Fred Armisen knows that nobody can ever tell whether he’s joking or not—and he doesn’t quite understand why. Despite being one of the hands-down funniest ‘Saturday Night Live’ cast members of all time, Armisen can, in fact, be pretty sincere when he wants to be. It’s a trait that shines through on his latest project: a painstakingly produced album of ‘100 Sound Effects’ that provides some observational laughs here and there but is generally an accurate document of what the world sounds like in 2025. In this episode, Armisen discusses how his obsession with sound helped him become an expert mimic on ‘SNL,’ whether he was impersonating President Barack Obama or capturing a very specific Californian dialect. He talks about roasting Lorne Michaels during the ‘SNL50’ special, whether he could imagine taking over at least part of his former boss’ job, and reacts to the ‘Portlandia’ memes that have come to epitomize that city’s response to Donald Trump’s threats.

Follow Fred Armisen on Instagram @sordociego

Follow Matt Wilstein on Bluesky @mattwilstein

Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod

Watch full episodes of The Last Laugh podcast on the Daily Beast’s YouTube channel

Highlights from this episode and others at TheDailyBeast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fred Armisen: SNL, ‘Portlandia,’ and ‘100 Sound Effects’