Portlandia

Portlandia is a wonderful mockery of a sort of the silliness of the modern age, poking fun at obsessions with food and authenticity and playing with concepts of gender.

Portlandia walks that very thin line between so weird it's funny and too weird to be funny. That means you can see something truly inventive, original sketches, but also that you can watch an entire episode without a single funny thing in it. This has become increasingly true as the series has progressed - as of season 8 the humor has been somewhat patchy, although it is still sometimes brilliant.

If you haven't seen this series, you should definitely check it out. Start with the early episodes to get the most bang for your buck.

Portlandia is a sketch comedy show that contains two main characters played by Fred Armisen of SNL fame and Carrie Brownstein of popular band Sleater Kinney. These two come up with rad skits in which they play Hippy Vegans, Cult members, Cos Play characters, and Yuppies just to name a few. Every episode contains famous actors, which add to the fun!!

Port goes stageless! SNL, and Kids in The Hall take place on stages or sets. Port does not. This gives it a more authentic reality show feel which makes it more accessible and less artificial.

This show makes me feel like I know these people or grew up with them. They make fun of things me and my friends make fun of. Everyday young adults, who understand punk, politics, indie rock, college life, and getting over all of that will relate.

Portlandia is a 9 1/2 star show yet it's not over the top. It's not pretentious. This is why Port is for now. This generation. It's almost like a consistently funny SNL. An SNL that doesn't make fun of pop culture but rather everyday life. Therefore it's easy to laugh at again and again.

Though it's great Port lacks just little in two areas rewatchability and characters. If they could just some more stable characters and focus a little bit more on consistent relationships (non sketch stuff) to give the audience something to look forward to than maybe next season it will be a 10.

Written by and starring Carrie Brownstein, of Sleater-Kinney fame, and Fred Armisen, of Saturday Night Live fame, a sketch comedy show set in Portland, Oregon.

Funny, clever and original comedy. Captures well the absurdities of everyday life as well as parodying many organisations and types of people. Often irreverent in the institutions and people they take on.

The humour spans subtle to over-the-top. Therein lies the main problem with the show - the subtler stuff can be too subtle and you miss the joke. Some skits just don't work. In addition, while having regular characters helps familiarity and engagement some of the characters are just plain irritating, limiting engagement. There's also a degree of repetitiveness too.

Brownstein and Armisen are wonderful as the lead actors. While Armisen's comedic credentials are already well known and respected, Brownstein is a revelation. Her background, through Sleater-Kinney, is in socially-orientated rock music, and here she takes on sketch comedy, and does so extremely well.

Kyle MacLachlan is also great as the Major of Portland.

Another great feature of the series is the star-spotting as just about every episode has a major star (or several) in the cast, often as themselves. I can only imagine the clout Brownstein and Armisen must have to get those names on their show.

"Portlandia" is a parody of/homage to the City of Roses, depicting scenarios that look like typical Portland occurrences. "Saturday Night Live" cast member Fred Armisen and singer Carrie Brownstein play various characters that truly represent the city, with occasional guest stars. This is not a sitcom in the common sense. It's filmed on location, and the humor is sort of like the kind in Christopher Guest's movies. "Portlandia" isn't a masterpiece of a show, but it's a very fun look at my hometown. I can affirm that it's a pretty accurate portrayal. And a very funny one. This show probably won't be for everyone, but if you like quirky stuff then you'll probably enjoy it.

This show is incredibly funny. It is very dry, and there is no laugh track, so if you aren't into that type of humor/show, this isn't the show for you. They are particularly good at making fun of hipster overly sensitive liberal culture, while also making fun of the other side of the isle. There is something in each episode for every type of person. Sometimes, the humor isn't obvious. It isn't quotable. Its not something you can go tell your friends or share on twitter. A lot of it relies in the actual plot itself, or the subtle delivery from the actors. Sometimes it makes fun of movies, TV shows, or other traditional forms of entertainment. It doesn't stick to making fun of one type of person, and it doesn't stick to one type of humor. If you have a broad sense of humor or can at least appreciate their varying forms of humor, you'll love this show. If you only think very specific types of humor are funny, you won't like this. This show is brilliant, creative, and doesn't care about if it hurts your feelings.