Fred Armisen: TV's Most Prolific Shape-Shifter

TV’s most prolific shape-shifter, the bespectacled face of Portlandia and Documentary Now!, gives a rare glimpse of his past, his process and his loathing of scorpions.

- Danielle Bacher

Q1: What were you like as a kid?

ARMISEN: I was really into comedy and music, not unlike the way I am now. I was not good at sports. I sat at the very front of the classroom because of my last name, so I got to face everyone, and I tried to make them laugh. I liked attention, which is the same reason I picked the drums as an instrument. The drummer gets the most attention. It’s a fact. Think of where your eyes go when you’re watching a show; they always go to the drum set. It’s like this altar of things, and it’s so noisy with so much going on. It’s the best instrument in the band.

Q2: You came up as a drummer in a punk band. What punk music do you listen to nowadays?

ARMISEN: I will always love the Damned, Hüsker Dü and the Misfits. Punk speaks to me like nothing else does. As far as newer bands, there’s one called Bully. They make me excited for punk rock again. And Japandroids. The scope of it—it’s not just the fast bands that we think of. There are so many different types of bands, mellow bands, that are part of the punk scene. I think of Joanna Newsom as punk.

Q3: You used to impersonate Prince. Were you a fan of his work, and did his death hit you hard?

ARMISEN: I was and am obsessed with Prince. I thought I knew what was cool, but his look and his music turned my world upside down. I met him at