-I'm so happy to be here. -So happy to see you in studio.
You've been so nice to come on the show
through Zooms and all that stuff.
-And where was that? Was that hanging
on a screen here? -It was a screen behind you.
Yeah. And so that's where you were.
And weirdly enough, you were in the building Zooming.
-Oh, yes. -You just didn't want to come
into the studio to see me. -No, no.
I mean, I live right here. -Yeah. You --
Yeah, which -- -I'm in the apartment
right that way. -Oh.
-Yeah. -Are we too loud, or...?
-Oh, you're totally fine. -Okay, good, yeah.
We have to talk about your projects.
We don't really have to, but I want to mention.
-Oh, quickly. -Yes, you're on "Big Mouth"
on Netflix this Friday.
You're a voice of one of the characters.
Congratulations on that. And then, another announcement
came out that I was very excited --
I didn't -- I should have congratulated you.
Sorry about that, but congratulations.
You're gonna be one of the voices in the new
"Super Mario Bros." movie. -Yeah.
-The movie. -The movie.
Movie. [ Cheers and applause ]
It's called a movie. -it's called a movie.
Google it, and... -Look it up.
-Look it up in the dictionary. -Yeah.
-It's called a movie. It's a movie.
How long have you lasted? I don't know. Decades?
-Uh, look it up in a thesaurus.
-Yeah. -Another name for it is film.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-Movies. -It's called movies.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-Go to one. -Be in one.
-Yeah. -Do you remember encyclopedias?
-Yeah. Do you remember how, like, how big they were
and how many you would have? -Like a whole collection.
-Yeah. Like, that's what you went to.
Like, "Well, we'll look it up."
-Yeah. Everyone would go, "Yeah, we'll look it up."
Yeah. Then "Microsoft Encarta."
-Yeah. -You know, stuff like that.
-Yeah. -So we'll talk about
stuff like that when we get out on the air.
-We're gonna talk about encyclopedias and...
-Yeah, stuff like that. Yeah, Microsoft Encarta.
You know, maybe bring up "Prodigy."
You'll go, "Do you remember Prodigy?"
And I'll say, "Yeah, I do."
Then you'll say, "Oh, do you remember, like,
they used to have -- you had to dial in.
You have the phone dial in, it went, "Cwk-ck-cwk."
That'll get a laugh. -But should I do it
to the audience? Don't you feel like it should be
like, "Do you guys remember?" It should be more like that,
like, "Right?" -Yeah, so you come out,
I sit here. No, you sit here.
-I sit here. -Yeah. And then you got to go,
"That sounds like 'Microsoft Encarta.'"
Do you guys remember the sound? [ Cheering ]
-Yeah. And we'll cheer. -That's a bit.
And you do that -- And you go out there
and do the "Prodigy" bit.
[ Both mumbling ]
-And then -- so, then, I'm sort of surprised.
I go, "Whoa! No -- And you've been there?"
-Yes. Yeah. -Oh!
And Greece is beautiful. And...
-Yeah, we'll talk about Greece. -Greece and the ocean.
-And then I'll go, "'Ey, like, Sandy, I can't believe you."
-"Not that one." -"Not that one.
"Don't be silly." And I go, "Yeah, sorry.
Back to the projects." -Yeah, back to the projects.
-And you're like, "I had a good time
filming in Greece. -Yeah, filming in Greece.
-"The director is a good friend of mine..."
-"A good friend of mine, genius, you know, wonderful."
-"We have lunch, we have --" Talk about a project,
that "I never thought I'd be one, but now I am."
-And then a funny story, I guess.
"And so they order falafel, and this guy looks at me."
And, you know... [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, and he goes, "We're not open,"
"And now I feel awful." [ Laughter ]
-I think -- I think that'll work.
-I ordered a falafel, and now I feel awful.
Yeah. But you don't have to do any of this stuff.
You know, it's old material.
I want you to come out and be real.
-This is very much the real me.
And I like talking about those things.
-How many different frames of glasses do you own?
-I think like 10. Maybe 10.
-Are you getting to, like, an Elton John stage?
-I probably will. -Right?
Like, he had a hundred different frames of glasses.
-I don't know if they'll be too, like, wild.
But I do want to change it up a little bit.
-Would you ever wear red frames?
[ Laughter ]
-What do you think? No, right? No.
-I don't think so, right? -No.
-I think it's too much for you. -It doesn't seem right.
It's too much. -Black framed glasses, always.
-Yeah. -But this is --
-These are greenish. -They're olive, yeah.
Now I'm going to admit something to you,
that you brought this up. -Wow.
-And we did not plan this. I was kind of, like,
tired of the glasses I've been wearing,
and, today, I was like, "I just need something else
for the show." -You're kidding me.
-So these actually don't have prescriptions in them.
[ Laughter ]
-This is insane. -And I'm not kidding.
-This is insane. I'm not kidding.
-We did not plan this. -We did not plan this.
-This is insane. Yeah. They have nothing.
-They have nothing. -Fake glasses.
So I -- But you like wearing them?
-It just feels -- -Part of your --
-It feels nice. I like -- I like the feeling of it.
-I agree. It fits you well.
-Yeah, I just -- I like the feeling on my --
-That's insane, dude. -And so I stop at the store --
-You came on my show, and you're wearing fake glasses.
-But I saw these 'cause -- -We're not even gonna air this.
I just think this is fascinating.
-They're greenish gray, which I like.
I like sort of gray-green.
-You're wearing a green shirt. -Yeah, so I was just like,
"This might be exactly right." For real --
I just saw these glasses, was like, "This'll be nice."
-That's perfect for you. Red frames I think is too much.
And you don't -- You don't do that.
It's like -- -No, no, no, no.
-You know, we were -- I was at dinner the other night,
and we're talking about Norm McDonald jokes.
We missed Norm McDonald. -Yeah.
-And I have -- Colin Quinn told me about this great
Norm McDonald joke. Do you want to hear it?
-Yeah. -And so Norm McDonald goes,
"Yeah, I, uh -- I walked in
on my mother and father having sex.
It was the most embarrassing 30 minutes of my life.
[ Laughter, audience groans ]
It's a great joke. That's a fantastic.
-I can't top it, I can't top it.
-It's really funny. It's a really funny joke.
-That's so good. But Greece was beautiful.
It was -- the water -- [ Laughter ]
-Pretty clear. -You can see through it.
You can see through the water. -You can see through the water.
I've never seen through water. I mean, obviously, it's water.
I've seen through, but when you're in it, it's like --
-You look through the water and think, "Okay.
I'm not gonna see through this," and they go,
"No, you're about to see through it."
-And then you're like -- And I go,
"You know what? I actually felt like a kid again."
-Aww. -Aww.
And so we had another child. -Aww!
-Aww! -Awwwwwww...
...wwwwwww. -...wwwwwww.
-The history -- the ancient history in Greece.
-Yeah. You know what?
I chisel all the -- My job is I chisel
the genitalia off statues in museums.
[ Laughter ]
What? That's your job?
Yeah. Hey, you got to -- I got to pay the bills.
So I go to museums and... -"Jimmy, that one, that one.
That one, Jimmy, that one." -"Jimmy, that one
looks like it. It's not one, but chisel it off
anyway." -"Chisel, chisel, chisel."
-"It could be one." -"We got these new ones.
Chisel, chisel, chisel. And the nose on that one."
-"Just take the chisel -- Yes. -"Why the nose?"
-"Well, it makes it look old.
Trust me -- you'll love it when it's finished.
-Dd dd dd. Bup bup.
-Yeah. "Oh, my god! This is an old statue."
"Actually, no, I just got it from Restoration Artwork.
-"Yeah, I had a chisel." -"I had a chisel last week."
[ Both laugh ]
That's my job. -That's your job?
-Wait. So, Fred, talk to me about "Big Mouth."
So, you're in the show? And who do you play?
You're Nick Kroll's dad. -I'm his dad.
And his name is Elliot. -It's fun to do.
-And it's based -- The voice -- This is for real.
I know we've been doing a lot of bits.
You guys are so patient and so nice.
But I did the voice to sound like Henry Winkler.
-Really?
-You know, 'cause in interviews, he's very -- he's very warm.
-Wow! That's an amazing Henry Winkler impression.
That is exactly him. -Oh, thanks.
-That is amazing. -Thanks. Thank you.
-That actually sounds exactly like --
-You know what I mean, right? -Yeah.
-Because he's sincere and he talks about --
You can hear a little bit of New York in there,
a little bit.
-Yes, a little bit. Oh, my gosh.
-And so --
-Dude, have you ever done this for Henry Winkler?
-No. I didn't think about doing it,
but only for the voice for this.
-He's going to freak out. This is him.
-Wow. That's so nice of you.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Fred in the new season of "Big Mouth."
Take a look at this.
-Okay, I get it. I've heard you.
You don't love me anymore.
You want a divorce? That's fine.
All I ask is 100% custody of you.
-I don't want a divorce, Elliot.
I just want to have a real conversation
about our daughter having sex.
-Oh, you want a real conversation, do you?
-Yes, I do. -Well, here's what I think.
Leah is ready to have sex when Leah says
she's ready to have sex,
because we made Leah ready to have sex
when Leah's ready to have sex.
-I know, but you need to let me have my feelings about it!
-I'm yelling, but I'm actually very sorry about that.
[ Laughter ] -Exactly.
"I'm yelling, but..." Fred, before --
[ Applause ] "Big Mouth," Fred Armisen.
Before you go -- Last time, I asked you --
I begged you to do some impressions, and you did.
And you were very nice.
And now I'm asking you again to do another thing.
I don't know why I'm asking you to work.
-Here's what we're gonna do. -Okay.
-This is something I'd like to try.
-All right. This is what I'm talking about.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-So, what I want to do is,
I want to give examples of strumming styles.
[ Guitar strums ]
But this is going to be, like, strumming styles of punk
and alternative music from 1970 to 2000.
This is a sort of truncated version of, like,
how people played the guitar.
So we'll start with 1970,
and there were fewer, like, solos and stuff like that.
It was a little more rh--
They had more, like, rhythm to it and percussion.
So, like, something like Velvet Underground
was kind of like...
♪ Going down the boulevard with the flower ♪
[ Laughter and applause ]
That kind of thing, right?
[ Laughter ]
-Boulevard.
-So then like -- So then like mid-'70s,
there was stuff like the Ramones and the stuff at CBGB's,
very driving like...
♪ I just want to watch TV ♪
♪ My baby's giving me a lobotomy ♪
[ Both singing gibberish ]
That kind of thing. -Yeah.
-But then in --
-Going down the boulevard with a flower.
[ Laughter ]
-And then, in England, like 1977, same kind of thing,
but, like, a little more angular and sort of like...
♪ Don't go to the ambulance ♪
♪ Don't go to the ambulance, don't go to the ambulance ♪
♪ -Don't run on ♪ Yeah, love that.
-Yeah, that kind of thing. -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you.
Then like 1980, like post-punk,
they sort of, like, didn't do chords that much.
It was a little bit more like...
♪ I am a neon light ♪
[ Laughter ]
-Wow. [ Cheers and applause ]
♪ I am a neon light ♪
♪ I am the neon light ♪
Yeah, that's great. Love that.
-Then early '80s, there was like
a sort of like country music feel to, like, punk.
It was kind of like...
[ Singing indistinctly ]
Yeah, that kind of thing. [ Cheers and applause ]
And then there was like a sort of mid-'80s, late '80s,
like Sonic Youth would do this thing where, like, the chords
would be a little discordant.
So it'd be like...
♪ Candlelight ♪
♪ On a booth ♪
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] Wow. That's exactly right. Yeah.
I remember that.
-And then, do you remember the early '90s,
like a little ska thing happening?
And very playful, kind of like...
-Yep.
♪ -Your mom and dad were the best you ever had ♪
[ Both singing gibberish ]
-Yeah, yeah.
-That kind of thing. [ Cheers and applause ]
And then Seattle, Pacific Northwest, you know,
they did a lot of octaves, like...
Kind of like half time, like...
♪ Yeah ♪
[ Laughter ]
♪ Yeah ♪ [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, yeah, exactly.
-Then like, Sleater-Kinney would be, like, more single notes.
♪ Don't go so slow ♪
♪ Out of control ♪
-Yeah, that's right. Love that.
-And then like 2000, things got very melodic,
a lot of clear chords, you know.
Like crooning, a lot of, like, happy singing.
You know, like...
♪ Come out with me again ♪
♪ I'd like to take you to the stratosphere ♪
Yeah, you know?
[ Both singing indistinctly ]
Kind of like Strokes kind of. -Yeah, yeah, love that.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Fred Armisen, everybody!
Season five of "Big Mouth" premieres Friday on Netflix.
We'll be right back with a performance from Lucy Dacus.
Stick around, everybody.
♪♪