Aside from a 1976 compilation of highlights from Saturday Night Live’s debut season, the show’s comedy material had rarely made its way onto vinyl—until Fred Armisen changed that.
Known for playing a variety of fictional musicians—many of them recurring characters—Armisen didn’t just bring fake bands to life on SNL. He also gave their songs a second act: real, fully produced record releases.
Most of these recordings came out through the indie label Drag City, a partnership that began in 2007 with Complicated Drumming Technique, an instructional DVD Armisen released as Jens Hannemann, a character created outside the SNL universe.
Years later, he collaborated with the label again—this time to re-record songs originally featured in SNL sketches. Each track is a pitch-perfect parody of a specific musical style or artist. Here’s a look at the surprisingly extensive discography of Fred Armisen’s many imaginary bands.
Crisis of Conformity
In 2010, Fred Armisen starred in “Punk Band Reunion at the Wedding,” a now-legendary sketch in which an aging punk rocker reunites his band, Crisis of Conformity, at his daughter’s wedding. A fixture on any Armisen highlight reel, the sketch holds a special place for him personally. “That’s my signature sketch—meaning, that’s my most personal sketch,” he said recently on an episode of the podcast My Hollywood Story. “It was everything I believed in.”
With support from Bill Hader, host Ashton Kutcher, and musical guest Dave Grohl, Armisen subverts the expectation of a heartfelt tribute, instead launching into a furious anthem titled “Fistfight in the Parking Lot.” (The sketch is also revisited in the recent documentary Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music.)
A year after it aired, Armisen gave the song a proper studio release through Drag City, pressing it to vinyl as Fist Fight!, a 7” single complete with a brand-new B-side titled “Kick It Down and Kick It Around.”
The Blue Jean Committee / The Fingerlings
In 2014, the year after Armisen left SNL, more of his songs found new life via Drag City. A series of split 7” EPs each paired two fictional artists Armisen had originated on the sketch show. First came The Blue Jean Committee’s “Massachusetts Afternoon,” which originated in the eponymous Season 37 sketch with host Jason Segel. On the flip side: “Embrace Me” by The Fingerlings, a song featured in a Season 36 sketch with host Dana Carvey.
In 2015, Armisen reprised The Blue Jean Committee for a two-part installment of Documentary Now!, this time partnered with Bill Hader. “Gentle & Soft: The Story of the Blue Jean Committee” loosely parodied the two-part Eagles documentary History of the Eagles. Drag City released a seven-song vinyl EP of those tracks that same year. (Armisen and Hader would later release a 7” from another Documentary Now! band, Test Pattern, on the label.)
The Bjelland Brothers / Taste of New York
Drag City’s next release pressed Armisen and Bryan Cranston’s iconic duo The Bjelland Brothers onto wax. The song, “Sparkling Apple Juice,” dates back to a 2010 sketch that found the pair playing to an empty venue. The single is backed with “Can We Stay with You?”—a track from a group called Taste of New York featuring Armisen, Kristen Wiig, and host Jim Carrey, which was staged on SNL later that season.
Joshua Rainhorn / Paulinho e Beatriz
The third in Armisen’s 2014 split-EP series, indie pop pianist Joshua Rainhorn stems from the Season 34 pre-tape “New York Underground,” in which music reporter Trevor Dix (Hader) pays a visit to fictional New York City venue The Kennel Club. The vinyl release pairs Rainhorn’s “Wine and Cigarettes” with a song from Paulinho e Beatriz—a Brazilian bossa nova act Armisen formed with Maya Rudolph for the 2006 sketch “Bossa Nova.”
Ian Rubbish and the Bizzaros
Armisen’s fictional punk band Ian Rubbish and the Bizzaros also saw their music released via a free digital EP of the four songs heard in Season 38’s “History of Punk” sketch, as well as the single “It’s a Lovely Day”—the track Armisen performed live on SNL during his farewell sketch later that season.
Since Armisen’s 2013 SNL departure, he has continued blending music and comedy. Aside from serving as Late Night with Seth Meyers’ musical director for over a decade, he released the Netflix special Standup For Drummers in 2018 and has continued that material with the live tour “Comedy for Musicians (But Everyone Is Welcome).” Armisen was recently on hand for the opening of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s new exhibit about SNL’s impact on music. He also has a new album of sound effects due out on Drag City later this year.
Digital downloads (and some remaining vinyl releases) for most of Armisen’s SNL bands are available via Drag City. Ian Rubbish and the Bizzaros tracks can be heard on NBC.com.
