Fred Armisen Quotes

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

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

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

I thrive most when I have to juggle things.

I lived in Chicago, but the music I was inspired by was from D. C.

Sometimes 'Portlandia' can be pretty traditional. But the stuff I've always loved on 'SNL' has always been the weirdest stuff I've done. The stuff that went on at 10 to 1 in the morning.

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.

I loooved Sleater-Kinney like a crazy person.

I'm drawn to punk. I'm drawn to samba a bit. I don't think there's a type of music I'm not drawn to. Lykke Li I really like. Holy Sons I still can't get enough of.

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

Bill Hader does a really good impression of me.

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

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.

I've always been a fan of instructional videos. The bass-player ones are insane. The music on them is fascinating. It's not something you hear on CDs or would really ever play in bands. You listen to it and are like, 'What is happening?' It's this blizzard of notes in weird time signatures, and they're trying to teach you that.

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

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.

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'.

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

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

I feel bad for everyone I've gone out with.

Portland is where young people go to retire.

Prince is my favorite ever. I've liked Prince since ... It's been a really long time. Even in junior high. I used to only like punk for a while, and I had all these rules for what kinds of groups were cool, and who was not cool, but as soon as I saw this one Prince video ... It just broke all those rules. I was like, 'I love this no matter what.'

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

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.

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.

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

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.'

There are people who are genetically made to start record labels, and I'm not one of those people. People just have it in their blood and are good at it. Corey Rusk from Touch and Go and Ian MacKaye. These are people who have made their own labels.

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.

There are bands that I am friends with, who will invite me up on stage. Like Les Savy Fav, who have had me on stage, and I have played on their record. There are a couple of bands like that. Yo La Tango has invited me to play with them.

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?'

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

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.

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.

I've met Tony Danza. He was really nice. And he looks ... I feel like he hasn't aged. He looks exactly the same. He's just Tony Danza. He's exactly the same as he's always been.

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. That stuff was heavy.