Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 182. Fred Armisen Returns: Is He Joking?

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

Fresh off a few gigs featuring on John Mulaney’s new tour, Mike and Fred sit down for his first in-studio appearance on Working it Out. They discuss Fred’s SNL audition, his best sketch writing advice, and the manners of navigating video exhibits in museums. Plus, Fred borrows Mike’s guitar to demonstrate how cultures around the world play the acoustic guitar. Please consider donating to: Letters Charity

What's the strangest thing that gets served to you, video-wise, in your algorithm? Plain crashes. What? Plain crashes? Filmed by civilians. Oh, God. I'm like, nope, stick to musicians and people making weird art and stuff. So all of a sudden, it's, by the way, it's been happening a lot.

Oh, God. And they're all this, like, hey, she got the way. Oh, no. Oh, shit. Whoa! That is the voice of the great Fred Armisen. You know Fred Armisen, Saturday Night Live, in Portlandia and Wednesday, which just had its second season premiere on Netflix in the last couple weeks.

He was on the podcast a few years ago. He is back. He has a new album called 100 Sound Effects, which is exactly that, 100 sound effects. It is so funny and unique and very. Fred Armisen. There's nothing like it. I was just on tour with Fred. We had a four-city tour in support of John Mullaney's tour right now, which we're actually doing one more in September. We're doing Vancouver. It's just this like little run of dates with me and Fred Armisen and Nick Kroll in support of John Malaney's tour, which is so, so good. We are in Vancouver,

September 13th at Stanley Park. Get tickets at burpigs.com. Also, I have to announce Jenny and I, my wife, Jenny and I, are doing a show at Joe's Pub called Jokes and Poems. It is September 7th. It's a really fun little show we do sometimes. I do jokes. She does poems. We have special guests. It is September 7th at Joe's Pub in New York City.

This is a great chat with Fred Armisen. I love Portlandia. We talk a lot about that. We talk about music. We talk about punk rock. Fred talks about his audition for S&L. He plays Uncle Fester on the show Wednesday. We talk about that.

If you have a chance to see him on tour right now, he has upcoming dates. In addition to our show, together, in Vancouver, he's going to be in Yucca Valley, California, Santa Ana, California, San Luis Obispo, California, Santa Rosa, California, Monterey, California, Madison, Wisconsin, Bloomington, Indiana, Grand Rapids, Michigan,

and more. So funny. Such an original live performer. I couldn't recommend it more highly. Enjoy my conversation with the great Fred Armisen. Oh, working it. I was thinking about Portlandia, because I remember when Portlandia came on.

I remember where I was. I lived in the Upper West Side with my wife. And I remember seeing it and just going like, nothing's like this. oh nothing is like this thanks and i was thinking about it today i was like it i it must be related in some way to your punk rock roots because you were in punk bands before you were even in comedy yeah yeah and i feel like correct me if i'm wrong but punk rock a lot of the basis of it is like what if we didn't follow the rules of anything yeah and also like there's also an

element of what if there's no big goal what if there's no like we have to do this to do that what if it's just this is it yeah yeah yeah so with me and carey it was like let's just put this online you know and then from there it graduated to let's put this on iFC but there was no feeling of like we're gonna it's more like let's just see how far this gets so that's how it started like you were just like let's just make some sketches and then did you put them online yep we had it up on a a website that was like, I think we called it Thunder ant because there was, we wanted to call it Thunder Egg, which is like an Oregon reference. And there was a band called Thunder Egg, and we asked for their permission, or it didn't work out or something.

It was really important that you get Thunder Egg. Like, why were we concerned. And then we just put it up on a site with no, there was like no monetary system for it. Sure. It was just up. But for us, it was a thrill. And I was already on SNL, so it was a kind of nice diversion. What's funny is one of the questions we ask on the show typically is,

did your life go as you planned or as you thought? And yours is a great example of, like, you couldn't have. No. It was a huge, amazing surprise all the way through. Yeah. Like a gift. It makes me amazed at life. The life turns out that way and all.

I'm like, and it keeps unfolding. Like, things keep happening where I'm like, I cannot believe this is happening. Right. And I don't mean it like, because I'm just a guy from the streets or like, I don't mean it like that. I just mean that like the specificity. Yeah. Of the heroes that I had and, you know, the ambitions that I had. That's what, it's just really nice.

You think there's a guiding principle behind it? The principle for me is. to let go yeah like the more I wrestled with music the more we got nowhere and the more I sort of started to let go yeah then there's the things kind of

but there must be an interplay of letting things go but also showing up sure like it's it's got to be a push and pull yeah it's the showing up part or it's sort of like openness and the kind of you know acceptance of the way things are like for S&L that it wasn't audition I was like, well, I've got to get ready for this audition.

I can't totally be a hippie about it. What was your audition? I did two characters and two impressions. Yeah. I did a self-defense expert. I did Fadisito, this Venezuelan timbali player. Yeah. You played drums for it?

I did. You brought a drum? Yep, timbalis. First thing I ever did. So drums are always like, I love that they were in my life. Yeah. then Sam Waterston from Law and Order And then Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel was like a last minute one Where I was like, let me do someone Different Or in pop culture, in the real like, you know And the zeit guys Yeah Can you do that again? What would that be?

Oh, Vin Diesel He had a vocal quality that I And I only, I didn't say very much I just did a couple of things And yeah And then you know my life changed You and I are doing shows this week with John Malaney, Nick Kroll, and you and me, and that's the lineup. If all of us don't show up except you, would you do an impression of all of us?

Oh, my God. I could do Nick pretty well. Yeah? I could just do Nick doing bits. He's very, you know, hey, I'm your agent. You know, he's like, he kind of leans in to you. and I very much cannot do John Malini. You can't?

No, and I've seen people do them. Yeah, I've seen it too. And I'm like, I don't have that muscle of the Malini's whole thing. I'm like, I don't, I'm not there. Your version of me is you do me counting off things, listing things. Yeah, with the third thing being a surprise. So it's kind of like, we bought milk, we bought bread. bricks and then the bricks

you're like what's there's like a sort of sort of you know like a surprise that's that's your whole thing is like you think it's going one way you think it's again and then there's like a surprise yeah yeah how do you key in when you do impressions

like you just try to find one do you try to find one thing that sticks out no I think of the overall like it's like a Polaroid so it's almost like if I was describing you to someone, it would be like that. And someone was like, what is Mike Papigli alike? And I'd be like, he does a kind of thing

where he's like, and with the lists and stuff. Right. I saw a haters impression interview was great, and it was different than... It is different. Yeah. His is... But it was my car.

Which, again, my wife does for me sometimes. The way you enter a stage gets a good trick where it's like... It's almost like you were already talking. You enter, you enter, you enter. It's like, it's almost like saying, I haven't started the show yet. Right. To me, you're like, and then you're sort of in it already.

As opposed to, you know, there's some performers who are like, you know, someone once told me a story that if it's not that entrance. Yeah. It's almost like you're like, hey, we know each other already. We already know each other. It's interesting. I never thought about it that way, specifically. But I think that that's part and parcel with how I do think about the show, which is that when people show up, I know we're on the same page.

We all know what we're doing here. Yeah. Yes. You saw some of the other specials. You maybe heard the podcast. We can just kind of get into it. We don't have to go through the niceties of it. Maybe I'll say thanks for coming.

Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Do you have that, though, with your crowds? It's like when you're, you're probably like, oh, yeah, you know what we're doing. Majorly. Yeah.

It's, it's, that is definitely, you know, that is a given. Yeah. But I still, when I begin, I still try to act as if they've never heard of me before. I don't know why. It just serves this like, I like a beginning that's a little, like, alien. Yeah. Or to make it. To take away that, you know, description, I would say that, like, I copy David Byrne.

The way David Byrne is sort of like, hi, I'm not from here, you know. I try to do that sort of like, you might not know who I am. Yeah. You know. That makes sense. It helps me just sort of greet everyone and say hi, you know, when I start. But I'm not saying that, like, it's a home run. I'm not saying, like, hey, I know how to end our stage.

I'm saying for the shows that I've done, I don't know. and I try to keep it a little like that. God, Malini's great when he goes on, too. He goes big. Yeah. Okay, we're going to get right to it. Immediately. Yeah, yeah.

I remember he played Madison Square Garden. And I texted him. I was like, what is that? What are you doing? How does, how do you hold the microphone? What do you do? And he said, he stays very still. It's like, your instinct is to really move around to the third stage.

And he was like, you know, I hope I didn't give that away. If you're a comedian out there, please credit. If you're about to play Madison Square Garden, please credit John Malini. If you're watching this podcast, you're moments away from playing Madison Square Garden.

And you were about to run around the stage and you stay still. That's not Fred. And it's not Mike. That's John. That's John Malaney. What would be your advice? That's your stand-up comedy advice. What's your sketch comedy advice?

Whoa. People are writing a sketch. They're at home, wherever they are. They're in Tulsa. They're in Santa Fe with their sketch group. I would say like let go of things that you've heard before. If you think it sounds like sketch comedy, that might not be good. Yeah.

You know, I mean, that's said, for every bit of advice I could ever give, someone's going to have, you know. That's great advice, though. What do you think is a quality in the collaborator that you enjoy? Oh, man, it's the best feeling in the world. Yeah. I love when someone comes up with something that I never didn't occur to me

and it just haunts me in the moment. Yeah. Like it just keeps, you know, I'm like, oh, man. And like, this sounds like such a, almost like for something for like a book about SNL, but this really did happen. For the Californians, I was like, I just want something with like directions

where people are talking to each other and they're talking about directions and that's like the crux of it and james anderson who i wrote it was like right in the moment was like what if it's a soap opera and then it so it's like this it's in front of my face like oh man yeah damn it that's exactly right so that's where it came from something with directions yeah something i was like well just sort of like every time i go to LA, it's always a lot of, you know, there were many things that fell into it. And, like, I would always do at the table, we would read the sketches. We would actually be like, I was just in L.A.

And little by little joke around about, like, it was over on Barham. And Bill Hader would chime in and Andy and Keenan. So we would all do this as a kind of a bit. So it just came from that. Yeah, yeah. And then for someone to say, what if it's a, I never would have. Yeah, well, what if it's a soap opera? never and also right so you're basically saying you're talking like in this accent

california ishish accent about directions yeah and then you're and then someone's like you could take that yeah and what if that's in a soap opera yes it's like a mashup of two ideas or feelings and without much thought so james wasn't like let me think about your idea yeah it really was midnight and i don't know what if it's a soap opera it's almost like let's let's be done with this. But how do you know when you're in the room there? Because you didn't do it in front of an audience. No. Before you did it in front of an audience, we're like, is it going to work? Was it, were you wondering? Or were you like, nah, it'll work? No. You wonder all the time. In fact, you lean more towards like, look, this isn't great. But the table reached tomorrow.

Yeah. And I don't have many things. So like, let's just do this. And then we'll be done. It's almost like, I'll have something for the table. But are you stressed? You have some level of stress of like, ooh, I'm worried about the Californian sketch. No, no, that happens like sort of after if it gets picked to go into production. Then you start to worry and go like, is there enough? Yeah. But for the table, it really does feel like, will my friends at the table find it entertaining?

Is Bill going to like it? Right. Some of the writers. It's kind of more like that, like, because it's a long day. And it's more about, let's just get through this table read, let's make this entertaining for here. Right, we're performing for these people. Absolutely.

Yeah. Because the show is for these people. These people at the table. Yes, because when... The writers and the cast members on SNL. Because when the opposite happens, when you've written something that's like death, it's your friends and that like all sitting there.

Devastate. And it's so long. It's like there's a stack of sketches and it's just not nice. Right. And I feel terrible. It's like 11 pages, probably, a sketch. We got to a place where we had to keep it at 10. Yeah.

And even then, you started to feel it. And earlier in my time at SNL, I remember putting people through sketches that were, like, too long. And I'm like, why did I do this? It's a real lesson of, like, cut it down. It's so funny, we never had a beginning to this, but we just got into it. But then here we are. But should we start now? We'll start now.

Hi. Yeah, we're going to start. Welcome to the podcast, Working It Out. I'm your host, Mike Brubiglia. And I'm Fred Armisen. Here we are. So we're not going to use any of that. No, we were just chatting.

That's also my tone when I chat. When I talk about SNL, I'm at this volume. But this is like a whole different person. I wonder if it is. I wonder if you go back and look at any interview that I've done about SNL. It's my volume and tone. I bet it does. You pitch.

You pitch up. Also, because it's such a big institution that I can't be making big statements about it, just because there's so many people involved. So I have to have this sort of like... So let's play that. So, Fred, when you did the Californians, was that an idea you came up with or someone else? That was James Anderson and I. Relax.

We're going to take that again. Just relax. I noticed this thing, whenever you, whenever I talk about S&L, you always get a little uncomfortable. So just try to relax like we were earlier. So when you were cast on S&L, what did you audition with? I'm a bunch of stuff. This is too low. That's it.

I wish I was that disconnected. I don't know. Yeah. Just some stuff. I didn't realize I was doing it that day. One of our producers saw you at Largo a few months ago and you did a bit

about how every culture in the world plays guitar. Yeah. Can you do like one or two for me? Sure. Let's see. So strumming around the world. Australia? Australia, they play really hard.

And they go from minor chords to major chords in quick succession. So Australia's like, Don't go around here anymore anymore. That's Australia. Canada's like... Walking around Mayerfoot in the forest and I leave you a letter on the vestibule

And then Korea is like Kwejina Chichina man Kweji na USA is Dada Dund Dada Dada Dund

Dun Dund Major chord. And then I noticed that Americans like to pretend like they can't sing a note. Okay. They're purposefully off the note a little bit. So it's like, I told you I was wanting to dance you.

I went home to dance a waltz again, again and again. Let's see. Central America Uh That's great That's great Can you play any of wine and cigarettes? Can you remember it?

I think that was on piano. Oh, it was on piano? Okay. But what was it? That's right. Standing there and you're dressing go

I forgot the next quote. I forgot the next quote. But yeah, that's the beginning of it. Wine and cigarettes. Wine and cigarettes. Wine and cigarettes. Something like that. That's great.

Yeah. I want to play guitar. I play guitar on my first special 20 years ago. And then what happened is I got really intimidated because I reached a point where I was like embarrassed. I was like, what am I doing?

I'm not a good enough guitarist to be playing on film and on recording. Sure you were. No, no, but you know what I mean? I got suddenly self-conscious. How odd? Yeah, but I've been doing it lately again. I've been playing, I haven't done on stage,

but I've been playing a lot on my own. Okay, good. How good do you think you have to be for a comedy song? not don't worry about it really i think all instruments is like they're supposed to be for fun really yeah this whole thing of like i've got to be good screw it like you but what if you're not striking the chords clean and like the audience it's like got to be painful for the ears of the audience yeah but if it's you know working for the joke or whatever yeah i'm like

there's just so many guitar players who weren't great who yeah were such a big part of our lives that I'm like you know yeah that makes perfect sense yeah right not everybody's any of Hanlon right and so then the ones who like can't do all that stuff we still love yeah and it's just an instrument it's just supposed to accompany you so i think sometimes we look at those guitarists you know whether it's hendricks or van halen or someone like that where there where the gymnastics of the fingers are so crazy right that you just go like well what what am i doing yes or Flamenco players or stuff like that can, yes, be discouraging. But by all means, please.

So you are on the show Wednesday, which just dropped the next season. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you feel nervous about it, excited about it? Excited. Yeah. It's without a doubt the biggest thing I've ever been a part of. It's huge. Huge.

And I could feel it. Yeah. And you play Uncle Fester, and it's like you're nothing like. that knowing you no but it still fits like when i have the outfit on yeah it really it's makes complete sense to me what's the part you relate to to uncle fester and what's the part you don't relate to to uncle fester oh wow the part i relate to is that he always seems to be kind of like giggling you know like he's sort of laughing and stuff i'm like yeah i feel like i enjoy life like that um but he's like he does like bank robberies and stuff like he's a

criminal yeah that's implied right and i'm like i was always scared of doing stuff like of bank robberies yeah of doing bank robberies because as much as we've all thought about bank robberies like they have cameras yeah and since you're you know it's a violent act and i'm against bank robberies i just got to say i'm against them it's violent it's not your money yeah and it's right these poor people working at a bank and also the customers yeah you're ruining you're getting in the customers way you think i'm stopping in a bank because i have extra time on my hands you're stranded on an island with d bushemi and jenna ortega from wednesday who would you team up with to get off the do i have to yep that's you walked in the

the door you're on the podcast you have to answer to get off the island to get off the island who do you team up with who's your alliance i got to say jena because steve and i probably think alike and that could be our demise that we would get in our own way of like well you can't go on this kind of i think that like our limited sort of like i don't know to neurotic to too old. Too old. Both of us. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, no. And then you need someone young to be like. You need some young energy. And yes, to a different brain. Okay, this is the slow round. What are people's favorite and least favorite thing about you? I think people have told me that sometimes they don't know if I'm joking. And it comes off as insincere.

And so. How do you feel about that? I always think it's so obvious. I'm like, this is clear that I'm doing a joke. Right. When you're doing a joke, you wink, for example. I wink, and I say that was a joke. The thing about you, not people not knowing whether something that's a bit or not,

is definitely my experience with you, or I don't always know. And I'm trying to make sure that I get it right. I know. I'm like, are we in a bit or are we not in a bit? I know. I feel, that's on me that I didn't make it clear. No, it's not. It's fun, though.

It's fun because you don't always know. It's fun. other long enough that I'm like if it you know if messages get crossed yeah great then we see each other next time and go well this is what I meant yeah you know I like that I've known you this long yeah so long probably 20 25 years yeah yeah so then it's I'm not you know I'm not dismayed by that I'm like oh well we'll figure it out you ever have it where you're trying to be sincere with someone just like no no one understands and you're like this is pretty high stakes for them to or they are like that sounds so fake and i'm like it's not fake right i i you know love your

record or whatever it is you have that with a specific vanity you don't want to say oh no no no um usually with like sort of dem with the equivalent of demos oh right i'm gonna send you the song and i'm like i do something you know most of the time think oh great you know you put a song together and it's never long enough for me to be like oh this is horrible yeah yeah you know who are you jealous of um this is going to sound like a joke and this is not a joke uh sometimes set rogan because i love i am very happy with my life and my career and i'm like man he gets to do cool things.

Rights, directs, acts. Yeah, I'm like... Does it all. He does it all. And like, jealous is a hard. That's a tough word, you know, because I don't mean like jealous. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when I see Seth Rogen, I'm like, man, he's just really like, his projects are complete.

Yeah. They're not like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I hope they're all like well presented, thought out. And I'm like, that's great. I think this is the second time we've had Sets Brogan as an answer. The other one was Kumail Nanjiani a couple weeks ago. I think this is a recurring theme. Well, that says something about both of them.

Something's happening with Seths Brogan. You know what? You know what I think it is? I said this to Camel, too. I think there's something about it where he makes this, he makes a bunch of great movies, you know, he makes super bad. He makes funny people, all these great movies.

Some of them he acts and collaborates, et cetera, but, like, he's part of these great things. Then he makes the studio, which is completely making fun of him lampooning. The entire system that he's been a part of the whole time. You're like, oh, you just did it. I know. You just fully did it.

But he has a license to do it because I think he's that kind of likable. Yep. It doesn't come off as bitter. Not to me. Yeah. It's not an angry piece. It's not angry. And then I told them.

Yeah, yeah. It's like, wow, he depicted. this thing. Yeah. And also, like, he never looks like he's worried about failure. Nothing is like, hey, please check out this new movie. Please, I'm trying to get people out there. It all looks like.

That's what I'm like. All of us are like that. But something about him, I'm like, it's almost like he already knows the future. It's like, no, this one works out. Great. You're absolutely right. He's like, yeah, the studio is going to, this is going to work. And I'm like, oh, it does work.

Yeah. Nothing ever seemed, anyway. No, that's a great one. Yeah. I love that, I actually kind of love that that's repeated in episodes. Because it does indicate a certain thing where, like, it's a pattern. And the pattern isn't because of kind of, you know, it's not because he has massive fame, success, notoriety. It's actually an artistic envy.

of like wow you really went for it and it worked yep it's artistic absolutely yeah absolutely that's really funny i've never been asked that yeah i can't believe i answered honestly that's the kind thing you just like you don't want to answer and by the way that's not even saying that like i want to be him or that like it's not like oh that's my place i'm more like man yeah he did it well done project after project i know all taken care of What's the time you were caught in a lie? Oh, my God, a billion. There's been so many.

But I remember one time I worked at a... But this isn't a lie, but this is bad. I worked at a card shop. And money went missing. A card shop? Yeah, I was like down in St. Mark's Place. Like there's posters and cards instead. Okay.

Greening cards. Yeah. Or like, you know, Eiffel Tower, you know. And me and this other woman were working, and she was from somewhere, but the boss spoke Spanish. Okay. So I told her something in Spanish that was like to the tune of like, just so you know, I did not take the money. It's just sort of like, hey man, and she understood Spanish.

She was like, I heard what you said. And I, I'll never forget that feeling of like, I got really caught. Yeah. I had no way to defend it or go like, no, is that what I meant? Yeah. That was like. Do you have any relationship deal breakers? Oh, wow.

Wow. Relationship deal breakers. You don't have to answer. We're going to do another one. No, that's all right. Because I was going to say smoking. And then I'm like, no. You're good for smoking?

No, no, more than like, like, I've dated. Oh, yeah, some smokers. Some smokers. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Man, deal breakers. I think anger, like if there's like a sort of... Oh, I do know a deal breaker. Early on, being mean to the waitstaff.

Brutal. Being mean... It's happened to me twice, and I remember thinking of it as a deal breaker. I'm like, I don't like that. it's the worst and there was one let that be a lesson to all yeah or yeah we're trying to avoid being doing a deal breaker thing yeah i completely agree that's a really it's very like unfair i'm like what are you doing and it's i feel embarrassed like sorry right i'm sorry i yeah and you're trying to convey it with your eyes yeah terrible terrible yeah that's a good one good answer um

Do you, are you on Instagram? Do you go on Instagram? What's the strangest thing that gets served to you video-wise in your algorithm? Plain crashes. What? Plain crashes. Film by civilians. Oh, God.

And I'm a little bit like, first I was like, and I feel like I don't linger on it, but like. Right. Because lingering is how it ends up in your algorithm. But I'm like, nope, stick to musicians and people making, weird art and stuff. So all of a sudden, it's, by the way, it's been happening a lot. Oh, God.

They're all this. Like, hey, she got the way. Oh, no. Oh, shit. Whoa. And it's a fireball. A fire, like, really, like, terrible, terrible. And I'm a little bit like, why do you think, why do you think I don't, I promise you

you I don't want this? And it's been happening more and more. A lot of like. This is too good. And it used to be like this month in Boston, this happened. Now it's starting to go like, did you know that in 1991? I have just a couple jokes for the material section. Just things I'm like they're actually these are early early first this is a joke because like I'll show you this is this is this is me at the comedy seller this week because I just filmed a special I don't have any material. Okay, really, right? So it's like so it's like me just essentially people can see this on YouTube, but and I can imagine it listening to him holding up my notebook. This is just a bunch of jokes. Okay. And then me attempting to put them in an order. Okay. That makes some kind of sense. All right. I did this actually on the Rami episode.

And he gave me a tag. And then since then I wrote another tag. So it's kind of like a work in progress, which is like, I think in every relationship, you should have one person who understands heating and electricity and plumbing. And we don't have that. That's great. Yeah, yeah, we don't have that.

And so we're currently seeking a third. That's great. We're recruiting at local technical colleges because we've realized that we need a husband. That was Rami's tag, was we need a husband. And then lately, lately, I've been adding this thing, which is, but I'm insecure about admitting that to you, the audience, because my fear is that if we find a husband, we may realize we don't need that first husband.

Oh, no. Because if this guy is so good with a wrench, he might not be so bad at sex either. Yeah, yeah. He, you know, his shoulder might not quiver when he's on top or whatever thing might happen to an elderly man making love. So, yeah, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a topic I've been, I've been breaking into lately. It's like that realization of like,

what do I have to offer in this thing? It's like we're talking about red flags. And it's like, well, I don't, what's the opposite of that? I guess is the green flags, but I don't, do I have that even? Yeah, green flags. Yeah.

Do I have that? What's the appeal? I'm way with you. Yeah, it's a weird feeling. I go through the same thing where I'm like, are you sure? Yeah. It's weird.

Yeah. I think we all do, right? Like, everyone is kind of second-guessing what their own value is in a relationship all the time. I think that's what, if I'm going to open out the bit, I think that that's maybe where it should go. For me, like, the way that I love the bands that I do, I think could sometimes be, like, really boring. Oh, interesting. Like, you're such a nerd. Like, you're such a music nerd that is off-putting?

It's just boring. Meaning like, because nerd is almost a compliment. Right. I'm, you know. Right. I'm a cool nerd. It's such a predictable suburban, like, the taste that I have is just like this guy from who grew up in New York. It's like very like, it's this one genre.

Right. And I love it so much. Right. And think about it all the time that I turn to my partner and I'm just like, are you, you like this? Right. Meaning me. I'm like. What are the bands that you would list as your five bands that?

You think of all the time. I think about the damned. Yeah. Husker do. Okay. I think of the stranglers. I think of XTC. Okay.

And I think of Devo all the time. Okay. All the time. I knew two of those five. Oh, really? XTC and Deva, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Devo. Devo, right? Yeah. Okay. I just think it to such a degree where I'm like, this poor person is with me. And like, there's, you know. What, okay, of those out,

Like, of those bands, is there, is there an album you listen to front to back? God, yes. Which one? The damned strawberries. Okay. Front to back. Okay. Still do.

After all these years. Oh, yeah. I like listening to albums in full. Okay. And it sounds like, it sounds fake. Yeah. But I'd like it simply because it relaxes me. Yeah.

So it's not like, yeah. Yeah. It's more like, yep. Yeah. And then the other one that I do sometimes, and I'll probably do it this weekend. I'd usually do it with crowds where the people don't know me. Maybe they came to see Malaney. Yeah.

They don't, maybe they don't know me. I go, I go, it's okay, like, it's okay if you don't know me. Like, like most often when people come up to me, they'll recognize me, but they don't know from where. Okay. They'll go, hey, like the cafe the other day in my neighborhood guy goes, hey, what are you in? I'm like, I'm in the worst conversation in my life. What are you in? Like, I'm in that too.

I'm like, you cast me. Yeah, that's good. I try to break the ice with something. Do you ever break the ice bit, like when you feel like they might not know you? No, I just, if it's icy, it's icy, yeah. Yeah, yeah. What do you do if it's icy? Like, what if it keeps being icy?

Then I'm like, I guess it's an icy night. You know, I, sometimes I think, I'm like, I was not my problem, you know? Right, right, right, that's their issue. I'm like, this is what I do, and if this isn't working for you, well, what's, you know, that's how the night is. Right. Do you have any things you're working on that are kind of half premises or stories or seeds of things? Ooh, I hope I do this sometime soon. I've never done this before.

Okay. There is a body language for, when you go to an art museum, there is a video room. Like, there'll be like a sort of black box room. They're showing a film, sort of 15-minute film. Right there with, yeah. And every time I go in, I feel intimidated by everything, where I am extra quiet. So there's usually four benches, really pretty, there's usually four benches, really pretty benches. Yeah, yeah.

I am so still and careful walking in. and I watch the film and I don't want to disturb anyone and there's this way that's unnatural that like I can't even connect with the film because all I think of... You're thinking about your own behavior. And my body and everyone else

and when I'm trying to prove to everyone is like I also understand and appreciate it. So whatever it is, it's like noise like and it's this careful and I want to be invisible and then I leave the same way. So I hope I can figure out a way to do it

Right, like it's more like It's more about you than it is about the film at that point It's set up that way Where I was like, no one can enjoy this Because we're all terrified of looking like Hey, what is this? Yeah, so you're like, you know right You don't want me to be the loser

Who doesn't get it No Yeah, I get it Yes Oh, I'm cool I'm in an art museum Oh, I'm gonna be super quiet Yes, I'm gonna be super delicate

Because I totally understand That this is a very important video This is how we watch. This is how we watch. A video at a museum. A video at a museum. This, I'm comfortable here. Yeah.

This is where I'm meant to be. Yeah. And then escape. I'm supposed to be here. I'm going to leave seven minutes in. Yep. But I know why. Because it's not because I don't like it.

No, but that's appropriate. I have time. Also, like, I think maybe it's worth pointing out that whenever there's a video exhibit, But you just go, yeah, I could watch this at home. Yep. I mean, what are we doing? What are we doing?

You have an artifact? Is there an artifact for this? Because I don't have the artifact at home, but I have the video at home. Yep. And they've got a whole thing set up and everything. Yeah. You could just give me the barcode. Yeah.

And then I'll go, I'll watch it. Happy to watch it. Yeah. And I'll even do it quietly at home. Yep. Just like delicate. They build the whole structure and everything. but I do that I think that's a worthwhile observation in the mix of like when they show you a video at a museum you're like come on I have this yeah I have this yes yes I guess ideally if I was able to bring props I bring one of those benches if it's light enough you know what I mean just to show like just to say as part of the joke like by the way it's always these benches and it's these those ones that are like this yeah yeah yeah and it's like oh yeah yeah yeah it's the yeah it's the yeah

Yeah, it's the rectangular benches. Yep. And there's like four of them in a row. Yep, the half a rectangle bench. It's almost like an obelisk or something. Yeah. It's like I'm trying to think of what you'd even call that. Yeah. That's great.

I love that. And then I wrote this is a half of a thought. When I visit Los Angeles, I feel like I'm the only person swimming in the pools and walking on the roads. Oh, great. People look at me like, hey, why are you swimming in that pool? I'm like, I thought it was a pool. Isn't it a pool? And I'm like, and I show up at the.

meeting, they'll be like, I heard you were walking on the road. Isn't that the roads are the roads? It's exactly. I thought the whole thing was that they were roads. No, that's really good. No one fucking swims in pools. No. You're the crazy person if you swim in a pool. As you're telling me, I'm picturing you telling me that in L.A.

And I'm like, I would, I'd be like, is Mike okay? Did you, would you bring a bathing suit? It's crazy. And what it is is, I don't know, people, it's at like my hotel when I'm there people uh they sunbathe i guess they eat lunch at the pool they don't swim no it's noticeable because there'll be one person bobbing around maybe like yes yeah oh right and one person in the pool and then you're like oh they they they want some attention yeah it's like no right very rare i don't know what to do with that bit because it's also like a local bit right it's like a little

bit of los angeles local i suppose i suppose you know yeah i suppose i don't know um but then if you presented it like you did just now I said I'm going to do this in LA I think people would like it they'd like the sort of hey oh right right we're part of his process right we're going to make fun of another city yeah that's true yeah

yeah and also maybe if it was a part of a chunk of stuff about Los Angeles yeah that yeah they could be something and then I was I'm interested in religion but a little whenever a religion has an after

Afterlife, it loses me. That's great. Yeah. It just loses me. Because I view the afterlife the way I view the after party. Uh-huh. Not going. Oh.

Wonderful. If it's not going to happen at the party, I'm going home. Dude. I didn't even want to come to the party. I barely came to the party. This is genius. That's great. That's a really good.

I think a lot of people might agree with you. Really? Yeah. The follow-up is. When you get kidnapped, you're never supposed to go to a second location. That's great. That's how I feel about after parties. It's the second location.

Yeah. And after-lark. Anything can happen. Yeah. I'm not interested. Not interested. It feels dangerous to me. As you're asking me, my answer's already no. Are you going to like, we're going to have this fake conversation?

Oh, maybe. Never. Never, I never go. Maybe. Oh, yeah, maybe. Where is it? It's far from here. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, that's all, yeah, yeah, it's far. We're driving to some other thing. That's a great, that's a great tag. Because it is far. The afterlife is far from here. That's a worthwhile thing to point out. Yeah, it's a never. That's right.

Oh, it's sort of nowhere that you could understand. Yeah, yeah. Somewhere in, yeah. Oh, yeah, after party? Yeah, yeah. I think it's far, it's actually further than Jersey. Yeah. are you going right yeah yeah i'll probably see you there i'll see you there that's a that's a funny

digression for it too is like i don't want to admit to people yeah i'm not going to be at the afterlife i'm playing it cool yes you're going to be at the afterlife yeah yeah yeah bet i believe i believe in what you believe yeah we believe the same thing i'll be at the afterlife oh yeah that okay that's better oh it's great that's great That's really great. I think there's something there. The final thing is just working it out for a cause. Is there a nonprofit that you like to contribute to?

And then we will contribute to them and link to them in the show. Oh, that's so nice. There's a charity in Chicago called Letters to Santa. Literes to Santa. And I think it might have changed official names. Okay. But I'll get you all that information. But it's a charity that, like, raises money for,

poor people in Chicago, and on Christmas, they deliver cash and gifts to poor families. And I've been, I've gone with them. Oh, that's great. To deliver these gifts, and it's great. It's called letterscharity.org. That's the one. And it's letters charity provides direct assistance to families facing urgent financial hardship. That's great.

Yeah, it's great. We'll contribute to them. Thank you. We'll link to them in the show notes, encourage people to contribute as well. Yeah. And thank you, Fred Armisen. and this has been so wonderful. Thank you.

Working it out because it's not done. We're working it out because there's no... That's going to do it for another episode of Working It Out. Fred is on Instagram at S-O-R-D-O-C-I-E-G-O.

You can get his album 100 sound effects from Drag City Records on September 26th. You can see me, Fred, Nick, and Malaney, September 13th in Vancouver. you can watch the full video of this episode on my YouTube channel at Mike Berbiglia subscribe if you're there

because we're going to be posting more and more videos check out berbiggs.com to sign up for the mailing list and to be the first to note about my upcoming shows our producers of working it out are myself along with Peter Salomon, Joseph Barbiglia Mabel Lewis and Gary Simons sound bix by Shib Sarin Supervising Engineer Kate Balinski

special thanks as always to Jack Antonoff and bleachers for their music the intro and outro music. Special thanks as always to my wife, the poet J. Hope Stein, will be at jokes and poems at Joe's Pub. And our daughter, Una, who built the original radio fort made of pillows.

Thanks most of all to you who are listening. If you enjoy the show, please rate it and review it on Apple Podcast, which is really helpful for people because we've done it at this point. Over 180 episodes, all free. No paywall. You can go back and listen to them all

and then write in the Apple Podcast thing. What is your favorite? So people know where to begin. Last week, we had Joe Firestone. We've had Chelsea Handler, Alex Edelman, Bob Odenkirk, Kumail Nangiani. Which one was your favorite? Thanks most of all to you who are listening. Tell your friends.

Tell your enemies. Let's say you're at a podcast museum. And they're showing video of the Mike Bribigley Working Down podcast. You can point out to everybody, you don't need to be at the museum to watch the video. you can go home and watch it on YouTube at your apartment. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you next time. We're working it out.