Portlandia: Feminist Punk and Comedy

Portlandia is the kind of show you usually hear about almost getting made. It’s one of those shows that seems like it could’ve ended up in the swirling black hole of TV show pitches and pilots that never see the light of day, which are usually the funniest ones, living out the rest of their days in humor heaven with cutting room floor SNL sketches and alternate endings for Superbad. But Portlandia didn’t walk towards the light. She made it guys! She made it.

The other night my roommate Mallory invited me to the premiere. She works at Nylon and she gets invited to cool things like that. Portlandia is the marriage I’ve been waiting for my whole life: feminist punk and comedy. Wait, I just laughed at that sentence. That’s what I’ve been waiting for my whole life? “The marriage of feminist punk and comedy” sounds gross. It sounds like someone doing spoken word in a clown suit. Portlandia is NOT that. Portlandia is punk rock humor with famous people sprinkled about: Steve Buscemi and Aimee Mann, among others, most importantly: MRS. POOLE! I’ve only seen two episodes but so far my favorite sketches are “Put A Bird On It” and “The Dream Of The 90s.” (I actually have a few other favorites but I couldn’t find the YouTube clip. So just watch the show.)

The party was fun because as I was talking to the amazing JD Samson (of Le Tigre and MEN fame) who happened to casually breeze by? ONLY KYLE MCLAUGHLIN AKA AGENT COOPER! I was swooning something awful. Also, not to name drop, but I did manage to talk to quite another major celebrity: Todd Barry, who I am such a huge fan of.  Other celebrities that were there that I did not talk to: Heather Graham and the entire cast of SNL.  I’m sure there were more famous people but I didn’t see them, I was distracted by the fancy snacks that were being handed out.  The Thermals played and they were really good but they should have covered “The Dream Of The 90s.”