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Interview:
Fred Armisen |
by
Kate Leary |
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Vinyl Tap: Are you still playing any kind of music stuff, or are you mostly focusing on comedy now?
Fred Armisen: It’s just comedy all the time now. I don’t have enough time to play music.
Trenchmouth not coming back for a reunion?
No, no, no, we broke up in like ‘96 or ‘97. We’re still friends, but I’m just too busy doing other stuff.
Do you miss playing music?
Yes, all the time. I mean, I practice once in a while, but yeah, I miss playing live shows. That was fun.
How’d you get the idea for the video you made at SXSW [South by Southwest music festival]? Where exactly did that come from?
I have no idea, I just was going to SXSW and then something, I just felt like I should...
As a fan? Or was Trenchmouth performing?
No, I was playing with some other people. With The Mekons and Sally Timms, I was playing drums. . . they needed a drummer for their gig.. . . Was it Sally, or was it . . . it was Jon Langford, and the Skull Orchard. I think it wasn’t exactly The Mekons, I think it was Jon Langford solo. And I was just going down and I was looking through the booklet of all the seminars they were having, and I thought, ‘Oh, I should bring a camera, you know, hassle people,’ and that’s where the idea came from, who knows, it just happened.
It seemed like it would be good comedy material?
No, I didn’t think of it that way. I thought of it like, “This is gonna be so boring, I wanna do something fun.” It was a matter of me wanting to occupy my time. Not like, “I’m gonna make a comedy video.” It was just for fun.
How did you get involved with Wilco and end up in their documentary [I Am Trying to Break Your Heart]?
Just from being friends with [frontman] Jeff Tweedy and his wife, I’d just known them for awhile, and then Jeff said ‘You wanna come on tour with me?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah.’ I ended up touring with them and someone happened to have a camera. Lots of lucky breaks. (laughs)
Did you know at that point you were going to be in a documentary?
Yeah, but I didn’t take them seriously, it was a dude with a camera, so he’s like, ‘I’m making a documentary,’ I said, ‘Good luck with your documentary.’ I thought it would go nowhere. And then, you know, no offense to him, he seemed talented, but it was just a guy with a camera... So, alright, whatever, cut to, you know, watching me on a big screen.
Do you find it hard to keep in touch with the music industry since you’re fully devoted to comedy?
I always keep in touch, cause I’m such a fan that I keep in touch with as many people as I can.
Do you go to shows much?
Yeah, as much as I can.
What’s the last good show you saw?
Les Savy Fav, in New York. They were really good. Joanna Newsom, I just saw her in New York, she was great. She had a full band, and it was great. So, so good. Yeah, those are the two most recent, there you are.
On SNL, how do they pick the musical guests?
I have no idea. There’s an office, sometimes I peek my head in, ‘Who is it this week?’ and I never know. It’s like a separate entity altogether.
So you were never in a position where you could have been the musical guest?
No no no no no, never.
Are you involved in the writing of the singing bits on the show?
Yes, yeah, that’s my only chance to play music, so if me and Maya [Rudolph] are doing something I’ll write a guitar part and she’ll come up with something. . . am I spitting all over you?
In the future you pretty much feel like you want to stick with comedy? Would you consider starting up a band and touring again?
No, because nobody wants to see a comedian play music. I mean I’ll...
You think at this point, now that you’ve made it with/for comedy, it would be harder to get people to come and see you perform music?
No one wants to see that, no one wants to see an actor, no one... why? Never. I’ll write some music, for stuff, but I would never perform as a serious band. I’ll do some music stuff, like tonight, it’s a comedy piece, but I would never put together a real band.
You mean you do some music stuff in your act?
Yeah yeah yeah, like I do Saddam Hussein playing guitar.
Oh, you play guitar?
Yeah. But never anything earnest.