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43-429: Denise "Zazu" McDenna ( Rachel Dratch ) and Pat Sullivan or "Sully" ( Jimmy Fallon ) are a pair of Lexington, Massachusetts , teenagers in love. The teens and their friends speak in a highly affected Boston accent . The sketches are presented in the format of home video footage filmed by their unseen friend Tommy. They have a torrid relationship, often arguing and making up in the same sentence. A prime example of this

86-502: A Peabody Award . In January 2017, the series was renewed for an eighth and final season, which concluded on March 22, 2018. Brownstein and Armisen first met in 2003 and began collaborating on a series of comedy sketches for the Internet in 2005 titled ThunderAnt . The sketches became increasingly Portland-centric, with premises ranging from irate diners at a popular Hawthorne District restaurant registering ridiculous complaints on

129-515: A Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination. In 2012 she published her autobiographical book Girl Walks into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle . Dratch was born on February 22, 1966, in Lexington, Massachusetts , the daughter of Elaine Ruth (née Soloway), a transportation director, and Paul Dratch, a radiologist . Both of Dratch's parents were Reform Jews. Dratch attended Hebrew school and had

172-658: A bat mitzvah . She is religiously nonobservant as an adult, and characterizes the faith she was born into as part of her cultural heritage . Her younger brother, Daniel, is a television producer and writer; his credits include the TV series Anger Management and Monk . Dratch says she grew up as the "class clown type" attending William Diamond Middle School and Lexington High School in Lexington. She said while performing in high school plays she gravitated towards acting in comedies more often than in dramas. Dratch attended

215-534: A swinger couple (played by Ebbe Roe Smith and Kristine Levine ), an owner of many quirky shops (played by Jeff Goldblum ) and Carrie's mom (played by Mickey Ronningen, seasons 2, 3, and 5). Actor Jedediah P. Aaker has appeared on more episodes of the series than any other actors, not including the series' two leads. Portlandia debuted on IFC on January 21, 2011. IFC "cheered" the first episode's Nielsen ratings of 263,000 viewers (live plus same day); factoring in repeats and three days' worth of DVR viewings,

258-456: A blue and gold varsity jacket and they use the name of former star shortstop Nomar Garciaparra as a catchphrase, though with their Boston accents, it is pronounced as "Nomah!" Garciaparra makes a cameo appearance in the October 14, 2000 sketch, in which he dates Sully's older sister Bernadette (played by Kate Hudson ), who flunked out of cooking school. Frankie Hilbert ( Horatio Sanz ),

301-507: A camcorder, the last sketch was made to look like it was recorded on an iPhone. In the December 17, 2011 episode (hosted by Fallon), it was established that Sully and Denise eventually married each other and have five children: Weezer, Chubbsy, Squeeze Box, Haggs and Baby Richard. In the April 15, 2017 episode (also hosted by Fallon), Sully and Denise take their daughter ( Kate McKinnon ) on

344-518: A decorative bird, referring to a joke in the TV series. A bicycle tour company began offering Portlandia tours. For the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards , the show received nominations in Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Fred Armisen, Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series , Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series for Jonathan Krisel, and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Steve Buscemi for

387-460: A fun house mirror reflection of intensely real people." Contrarily, Brian Lowry, writing for Variety , noted that the show was "clearly on a shoestring budget" and said that it featured an "array of tiresome characters" that provided "further proof not everyone deserves a sketch comedy showcase - especially when the premise cuts no deeper than vignettes inspired by the wheat-germy, hippie-ish environs of Portland, Ore." Comedian Jerry Seinfeld

430-498: A guest appearance as a "Patriot of New England" in a Revolutionary War -themed sketch parodying the fans of the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles in advance of Super Bowl LII . On September 29, 2018, she appeared as Senator Amy Klobuchar in the opening sketch, about the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh . She continued to reprise the role of Klobuchar during sketches on

473-599: A guest portraying Senator Amy Klobuchar . Other television credits include Portlandia , The King of Queens , Monk , and 30 Rock . She has also played the recurring role of Wanda Jo Oliver on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver , acting in films including Click (2006), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), Sisters (2015), and Wine Country (2019). In 2022, Dratch made her Broadway stage debut in POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive for which she earned

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516-556: A long-haired, bespectacled burnout, features in all but the first and latest episodes. In one episode, Justin Timberlake plays Denise's younger brother, Danny, a pyromaniac who provided the family a large sum of money after the Boston Archdiocese paid them off to keep the family from suing a priest who molested him (though, according to Danny, he was "...only minorly diddled"). The episode aired hours after Game 3 of

559-610: A rating of 71 out of 100, and the second season a rating of 75 out of 100. Both of these ratings fall within the site's range of "generally favorable reviews". Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times called the show "funny and charming." Verne Gay of Newsday awarded the series an "A" grade and called it "hilarious". He noted that "Brownstein and Armisen move so effortlessly between characters, then execute their riffs, tics, styles and voices with such skilled abandon that before long this doesn't seem like satire any longer but

602-416: A spoof of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys 's " Empire State of Mind ", titled "Forest Hills State of Mind." Dratch was originally cast in the role of Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock as "Jenna DeCarlo", and the original pilot episode features her in the role. After feedback from test audiences, the role was ultimately recast with Jane Krakowski . She went on to play a variety of small guest roles in several episodes of

645-487: A ten-episode second season, which began airing in January 2012. On March 21, 2012, IFC announced its renewal of the show for a third season. On June 12, 2013, the network announced its renewal of Portlandia for fourth and fifth seasons, of ten episodes each, that aired in early 2014 and early 2015. On February 10, 2015, it was announced that IFC had picked up Portlandia for sixth and seventh seasons. In January 2017,

688-524: A tour of Harvard hoping to enroll. The characters have their roots in a sketch called "Wicked" (an intensifier in the New England dialect, as in the expression "Wicked awesome!") performed at Chicago's Second City by Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey , playing an early version of the Denise character and her mother (or "mutha"). Rachel Dratch Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966)

731-476: Is Denise's tendency to say, "You're retarded!" or "You're so queer!" to which Sully replies, "You are" and immediately starts making out with her. The sketches usually end with one of the participants making a Freudian slip and Sully hoping that Tommy caught it on camera. The characters are very devoted fans of the Boston Red Sox . Sully typically wears a Boston Red Sox shirt, and Denise usually wears

774-442: Is a fan of the show. In a 2014 interview he said, "I think that's the best comedy on TV right now, and it's easily one of the best comedies of all time". The sketches set in the feminist bookstore "Women and Women First" were filmed in an actual independent bookstore , In Other Words ; this name can be seen on the chalkboard listing in-store events behind the cash register. At one point the real bookstore and community center used

817-521: Is also featured as an assistant to the mayor. Another episode, including a fictionalized music festival similar to Portland's actual MusicfestNW , featured a rock band played by Colin Meloy and Jenny Conlee of The Decemberists ; James Mercer of The Shins ; Brownstein's Sleater-Kinney bandmates Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss ; and Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse . On February 14, 2011, IFC ordered

860-502: Is an American actress and comedian. After she graduated from Dartmouth College , she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic . Dratch's breakthrough role was her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006. During her time on SNL , she portrayed a variety of roles including Debbie Downer . She has since occasionally returned to SNL as

903-585: Is set and filmed on location in Portland, Oregon. Production for the first season, consisting of six episodes, began in August 2010 and was completed in September 2010. The budget for the first season was set at less than $ 1 million (US). Along with Allison Silverman , a former head writer and executive producer for The Colbert Report , and Portlandia director Jonathan Krisel , Armisen and Brownstein wrote

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946-678: The 2020 Democratic Party Presidential primary debates, specifically the fifth and sixth debates in November and December 2019. In her book Girl Walks Into a Bar... , Dratch discusses meeting John Wahl, a consultant in the natural foods industry, in a bar in 2009. Six months later, Dratch learned she was pregnant, and on August 24, 2010, Dratch gave birth to Eli Benjamin, her son with Wahl. In an October 2010 interview, Dratch told People that her pregnancy at age 44 shocked her because she "had bought into all this stuff about, 'Once you're over 40 [pregnancy becomes difficult]'" and had "gone through

989-573: The Bravo channel. Dratch also made television appearances on NBC 's Third Watch and in a recurring role on The King of Queens (playing Denise, the on-off girlfriend of Spence, who worked in a bowling alley). Other television appearances include Portlandia , Monk , Frasier , Wizards of Waverly Place , 30 Rock , Aqua Teen Hunger Force , Inside Amy Schumer , Ugly Betty , and more recently, in season five of The Middle . She also appeared online with comedian Billy Eichner in

1032-554: The National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in the fall of 1985 and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1988. She majored in drama and psychology and was a member of the improvisational comedy group "Said and Done". While at Dartmouth, Dratch was a classmate of Kirsten Gillibrand . Dratch was a member of the mainstage cast of The Second City comedy troupe for four years. She received

1075-434: The 2003 ALCS , and Sully references a fight between Pedro Martinez and Don Zimmer early in the game. Donnie Bartalotti, played by Ben Affleck , has appeared three times. In the third to last Boston Teens sketch, he marries Michael Smith or "Smitty", played by Seth Meyers , as a response to Massachusetts ' recent legalization of same-sex marriage . Unlike the previous sketches, which were made to look as if recorded on

1118-585: The Joseph Jefferson award for Best Actress in a Revue for the two revues in which she performed: Paradigm Lost and Promisekeepers, Losers Weepers . At The Second City, she performed alongside future SNL head writers Adam McKay and Tina Fey , as well as future 30 Rock performer Scott Adsit . The first incarnation of her SNL "Wicked" sketch was performed in The Second City's Paradigm Lost . In addition to acting, Dratch also played

1161-571: The Luvahs (with Will Ferrell , as two pretentious professors); Abe Scheinwald, a Hollywood producer with a terrible acquisition record; and, perhaps most memorably, Debbie Downer , a depressed woman who brought others' moods down while saying grim non sequiturs . In December 2011, she made a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live ' s Christmas show, hosted by former cast member Jimmy Fallon . On April 15, 2017, she made another guest appearance with host Jimmy Fallon. On February 3, 2018, she made

1204-540: The Stone Age ; Gus Van Sant ; Tim Robbins ; Martina Navratilova ; Jeff Goldblum ; Juliette Lewis ; Joanna Newsom ; Annie Clark of St. Vincent ; Jack White ; Paul Simon ; Henry Rollins ; Krist Novoselic ; Portland Trail Blazers players LaMarcus Aldridge , Damian Lillard , CJ McCollum , and Robin Lopez as themselves; and Kyle MacLachlan as a fictional mayor of Portland. Actual Portland mayor Sam Adams

1247-451: The actors as if they were friends living together in a house in Portland. Most of the others use makeup, costumes, and wigs to depict pairings both young and old of various types. Sometimes cross-dressing is used, as when Armisen portrays Candace, co-owner of the Women and Women First bookstore, Brownstein plays Andy, a men's rights activist, or when Armisen and Brownstein swap genders to play

1290-895: The cello onstage. The theater also hosted the first incarnation of Dratch & Fey (her critically praised two-woman show with Tina Fey ), which was later performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, where it was dubbed "the funniest thing to be found on any New York comedy stage" by Time Out New York . Dratch has appeared in several films, including Martin & Orloff , The Hebrew Hammer , Down with Love , Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star , Click , I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry , Spring Breakdown , and My Life in Ruins . She also has joined fellow SNL cast members on A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T.: Improv , which aired September 7, 2005, on

1333-459: The couple Nina and Lance. There are also a small number of recurring characters played by other actors, such as the Mayor of Portland and his assistant (played by Kyle MacLachlan and Sam Adams , the actual mayor from 2009 to 2012), Fred and Carrie's landlord (played by Steve Buscemi , who also directed several episodes), Angel (played by Angel Bouchet, who appears in multiple episodes as herself),

The Boston Teens - Misplaced Pages Continue

1376-402: The episode "Celery". Portlandia: Season One was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray on December 6, 2011, and Region 4 on August 1, 2012. The one disc set consists of all six episodes of its first season. Special features include; Extended Scenes, Bloopers, An IFC Behind-the-Scenes Featurette, "Thunder Ant" Sketches, and Audio Commentary by Armisen and Brownstein. Portlandia: Season Two

1419-406: The first season, including Barbara Walters , Elizabeth Taylor , a cat trainer, a custodian, a blue monster, and a doctor. On March 19, 2012, Dratch's memoir, Girl Walks into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle was published. In it, Dratch recounts her experiences after being recast in the 30 Rock pilot, including the birth of her child. In 2016 Dratch hosted

1462-455: The mark whether or not you’re in on the joke." Portlandia also won an Emmy Award in 2011 for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety Program or Special and was also nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards . Former Portland mayor Sam Adams (2009 to 2012) also appeared on the show and proclaimed January 21, 2011, Portlandia Day. The proclamation included

1505-514: The number grew to 725,000, a figure that does not include an estimated 500,000 online preview viewings on IFC.com, Hulu and YouTube during the days before the official IFC premiere. As of May 1, 2012, the series was available to watch on Netflix in Ireland and the UK. The show has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Review aggregator site Metacritic has given the first season

1548-403: The program Rachel Dratch's Late Night Snack on truTV. The sketch comedy program featured Dratch playing a waitress who doesn't talk in wraparound segments. Dratch also appeared in sketches and the show ran for two seasons. Her tenure at SNL spanned 1999 to 2006. Dratch's recurring characters included Denise, a Boston teen; Sheldon, the junior-high-school boy from Wake up, Wakefield ; one of

1591-567: The review website Yelp! to a character's disastrous one-man performance at the city's Hollywood Theatre . In July 2009, the duo pitched their idea for a full-fledged sketch comedy show to IFC and Lorne Michaels ' Broadway Video production company, and the project was quickly approved. Some of the content on the show first appeared in the Internet series. For example, the "Women & Women First" feminist bookstore sketch and its characters, Toni and Candace, originated there. The series

1634-459: The series was renewed for an eighth and final season to debut in 2018. Filming for the final season began in Portland in June 2017. Most of the sketches on Portlandia feature Armisen and Brownstein playing one of a variety of pairs of characters, most of which appear in multiple episodes. One of those pairings is "Fred and Carrie", a naturalistic depiction that is supposed to represent versions of

1677-456: The show to promote itself, but the relationship broke down in 2016. The volunteer board wrote in a blog post that the bookstore and staff were mistreated during a filming session, and went on to say that "the Women and Women First segments ... are trans-antagonistic and trans-misogynist and have only become more offensive as the show goes on." Portlandia won a Peabody Award in 2011 "for its good-natured lampooning of hipster culture, which hits

1720-895: The sketches that appear in the first six episodes. Lorne Michaels served as executive producer. The series stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein in various roles. Guest stars include: Tim Heidecker ; Kirsten Dunst ; Olivia Wilde ; Selma Blair ; Chloë Sevigny ; Roseanne Barr ; Steve Buscemi ; Claire Danes ; Kristen Wiig ; Rose Byrne ; Andy Samberg ; Rachel Bloom ; Ed Begley Jr. ; Aimee Mann ; Johnny Marr ; Sarah McLachlan ; k.d. lang ; Jello Biafra ; Kurt Vile ; Heather Graham ; Parker Posey ; Michael Nesmith ; Glenn Danzig ; Aubrey Plaza ; Rashida Jones ; Anna Gunn ; Jane Lynch ; Kumail Nanjiani ; Jason Sudeikis ; Ehren McGhehey ; Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam ; Greta Gerwig ; Edward James Olmos ; Brigitte Nielsen ; J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. ; Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson and Fred Schneider of The B-52's ; Josh Homme of Queens of

1763-434: The whole process of letting go of [the idea of having kids]." As of 2019, Dratch and Wahl are not a couple, but are on good terms and live near each other to parent their son. Portlandia Portlandia is an American sketch comedy television series starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein , set in and around Portland, Oregon , and spoofing the city's reputation as a haven for eccentric hipsters . The show

The Boston Teens - Misplaced Pages Continue

1806-502: Was produced by Broadway Video Television and IFC Original Productions. It was created by Armisen and Brownstein, along with Jonathan Krisel , who directs it. It debuted on IFC on January 21, 2011. The show shared its title with the sculpture of the same name that sits above the entrance of the Portland Building on Fifth Avenue in downtown Portland , which appears in the show's title sequence . The show has won

1849-609: Was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray on September 25, 2012, and Region 4 on August 7, 2013. The two disc set consists of all ten episodes of season two. Special features include; "Portlandia: the Tour: Seattle" Featurette, "Inside Portlandia" Featurette, "Feminist Bookstore" Deleted Scene, "Brunch Village: the Director's Cut", Excerpt from the Portlandia book and Audio Commentary by Armisen, Brownstein and Krisel. There

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