-Hey, everyone.
I am back and I'm joined by my dear friend
and 8G Band leader Fred Armisen.
Hi, Fred. How are you, buddy?
-How's it going?
-I'm doing great, and this is so nice of you to do this
because a lot of people know you to be a renaissance man.
You're an actor.
You're a writer, a musician,
but one thing people don't know about you
is that you are a art connoisseur.
-I like that word and it's correct, yeah.
-And you were telling me that you have
an art historian's knowledge of every painting ever painted,
and we were thinking, since it's very hard obviously right now
for people to do things like go to a museum,
we would maybe take advantage of your great knowledge right now
in a segment we call "Fred Armisen, Art Aficionado."
Alright, so, Fred, here's how it's going to work.
I'm going to text you a painting right now.
And you are going to look at it and you're going to tell me
everything you know about that painting.
-Okay. -Okay?
Sent.
-Oh, yes.
-You do -- So you know this painting?
-Of course I know this painting.
The person was an entertainer,
this person who wanted his painting done.
So, the artist was just like,
"Okay, well, what is it that you do to entertain?"
And the artist -- And the person who wanted his painting done --
'cause he wanted it done in a hurry,
was like, "Well, I'm a juggler."
And he's like, "Well, how am I supposed to do that?
How do you want me to show that you're a juggler?"
And he's like, "Why don't we -- Let's do this.
Let's do what I'm juggling first, right?
Like, let's put the apples in the air
and then we'll put in my arms later
'cause I can't do it while I'm having this done."
So he did the one apple, right?
'Cause that's what he was juggling, and then the guy
who wanted his painting done couldn't pay for it, right?
Like, he didn't do -- like --
-Wait, Fred, I'm going to stop you real quick.
The painter was the juggler
or the man being painted was the juggler?
-The man being painted was the juggler.
-Got it.
-So, he sort of, like, did one apple in the air,
and then he's like, "I don't have the rest to, like,
be able to pay you for doing this painting.
I really appreciate it.
By the way, you are so talented.
You're just such a brilliant painter, I just want to say --"
And he's like, "I don't want to hear the niceties
of, like, why I'm great.
Just -- Can you just -- I need to be paid for what I do.
This is, like, my only job.
I don't go from painting --"
-Was this a situation -- and again, sorry to interrupt.
Was this a situation where the apple was painted,
and then the painter said, "Hey, I'm just checking.
You have money for this, right?"
'Cause it seems strange that he would start the painting,
stop after one apple and then check on the finances.
-This is just the times.
You know, back then, they didn't have the Internet.
They didn't have these, like, telephones
and ways of communicating.
So all they could do is, like, little by little.
Say, "Hey, do you have the money to pay me for the painting?"
And he's like, "I don't right now.
Why don't I have this money is
because I haven't had any gigs juggling.
So I'm asking you to paint."
-Was the meaning to the service like a promotional piece
for his juggling work?
-One thing you have to remember about art
is that it was all promotional pieces.
This is all what we call advertising now.
So that's why he needed it done.
-What was the "Mona Lisa" advertising?
-Shawls.
So she's wearing this sort of shawl.
That was just to get the word out there,
which is why she's expressionless.
-I see.
-Because for awhile, she was grinning from ear to ear,
and, you know, she was just told, like,
"Can you please just keep it still? Keep it calm."
-Because this is about the shawls.
We have here that this painting is called "Son of Man"
by Rene Magritte, and it was painted in 1964.
Is that on track with you?
-Except for the phone calls part. I think there were.
I don't know why it was explained to me that --
I'm sorry. My professor told me that they weren't calling
each other enough, but --
-This is interesting that you're going to sort of --
I hope you don't mind me putting it this way --
throw your professor sort of under the bus here.
-Oh, my professor is long dead.
Long, long dead.
-What was your professor's name?
-David McClellan.
-And where did you study art?
-I studied at this marine biology university in --
It's just that they had an art department there,
and this was like in the vicinity of Orlando and it's --
It's a long story, but, like, we had to learn about art
to learn about how marine biology worked.
That's separate.
-That's totally separate.
Maybe we'll save that for next time.
Once again, give it up for Fred Armisen, art aficionado.