Comments

1
Yikes. So they left out the one poor, brown part of Portland? How horribly in character for all the wrong reasons.
2
Boy lap dances sure have gotten expensive.
3
They're STILL here? Ugh.
4
Idea: maybe stop covering all things Portlandia? Every single post on the subject heaves with exactly this kind of palpable loathing and since it's not really news anyway.....
6
I just want to say that I sincerely appreciate the amount of time the Portland Mercury spends on writing about Portlandia. I feel lucky to be part of something that inspires both fondness and derision. Your critique and dislike of the show makes for a more interesting conversation and polemic, and I much prefer those to ambivalence. I like that people feel strongly towards Portlandia, and I don't care whether those feelings are positive or negative. Anyhow, just wanted to say thanks. (And in case you are wondering, this is not sarcastic, I truly am grateful for the ways you've helped foment an interesting dialog).
Sincerely, Carrie Brownstein
7
I feel like my indifference has just been given a polite little pat on the head before being sent off with a loli.
8
I too love it when people dislike my work as a comedian. It's so much better than indifference, because it proves how relevant and controversial all my incredible characters are. Presto, I am now immune to ridicule!
Sincerely, Fred Armison
9
P.S. Please buy the book. It got a 5-star review on Amazon from someone connected with Portlandia. They run some tours here for $95 a pop. Anyway, the book includes a lot of things that may interest locals, like all the places to get wheat germ. I know how Portlanders love their wheat germ! How "Portland" can you get, am I right? It's funny cuz it's true. And it's organic and free range! Get it?
Hugs, Fred
10
As much as I hate the Portlandia-fication of everything that I loved in my 20's but now am a cynical dick about in my 30's.. I kinda have to agree with Fake Carrie Brownstein. The general quality of any piece of entertainment can be often judged in how wide the disparity is between those who hate it, and those who love it. If it inspires such huge responses of both hate and favor, it can't be said it's worthless.
11
Now if Carrie and Fred (fake or otherwise) continued to take over this thread, building the pace of their increasingly sociopathic posts to some sort of bizarre fever-pitch while the rest of us slinked away or remained slack-jawed, it'd be just like a Portlandia sketch!
12
The Portland Mercury is one of very few publications in America that have such a rabid hatred of "Portlandia". The show has received Emmy nominations and a ("prestigious") Peabody Award. It has received the acclaim of many other ("prestigious") publications. I am beginning to wonder if there is some deeper psychological issue at work here in the bowels, and in the editorship, of the "Mercury" that simply has a knee-jerk hatred of any other "funny" material being produced in Portland. (The Mercury considers itself "funny", FYI).
13
I feel "funny" now.
14
I'm serious, you guys. All this "blog posting" and "commenting on the Internet" and "not finding our show funny" is going into my notes for Season 4. This is so typically Portland, I love it. Just can't stop with the comments, and it seems totally normal to you all because you can't see outside your own. Little. Box.
I have received Emmy nominations, a Peabody, and other "prestigious" awards. I put "prestigious" in scare quotes to make it sound more humble. Do you have a problem with that? Do you have such a problem laughing at yourselves and at granola and at bikes? The Willammete Week loves it, the Daily Oregonian loves it, the rest of the country loves it. Do you think you're better than everyone else or something? Where's your comedy show on IFC? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Sincerely, a fan pretending to be Carrie Brownstein
15
Also, why wasn't there a chapter in the book about Portlandia's neighbor, GreShamWow?
16
GOD JUST STOP IT. I MISS THE DAYS WHEN PEOPLE AROUND THE COUNTRY THOUGHT WE'RE ALL HILLBILLIES WHO LIVE IN TREES AND RUN TRACK.
17
@Randall, wondering the same thing myself. Also if this is someone "pretending" to be the actors or the actors themselves they have salient points, do you? Mostly not. Although in keeping with the Mercury, I am sure you think you are the funniest and most creative person ever! Except of course that you are not and neither am I. I am not a fan of the show for the most past but I do love that you hipster asshats foam at the mouth for having some of your bullshit "Portland" activities parodied. Thanks real or fake Fred and Carrie, because there is no way there is this pathological hate of something you readers deem "irrelevant" with out a deep seeded reason. The local chicken sketch was funny as hell btw
18
OMG GUYS! Carrie and Fred were here! Maybe we'll get to be on the TEEVEE!
19
Please don't throw this back in my face, but I work at the Mercury and I like this book. Just like the tv show I think the production style gets in the way of the jokes. However, ideas like Ska Immersion school and Peanut Milk on the menu still makes me laugh inside.
20
Definitely trolls some trolls up in here...especially if you can't spell your own last name correctly, Freddie!
21
I hate Portlandia.

Caricatures are dismissive. They are a method for an ugly majority to ignore progressive minorities.

You care about the source of your food? How precious!

You ride a bike to reduce pollution? That's so cute!

You do it yourself instead of underpaying foreigners to do it for you and locals to sell it to you? How quaint!

You'll tolerate living with less money in order to have more time for family and friends? What a loser! You're probably on drugs.

Do you know what Portlandia is? Portlandia is your uncle from out of town, visiting for Thanksgiving and calling you a homo for being a vegetarian.
22
Thank you for your words of truth, Adam Leyrer. That is exactly what I hate about Portlandia, besides the fact that it's just not funny. In fact, I'd venture to say that you CAN'T find it funny unless you find the things that Portland stands for funny, and you can't find those things funny unless you think they are absurd.

When it comes down to it, I think that Portlandia is intended as an insult to Portland, even if they won't admit it, just like any other minority that has ever been turned into an exaggerated caricature and then laughed at for an hour a week. The reason why many of us don't "get" it, in my opinion, is because we don't think that our values deserve to be mocked, even if some of us are willing to give up more for those values than others.

When it comes right down to it, what is it about preventing animal cruelty or reducing pollution that is so darn funny? Instead of mocking people who are willing to sacrifice more for those causes than we are, maybe we could respect those people and be glad that they are out fighting the battles that we aren't fighting ourselves.
23
Oh, you have so little sense of humor about your lifestyle that you take sketch comedy show as a personal insult and try to compare it to actual oppression of minorities? That's adorable! Adam and Jenni, head down to central casting.
24
Hey John.

Associating four obviously good choices with a satirically exaggerated lifestyle so you can dismiss the behaviors is how stupid and lazy people create social pressure to counter the intellectual pressure of obviously good choices. It's like making fun of reading. What's the matter, nerd, don't you have a sense of humor?

As for "oppression of minorities", I said ignore, not oppress, and minority is an accurate word for the smaller number of a part, not a claim to equality and solidarity with the cause Martin Luther King Jr.

Of course you think I'm humorless. To be fair, I think you're a careless reader, too eager to assume that you have before you all the necessary parts for an easy, flavorless joke at the expense of someone you don't know and aren't listening to. Portlandia is definitely the show for you.
26
The first comment on this thread attributed to Carrie Brownstein is most certainly the real thing. Her excellent writing style is immediately recognizable: the high intellect, the dazzling vocabulary ("polemic", "foment"), and, most convincingly, its tone -- a professional, even-keeled lucidity that is typically positive, magnanimous, gracious, open-minded. It's Carrie, alright. Smart, classy, warm. The consummate pro, as usual.

Joe Streckert, on the other hand, appears downright loony. Oh, how he just hates the nice litttle town of "Portlandia." As we all know, the show exeplifies everything that is rotten and evil in the world. He's Charlton Heston in "Soylent Green": "PORTLANDIA IS PEOPLE!!!" Good grief. His piece is the most mean-spirited, wholly negative, clueless rant I've come across in a long time.

The popularity of "Portlandia" is a mystery, huh? It's very simple, Joe. First, the show is wonderfully, refreshingly uncynical. No one is skewered with ridicule, the prevailing cynical look-at-the-hopeless-loser mentality standard to most comedy today. That's why it's lacking, right? Gotta' have that nasty "bite." Second, and most importantly, the magnificent talent and charm of Carrie Brownstein makes any show fantastic. No better definition of "phenom" exists. In a long lifetime devoted to the arts, I've never seen anything like her. Carrie Brownstein is a rock n' roll legend who -- incredibly -- is also a gifted actor. And brilliantly intelligent. And a talented writer. And drop-dead gorgeous. In yet another sensational new band. (Next: Carrie Brownstein develops a unified theory of physics.) Carrie is like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Meryl Streep, Toni Morrrison and Kate Moss all rolled into one -- a thrill to watch. When one is respected and admired as much as Carrie, "Citizen Kane" isn't required; "Portlandia" is plenty good enough. That Mr. Streckert can't see this obvious star quality is appalling. (Eric Clapton is a no-talent bum, too.) He doesn't recognize good acting (Carrie's Lance is remarkable). He is not swayed by great intelligence, brilliant talent, beauty or, most sadly, when it comes to "Portlandia", the simple joy of a kinder, gentler world.

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