Amoeba Music

Fred Armisen is an American comedian, actor, and musician best known for his work on Saturday Night Live and Portlandia. In addition to SNL and Portlandia, Armisen has appeared in numerous films, including Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Deuce Bigalow: European Jigolo (2005), The Rocker (2008), The Promotion (2008), Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), Easy A (2010), and The Dictator (2012). He has also appeared on 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, The Sarah Silverman Program, Crank Yankers, and voices the character Speedy Gonzales for the Cartoon Network show Looney Tunes.

In the early '90s, Fred Armisen began his career playing drums for the Chicago post-hardcore band Trenchmouth. He also played background drums for the Blue Man Group show in Chicago. Armisen is also credited with contributing drum tracks for Wandering Lucy's album Leap Year (1996) and Les Savy Fav's album Let's Stay Friends (2007).

Armisen's comedy career started in 1998 with a short film called Fred Armisen's Guide to Music and SXSW. In 2002, Armisen was cast to play feature roles for the late night comedy sketch show, Saturday Night Live, and in 2004 he was promoted to a repertory cast member. On SNL Armisen has played the roles of then Democratic Presidential nominee and now U.S. President, Sen. Barack Obama, New York Governor David Paterson, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Prince, and Queen Elizabeth, among others.

Armisen and Carrie Brownstein (Sleater Kinney, Wild Flag) started working together in 2005 as ThunderAnt, creating comedy sketches for the web. In 2009, they pitched the idea for a sketch-comedy television show to SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels and IFC. Portlandia debuted in 2011 on the Independent Film Channel and has aired three seasons to date. In 2012 Armisen and Brownstein appeared together on The Simpsons episode, The Day The Earth Stood Cool.