History Series / Portlandia

''Portlandia'' is a sketch comedy show that ran on IFC from 2011 to 2018 starring Creator/FredArmisen and Creator/CarrieBrownstein. It is set in UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Oregon and most of its humor comes from mocking the city's {{hipster}} culture, centering around various characters played by Armisen (one-time drummer for PostPunk band [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trenchmouth Trenchmouth]] before becoming a longtime ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' cast member) and Brownstein (writer/singer/guitarist for AlternativeRock band Sleater-Kinney).

** Edward James Olmos and James Callis appear as themselves in "One Moore Episode".

** Also, James Callis and Edward James Olmos (not to mention Ronald D. Moore) in the ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' episode.
** Tim Robbins plays the arbiter of the brunch line.

* CivilizedAnimal: The rats and the mouse in "Zero Rats."

* DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: Kath and Dave play this trope to the hilt in "TADA", after temporarily losing the ability to walk due to leg injuries sustained during the first few ''yards'' of a marathon they failed to properly train for. They give people hell, both for treating them differently due to their disabilites, and for not treating them differently ''enough''. Then they show up at an ADA meeting and basically bully all of the real, permanently disabled people into listening to their petty concerns.

* EverybodyOwnsAFord: All computers shown are MacBooks, and all phones and tablets are iPhones and iPads. All cars are Subaru Outbacks or Legacies, and any other make has their brand obscured.

** Actually a case of RealityIsUnrealistic: This is a mocking of an actual dietary/political movement, freeganism.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Alexandra, Fred and Carrie's roommate is an odd example. When you're already living in deepest {{Cloudcuckooland}} (i.e. Portland), a manic pixie dream girl is the kind of person who coincidentally does things from odd art movements and avant garde music without knowing about the context, or throws away glass bottles because she thinks that homeless Chinese people will steal them if you leave them with the recycling. Also, in a bit of a subversion, Fred and Carrie are surprised to learn they're significantly more culturally literate than she is.

* RatedMForManly: Lance, despite being played by Carrie. Sketches usually revolve around him being [[HenpeckedHusband henpecked]] into doing more touchy-feely and stereotypically "feminine" things by Nina.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: While this show likes to exaggerate Portland's quirkiness into oblivion, viewers who don't live in Portland are often amused and mystified to discover that a sketch is based on something people really do in Portland. The "canoe dancing" sketch is a great example.
** After watching "Brunch Village" some viewers incorrectly assumed that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marionberry marionberries]] were fictional with a PunnyName based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Barry Marion Barry]].

* NamesTheSame: [[invoked]] After becoming obsessed with ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', Fred and Carrie seek out series creator Ronald D. Moore... by looking through the phone book and looking for his name. They seem nonplussed by the fact that the Moore they find is a lower-middle-class elderly black man who they have to explain Galactica to in order to convince him to write more scripts for the series.
** The real Moore shows up later in the skit, playing a local actor hired for a table reading of the script. The character has never heard of Battlestar Galactica.

** The Brunch Village mockumentary, ostensibly devoted to this trope, takes the concept to [[UpToEleven ludicrous extremes]].

* RantInducingSlight: Often.

''Portlandia'' is a sketch comedy show that ran on IFC from 2011 to 2018 starring Creator/FredArmisen and Creator/CarrieBrownstein. It is set in UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Oregon and most of its humor comes from mocking the city's {{hipster}} culture, centering around LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters played by Armisen (one-time drummer for PostPunk band [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trenchmouth Trenchmouth]] before becoming a longtime ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' cast member) and Brownstein (writer/singer/guitarist for AlternativeRock band Sleater-Kinney).

* {{Meganekko}}: "All the hot girls wear glasses ''yeaahhhhhhh''!"

* MouseWorld: The rats.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: A very frequent joke.

** [[{{Jackass}} Danger Ehren]] shows up as a biker in one episode.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Mayor of Portland. He is only ever referred to as either "The Mayor" or "Mr. Mayor." A book he wrote is credited to "The Mayor of Portland." When Roseanne Barr takes over his position, she is referred to as "Mrs. Mayor". In the season two finale and resulting special, he doesn't even dare to drop a name.

** In "Doug Becomes a Feminist", the film ''Mermaid Springa'' is a live-action, DarkerAndEdgier feminist-themed riff on ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''.