard #2
2006 Griffin & Phoenix
2006 Kiss Me Again Dr. Szabo
2005 Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo Frenchman Uncredited
2005 Looking for a Thrill: An Anthology of Inspiration Himself Video
2004 Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie Tino Video
2004 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Tino
2004 EuroTrip Creepy Italian Guy
2003 Frank International Film Festival Frank Short film, video
2003 Melvin Goes to Dinner Vesa
2002 Like Mike New Age Dad
2002 I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Himself
1998 Guide to Music and South by Southwest Various Characters Short film, also writer and director

Other work

In 1998 he posed as a music journalist for the short film Fred Armisen’s Guide to Music and South by Southwest. It was filmed by then-girlfriend Sally Timms and featured Armisen's "pranking musicians and industry types" during the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.[4]

Armisen is also part of ThunderAnt, a comedy duo with former Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein[5]

Armisen has directed music videos for bands like The Helio Sequence. Armisen also had a role in the Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which featured footage from his stint opening for front man Jeff Tweedy's 2001 solo tour. He also appeared in video segments on Blue Man Group's How to be a Megastar Tour 2.0.[6] Armisen occasionally writes for Pitchfork Media and interviewed Cat Power for that company.[7] Fred appeared as Jens Hannemann on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 19, 2007, promoting a 28-minute DVD called Fred Armisen presents Jens Hannemann: "COMPLICATED DRUMMING TECHNIQUE".[8] On SNL, Armisen often plays musical instruments in sketches, has two recurring characters who are musicians (Mackey the drummer from the Rialto Grande and Ferecito from Showbiz Grande Explosion) or impersonates famous figures in the music world such as Liberace, Phil Spector, Lou Reed, and Prince.

Personal life

Armisen has both Venezuelan and Japanese ancestry.[9] He and musician Sally Timms married at some point after the 1998 South by Southwest Festival[4] and were divorced by the time he directed the 2005 video for the song "Don't Look Away"[10] from The Helio Sequence album Love and Distance.

References

  1. ^ a b January 2006 Interview with The A.V. Club
  2. ^ 2006 Interview with Fred Armisen on Cult Cargo
  3. ^ Armstrong, Josh E. "Seven Questions with Fred Armisen". Armstrong Interviews. Retrieved on 2008-07-15.
  4. ^ a b Smooching Deadlines from a November 5, 1998 column in The Austin Chronicle
  5. ^ http://www.thunderant.com/
  6. ^ How To Be A Megastar Tour
  7. ^ Pitchfork Feature: Interview: Cat Power
  8. ^ Jens Hannemann "COMPLICATED DRUMMING TECHNIQUE" on Drag City Educational Music DVD
  9. ^ DeRogatis, Jim (2003-02-05). "All Ke-e-e-ding Aside". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2008-06-12.
  10. ^ The Helio Sequence "Don't Look Away" Directed by Fred Armisen, a November 2005 music video review from Willamette Week

External links

v • d • e
Current Saturday Night Live cast members
Repertory players
Featured players
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Armisen"

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