>>PREVIEW
SLED ISLAND
Fred Armisen
Thursday, June 28
Warehouse
The overworked "applause" signs in Studio 8H at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City are off over the summer. The fake mustaches returned to their appropriately labelled box until Al Sharpton again possesses Darrell Hammond. The cast and crew finished the season with handshakes and hugs. Now, only a janitor occasionally leaps onstage and addresses the empty garbage cans with a raucous, "Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night Live!" Fred Armisen, though, is about to get ready for work.
"I always try to create work for myself," says Armisen. "I always got work stuff going on, even after SNL goes on hiatus. I love doing it. I’d just rather work."
Fred Armisen? No, you’re thinking of Horatio Sanz, he filled the fat-guy role for awhile and then got fired. That’s Andy Samberg, the Dick in the Box guy. Fred Armisen, the guy in the horn-rimmed glasses who does Tony Danza, Howie Mandell and Prince as a talk show host? That’s him, in the back. A performer so committed to his characters, often times, Armisen himself fades into the periphery of pop cultural consciousness.
The marquee players of SNL have moved to richer pastures, leaving a hungry cast of unknowns ready to break out. These are actors committed to comedy, not interested in the coke-and-drinking-binge-fuelled days of yore that made SNL infamous.
"It’s amazing anyone expects that," says Armisen about people asking for juicy gossip of dysfunction. "Stories from the past are exaggerated. It’s easy to pinpoint some kind of drama that went on, but at the same time, so many things worked out, because you can see it in the actual shows. It’s just something people like to focus on. I understand that. I’m reading about The Beatles and it’s always fun to see what problems they had."
Not that Armisen and gang don’t have problems of their own. Wrapping up season 32, Saturday Night Live has faced one of its more tultumtous years. Tina Fey stepped down as head writer and took Rachel Dratch and Tracy Morgan with her to 30 Rock. Budgetary factors forced the firings of Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Finesse Mitchell. Audiences didn’t seem to notice, as the show continued its five-year rating slump. Despite all this, Armisen looks back fondly.
"This season was my favourite one," he exclaims. "I spent a lot of the year laughing and goofing around. All you can think about is writing the next sketch. What makes things less tumultuous is that the ex-SNL cast members are still friends. We still see Chris Parnell, Rachel Dratch and the rest all the time in social situations. They’re still very much family."
That’s the day job. This summer, he leaves this all behind. Eschewing the typical film project or padding about New York in slippers and a krunk crown, Armisen will hit the road for a comedy tour across North America, including a stop in Calgary as part of the Sled Island festival. There are no punchlines or rote observations in the typical sense. Almost an extension of his work on SNL, Armisen performs characters.
"All I know how to do is characters," admits Armisen. "It’s what I’m most comfortable doing. Hearing my regular voice, I can’t deal with that. These characters just kind of come to me. I usually go to a thrift store and find the right wig or costume, I’m like, ‘ah that’s what this person is like.’"
One such character in his head is Saddam Hussein. Inspired by the images of the dictator awaiting trail, Armisen plays Hussein as a burnt out rock star complete with an acoustic guitar. Considering the unpopularity of the Iraq War and the atrocities committed by the dead dictator, you’d think there’d be an outcry or at the very least an online petition.
"It’s been surprisingly OK," says Armisen. "When I do him, I try to make him a lovable character. I don’t even touch politics, I make him a Pete Townsend-like character."
No applause signs or high-end props, Armisen is looking forward to stretching his comedic legs. For now, he’s enjoying the hiatus the only way he knows how.
"I don’t care about the venue or how it comes out," he says. "I like doing it all." |
Copyright ©2007 FFWD. All rights reserved.