The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
I can remain silent no longer!
The show Portlandia on Independent Film Channel (IFC) is so ridiculously funny, so wildly satirical, and so even-handed when it comes to critiquing all ideologies, lifestyles, and demographics...I just had to post something recommending it to those of you who have yet to partake. (Reminder: I'm under 30, so keep that in mind all you Boomers who may watch these clips and wonder if I've lost my mind.)
The quasi-sketch show stars Saturday Night Live cast member Fred Armisen who films Portlandia during SNL's off-season. His co-star and co-creator is a former musician Carrie Brownstein who actually holds her own with the formidable Armisen on screen. Each episode has an overall, skeleton plot to it, but filling in the gaps are sequences of comedy gold. Okay, so some sketches/scenes miss more than they hit, but the overall result of each episode that I've seen thus far is a great deal of laughter. Everyone involved with this show is liberal-to-quite-liberal, and yet they are unrelenting in their spoofing of all the Left's sacred cows. No one, no thing, is off limits.
You know, actual comedy. The kind of stuff that doesn't have to avoid the obvious joke simply because it will offend a New York Times critic.
And at the same time, Portlandia isn't, in my opinion, nasty. It doesn't have an agenda. It's just funny.
So here are two clips that I think are litmus tests to judge whether or not you should invest any more time on the show. The first is the opening sequence of Episode 1 and does a good job of giving you the overall theme of what you're about experience (should you choose to accept it):
And the second clip I chose is of a bleeding heart couple who goes to dinner and appears to be less interested in eating and more interested in just how "cage free" that cage-free, farm-fresh chicken they are ordering really is.
If you like what you see, Portlandia is on NetFlix and you can watch episodes on-line at the show's website.
I'll be interested in hearing some reactions, so Comment away!
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Apr '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
You have doubled my exposure to the show. I liked the opening to Episode One you posted above, but the other three clips I've watched: meh. Too subtle for me; I get more out of The Whitest Kids You Know.
Oct '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Armisen shines in this. I always dug a lot of his SNL stuff, but unfortunately they throw a lot of skits his way with the hopes he'll save them. Portlandia is the really tight, Mr. Show, Kids in the Hall, type of sketch comedy I dig. It's also hilariously and painfully true.
May '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
The show can be kind of hit and miss with me, but when they get one right I'm laughing really hard. As a Portland Native I can say that so many of the stereotypes made fun of are just dead on and the best part is like you say R.J., nothing is off limits.
Nov '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Love love love the chicken clip. Thanks for the introduction.
Apr '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Good post, R.J. Mr. Charlotte and I just watched Season One on Netflix and found the first two episodes pitch-perfectly hilarious, but it seemed to lose a little zip in later episodes.
Overall, it's a unique and inventive show with plenty of good satire (and you're right, they do it without being mean). The characters are often more interesting than the sketch plots. We especially like the bike messenger guy and the Women & Women First bookstore ladies.
Season Two just started and we're looking forward to watching.
Aug '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
I'd seen a few clips here and there, and decided to watch the first episode a couple days ago. I kept thinking "So Portland is just like Madison!"
Aug '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Double-post!
Edited on January 13, 2012 at 3:45pmRe: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Mark and I love Portlandia. He was raised in Oregon and lived in Portland after college so he sometimes has trouble containing his laughter while watching the show. Glad you're recommending this great show and I hope Season 2 does well.
My only real beef is that they have Portland's rather immoral mayor as a cast member. But I love all of the other casting choices.
Incidentally, during the recent boom of Carrie Brownstein coverage, I thought the New Yorker piece actually made me dislike her whereas the New York Times profile was great.
Dec '10
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
I compare Portlandia to a great 70's movie - Slapshot. Both of them take the idiosyncrasies of their subject matter and satirize them to the point where everyone will see the humor, and the people who live in it will find it even funnier while at the same time feeling quiet uncomfortable with the truth.
I agree with Mollie's point about casting Portland's mayor Sam Adams - although I'd go a step further than calling him "immoral". I think the term "pedophile" is a little more appropriate.
And the episode with the chickens in the restaurant? When they go to check out the farm where the chicken was raised, it turns out to be a cult that is reminiscent of another piece of Oregon's weird and wild history.
Love the show!
Aug '10
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Portlandia is wonderfully self-deprecating stuff. The Womyn's bookstore skits are hilarious. Kyle MacLachlan and his exercise ball chair are perfect. From Dune to Twin Peaks to Showgirls to this, his career path was directed by David Lynch.
Apr '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Wow. That's a parallel I never would have made. Slapshot as satire? Wickedly funny, yes, but satire? I will have to review. I'm more inclined to flownover's view that Portlandia is self-deprecating.
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
I love it too! Never heard of the show, but realize now that my roommate's been quoting it for a while. A few weeks ago, when I was agonizing over an invitation design, she said "stick a bird on it and call it art."
Apr '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
I'm very grateful I found a better way of getting my catharsis from Portland than watching a TV show.
Dec '10
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
I think it's hysterically funny. So do my college-age daughters. My wife hates it. Go figure.
Aug '10
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.:
Incidentally, during the recent boom of Carrie Brownstein coverage, I thought the New Yorker piece actually made me dislike her whereas the New York Times profile was great. · Jan 13 at 7:09am
I actually really liked the New Yorker profile. I saw it as being less about Brownstein herself than about her deep friendship with Armisen and in that respect I saw the article as a good portrait of platonic love.
Also I've long really liked Sleater-Kinney though I've yet to really get into Wild Flag.
Mar '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
I just started watching it a few days ago on Netflix and am hooked. The bike guy is perfect.
Jun '10
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Definitely very clever but I can't help but agonize over the fact that this is my hometown gaining fame in such a way. Help me!
Jan '11
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
Thx for the intro to the show. Having lived across the river in SW Washington for the last 30yrs or so, I've always just shaken my head at the Portland motto "Keep Portand weird". However, this show makes it, at least, funny in a humorous way, rather than a bizarre, immoral, over-the-top liberal way.
Dec '10
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
"Here is the chicken you'll be enjoying tonight..." reminiscent of Douglas Adams.
My critique: not enough fat chicks, but maybe I'm biased to Washington...
Sep '10
Re: The Dream of the 90's Is Alive In Portland!
I know people who aren't far removed from the couple in the chicken skit. Funny to watch, not so funny to have to find a restaurant that will satisfy them in real life when we're at a conference... academics, of course.