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Fred Armisen Joins The YH 4-Timers Club

Fred Armisen Joins The YH 4-Timers Club

6:34·By Gemma G
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Actor/rocker Michael Des Barres joins us in a hammock at SXSW for a record-tying chat with SNL alum and "Portlandia" star Fred Armisen, who becomes only the third celeb that we've interviewed 4 times! But before we get to the big ceremony, Fred tells us about his other project, IFC's animated show "Out There", plus he names his famous Beatle and exchanges animal impressions with our host! Hosted by Nikki Novak (@nikkinovak).

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Young Hollywood

Hi, I'm Nikki Novak and I'm here with Fred Armisen and our special guest co-host.

Michael DeBar

Michael DeBar. How are you? Nice to see you.

Fred Armisen

It's great to be here with these two.

Michael DeBar

Two legends, two legends together. I don't know what the heck I'm doing here.

Fred Armisen

You're a legend. Come on.

Michael DeBar

Listen. I'm dressed, I'm dressed the the part. Very nice.

Young Hollywood

Thank you, tell us how much you love Steve Jones, it is exceptional.

Fred Armisen

I love Steve Jones. He was an idol of mine and then I became friends with him. I consider him a friend and I love him. He's the best guy, so talented and so cool and so funny and very British. Even though he's a Californian, he's actually very British to me.

Young Hollywood

It's so great that you cast him in your show because for you to do that exquisite show you do Portlandia. You you hire a sex pistol that is really great. And tell us your relation. We have a check in the past and I love him as much as you do.

Fred Armisen

Yeah, I love him. He's great.

Young Hollywood

What's the new thing you're doing now? You have your animated show on IFC called out there. Yeah. Okay.

Fred Armisen

Right. I'm just a voice on there.

Young Hollywood

You're the voice on there, but you play Terry. Typically Young Hollywood we would never ask you if you're like your character, but in this case, I'm going to ask you several traits. Well, he's kind of Latino. Yes. And a hippie. Yes. And um, kind of a hippie.

Fred Armisen

Kind of a hippie.

Young Hollywood

Kind of a hippie. But I'm going to give you some qualities about Terry, and you tell me if you'd ever either sport this or have this quality, okay? All right. Deadbeat.

Fred Armisen

No.

Young Hollywood

Wearing sports headbands?

Fred Armisen

No.

Young Hollywood

Do you have chest hair?

Fred Armisen

A little. Not a lot. A little.

Young Hollywood

It's mattering?

Michael DeBar

He's lying.

Young Hollywood

When you're at home, do you sport cowboy boots and underwear and nothing else?

Fred Armisen

No.

Young Hollywood

What about when you're on a hammock? What's the most exciting thing that you're doing right now that you're most thrilled about?

Fred Armisen

I am very, very happy about Portlandia. I'm still, you know, trying to come up with new sketches. I love it. It's it's it's a dream come true.

Young Hollywood

Is it exhausting coming up with that amount of material, that kind of content?

Fred Armisen

We have help. We have other writers, and so this way, it's a at least it's a group, so.

Young Hollywood

But you won a Peabody Award for this. We wanted to point out that I just interviewed Larry King, who you do a fabulous impression of.

Fred Armisen

Thank you.

Young Hollywood

And he also won a Peabody Award. We were both going to show you our Larry King.

Fred Armisen

Well, I I do not. I do Larry Queen.

Young Hollywood

Okay, let's see your Larry Queen.

Fred Armisen

Well, that would request suspenders and sequins, which I don't have. So I'm going to have.

Young Hollywood

And our imagination it's happening.

Fred Armisen

Yeah. I'm going to have to leave it up to you, darling, because you do a great.

Michael DeBar

Oh my god. Are you ready?

Young Hollywood

Yeah.

Michael DeBar

Texas, hello. That was it.

Fred Armisen

Oh wow. That for real was really good. Yeah. But I wanted to set the bar really low because I'm going to impress you with this one, okay? I can do a fantastic monkey. Are you ready? You look, you look like you don't believe me.

Young Hollywood

Like the monkey is fantastic or you doing a fantastic A fantastic monkey impression. All right, are you ready?

Fred Armisen

Yeah, do it. Woo. Woo. Woo. Woo. Woo. Woo. Woo. Yeah.

Michael DeBar

Sound like my second wife. That's uh, that's it. Beautiful.

Fred Armisen

Yeah. And it had an element of some bird in it, too. See? See how I do that? I can do a cat a little bit. Okay. Meow. No. That's no good. No, no, no, no, no. Meow. Let's do languages. Let's do a language, but don't speak the words of the language. I'll I'll start. I'm Japanese.

Michael DeBar

Thank you. That's excellent.

Fred Armisen

Thank you very much. That was German. That's a language. My name is Fred. And I'm from Italy.

Michael DeBar

Very good. All right. You are all beautiful girls. Oh my god, that is fabulous.

Fred Armisen

Throw me a language and I'll do something.

Young Hollywood

Irish.

Fred Armisen

Oh my god. Okay.

Young Hollywood

Scandinavian.

Fred Armisen

German. Yeah. Oh man.

Young Hollywood

Can you do your Prince impression?

Fred Armisen

I just want your extra time and your. Kiss.

Young Hollywood

Perfect. What's the hardest impression to do? Like, who's difficult?

Fred Armisen

Oh, that's a good question.

Young Hollywood

It is. Has there been anybody that you sort of started and been like?

Fred Armisen

Tiger Woods it'd probably be quite difficult. That's a hard one cuz he talks he's such a such a nothing kind of a character. Simple, plain way of talking. I can't do an impression of Tiger Woods. So I'll go Tiger Woods.

Young Hollywood

Okay. Who's easy? Who's an easy target?

Fred Armisen

Ah. Prince. Why is he that? Steve Jobs. I think Steve Jobs, I think is easy.

Young Hollywood

Wow. That's that's interesting. Do you do a screen test and Ashton Kutcher, you know, all? Steve Jobs?

Fred Armisen

No. No one asked me to do a screen test.

Young Hollywood

Oh, my goodness. But he he deserves it. Yeah. When are when are all these movies happen?

Fred Armisen

Well, there's a Keith Moon movie that absolutely should be made.

Young Hollywood

You two could collaborate and sort of get it going. We should go into a Moon story. A Keith Moon story. You know, we should do that no one's ever done. We should direct a documentary about the Beatles because it's been done so much that people be like, why are they doing this? If I pitched that, they'd be like, why are you guys doing this? It's a waste of time. Like, yes, we're going to do a documentary showing the cavern days, and Sergeant Pepper and they're going to be like, why are you the 50th person? No, that is so great. Who's your favorite? I just go, you got to have a favorite.

Fred Armisen

I like Paul.

Young Hollywood

Wow.

Fred Armisen

I love Paul. Have you seen him play and he's unbelievable what he sounds like.

Young Hollywood

I mean, I agree with you on that. Great. We have an award for you. Okay. That's right. We do. This is now your fourth time interviewing with Young Hollywood. Uh-huh. Which ties you for the record for the all-time number of interviews with Jason Segel and Jackson Rathbone. Woo! So we have a very special gift for you. We are at the Four Seasons in Austin, and you know, we don't have a tremendous budget, but they do give out little shampoos in the hotel. Okay. So here we go. This is for you. May I present for the No. I want to present them. For fourth time. John. John. It's okay. John. There's your. Don't use it all in one day. Congratulations, Fred. You just dropped Ringo on my ass. It's okay. Fred, ladies and gentlemen, right here. How do you feel about? Would you like to make a speech?

Fred Armisen

Yes. Thank you very, very much. Never in all my years of doing this did I ever think that I would make it all the way to four. Let there be four more and four more after that, and then another four, and then another four. Four years to come. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you for hanging out with me. Now let's take a nap.

Timestamps are approximate — click one to jump the player.

PEOPLE MENTIONED

  • Fred Armisen

    Featured guest, tying the YH interview record

  • Michael Des Barres

    Special guest co-host, actor/rocker

  • Nikki Novak

    Host of the interview

  • Steve Jones

    Musician, friend and cast in 'Portlandia'

  • Larry King

    Subject of Fred Armisen's impression

  • Prince

    Subject of Fred Armisen's impression

  • Tiger Woods

    Discussed as a difficult impression subject

  • Steve Jobs

    Discussed as an easy impression subject

  • Ashton Kutcher

    Mentioned in relation to Steve Jobs role

  • Keith Moon

    Discussed for a potential movie

  • Paul McCartney

    Fred Armisen's favorite Beatle

  • Jason Segel

    Mentioned for tying the 4-interview record with Fred Armisen

FAQ

What record did Fred Armisen tie at Young Hollywood?+
Fred Armisen tied the record for the most interviews with Young Hollywood, reaching his fourth appearance, alongside Jason Segel and Jackson Rathbone.
What animated show is Fred Armisen involved with?+
Fred Armisen is a voice actor on the IFC animated show "Out There," where he plays the character Terry.
Who is the special guest co-host in the interview?+
The special guest co-host in the interview is actor and rocker Michael Des Barres.
Who is Fred Armisen's favorite Beatle?+
Fred Armisen states that his favorite Beatle is Paul McCartney.
What award did Fred Armisen win for Portlandia?+
Fred Armisen won a Peabody Award for his work on the show "Portlandia."

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