‘Portlandia’ is ending, but sketches will live on
“Portlandia” aired its final episode on IFC, which means you’ll have to find a new way to laugh at hipsters, DIYers and ultra-progressives. Over the course of eight seasons, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have played feminist bookstore owners, blood-drinking Goths and angry baristas in sketches that have sometimes irked the residents of the city being skewered.
Well, Portland can breathe a little easier knowing it’s no longer in the duo’s crosshairs, but it can’t escape from the bits that already exist, some of which are still hilarious. Here are nine standouts.
SPOILER ALERT: This sketch did spoil a major death on “The Wire” for me, but I really only had myself to blame for waiting so long to watch it. Besides, you can’t have hard feelings with a scene that so perfectly captures our collective fear that someone might tell us what happens on our favorite television show.
PUT A BIRD ON IT: Yes, this is the most referenced of all “Portlandia” sketches, but it still holds up with its birdhappy crafters, bizarrely rushed dialogue and ironic twist ending — something the show excelled at. (See also: Whose dog is this?)
UBER RATING: So many “Portlandia” sketches take place in restaurants, but this one has nothing to do with the vegan food or long brunch waits. A group of friends sit around a table comparing their Uber passenger ratings, and it’s all good fun until one monster reveals she only has a 3.1.
ADULT HIDE-AND-SEEK LEAGUE: Taking the kickball phenomenon one step further, this sketch follows the Sherlock Holmies as they try to win Portland’s adult hide-and-seek tournament. The highlight is a run-in that Armisen’s character has with a little old lady who’s not having it and calls him out on his arrested development.
NPR PODCAST: If you’re obsessed with “Serial” and its copycats, this one’s for you: Podcasters follow around Portland police officers making disparaging comments while trailed by banjo and fiddle players. Armisen’s Ira Glass impersonization is spot-on.
WHAT ABOUT MEN? “People are getting together and they’re addressing discrimination,” Brownstein, playing a guy, tells Armisen as they bike around town.
“What I hate about it is none of it’s about us,” Armisen responds. “Where’s our movement?” And then the pair launches into a whiny song that could have been inspired by the Red Pill subreddit.
IS THIS CHICKEN LOCAL? Like a lot of “Portlandia,” the sketches didn’t just make fun of the city in question, but all kinds of coastal elites. That’s clear in this sketch about a restaurant-going couple who want to know every tiny detail about the chicken (“his name was Colin”) they’re about to eat.
GROCERY STORE: Jack McBrayer guest stars in this sketch about a guy who makes the mistake of going to the grocery store without his reusable shopping bags, bringing the wrath — and the nickname Me-NoBring-Bags — from the shop’s employees.
YOGA CLASS FAIL: Brownstein and Armisen play strangers seated opposite each other in a meditation class, during which she begins to fantasize about their affair to come. It’s the perfect sketch for anyone who has built up someone in their head only to have reality come crashing in.