Glenn Danzig Talks ‘Portlandia’ Appearance: ‘Fred Is a Genius’
Portlandia co-star and Sleater-Kinney singer Carrie Brownstein told Rolling Stone last year that working with Glenn Danzig on the sketch-comedy show was “amazing.” “He’s really smart and very Jersey,'” she said. “And he can make fun of himself, which is one of the most endearing qualities for anyone in this day and age of incessant narcissism and solipsism.”
Danzig‘s episode of the show, “Weirdo Beach,” airs on Thursday. In the episode, he plays a Romanian man who — by the singer’s estimation — could be an “ancient vampire” named Radu. His purpose, other than to chill on the beach, is to educate Fred Armisen‘s goth character on how to relax in the sand. “My friend, you need a beach outfit,” Danzig’s character says, as ominous music plays. “But the beach, it has its own expression, its own style. Let me share with you what I have found. Are you familiar … with Billabong?”
The singer says the whole experience of filming the episode was fun and hilarious. Here, he tells Rolling Stone about why he did Portlandia and what makes him chuckle.
Why did you want to do Portlandia?
I’m a big Fred Armisen fan. I love also what he and Carrie do on Portlandia. They sent me the script one evening after I had just gotten off tour. It was kind of very, like, quick. They wanted an answer really quick because they had tried to get in touch with me but couldn’t. They had already hired somebody else [laughs]. They were like, “If you want to do this, you have to come up here tonight.” So I read the script and it was just too funny! I had to do it. There’s one line in it that was so funny, I said, “I got to do this.” It’s hilarious.
What was the clincher?
The “Billabong” line [laughs]. We did it the first time on set. After the line, I held it as long as I could, and then I just cracked up and the whole set cracked up. Literally everybody on the set was laughing about it. It was so funny. That line clinched it for me. Fred is, like, a genius. Carrie is awesome.
I liked the beach setting. Is that emblematic of what you wear to the beach?
I don’t go to the beach [laughs].
What did you think of Fred and Carrie’s goth costumes?
Oh, I had seen those characters before. The whole set on the beach is great. They had dead flamingos and gravestones; their all-black area on the beach is pretty funny.
Speaking of Carrie, were you aware that Sleater-Kinney has covered “Mother?”
I knew that they were fans. I didn’t know that they covered “Mother.” Someone told me that Fred and Jimmy Kimmel did “Mother” karaoke. I don’t know if it’s true or not.
So what is your style of comedy? What makes you laugh the hardest?
I like Bill Murray a real lot. I like Andy Kaufman. I don’t want to lump Fred in with Andy Kaufman, but he does really off-the-wall stuff, which is really appealing to me. I love a lot of Fred’s characters and, of course, Portlandia has just so many characters [laughs]. I like old comedy, too, like W.C. Fields. It looks like it’s just so easy. That’s like musicians. They make it look like second nature, like natural.