Was lackluster
by Michelle on 10/27/25Balboa Theatre - San DiegoRating: 3 out of 5Started strong but veered away from Portlandia material for quite a while which is what we were there for.

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Fred Armisen is a comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He is the co-writer and co-star of IFC's Emmy-nominated series Portlandia. He is in the hit Netflix series Wednesday as Uncle Fester. He stars in HBO's Los Espookys, which he co-wrote and executive produced. He can also be heard in the hit animated Super Mario Bros movie. Armisen stars in, writes, and produces IFC's hit show Documentary Now. He has also appeared in HBO's Our Flag Means Death, Judd Apatow's The Bubble, and Amazon's series Forever. He voices characters in Big Mouth and The Mitchells vs. The Machines. He is currently starring in the Broadway play All In. Armisen is an 11-season veteran of Saturday Night Live. From 2014-2024, Armisen was band leader of the 8G Band on Late Night With Seth Meyers.
Started strong but veered away from Portlandia material for quite a while which is what we were there for.
I like Fred armisen, he was on my favorite era of the SNL. so many laughs from him. However, maybe it’s because I’m not a musician so i didn’t find it very funny. I was hoping there would be more stand up and perhaps characters. But I bought the tickets day of and hadn’t looked into it. The tickets say 7-10 pm but he was on from 7:30-8:45. I was fine with that. Oh well, glad I didn’t pay full price
Fred is a genuine artist and performer. We thoroughly enjoyed his performance!
Loved the show, at least what I saw of it. Prop comedy is so much fun! The show was scheduled to start at 7pm, so I arrived at 6:40 and stood in line. The line was wrapped around the building, and they didn’t appear to open the doors until 7. They postponed the show until 7:30, but despite arriving by 6:40, I did not get seated until 7:45 and missed the first part of the show. I was so disappointed that I payed for VIP seating, but didn’t get to enjoy it for the full show
A great performer in this intimate place was awesome. Remember to bring your own water as the venue doesn't have concession stands.
I really like Fred Armisen, he is musically very talented and funny! His show was filled with fans and he had to feel great about their enthusiasm. Plus the old church venue was pretty cool. He began the show with random video clips of bits he’s done on tv. On the whole, performance could have used a thematic thread rather than unrelated bits. The guitar and the drum comparisons were terrific and I’ve seen them multiple times on late night shows. All good stuff, but could be more curated and innovative. He is so talented. I’d love to see fresh material, I know he can really perform. I laughed, it was fun to be with other fans and I’m glad the ticket cost was low.
I enjoyed Fred Armisen’s show. Having an idea of what to expect I would say the show met expectations. Showtime was 6pm, but even though everyone was seated quickly, the performance didn’t begin until 7:15pm. I hope the Observatory will start to book more comedy/improv acts; they would compliment their strong stable of music acts!
This was great. Fred is great. Hilarious and a talented musician. Would go to see this again.
Really enjoyed Fred Armisen’s show. He’s one of my favorite SNL stars. Extremely talented. Only gripe is having to sit on folding chairs.
Armisen’s show was exactly what I expected and it was great. I’ve enjoyed his specials like Stand-Up for Drummers so much, and as I suspected, this was along the same lines. It’s intelligent, well-paced, friendly and fun. Fred is a true genius and he shines in this format. I think there are parts of the show that might have resonated more with musicians like myself, but I can’t imagine any music lover not enjoying it. The only negative was the lady directly behind me scream-laughing into my ear like the character from Baby Reindeer at totally inappropriate times. I suspect some folks just thought they’d be getting SNL character sketches, but hey…maybe don’t buy tickets to an event and then complain about its content when the artist has plenty of opportunities for you to review what their touring shows are like!