Scott Green/IFC
'Portlandia': 16 of the most Portland-y moments in 'Portlandia' history (Photos, videos)
'Portlandia' co-creators and co-stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein say the IFC show isn't only about Portland. Yeah, but... In honor of the Season 6 premiere Jan. 21, here's a look at just how much 'Portlandia' gets right about the Rose City. -- Kristi Turnquist
1. The Dream of the '90s
'Portlandia' began with this thesis statement, featuring Armisen and a cast of 'Keep Portland Weird' types singing about how Portland 'is a city where young people go to retire.' Our city, according to the song, is a throwback to the ‘90s, when people were content to be unambitious, sleep to eleven, hang out with friends, and either 'have no occupations whatsoever or maybe 'work a couple of hours a week at a coffee shop.'
2. Colin the Chicken
Timely when it first aired in the “Portlandia” premiere episode back in 2011, this sketch about a couple demanding to know their chicken's backstory is still a perfect slice of Portland today. Or haven’t you been to a local farm-to-table restaurant that describes in detail exactly what zip code your salad greens were foraged in?
3. Put a Bird On It
Been to shops on Southeast Division Street, Northeast Alberta Street, or Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard? Then you’ve no doubt seen handbags, vases, necklaces, and other wares bedecked with birds. Since 2011, when the sketch first aired, other creatures – deer are a big one -- have joined birds as the sign that something has been handmade, independently created and is not – heaven forbid – corporate.
4. Bicycle Rights!
Spyke (Fred Armisen) rides around Portland streets yelling about bikes’ rightful place on the roads. His mantra: “Cars, man! Why?”
5. Brunch Village
An entire 'Portlandia' episode was devoted to the Portland cult of standing in endless lines, all for the sake of getting inside a popular brunch place. Ever passed the Screen Door restaurant on East Burnside on a weekend morning? Then you’ve seen the Portland brunch phenomenon in its natural habitat.
6. Mixologist
The only thing more intricately detailed than a Portland dinner menu is a Portland cocktail menu. What, you mean you haven’t agonized over whether to order a concoction of freshly pressed lemon juice, hand-crafted gin, grapefruit bitters, and chard ice? This Season 2 episode features Andy Samberg in a spot-on bit about Carrie becoming obsessed with Portland’s coolest cocktail creator.
7. Artisan Knots
Frequent “Portlandia” guest star Jeff Goldblum presides over a shop that specializes in custom-crafted specialty knots. For those hard-to-buy-for friends.
8. Bring Your Own Bag
If you’ve ever felt shamed by a cashier at one of Portland’s whole-seasons-organic-co-op grocery stores for forgetting to bring your own tote bag, this sketch featuring guest star Jack McBrayer (“30 Rock”), hits home.
9. Recycling Rules
Armisen and Brownstein play a chipper duo sharing the detailed rules of Portland recycling. Remember, you need a separate big for fingernail clippings. (Portland recycling guidelines aren’t quite that strict.)
10. Portland Drivers
Armisen and Brownstein are drivers at an intersection, but their paralyzing Portland politeness – “No, you go” – prevents them from actually going anywhere
Portlandia Rats "Move" from Bent Image Lab on Vimeo.
11. Rats and Gentrification
Portland’s struggling with gentrification and housing issues. 'Portlandia' had its eyes on the issue back in Season 3, with a sequence featuring animated rats (the clever animation work was done by Portland’s Bent Image Lab), fleeing the Pearl District and traveling across the Willamette to find rat-friendly digs in the vicinity of Southeast 45th Avenue.
12. Prairie Home Companion Tailgating
Portland’s NPR fans are legion, so it’s not much of a stretch to see a 'Portlandia' sketch featuring a Rose Quarter tailgate party before a live 'Prairie Home Companion' show.
13. The Feminist Bookstore Duo and the Trail Blazer Dancers
The 'Women & Women First' feminist bookstore sketches film at Portland’s real feminist bookstore, In Other Words (which is more friendly.) In Season 4, worlds collided when Toni (Brownstein) and Candace (Armisen) tried to give the Blazer Dancers a feminist makeover. Bonus: cameo appearances by LaMarcus Aldridge, Thomas Robinson, Robin Lopez and Damian Lillard.
14. Kickstarter Awards
Portland isn’t alone in terms of creatives who use crowd-funding. But we’ve got more than our share of such pleas, which makes the sketch about the 'Second Annual Can't Do It Without Your Help Kickstarter Film Awards' (hosted by Portland’s own Gus Van Sant) resonant. Even better: the awards aren’t for films made with Kickstarter money, but for the films made to request crowdfunding.
15. Microhouse
In Season 5, Armisen and Brownstein satirized the Tiny House movement as a couple singing the praises of their micro-abode, which is just so darned cute and practical, complete with a fold-up cat litter box, and the bathroom doing double-duty as an office. Sweet!
16. Keeping Portland Safe for Weirdos
The Season 5 finale includes a trial in which a pompadour-sporting lawyer (guest star Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman) defends a strange Goth couple (Armisen and Brownstein) suspected of arson. 'Being a weirdo is not a crime!' Reubens’ Portland-weird attorney declares.
Augusta Quirk/ IFC
Get a sneak peek at Portlandia Season 6
Can't wait for 'Portlandia' Season 6 to start? IFC released an episode from the new season, which you can watch now through Jan. 28.
Augusta Quirk/ IFC
Where can I watch the Portlandia Season 6 premiere?
Glad you asked. All the details are here, from IFC channel numbers, to online, to public screenings in Portland.
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