Fred Armisen

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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)

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 1 Biography 1.1 Career 2 Saturday Night Live 2.1 Notable characters 2.2 Notable impressions 3 Filmography 4 Video Games 5 Television 6 Discography with the band Trenchmouth 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Career

Armisen began his career in 1988 when he moved from New York to Chicago to play drums for the punk rock band Trenchmouth. 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.

Armisen's transition from music to comedy occurred with the 1998 short film Fred Armisen’s Guide to Music and South by Southwest. The film featured Armisen's trip to the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, where he captured reactions while posing as a music journalist. After this, Armisen began doing stand-up comedy. In 2002, he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player. In the 2004 season, he was promoted to a repertory cast member. On SNL, he is noted for hardly ever breaking character. He has done a handful of supporting roles. He was a standout as the creepy Italian man in the film Eurotrip. Also, he appeared in the films Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Deck the Halls.

As of 2007, Armisen continued to star on Saturday Night Live. The same year, he was seen in a supporting role in the comedy The Ex and in a starring role in the comedy Quebec. He has also created a comedy team with former Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein titled ThunderAnt. ^[1] Armisen will also be seen in the upcoming feature The Rocker starring Rainn Wilson.

Throughout his comedic rise Armisen has maintained substantial ties with music. Armisen has directed music videos for bands like The Helio Sequence. Armisen also had a memorable 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.^[2] Armisen occasionally writes for Pitchfork Media and interviewed Cat Power for that company.^[3] 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". 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, most notably, Prince.

Armisen directed the music video for The Helio Sequence's "Don't Look Away." He is noted for the quote "You gotta get yourself some marble columns!"

Armisen has both Venezuelan and Japanese ancestry, making him both the second Asian-American and second Latin-American Saturday Night Live castmember, after Rob Schneider (who is part Filipino) and Horatio Sanz (who is Chilean), respectively.

[edit] Saturday Night Live

[edit] Notable characters Billiam —a gay man in space who appears in the "Gays in Space" sketches. Billy Smith—a Native American stand-up comedian who tells Native American themed jokes that no one gets. Fericito—a Venezuelan nightclub comedian and host of ¡Show Biz Grande Explosion! Gabe Fisher—a Jewish man who takes many adult classes as a member of the Adult Students. Gunther Kelly—a man who performs songs on Weekend Update with his brother Patrick (played by Will Forte) Leonard—The strange European host of the foreign music show Club Traxx. Mackey—a senile drummer who often does rimshots at inappropriate moments and appears in the "Rialto Grande" sketches. Noony Schoener—a quirky, foreign art dealer who appears with his wife Nuni Schoener (played by Maya Rudolph) in the "The Schoeners" sketches) Frondi—a mentally challenged character who criticizes Ben Affleck's movie Gigli to Ben himself. Nicholas Fehn—a political comedian who talks loudly but says no real political commentary. Roger A. Trevanti—Greedy studio head and AMPTP member who rails against the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.

[edit] Notable impressions Barack Obama—recurring in Season 33 episodes as the potential Democratic nominee for President, beginning on February 23, 2008. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—played the Iranian President in an SNL Digital Short called "Iran So Far" with a cameo by Jake Gyllenhaal and Adam Levine of Maroon 5. Also appeared on Weekend Update (both occurrences premiered on Saturday, September 29, 2007). Camilla Parker-Bowles—British duchess who appears on Weekend Update with her husband, Prince Charles (played by Seth Meyers). George Carlin David Gregory Vicente Fox—Former President of Mexico Prince—A parody of the musician as the host of a talk show called The Prince Show, with Beyoncé Knowles (played by Maya Rudolph) as his co-host. Steve Jobs—Apple CEO who appears on Weekend Update to show off strange new technology. Tony Danza, in the one-shot sketch "The American Trainwreck Awards" and in an Anderson Cooper 360 sketch where he is one of the many celebrities rebuilding the homes of Hurricane Katrina victims. Larry King Judge Larry Seidlin, on Weekend Update Hugo Chávez Howie Mandel, whom Armisen has done both in a Deal or No Deal parody and as a guest host waiting in the wings for Regis and Kelly Martin Scorsese Gene Simmons Mike Gravel Sam Waterston, as Jack McCoy from Law & Order David Paterson, lieutenant governor turned governor of New York, appeared on Comedy Central's Night of too Many Stars

[edit] Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters
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

[edit] Video Games

GTA IV- Pervert, Mexican Hot Dog Vendor, and Internet Nerd

[edit] Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job	KJ Nutt	Host of Segment called Hobby Holes. episode: "Pepperoni"
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"

[edit] Discography with the band Trenchmouth

Year	Title	Role	Notes
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

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Fred Armisen at the Internet Movie Database
• Fred Armisen at Allmovie
• Fred Armisen at NNDB
• Fred Armisen at MySpace
• Official website
• 2006 Interview with Fred Armisen on Cult Cargo
• Fred Armisen interviews Cat Power
• 2006 Interview with The Onion's AV Club
• 2007 Interview with WickedInfo.com
• Jens Hannemann "COMPLICATED DRUMMING TECHNIQUE" on Drag City Educational Music DVD.

v • d • e Current Saturday Night Live Cast Members Repertory Players Fred Armisen · Will Forte · Bill Hader · Darrell Hammond · Seth Meyers · Amy Poehler · Andy Samberg · Jason Sudeikis · Kenan Thompson · Kristen Wiig Featured Players Casey Wilson