The end of the hottest night clubs in New York. (NBC(

Perhaps Semisonic said it best: "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

This weekend marked the 38th season finale of Saturday Night Live, arguably one of the best runs the NBC variety show has seen in recent years. This is thanks in large part to fresh featured members like Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon as well as the new repertory cast of Taran Killam, Vanessa Bayer, Bobby Moynihan, and Nasim Pedrad. These relatively young comedians were able to fill the hole made last season by the departures of heavy-hitters Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg and Abby Elliott, and gave the show, in the words of Bill Hader, "a new sensibility."

"There’s a joy in seeing a new move from somebody and going, ‘Oh, she can do that,'" Mr. Hader told The New York Times last week.

But the Ben Affleck/Kanye West-hosted finale was also bittersweet, with several major players--including Fred Armisen, Weekend Update's Seth Meyers (who was also the show's head writer) and Bill Hader--taking their final bows, leaving the cast virtually unrecognizable from two years ago. (This will especially be true if Jason Sudeikis just makes up his mind already and leaves during the summer.)

Despite the fact that SNL doesn't usually make a big deal about a player leaving the cast, last year's tribute to Wiig seems to have upped the ante for their own farewells. Here is how each member said goodbye.

Seth Meyers and Bill Hader: Stefon and Seth Get Married

Fred Armisen: Top of the Pops

Though the sketch wasn't the funniest of the night, it was, like Wiig's, a heartfelt goodbye in song, with Armisen ending on the lines, "It’s been all right / I’ve had a lovely night with you."

Fred Armisen performs at the Bowery Ballroom with Bob Mould.

One of the reasons I don’t see live music much anymore (in addition to all the reasons that come with being a grumpy old tossup, such as “it’s too damn loud”) is that the era of smartphones has undone the very reason live performance exists. The notion of a small, sweaty room devoting its full attention for 90 minutes to a beloved creator of something special has gone the way of full sentences, introducing oneself and children calling adults Mr. and Mrs. Lastname.

People who have presumably paid for a ticket staring at their phones and paying attention to something other than the performers wrecks it for me. And the worst are the people who have not paid for a ticket doing the same. If I’m fortunate enough to be invited to the VIP section, I cringe when some fellow lucky bastard can’t even commit himself to the show being given by someone who’s presumably his friend.

On Wednesday night, I didn’t have to worry.

Portlandia’s Fred Armisen was at the Bowery Ballroom to see Bob Mould and his band, along with me and a few hundred other fans of a performer whose songbook ranges from punk innovators Hüsker Dü to indie-pop hit makers Sugar to a sturdy solo career.

Mr. Armisen passed all of my tests for celebrity authenticity—his entourage was composed of real people, he sang along, he drank beers and, most of all, he stayed off his goddamn phone. I would have expected that, because I used to see his band Trenchmouth back in the day in Chicago (I think I even played with them once). But then it got even better.

Mr. Mould’s trio whaled, mixing great new songs like “Star Machine” with old Hüsker chestnuts like “I Apologize” and even “Chartered Trips” from Zen Arcade. When they came back out to reward the crowd’s enthusiasm, they were joined by Mr. Armisen, who absolutely killed it. Shouldering some kind of Danelectro-looking guitar with authority, he joined the band in playing “Flip Your Wig,” “Hate Paper Doll” and the splendid “Divide and Conquer,” with the SNL star supplying Grant Hart-worthy backing vox, credible guitar and adorable stage moves.

Mr. Armisen posed for photos with fans and turned down a request to do his Ira Glass impression because “it’s too loud in here.”

The Transom told him what a pleasure it was to see him perform with a musician whose work had obviously meant a lot to him. Mr. Armisen’s reply showed no trace of the detached cool guy that he’s turned into an archetype. “It was a dream come true,” he said. “A fucking dream come true.”

Dadich and Armisen.

The lights were bright, the music poppy and the toys plentiful at the opening of the Wired pop-up store party in Soho last week. Incoming editor in chief Scott Dadich greeted the crowd with a big smile and a lot of handshaking. He was splitting town for San Francisco soon—he starts at his new post in early January. Mr. Dadich looked Bay Area-appropriate in a jaunty tie designed by his wife and black-and-white Burberry sneakers to go with his suit.

“He looks like Ron Burgundy,” a friend noted.

The crowd gravitated toward the dance floor, where ?uestlove pumped out songs that made the Transom nostalgic for bar mitzvah music. Among the guests we spotted This American Life host Ira Glass and actress Amber Tamblyn, the latter trying out a new Chromebook. Kinect stations at the Buick Verano Turbo activation lined the sides of the room, and nobody seemed too old to wave his or her arms wildly.The martini bar no doubt helped.

“I like looking at gadgets,” Portlandia actor Fred Armisen told the Transom. Mr. Armisen and SNL cast member Vanessa Bayer were especially taken with the 3D printer, which printed functioning headphones and a dress.

“I feel like I’m doing so much advertising,” Ms. Bayer said when we suggested that she and Mr. Armisen work for the company that makes the 3D printer. “Anyone who will listen, I’m telling them about it.” She took a bite of a marshmallow-filled brownie, which statuesque women carried among the guests on silver trays.

“It looks like a Best Buy in here,” we overheard someone say, which we later conveyed to Ms. Bayer.

“What kind of Best Buy would have a 3D printer?” she asked with mock indignation.

As we stood in the path of the food trays, a young entrepreneur offered to show us his favorite gadget on display—a safe with a cellphone charger inside. We were about to express disbelief that anybody would choose that above all other gadgets, when it dawned on us that ulterior motives were at play.

“Did you invent this?” we asked. He had, though he did not clarify its purpose.

“I like the safe with the charger,” Mr. Armisen told us later. “You know, when you are in a hotel and you put your iPad in the safe? At least it can still charge.”

We suppose.

Like the electronic-charging safe, some gadgets on display were utilitarian, while others were more ... conceptual.

“Apparently, that ball that rolls around is really cool,” Ms. Bayer said. “I didn’t totally understand it, but it’s supposed to be cool.”

But the Transom’s favorite gadget—we never did find the ball Ms. Bayer described—had to be the TSA-grade bag scanner with a printer attached. We just dropped our purse on the conveyor belt and left clutching a printout of its contents. We didn’t even have to take off our shoes.

Third time's the charm. (Photo by Chris Hornbecker)

The third season of everyone’s favorite IFC comedy-sketch show is fast upon us, with Portlandia slated to begin on January 4. In advance of the inevitable onslaught of new hipsterisms, hereto-unknown eccentricities and brand new organic fetishes, The Observer cornered co-creator Fred Armisen about what new “dreams of the Nineties” he would bring to life.

First among them is an appearance by No Doubt, the very ska-tastic Cali band that brought us Gwen Stefani before she turned all L.A.M.B. He would not divulge how Mrs. Gavin Rossdale and her cohorts would be featured in the show, but one might assume they will not be going Navajo. The Brooklyn-based band The Dirty Projectors will also be featured in the coming season.

Another newcomer to the show will be Chloe Sevingny. Ms. Sevigny recently guest starred on the third season of Louie--closing her act by unabashedly masturbating in a coffee shop, sitting next to a flustered Louis CK.

Ms. Sevigny will play a roommate to Carrie and Fred, Mr. Armisen said, as they are looking for something to “define their relationship a little bit more.” The dynamics of a third wheel crush perhaps?

“I’ll just say this, she causes a rift in the relationship, she kind of causes some problems in our friendship,” he said. But he stops to check himself, “I wouldn’t even describe it as problems, she kind of challenges their friendship.”

Fans can also look forward to a Christmas special, “Winter in Portland,” to air on IFC on December 14.

As a precursor to all the excitement, a travel-book based on the show was released on November 13th. Co-authored by Mr. Armisen and Ms. Brownstein, Portlandia: A Guide for Visitors, is intended as something of a keepsake for the fans.

“It was almost like going deeper into the stuff that already exists. Little things we couldn’t really do on the show,” Mr. Armisen said about his experience writing the book.

By way of an example, he refers to Candace and Toni, the women who own a feminist bookstore (‘Women & Women’)--which has had visitors like Aubrey Plaza, Heather Graham and Steve Buschemi in the past--on the show. Expect to find a ‘fem-zine’ insert, made by Candace and Toni, in the book. “When you look through that, you get a sense of who they are, it’s like their little book, it’s got their voices,” he said.

Putting the book and the third season together caused Mr. Armisen to reflect on what exactly he and Ms. Brownstein have tapped into with the show.

“The show is actually about people, it’s about trends, it’s about cities in general, and I am not just talking about living in the United States. I travel, and these communities exist in places like Sweden and England,” Mr. Armisen told The Observer. "It’s almost like Portland is sort of like, the book cover, it’s the wooden frame around it.”

Before letting Mr. Armisen get on with his busy schedule, The Observer just had to ask the SNL veteran if there was one personality he was itching to impersonate on the late night show. “I haven’t done Bill Maher yet. I just haven’t figured out a way to do a sketch about him,” he said, adding that he was a fan of Mr. Maher’s.

Nsharma@observer.com

- Rob Lowe, Stephen Colbert, and the cast of Modern Family will be filling in for Robin Roberts on Good Morning America this week while the ABC host undergoes a bone marrow transplant. Hey, we'd take a soggy piece of bread over last week's substitute, Jessica Simpson.

- Would you like to go bowling with Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Denis O'Hare, John Oliver, and not one but two stars of a Law&Order franchise? Of course you do. We don't even need to mention that the whole thing's for charity. You were already sold.

- Candace Bushnell keeps having to resettle the same old lawsuit with former manager (and alleged Stanford inspiration) Clifford Streit. She keeps giving him money for his part in helping her get Sex and the City on HBO, and he keeps telling her its not enough. She should just stop and ask herself, WWCBD?

-Alec Baldwin's dream Portlandia role: "A meat salesman with all kinds of charts and graphs of the loins and the sections of the pig and the cow and the organs." Just no pig, please...we're keeping kosher this week.

Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig (NBC)

This is an inexplicable trend of the live comedy show in recent years: One of the funniest sketches this season was "The Californians," a soap opera about navigating the drive up to Malibu. Bill Hader's struggle to keep it together during the bit made it an instant classic and spawned a thousand GIFs. (Unlike his predecessor Jimmy Fallon, Mr. Hader's struggle not to crack up on stage makes any sketch 1,000 times funnier.) But even better than the version that actually made it to air was the dress version of 'The Californians,' which Hulu offers with several other scenes from past seasons that either never aired or just weren't as funny when they did.

We understand the idea of having "web extras" as supplemental material, but not at the expensive of the actual show. Why bother tuning in when the funny stuff is only going to be online? Below, we compare and contrast these un-aired clips with the version that made it on TV...as well as some bits that never got off the Internet.

"The Californians" (dress version):

"The Californians" (aired version):


'Mozart' with Justin Timberlake (never aired):

'What's Up With That?' with Mike Tyson (dress):

'What's Up With That?' (aired):


'Grady Wilson' with Will Ferrell (never aired):

'Band Reunion at the Wedding' with Dave Grohl and Ashton Kutcher (dress):

'Band Reunion at the Wedding' (aired):

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein (Getty Images)

First, a little bit of back story: The night before The Observer was to go to the screening party for the sequel season of Portlandia, the IFC comedy show starring Saturday Night Live fixture Fred Armisen and Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein, an Irishman stepped on our lighter in a bar. In exchange for the gaffe, the gentleman offered us a fist-sized piece of homemade organic chocolate truffle, wrapped in decorative foil. How sweet!

As we dashed our way to the Museum of Natural History last night in order to see what could possibly top the catchphrase "Put a Bird On It," we split the giant confection with a fellow famished coworker. Which would have all been fine, if we hadn't made the completely understandable mistake of confusing "chocolate truffles" for "chocolate-covered mushrooms." No, not truffle mushrooms. The other kind. (In hindsight, putting actual truffle mushrooms into chocolate doesn't make any sense either.)

We guess that's why your parents warned you never to take organic candy from strangers. Ooh look, there's Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig! Are those two glowing, or is just the hallucinogens kicking in?

Portlandia as a show works by playing on conventions of hipster culture. While the first season took on broad subjects like eco-freaks, obsessive crafters (Put a ___ on it!), and outraged feminist retailers, the episodes screened for next season were more niche in their targets. Andy Samberg played a cocktail creationist torn between the life of an artisan mixologist and that of a SoCal bartender, while Ms. Wiig's amazing cameo as a feline band's Misery-inspired super-fan reminded us why we never let the Keyboard Cat take creative control of our musical group.

It should be mentioned, our coats just felt really good, sitting in that theater. So soft!

The opening scene in Portlandia's second season tried to recreate its success with the "Put a Bird on It" catchphrase. Unfortunately the new slogan "We can pickle that!" felt like a Mad-Libbing of last season's hit formula instead of fresh material.

Midway through the show, we realized we were sitting so close to Friday Night Lights/American Horror Story's gorgeous and talented Connie Britton that we had to physically restrain ourselves from touching her hair. But we really wanted to? She has great hair. To be fair, we had on our Red Wolf Spirit Hood, which at the time we believed rendered us invisible. Or invincible. (One of the two.) Jeff Goldblum, sitting three feet away, had a really deep purple chakra. Lorne Michael's chakra, visible two rows over, was pewter and had a slight Canadian accent.

After the screening, guests were ushered up to a Portlandia-themed bar room, which featured a lot of colors, pickle jars, anxiety emotions, a giant children's parachute, and a two-to-one celebrity/non-famous person ratio.

While Fred Armisen posed for photos with his mother, we asked if the actor felt like his show resonated as much to the East Coast, Williamsburg audience as it did with Oregonian hipsters. Did he see them as sister cities, or was the location of the show crucial to its humor?

"Portland's got a lot of sister cities," Mr. Armisen replied in his surprising dulcet voice, while behind him the wall began melting distractingly. "Williamsburg, Tokyo, Austin...that culture can be found in so many places now." The pandemic of 20-something liberal arts majors in large cities whose tastes run towards raw foods, hypocritical eco-snobbery, and a fanatic disdain of anything "mainstream" could explain the show success: to date, it's had the highest ratings of any show on the network.

Making our way to the back bar area where the cast and crew of Saturday Night Live were spending the evening, we were in high spirits. We were the spirit god Red Fox! No, you can't touch our hat! It's a hood! It has powers!

We found SNL writer and Law & Order enthusiast John Mulaney chatting with a small group about his love for American Horror Story. His lady friend was clearly a supporter of West Dillon High, with a shirt reading "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose." Ms. Britton herself was nowhere to be found, though we did spot new cast members Vanessa Bayer, Taran Killam, and Paul Brittain all trying to look old enough to drink. We managed to tackle Mr. Killam; telling him how much we loved his recent cameo as a deranged glee teacher on Community, which lead to a short discussion with the actor on the NBC show's brilliance and unfortunate hiatus, before Ms. Bayer rescued him from an evening of chit-chat with an accidentally intoxicated reporter.

"Tell her how much you love her Miley Cyrus impression," a nearby friend elbowed us. Come on, we weren't that stoned.

While Mr. Hader and Ms. Wiig were early arrivals on the scene, looking glamorous, costar Jason Sudeikis showed up around midnight in what appeared to be sweatpants and a backpack. Coming from the gym, perhaps? Kristen Schaal, Seth Meyers, Dave Hill, Heather Lawless, Todd Barry, Kumail Nanjiani, Jack McBrayer, Jon Glaser, and David Cross rounded out the comedic social network. A heated debate between ourselves and our + 1 over the name of that Nicolas Cage film directed by one of the other Coppolas resulted in Mr. Cross leaning in and asking, "Are you having this conversation for my benefit?" (Totally! How did he guess?**)  There may have been some incisive commentary to parse from that exchange, regarding the parallels between celebrity and hipster narcissism, but we didn't feel like chasing the analogy once it took corporeal form as a misshapen bunny and hopped to the exit. We decided to follow our hallucination's pragmatic work-night vibe and put a bird on our evening before last call.

As for our tiny coworker with whom we shared our candy? We hadn't heard from her in the last three hours; as far as we know, she's still camped out somewhere in the museum, living out our childhood fantasy from The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. If she doesn't show up by tomorrow, we'll assume she's decided to live in the museum and off the grid for good. That would just be so Portlandia of her!

**The movie, by the way, was Deadfall.

Today is the official start date of  New York's annual Comic Con, the sad stepbrother of San Diego's way more famous nerd convention. Still, New York has its fair share of amazing graphic novel writers and artists (which was what Comic Con is all about, right?), and DC and Marvel have spent a good chunk of cash flying out some big name celebrities for panels as well.

There's also the indie comedy factor: IFC and Adult Swim have their hipster lineup of comedians, including David Cross, Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Patton Oswalt, Kristen Schaal, etc.

Since Comic Con can be a little overwhelming, we made a list of some of the more famous names coming to the Javits Center this weekend, and where you can presume to find them.

The new show, which premiered Friday on IFC, depicts a eco-friendly wonderland where the denizens of this magical Portlandia enjoy a rigorous pursuit of the liberal ideal. There are militant feminist bookstores, restaurants with overly extensive information about your dish's living experience on a sustainable farm, and the openness to not scoff at adult hide and go seek games held solely as an excuse for the microbrew-sponsored after party.

How accurate is the show? The New York Times treks all the way to the Pacific Northwest to investigate whether or not the people of Portland like the show as much as the more objective New York crowd who watched it with The Observer at the premiere party.

Local opinions are mixed, but The Times managed to find a cast of characters who may very well be future targets for "Portlandia" creators Fref Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. Let's take a look at the representative sample!

• A restaurateur that has on hand the skull of the pig that provided the pork head mortadella (The name of the deceased was Sir Francis Bacon).
• The owner of a nonprofit feminist bookstore.
• A boad member of said nonprofit feminist bookstore.
• A photographer for the blog Eater PDX.

Like it or not, Portland may have to get used to the mocking on "Portlandia," as they're providing the writers with no shortage of episode fodder.

Click for Scandal Report: Champagne Mania Makes for A Boozy Golden Globes

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234

It was the premiere of "Portlandia," the sure-fire TV hit from Fred Armisen (of Saturday Night Live fame) and Carrie Brownstein (of now-defunct rock heroes Sleater-Kinney), and everywhere we looked we were greeted with a wash of that plaid-heavy cozy super-nineties fabric, flannel.

The bartenders serving up Portland's own Rogue Ale? Wearing flannel. The caterers swooping around with balls of organic goat cheese and grass-fed beef sliders? Wearing flannel. Many of the people in the crowd from Portland or associated with Portland? Wearing flannel.

And with pine trees and giant drawing of birds lining the space, the Edison Ballroom did indeed feel redolent of that Pacific Northwest city that gets lovingly mocked in the show.

"It's like my escape," Armisen told The Observer about Portland, the place that bears more than a passing relationship to the vigilantly, outlandishly eco-conscious world of Portlandia. "I go there, and I feel really good when I'm there."

He paused to grab an hors d'oeuvre, a chicken skewer placed on a wooden tray that stated the name of the organic farm where the chicken was raised. The chicken, the sign claimed, came from Aliki Farms. This may have been a joke: in the first episode of "Portlandia," which will air on IFC this Friday, Armisen and Brownstein have to ask the waitress to hold their seats at lunch while they personally visit Aliki Farms to ensure that the restaurant was not lying about it being a suitably organic environment.

"This is an opportunity to be silly, and to explore absurdity -- things that I would never want to marry to music," said Brownstein, whose former incarnation as guitarist in Sleater-Kinney confirmed her spot in the canon of Portland rock.

Armisen's keeping his day job on SNL, so many of the castmates (including current squeeze Abby Elliott) showed up to take in the show, which consists of a series of short, uproarious skits. When they first saw each other Andy Sandberg and Seth Meyers embraced in a fully minute-long bro hug, complete with backpatting and ear-talking. Cast members from SNL's metafictional counterpart showed up as well -- Jack McBreyer, for instance, had more conversations with preening pretty girls than Kenneth has had in his entire life (though we did see him leave early and alone). 

Kyle MacLachlan was also on hand, having filmed a spot for the show in which he plays the super enthusiastic mayor of Portland. It's a casting move that's genius to anyone familiar with "Twin Peaks."

"In Fred's mind maybe I lent a little bit of, uh, authenticity to the proceedings," MacLachlan told The Observer.

Standing and chatting in an olive-green dress, Heather Graham explained how she scored her role as an unwelcome member of a journaling group at the feminist bookstore.

"[Fred] kind of pitched an idea, but it wasn't totally written out," she told The Observer, mentioning that the skits are often just improvised.

Then she complimented our outfit, insisting that we looked like "a character out of Franny and Zooey."

The organic crab cakes begat organic apple pie pastries, and many of the guests went out to claim their gift bag (You get a big bottle of Rogue! You get a big bottle of Rogue!) and depart.

But we wanted to get some hints as to what we can expect from the future of Portlandia, so we asked Fred Armisen who, if anyone, would be his ideal guest star on the show.

"I wish Prince would host," he said. "I think he could play anybody."

Mulling this over, Armisen then said he would put in a call to Prince's agent the next day.

Click for What Twitter Taught Us: Glenn Beck Meets Bono and the World Collapses

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234