Portlandia's Carrie Brownstein talks to John Dugan | Interview

The show is about Portland on one level, but I also felt like its about this baggage from the ’90s and these kind of things that you can't believe are still here in terms of the culture. It just hit home. There are a lot of things that I thought were so cool when I was 25, that have become such clichés. They’re so ripe for parody. My friends and I might joke about them, but I never see them realized. Is that the source of the inspiration or is it not just about the 90s… there are other things that you guys want to parody?

Yeah. Certainly. To address the '90s question… As you know, there was this Clintonian optimism leading up to the millennium, we really thought we were going to move forward and things would get better and better, the millennium happened and 9-11 happened, and that came to a screeching halt in terms of the broader cultural psyche... But in places like in these progressive communities, places like Portland, it's almost like these things didn't happen. Were still moving along in this idealistic way, its an insular way. In order to maintain an insular stance on anything, you have to reject a lot of other things. That does exist in Portland, Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco. That’s an underlying thesis. The other thing, and this is what motivates the characters on the show, if you are part of a forward-thinking progressive kind of city, there is a certain set of guidelines you want to live by. But you’re not always satisfied with those guidelines or they are very confusing to follow. Things are so progressive, that it becomes an extreme version of that. You can’t just be good, you have to be good in a certain way. That creates such internal conflict. I think a lot of our characters are internally conflicted. That also creates a conflict with the outside world where you are so protective of this ideal... you have this pride with your lifestyle in your city and you keep constantly justifying it. Those internal and external conflicts motivate a lot of our characters. Whether it is the bookstore owners, who espouse to be open to everything and everyone, but are open to nothing and I don’t even know if they’d want to sell a book. {interviewer laughing at this point} I see a lot of small business owners in Portland or Williamsburg where the store is so specific that you wonder if they want anyone to shop there.
 
The store is almost representing their identity. It’s like a badge.
The reason that Portland and its characters are not targets, we want to be a part of those things. We want to shop there just like anyone else. We feel just as alienated when we can't get in there and make things work for us. People often ask, is Portland a target? I say, no. We have a sketch about a bird on it. I do think its ridiculous. But when I was shopping for Christmas presents for my family I was like Oh, look at this cute little ring with a bird on it for my sister. It’s a love/hate thing.

That sketch resonated with me, too. You’ll be excited about it, then there is a weird herd mentality that exists in these subcultures. Right.

There’s a sweetness to the show, are you paying a bit of a tribute to them, as well?
If you think of an aggressive character like the fixed-gear biking guy. I honestly think that anyone who rides a bike, you have a fixed-gear biker mentality inside your head. When I bike, I feel so self-righteous. I want everybody to notice me, I want cars to pull up next to me at a stop light and think about how I am saving the environment and getting so much exercise. There is an earnestness to these characters that we understand. The driving force behind them, and behind the show, is benevolent. Its ultimately one of optimism. This is not a cynical show. It has a dreamy, idealistic quality, in the same way that the city it takes place in does. On a personal level, I guess my hope for the show—I hang out with other people that do creative endeavors—even thought it will strike a nerve with the city, I hope it becomes part of the dialogue, the conversation. I don’t want to be the Benedict Arnold.

You don’t want to have to move.
That would be the ultimate irony. I do love it here. [short digression into the history of Coffee People—a chain of Portland cafes from which this writer used to order his gourmet coffee beans, long since bought out by Starbucks) There is one remaining Coffee People, in the Portland airport, according to Brownstein.]

Where there any sketches you discarded along the way, because they were too mean, or too out there? Sometimes the things that don't fit say more about what the show is supposed to be.
In terms of the writing process, there were things that were discarded before they were formalized. When we tried to draw too much from something that was too low-hanging fruit. We had to find our own way into something. Like the sketch "Cacao," the story of that is a good example of how the show works. It started out, we were trying to think of foodie people... wine seemed too obvious. There is this store in Portland that just sells salt. Honestly, the whole store, specialty salt. You just go in there and feel guilty about everything in your life. Like I haven't been paying enough attention. They also have a beautiful display of chocolate. We started thinking how chocolate had become like wine with the percentage of cacao content. We started thinking about this couple at a chocolate-tasting party. That was boring. That sketch is about a foodie couple and to me, that’s not interesting enough. It didn't have enough legs to it. I said, What if cacao is a safe word? That changed it one more step. And John suggested we reverse the gender roles. It's an idea that started as a skewering of a precious idea, and becomes not about that at all. It becomes about this couple that has a communication issue. This word becomes a stumbling block in the relationship. If an idea was just a parody of... Like what about those 1880s bars, or we had an idea about a crazy day care. If they didn't transform so that it wasn't about that, then they died. That process allows us to be real people. Especially for improv, we need conflict, we need characters.

I thought the cacao sketch was so off the wall and original.
It's really weird. I have a hard time watching that one because of all the body hair on me in that one and how they pitched my voice down. My dad is going to see the show at a Portland screening and I don't even wanna be near him.

There's some physical comedy, some intimate moments there. You have some big-name guests dropping in on the show. How would you go about writing them in? Or would you just have a role in mind? Like Kyle MacLachlan or Amy Mann?
The Amy Mann one, the idea was written. That was tricky. I guess, overall, we would make a list of the characters, what our casting needs were. Every other person are just local actors. The trick was finding roles that were meaty enough and fun enough that we would want to actually bring someone in. Kyle MacLachlan. We're all fans of David Lynch, we’re all fans of Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks did capture this version of the Northwest, Oh, it's so strange over there, anything can happen. Kyle was a very obvious choice. Other people, it was kind of this wish list of actors that would enjoy creating their own characters. If we gave them a script at all, it was thrown out the day of shooting. We didn't give them a lot of background. We basically said This is where all the playing will take place, it will be inside a mayor’s office. Most of the actors will really relish that. Heather Graham, she wrote her own journal entry and brought her own wardrobe up. I think it was fun for these actors, who have a director and writer sit down with them and say these are your lines. It was a real privilege for us. With Steve Buscemi, the director said Look, he’s acting with his hands. These are some pretty consummate actors. Having Lorne Michaels attached to it definitely helped. Someone like Kyle, he just said I just want to do something interesting and cool. A lot of actors feel that way, that this is an interesting playground on which they could perform.

Portlandia, complete first episode: