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Fred T Adams, MD - General Practice, Greenbrae, CA | Powered by DrScore.co drscore.com |
 Fred Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, and musician, best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live.
[edit] Personal lifeArmisen grew up in Long Island, New York. His mother is of Venezuelan descent and his father is of German and Japanese ancestry.[1] He attended the School of Visual Arts (NYC).[2] Armisen is SNL's second Asian-American cast member (after Rob Schneider, who is part Filipino) as well as the second Hispanic-American cast member (after Horatio Sanz, who is Chilean-American).[3] With Darrell Hammond gone from the cast at the start of the 35th season, Armisen is now the only SNL cast member to be born before the 1970s and the oldest cast member at age 43. Armisen married Elisabeth Moss of The West Wing and Mad Men on October 25, 2009.[4] [edit] Music careerArmisen began his career in 1988 when he moved from New York to Chicago to play drums for the punk rock band Trenchmouth.[5] In the 1990s, he played background drums with the Blue Man Group in Chicago. He is currently endorsed by Shine Drums. In 1997, he toured with Those Bastard Souls, a project of David Shouse of The Grifters which also featured The Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd.[citation needed] He plays drums on three tracks on Les Savy Fav's 2007 album, Let's Stay Friends.[6] [edit] Discography
[edit] Television and film careerWhile playing with Trenchmouth, Armisen's interests switched to performing. In a January 2006 interview with The AV Club, he explained it this way:[7]
Armisen's subsequent television work, such as some "memorable Andy Kaufman-esque appearances" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien as well as work for Crank Yankers and Adult Swim, led in 2002 to a role as a featured player in the cast of Saturday Night Live.[8] In the 2004 season, he was promoted to a repertory cast member. Armisen has done a handful of supporting roles in comedy films, such as the creepy Italian man in the film Eurotrip and roles in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Deck the Halls, The Ex, The Promotion, The Rocker and Confessions of a Shopaholic. [edit] ControversiesSaturday Night Live drew criticism for having Armisen portray Barack Obama starting in February 2008, with at least one journalist comparing Armisen's Obama makeup to blackface.[9] In December 2008, Armisen's impression of New York governor David Paterson drew criticism from from the National Federation of the Blind and from the governor's office, which said the skit ridiculed people with physicial disabilities.[10] [edit] Television
[edit] SNL characters and impressions
The following is a partial list of notable roles Armisen has played in Saturday Night Live sketches. [edit] Notable characters
[edit] Notable impressionsArmisen has done impressions of political figures such as Hugo Chávez, Vicente Fox, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Barney Frank, George H. W. Bush, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and Mike Gravel. He has also impersonated film and television celebrities past and present such as Martin Scorsese, Desi Arnaz, Corbin Bleu, Sam Waterston, Joy Behar, George Carlin, Dov Charney, Howie Mandel, Alan Osmond, Liberace, David Gregory, Larry King, Penny Marshall, David Lee Roth, Gene Simmons, Lawrence Welk, Paul Lynde, Randy Newman, and John Oates. His list of impressions has also included:
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Other workIn 1998 he posed as a music journalist for the short film Fred Armisen’s Guide to Music and South by Southwest. It was filmed by then-girlfriend Sally Timms and featured Armisen's "pranking musicians and industry types" during the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.[12] Armisen is part of ThunderAnt, a comedy duo with former Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein. The duo specializes in creating comedic short skits oftentimes about independent vocations such as one man shows, feminist bookstores, and bicycle rights activists. Armisen has directed music videos for bands like The Helio Sequence. Armisen also had a 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. Armisen occasionally writes for Pitchfork Media and interviewed Cat Power for that company.[13] 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".[14] 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 Prince. Armisen appeared in the official music video for Man Man's song "Rabbit Habits", playing a man who charms his blind date (Charlyne Yi) but runs away after she turns into a werewolf.[15] Along with Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis, Armisen voiced radio characters in Grand Theft Auto IV. [edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: 1966 births | Actors from New York | American comedy musicians | American drummers | American film actors | American music video directors | American sketch writers | American stand-up comedians | American television actors | American television writers | Japanese Americans | German-American actors | Venezuelan Americans | Hispanic American actors | ATHF Voice Actors | Living people | People from Valley Stream, New York | Valley Stream Central High School alumni | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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