{"id":480460,"date":"2019-01-04T07:47:30","date_gmt":"2019-01-04T14:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=774730"},"modified":"2019-01-04T07:47:30","modified_gmt":"2019-01-04T14:47:30","slug":"fred-armisen-on-his-grammy-nod-devo-and-documentary-now-season-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/fred-armisen-on-his-grammy-nod-devo-and-documentary-now-season-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred Armisen on His Grammy Nod, Devo and \u2018Documentary Now\u2019 Season Three"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fred-armisen-on-grammy-nod-etc.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"\/><\/div>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/fred-armisen\/\" id=\"auto-tag_fred-armisen\" data-tag=\"fred-armisen\">Fred Armisen<\/a> began putting together his 2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/netflix\/\" id=\"auto-tag_netflix\" data-tag=\"netflix\">Netflix<\/a> special <em>Standup for Drummers,<\/em> the last thing he expected to come out of it was a Grammy nomination. After all, as the title clearly states, this was a comedy show where the vast majority of the jokes were specifically about the art of drumming. They come from his pre-fame days as a drummer for the Chicago punk band Trenchmouth as well as Blue Man Group\u2019s touring unit. The jokes played well to a tiny room full of drummers like Green Day\u2019s Tr\u00e9 Cool, but much to Armisen\u2019s shock, the risky move of releasing the special to a mass audience payed off with a nomination for Best Comedy Album alongside recent releases by Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Patton Oswalt and Jim Gaffigan.<\/p>\n<p>We spoke to Armisen about the standup special, his one-night stint in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/devo\/\" id=\"auto-tag_devo\" data-tag=\"devo\">Devo<\/a> last year, the upcoming season of <em>Documentary Now<\/em>, his new HBO Spanish-language show\u00a0<em>Los Espooky<\/em>s and whether he\u2019d rather see the Smiths or Talking Heads reunite.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Congrats on your Grammy nomination.<\/strong><br \/>Thanks! I\u2019m really psyched about it. I just think of it as another world since I\u2019m not in a band anymore and I was at peace with that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How did you learn about the nomination?<\/strong><br \/>This guy Eric Guroam, who works for Little Stranger. They produce <em>30 Rock<\/em> and <em>[Unbreakable] Kimmy Schmidt.<\/em> It\u2019s Tina Fey\u2019s company. Eric and I text pretty frequently and he sent me the news. It was just something that really wasn\u2019t on my mind at all, and not in a bad way. I didn\u2019t know those announcements were coming out that day. I hadn\u2019t even considered it, so it was a perfectly surprising text. Also, as far as I know, there\u2019s not the same sort of campaigning that there is for Emmy Awards and stuff. That always seems like there\u2019s months of strategies and stuff.<\/p>\n<p>Even though the Grammys seem like they\u2019re in another world in a way, I still look up to it because I always think of that picture of David Bowie, John Lennon and Paul Simon hanging out backstage at the Grammys in 1975. I always think, \u201cThat must have been so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>They usually don\u2019t even televise the Comedy Album award, but I imagine you\u2019re still going, right?<\/strong><br \/>Yeah. I\u2019m trying to not sound like a clich\u00e9, but things like the Grammys are like icing on the cake. To even think I\u2019ll have a certificate or something that says \u201cGrammy\u201d on it, it\u2019s a nice thing in anyone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How did you get the idea for <em>Standup for Drummers<\/em>?<br \/><\/strong>Over the years, I\u2019ve done standup. If I ever do anything with an instrument, it\u2019s an easy way in for me. It\u2019s something that I can lean on. If I was ever in a room with musicians and I talked about things I had in common with musicians that, for example, annoy us, I found that the momentum of doing jokes like that came easier for me. It\u2019s an easy reference. Somewhere in there I thought, \u201cWhat if I do a little bit of this onstage to a tiny audience? If it\u2019s just musicians, they\u2019ll really get it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I started to do it at music stores. I did it at this music store Main Drag in Brooklyn. No matter how small the audience was, it was so gratifying since I didn\u2019t have to worry about reaching everybody. I was like, \u201cMaybe I\u2019m not one of those guys that does that. Maybe if I do something that\u2019s specific it\u2019ll be a more enjoyable evening.\u201d So I kept doing it and then Netflix offered me a special. I saw it as two different things. I was like, \u201cI\u2019ll just do a regular standup special, even though I like doing this one that\u2019s just for drummers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But then the momentum took over.\u00a0I felt more into doing material just for drummers. It was easier. I was like, \u201cI can make a list of 10 jokes right now that I can make about a drum kit.\u201d When things happen like that, I tend to just want to go with it. In some ways, it seems like a lot of work, but in other ways, it is easier since I don\u2019t have to think that much.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GAhvJMcLShU?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Did part of you worry it would work very well to a small room full of drummers but not as well to a mass audience watching on a screen?<\/strong><br \/>Yeah. I\u2019m assuming because there\u2019s a drummer in the audience they would at least appreciate the fact there\u2019s a drumming joke just for them.\u00a0I would go see a comedian who only talked about one subject too if there was someone that just did jokes about tennis, just for the curiosity factor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How did you gauge success on Netflix when they don\u2019t release ratings or anything? That makes it tough to figure out how popular it became.<\/strong><br \/>It\u2019s really weird. First of all, getting signed to do something on Netflix, that\u2019s something. I\u2019ll gauge that. They are arranging it and paying for production and stuff, great. That\u2019s step one. Then where I live in L.A., where I see a billboard I\u2019m like, \u201cOK, it says Netflix and my name. That\u2019s a little something. That\u2019s pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then the final thing is when people talk to me about it, which is exactly what I was wishing for. When I\u2019m traveling somewhere the people that come up to me and say they like the special are musicians. They were like, \u201cThis was made especially for me.\u201d There\u2019s something about it that\u2019s kind of intimate in a way. They\u2019re not just walking up and repeating a joke. It\u2019s so specific that it becomes a secret handshake or something. It also makes it easier for me to talk to them and I can ask what kind of music they play and we talk about music and stuff. That\u2019s how I see it. If someone comes up to me at an airport and they see it, I know it reached somebody.<\/p>\n<p><strong>To switch gears, I\u2019m a diehard Devo fan. How did it feel to play drums with them at that festival gig over the summer?<\/strong><br \/>Wow. That\u2019s another three-hour-long conversation. I was literally a card-carrying member of Club Devo. I saved my little Club Devo card. I saw them back in the day on the <em>New Traditionalists<\/em> tour and <em>Oh, No! It\u2019s Devo<\/em> tour. I have so much to say and I\u2019m trying to not sound like a lunatic right now. But since you\u2019re a Devo fan, you get it. You understand what they mean to us. And then Mark Mothersbaugh, what he did with his life, how he became a composer and he\u2019s got this company is an added bonus of what they became. I really idolize Mark Mothersbaugh in a very serious way. I look at pictures of him and go, \u201cThat\u2019s a good way to go. That\u2019s a good way to become something else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I think Devo affected <em>Portlandia<\/em> in some of the ways we did our ad campaigns. They were very Devo-ish. And then Alan Myers, I learned drumming from learning his parts. As a kid with a kit, my way of learning my way around the kit was learning \u201cGirl U Want\u201d and \u201cUncontrollable Urge\u201d and whatever the songs I was listening to. It was truly Alan Myers. He was such an odd, insane, heavy drummer.<\/p>\n<p>To be onstage playing with them, I tried not to enjoy it too much. If I disappeared into \u201cthis is a blast,\u201d that\u2019s not the kind of band it is. It\u2019s not a jamming-out band. It\u2019s not for party fun music. It\u2019s almost like being part of a scientific research group.<\/p>\n<p>I was like, \u201cI cannot mess up these songs.\u201d That\u2019s the most I ever practiced for a gig. I practiced at home. Because people had phones, I was like, \u201cI\u2019m not going to mess up a song and it\u2019ll be out there.\u201d It\u2019s like being on live TV. It\u2019s the one time I can\u2019t drop the ending of a song or goof around. There\u2019s none of that. It\u2019s the most seriously I ever took anything. I was like, \u201cFocus on this. Focus on this drum in front of me. Focus on this playing. And then later I can look at a picture and be like, \u2018Oh, my God, I played with Devo.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lA2q31Ww8uc?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019ve seen Mark talk about the possibility of a farewell tour. If that does happen, do you want to be a part of it?<\/strong><br \/>I would throw my Devo hat in the ring and say, \u201cOf course, I would love to do it.\u201d But that\u2019s up to them. They\u2019ve had different drummers: Josh Freese and Jeff Friedl and some brilliant people. That\u2019s up to them, but if they ever asked me I\u2019d do it in a second. In a second!<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you go on <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Devo#Band_members\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Devo\u2019s Wikpedia page<\/a>, your name is there under \u201ctouring members.\u201d That alone is pretty cool.<br \/><\/strong>It\u2019s one of the craziest things that ever happened in my life. And also, good things. It\u2019s such a good thing because the experience was so good and to think I even know those guys! I paid money to go see them and buy their records and stuff. I was so mesmerized by their videos, so to see them as people was great. I gave myself a real pat on the back that I knew all their songs so well. I imagined them being like, \u201cOh, my God, I can\u2019t believe you know this song!\u201d But they took it in stride since that\u2019s the only songs they know. They weren\u2019t like, \u201cHoly moly!\u201d They were like, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s how the song goes. We\u2019ve been doing it since 1976.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>On another topic, are you finished with the new season of <em>Documentary Now<\/em>?<br \/><\/strong>Yeah. That\u2019s all edited and ready to go. I think that\u2019s coming out in the next couple of months or so.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you feel any pressure to top the past two seasons of the show since they were so successful?<\/strong><br \/>Yeah, but it\u2019s good pressure. It\u2019s good to be pressured to make it even more varied and to make it as good or better than it was a before. It\u2019s my hope that if the episodes get mixed up and out of order that you can\u2019t tell where it\u2019s from. It\u2019s such a cheesy thing, but I do credit those directors. They are the ones that make each one different from the others. The editing and the way the film looks, I don\u2019t have to think about it as much.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are there any fake bands this season?<\/strong><br \/>Yeah. We did a fake jazz artist. It\u2019s sort of based on Chet Baker. There was a time in the Eighties where they loved doing documentaries in black and white, but it still looked kind of Eighties-ish, so there\u2019s this kind of double joke of celebrating jazz and the success of jazz in Europe, but at the same time trying to make it appear very classical and black and white.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your HBO Spanish-language show <em>Los Espookys,<\/em> are you done filming that first season?<\/strong><br \/>Yeah. We shot it in Chile this winter, so I just got back about a week ago. We were in Santiago. We\u2019re working on editing it now. It\u2019s in Spanish. I\u2019m very psyched about that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are there going to be subtitles?<br \/><\/strong>Yes. I know, we could have gone more purist, but I have to remember that it\u2019s OK for people to want to understand it. I\u2019m never against that kind of thing. I want people to enjoy it. And there are a couple of parts in English. There\u2019s an American embassy and stuff.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Random question: Would you rather see a Smiths reunion or a Talking Heads reunion?<\/strong><br \/>Oh, shoot. Shoot. I think a Smiths reunion because the Talking Heads reunited for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qktKTkKM7cU?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sure, but it was three songs 17 years ago.<\/strong><br \/>Yeah, but you can see what it looked like. That\u2019s something. To me, because the Smiths seems more impossible, that\u2019s why it\u2019s like, \u201cOh, my God.\u201d People would freak out. Can you imagine the venue they would play? I actually think they could play a football stadiums.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I think they could do 20 nights at Wembley Stadium, minimum.<\/strong><br \/>Yeah! People would freak out!<\/p>\n<p><strong>And it will never happen.<\/strong><br \/>There\u2019s not even a hint of, \u201cMaybe they\u2019ll do it.\u201d There\u2019s none of that.\u00a0Now I\u2019ve got a question for you. Would you rather see XTC back together and do a show or the original members of Kraftwerk?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kraftwerk. They\u2019re down to just one original member. It\u2019s almost a tribute band these days, but everyone from the <em>Autobahn<\/em> days is still alive. It would be incredible.<\/strong><br \/>I never understand those things. In the world where you have to make a living, how bad can it be when it would make people happy? It\u2019s still show business. Is it that bad that the four of you can\u2019t get together and do a tour? It\u2019s so strange to me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I think these are beefs that go back decades and often they are tied up in legal issues that really cause insane bitterness. With the Smiths, there\u2019s the added factor that Morrissey is just completely inflexible about everything.<\/strong><br \/>Yeah. That\u2019s different. The Smiths, not only do we want them to do a reunion, everyone understands how much they don\u2019t want to do it. It\u2019s not going to happen.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/fred-armisen-talks-grammy-nomination-standup-for-drummers-devo-documentary-now-774730\/\" target=\"_blank\">via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Fred Armisen began putting together his 2018 Netflix special Standup for Drummers, the last thing he expected to come out of it was a Grammy nomination. After all, as the title clearly states, this was a comedy show where the vast majority of the jokes were specifically about the art of drumming. They come [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-480460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 04:38:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KQZR - The Reel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}