Armisen, Brownstein Will Rewatch ‘Portlandia’ On New Podcast

More than a decade after Portlandia cemented itself as one of TV’s quirkiest sketch comedies, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein are heading back to the faux version of the city that inspired it.

Per the Hollywood Reporter, the duo will launch Podlandia: A-O Rewatch on July 16 via Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players network, revisiting all 77 episodes of the IFC series across weekly installments. Along the way, they’ll welcome guests including Kyle MacLachlan (who played the town’s mayor), Aimee Mann and Portlandia co-creator/director Jonathan Krisel for behind-the-scenes conversations about the show’s eight-season run.

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“Our hope with the Portlandia rewatch podcast is to continue the conversations we began when the show first aired,” Brownstein said. “Conversations around community, how a place shapes and defines us, how much of life is mere performance and how absurdity is often the best way to make sense of the world.”

She added that revisiting the series reminded her “of the ways Fred is singularly hilarious,” while giving the pair another opportunity to celebrate the cast, crew and Portland itself. “Re-watching these Portlandia episodes was so enjoyable,” Armisen said. “Carrie made me laugh a lot. It sparked so many memories of shooting in beautiful Portland. Then, getting to sit with Carrie and talk about it all was another level of fun and connection.”

That sense of creative shorthand has defined the pair’s partnership from the beginning. Speaking with SPIN in 2014, Brownstein described the show as growing naturally from the characters she and Armisen had been developing together for years, while Armisen said one of Portlandia‘s guiding principles was finding the humanity beneath its satire rather than simply poking fun at its subjects. Even as the series lampooned artisanal culture, indie rock and Pacific Northwest eccentricities, both viewed it as an affectionate portrait of a community they genuinely loved.

Meanwhile, Armisen and Brownstein are also busy with their Ramones cover band the Return of Jackie and Judy, which also features Brownstein’s Sleater-Kinney bandmate Corin Tucker. The group will play sold out shows on July 16-17 at Zebulon in Los Angeles before appearances at Oakland, Ca.’s Mosswood Meltdown (July 19), the South Sound Block Party in Olympia, Wa. (Aug. 28-29) and the CBGB Festival in New York (Sept. 26).

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