Stuff Yuppies Like: Portlandia Live Tour Reaches New Level of Endearing Awkwardness

Also appearing on Borderstan later this week, I get my op-ed on and review Portlandia Live’s recent show at DC’s 930 Club.

A packed crowd of bespeckeled yuppies clapped eagerly as Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, of the IFC hit show, Portlandia, took the stage this past Tuesday night at the 930 Club for two sold out performances.

Their “Portlandia Live” tour takes a variety show format, combining clips of not-yet-aired footage from Season Two, musical numbers from the show, other guest appearances (this varies by city—but this week’s DC shows featured Eleanor Friedberger, who ROCKED OUT, but more on that later), with stand up comedy vignettes, a Q&A period, and other general musings shared by Brownstein and Armisen.

It’s immediately clear that Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen are close friends, witty comedians, and talented musicians. Brownstein is well known for her work with indie girl rock band Sleater-Kinney and Armisen is a regular on Saturday Night Live, also with a musical background. But despite all this—and the genius of their cult hit sketch comedy show, as evidenced by the two back-to-back sold out shows— much of the evening fell a bit flat. The variety hour and a half  felt meandering, unrehearsed, and even awkward at times.

Sure, that slightly off-kilter and awkwardly self-aware appeal is what hooked many of us on Portlandia’s particular brand of humor to begin with, but Brownstein and Armisen seemed either bored or nervous to be confronted by a live audience.

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