Fred Armisen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fred Armisen (born December 4, 1966 in Valley Stream, New York) is an American musician, comedian, and actor. He is of German, Japanese, and Venezuelan descent.

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 drums with Blue Man Group in Chicago, and in 1997 toured with David Shouse of The Grifters' sideband, Those Bastard Souls, which also featured Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd. His 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. In 2004, he appeared in the films Eurotrip and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

Throughout his comedic rise Armisen has maintained substantial ties with music. For example, 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 frontman 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.[1] Armisen occasionally writes for Pitchfork Media, and recently interviewed Cat Power for them.[2]

He is currently a repertory player on Saturday Night Live. He is noted for hardly ever breaking character.