Fred Armisen Quotes:

Remember that there's no one way of doing things. ... If you just get a hammer and hit it really hard, whatever it is, I guarantee you it'll open.

Topics: Funny Graduation, Hammers, Guarantees

There's something that I can't describe about the city [Portland] that I really love - just physically - how it feels to walk around there, and have coffee there. Also, the way that it's a little overcast sometimes. Something about Portland just really resonated with me.

source: - "'Portlandia' Duo Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein Discuss the Secrets to the Cult Show's Success". Interview with Marlow Stern, www.thedailybeast.com. February 27, 2014.

Topics: Coffee, Cities, Portland, Overcast

I loooved Sleater-Kinney like a crazy person.

source: - Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

Topics: Crazy, Crazy Person, Persons

I came away from 'Saturday Night Live' feeling very well represented. I felt, and I still feel like, they let me do so much stuff that I wanted to do. Stuff that I almost didn't even know what it was.

Topics: Night, Feelings, Stuff, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night

I enjoy getting to work on 'Saturday Night Live', where I get to do people like David Paterson. And then, its like a different muscle to do someone like a bicycle guy on' Portlandia'.

Topics: Night, People, Guy, Saturday Night Live

I love 'Saturday Night Live,' and I really feel like people who have left before me have always stayed with the show. They never really quite left, which is nice. Everyone kind of stays close.

Topics: Nice, Night, People, Saturday Night Live

Portland is where young people go to retire.

Topics: People, Portland, Young

I have an inability to relax. I try to make every day a work day. I get pleasure from work... I try to think of sketch ideas, stand-up pieces. I am incapable of leisure and leisure time.

Topics: Thinking, Ideas, Trying

Chalkboards being used inside the restaurant seem to be a good sign that the proprietors are proud of their food, and that's kind of nice, actually - it's a nice personal touch.

Topics: Nice, Proud, Kind, Personal Touch, Chalkboards

I'm so glad cities have personalities, just like people have personalities. That's something that makes me smile.

source: - Susan Maushart (2011). “The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone)Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale”, p.180, Penguin

Topics: Cities, People, Personality, Make Me Smile

I try to maintain a high level of coolness. Which means I've gotta look at lot of magazines. I've gotta look at a lot of ads to see what people want to wear.

Topics: Mean, People, Trying

The day of parts of the country hating each other, or rivalries like that... I feel like that's dead.

source: - "Fred Armisen On SNL’s ‘The Californians’ Sketch: ‘I’m So Glad Cities Have Personalities’" by Anna Almendrala, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 19,2012.

Topics: Country, Hate, Rivalry

Every music journalist I've ever met has been stunningly beautiful.

source: - Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

Topics: Beautiful, Mets, Journalist

Steve Jobs was a real rock star to me. I looked forward to his products like people look forward to albums.

Topics: Stars, Jobs, Real

I want it all... fast. I want to be married, I want to live together... and then somewhere around a year or two years, I get freaked out. I freak out emotionally and then I actually feel like 'Oh my God, who's this stranger in my house?'

source: - Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

Topics: Two, Years, House

I'm obsessed with my 20s. I buy things that I wanted in my 20s. It's weird; it's a weird thing that I didn't grow out of.

Topics: Obsessed, Weird Things, Grows

I tend to think that there is a sophistication to everything at 'Saturday Night Live,' including the sketches.

Topics: Night, Thinking, Saturday

I don't miss anything ever. Because to me, missing something is like going backward a little bit. I don't miss being in a punk band. For me, 'SNL' is like... this is gonna sound overly dramatic, but... the way I am, it feels like I'm a soldier, so it was like, 'What do you want me to do? Put me anywhere. Do you want me to do these sketches? Great.'

source: - "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

Topics: Missing, Soldier, Way, Snl, Missing Something

Avoid people who tell you that something you want to do is not possible.

Topics: Graduation, People, Want

I think I was a terrible husband, I think I'm a terrible boyfriend.

Topics: Husband, Thinking, Terrible

When I first started going to Portland, people told me about Stumptown. They were like 'Oh, it's the best coffee,'and I thought, 'How good could it really be?' I'm like, 'Sure, great, uh... I'd love to see it.' But then when I went, it truly, I am not kidding, is the best coffee I have ever had.

Topics: Coffee, Oregon, People, Portland

I can't relax. I'm not happy unless I'm working on stuff. 'SNL' is always a huge workload, as enjoyable as it is.

source: - "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

Topics: Relax, Stuff, Not Happy, Snl, Workload

There are so many disagreements in the world, but I like the idea of people agreeing on something like art.

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Art, People, World

Sometimes I think I'm a really interesting guy.

source: - "Fred Armisen Welcomes You Back To 'Portlandia'". Interview with Jarett Wieselman, www.yahoo.com. January 2, 2013.

Topics: Thinking, Interesting, Guy

I loved our music discussion. I live for discussions like that. It's my favorite thing because it means that people care about music, and actually have an opinion. I feel like it's dying. Everyone is just really like, they take a step back, but to actually have conviction about what's good and bad: love it.

source: - "Bill Hader and Fred Armisen on making comedy cinematic with Documentary Now!". Interview with Gwen Ihnat, www.avclub.com. August 4, 2016.

Topics: Mean, People, Dying, Bad Love

[Paul McCartney] never, at the time, was going back to leaning back on the roots of his old band. He always built upon where he was, which was in London. And he didn't overuse synthesizers. He used them just enough. It's such a cool sound.

source: - "Bill Hader and Fred Armisen on making comedy cinematic with Documentary Now!". Interview with Gwen Ihnat, avclub.com. August 4, 2016.

Topics: Roots, Sound, Band, Leaning Back, Synthesizers

My father came from Germany. My mom came from Venezuela. My father's culturally German, but his father was Japanese.

source: - Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. January, 2012.

Topics: Mom, Father, Germany, Venezuela

If someone can write great music... Paul McCartney is a genius. He's so prolific. All we should do is bow down to Paul McCartney.

source: - "Bill Hader and Fred Armisen on making comedy cinematic with Documentary Now!". Interview with Gwen Ihnat, www.avclub.com. August 4, 2016.

Topics: Writing, Genius, Bows

I spent most of my 20s playing music. I was in a band and we worked really hard and did not get very far. I was really close to being this guy who used to be in this band who is still playing and trying to get some recordings together, but I got really lucky. That's never lost in me, that I went through Saturday Night Live.

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Night, Guy, Trying, Saturday Night Live

If there is a blues song, it just goes in one ear and out the other. But other than that, if it stays with you and when we are all 90, we're going to look back at those songs, and it's going to be emotional. And when someone plays it, and you know it, and you're going to go, "I know that song and I love it."

source: - "Bill Hader and Fred Armisen on making comedy cinematic with Documentary Now!". Interview with Gwen Ihnat, www.avclub.com. August 4, 2016.

Topics: Song, Emotional, Play

There's no judgment on bands that continue on who aren't popular; some people get enjoyment out of it. I'm just not one of those people. I wanted attention.

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: People, Attention, Judgment

I don't know any artists or painters, like, "Oh that painting group." I want to write down this idea of a group of artists who treat it like a band. Like, "Who made the painting?" "All four of us did."

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Writing, Artist, Painting

I was in a band and it wasn't working out the way I wanted. Then somehow, little by little, I started doing a couple comedy things. All of a sudden I was being asked to do more and more comedy things. There was this message from the world saying, "Maybe you should go this direction."

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Couple, Work Out, World

It's already years ago now, but there's that South Korean music artist Psy, who had that hit song and it was a hit song here. I'm like, "Wait a minute. There's a chance. There's a way we can have language not be such an important part of comedy."

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Song, Artist, Waiting

Some rules are good. For example, off the top of my head, let's say a stand-up comedian or a talk show host wearing a nice suit - as a ponderer, I grew up like, "Why don't they just go up there in their army jacket? They're fine!" Then little by little, you think, "You know, it's kind of nice to look nice, like you made the effort." Then you're back at rule one; that was the original rule.

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Nice, Army, Thinking

Everyone goes through all kinds of relationship situations. I'm lucky that I get to be on two comedy shows [during divorce].

source: - "Fred Armisen: The ESQ+A". Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. December 19, 2011.

Topics: Divorce, Two, Lucky, Comedy Shows

I met Steve Jobs once. In '06? He had a sense of humor.

source: - "Fred Armisen: The ESQ+A". Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. December 19, 2011.

Topics: Jobs, Sense Of Humor, Mets

"Macarena" is a great song. If music is something you can remember - the worst crime music can do is to be forgettable.

source: - "Bill Hader and Fred Armisen on making comedy cinematic with Documentary Now!". Interview with Gwen Ihnat, www.avclub.com. August 4, 2016.

Topics: Song, Remember, Crime, Forgettable

The population increasing, some of it could be in countries we haven't thought of making art in. I've never entertained making comedy in China. Like what world is that? I don't know how they would perceive art or sketch comedy. It's not a matter of intellect; it's a matter of language.

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Country, Art, World

Just a lot of those bands [like The Blue Jean Committee] started off in blues, and then they all transformed into other kinds.

source: - "Bill Hader and Fred Armisen on making comedy cinematic with Documentary Now!". Interview with Gwen Ihnat, avclub.com. August 4, 2016.

Topics: Blue, Band, Kind

I'm a fan of Talking Heads going way back.

source: - "Bill Hader and Fred Armisen on making comedy cinematic with Documentary Now!". Interview with Gwen Ihnat, www.avclub.com. August 4, 2016.

Topics: Talking, Fans, Way, Talking Heads

I love painters because I don't paint, so I get to enjoy art; I like collecting paintings.

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Art, Painting, Enjoy

As far as paintings go, I always think about what it's like to move them and hang them up and hope they don't drop. To me, that seems like a big gamble, but that comes from me not being a painter.

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Moving, Thinking, Painting

I spent a lot of time lifting my drums into a van, playing to ten people night after night. I can't complain about anything now.

source: - Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. January, 2012.

Topics: Night, People, Complaining

People are always nice, so I can't complain. My name used to be SNL! More and more, people call me by my name.

source: - Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. January, 2012.

Topics: Nice, Names, People

I wish I was one of those people who could write script after script and pages and pages. I can only aspire to do that.

source: - Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. January, 2012.

Topics: Writing, People, Wish

I still feel lucky whenever I hear a director say, "Action!" Because then I think, "Whoa, I'm really in the movies. This is a real thing happening." I've never not been enthralled by that. I still love it. I still love hearing it, and I feel really lucky all the time.

source: - Interview with Jeff Goldblum, www.interviewmagazine.com. June 21, 2016.

Topics: Real, Thinking, Directors

In my opinion, there's this new phenomenon where guys used to talk about cars a lot in the past. But, more and more it's becoming them talking about recording studios.

source: - "Fred Armisen Welcomes You Back To 'Portlandia'". Interview with Jarett Wieselman, www.yahoo.com. January 2, 2013.

Topics: Past, Talking, Car, Recording Studio

I thrive most when I have to juggle things.

source: - "Fred Armisen Welcomes You Back To 'Portlandia'". Interview with Jarett Wieselman, www.etonline.com. January 2, 2013.

Topics: Thrive

The more I keep myself occupied and jump from thing to thing, the more I think it enriches both.

source: - "Fred Armisen Welcomes You Back To 'Portlandia'". Interview with Jarett Wieselman, www.etonline.com. January 2, 2013.

Topics: Thinking

I started comedy in like 1998.

source: - Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. January, 2012.

Topics: Comedy

We lived in Chicago, but the music we were inspired by was from D. C.

source: - "Fred Armisen: The ESQ+A". Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. December 19, 2011.

Topics: Chicago, Inspired

Someday maybe I'll go back and see what the Deep South is like.

source: - "Fred Armisen: The ESQ+A". Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. December 19, 2011.

Topics: Someday, South

Rules are really weird things, aren't they? I feel like the more I do something, the more I see through rules. I see the reason to ignore it, but at the same time, "That's why they made that rule!"

source: - Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

Topics: Reason, Really Weird

I like it when people are driven. I love that in any field of work, in architecture or whatever. Like Lorne Michaels - he pays attention to every detail.

source: - Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. January, 2012.

Topics: People, Details, Attention

I was raised in New York and spent two years in Rio. My parents met at the University of Southern Mississippi, and they had me there, and then we moved to New York. I'm not very familiar with Mississippi.

source: - Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. January, 2012.

Topics: New York, Years, Two

That smile on Stive Jobs face... My impersonation came from being a fan.

source: - "Fred Armisen: The ESQ+A". Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. December 19, 2011.

Topics: Jobs, Fans, Faces

When people say that L.A. doesn't have a culture, I think it really does: a very old culture, and very specific. There's streets named after entertainers, and statues of entertainers, and it's great. Entertainment is still art, even if it makes billions of dollars. So it's like a city built on entertainment, and art in a way.

source: - Interview with Amelie Gillette, www.avclub.com. January 11, 2006.

Topics: Art, Thinking, Cities, Old Culture