Fred Armisen, one of the stars of NBC’s comedy institution, “Saturday Night Live”, met his idol today – Howard Stern. Armisen had a blast in the studio with Howard and the gang, and was clearly in awe of meeting Stern. The SNL star admitted that the Sirius XM Radio show host has influenced everything in his life from his comedy instincts to his political insights.
As usual, Howard Stern got his guest to wax nostalgic about his own life and the conversation went over everything from Armisen’s early days as a punk rock drummer in the band, Trenchmouth, to his short lived marriage to actress Elizabeth Moss of “Mad Men” fame. On his marriage to Moss, and about how much he enjoyed his wedding in particular, Armisen says, ‘It was fun.” Stern even got Armisen to speak in a cartoon voice. Armisen voices Speedy Gonzales for the new version of “Looney Tunes” for Warner Brothers.
Armisen said that although he enjoyed being in a rock band in his youth, the fact that Trenchmouth wasn’t hitting it big really started bothering him. He told Stern and Robin Quivers that he didn’t want to end up like some of the old rockers he’d seen walking the streets of Chicago. To help to avoid that fate, he switched gears to comedy, by making comedy videos, and found his true calling by being discovered by HBO.
Stern asked Armisen about him playing President Obama in SNL skits during Obama’s first term in office, and who was recently replaced on the show by Jay Pharaoh, who now plays the president. Armisen said it was great fun doing the Obama impressions, but that he now also enjoys seeing someone else take it over and make it their own.
For fans of “Saturday Night Live”, and especially of funnyman Fred Armisen, this interview was one of the more informative and enjoyable celebrity chats from one of the best interviewers around, Howard Stern – the King of All Media.
