Watch a Robot Interview Portlandia's Fred Armisen

(knocking on window)

(soft elevator music)

This is great.

Hi, I'm Rob-ee the Robot,

Hi, it's great to meet you.

much for joining me today.

It's my pleasure, thank you very much for having me.

I like your design, you have kind of a,

kind of a stove-like quality to your mouth especially,

there's sort, almost seems like a heating element you know.

[Rob-ee] First most important question, Iphone,

Window's phone or Android?

Iphone.

[Rob-ee] Twitter or Facebook?

Neither, they're both good companies

but I'm not on either.

[Rob-ee] Mac or PC?

Mac.

[Rob-ee] Talking or texting?

Texting.

[Rob-ee] We really enjoyed season three of Portlandia,

tell us about the...

Who's we?

[Rob-ee] Well, I mean me, sorry.

Nevermind.

It's okay, thank you very much by the way,

that's very nice of you.

[Rob-ee] So tell us about your guest stars this season.

How did you get them to go on the show?

You know, usually through pretty normal channels,

well tell our producer

hey, we really would like to have

Chloe Sevigny on the show.

can you get a hold of their agent?

sometimes it's like that, someitmes it's just a matter of

you know, texting, so in season one we had Amy Mann,

we just texted her and said

do you want to come down and do the show?

[Rob-ee] And how do you choose the characters

that they play?

We let them choose it, we'll say

hey Jeff Goldblum you own a knot store or a doily store.

They pretty much figure it out for themselves.

Because I think you get a good performance that way.

[Rob-ee] You started out as a musician.

Do you feel that playing music live

helps with your comedic timing and ability to improvise?

Yeah, I mean it's all so similar.

Playing in a band is very much like

being in a scene with other comedians.

Each sketch is kind of like a song on an album.

We treat a season kind of like an album as well

so it all comes together.

And then, when I was playing drums in a band,

you just sort of get used to being on stage

and trying to entertain people.

[Rob-ee] You're currently doing both Portlandia

and Saturday Night Live.

Does it ever feel like too much?

Do you ever feel like a robot?

It's never enough.

It's so fun.

Yes I do feel like a robot but that's a positive thing.

I want to feel like a robot.

It must be amazing being a robot.

It's like, there's a blueprint for the way you're made

and you can point to different wires and go

this is what helps me do this.

I mean, it's great.

Do robots want to travel?

Do you guys have a sort of wanderlust?

Do you feel like you and other robots are of one nation?

Or do you feel like

oh, that's a Japanese robot, that's an AIBO or whatever?

Is that how you pronounce it?

[Rob-ee] AIBO

AIBO

Is that like ooh that's a foreign robot?

or are you like no we're all brothers?

[Rob-ee] No, we are all brothers.

There is no uprising.

I don't know what you've heard.

I didn't mention an uprising.

I don't know why you're getting defensive about it.

I said do you want to travel and

do you think of yourselves as brothers?

Uprising never came into it.

I never said the word uprising.

[Rob-ee] Nevermind.

Do any robot depictions make you upset?

Is there anything that you're like

that is not what we're about?

[Rob-ee] Not really.

We haven't been slandered by Hollywood.

There are some times where I think they make

robots out to be cold and I don't believe

that robots are cold.

[Rob-ee] No, we have hearts.

As opposed to me, I don't have a heart.

[Rob-ee] Do you ever think about what you might

want to do in addition to or after...

You didn't want to address that?

[Rob-ee] What?

That was your cue to go yes you do have a heart,

you've got a big heart, Fred

[Rob-ee] You do have a big heart, Fred.

Thank you, that's really nice.

Thank you.

[Rob-ee] You talk a lot, in season two of Portlandia

about Battlestar Galactica.

Are you a fan?

Yes, absolutely.

It's more than just science fiction.

It's bigger than that.

[Rob-ee] Yeah, and I like the cylons.

I imagine you do.

Can you tell the difference between a cylon and a human?

[Rob-ee] Sometimes.

Do you ever watch and did you know

some people were cylons before the audience did

because you've just got that sort of

robotic sense of things?

[Rob-ee] Yeah, there's sort of like robot dar.

Do you want to see my impression of a cylon?

[Rob-ee] Yeah.

Hi how are you?

I'm Fred Armisen.

[Rob-ee] Would you ever date a cylon?

Yeah.

[Rob-ee] Really?

Absolutely

[Rob-ee] Which one?

Hint hint.

What's the hinting?

[Rob-ee] I mean, cylon is just a robot, right?

Kind of.

I guess, technically but also there is some biology

to cylons, somewhat.

You know, it's kind of a grey area.

Starbuck was very datable, I would say.

I mean that with respect.

I don't mean it like hey she's very datable

I mean more like that was a very good character.

I liked how focused she was.

[Rob-ee] You know who wouldn't call you too much?

Starbuck.

She would not call.

[Rob-ee] So, 30 Rock is ending.

Do you have any thoughts about the end of that show?

Definitely one of the best shows ever to have been on TV.

I think that watching 30 Rock, it's almost like a drug.

The jokes are so fast, there are so many jokes

that I get mad.

I go, that's so good.

Brilliant.

[Rob-ee] Do you think there's room for robots in comedy?

You know, hopefully there'll be a day when all comedy

is all robots.

There should be comedians who perform only for robots.

I'm saying human comedians that only perform for robots.

When you guys have your time off, you sit down

at wherever club you guys go to and it's all

robot based humor.

Things like do you ever get programmed wrong?

or like how about being powered down?

That's not fun right?

Right guys?

Am I right?

How about these sound effects they put in us?

Right?

Are they a little loud?

Like, turn down my volume!

Thank you very much.

This robot knows what I'm talking about.