Bicycle Rights! Watch the new clip from Portlandia

This is the first Portlandia clip that had me laughing out loud. There is just too much there to even take in a single viewing. Man, I love this town.

I wonder if people outside of Portland get the crazy funny of this show.

Looks like a fun show, too bad you need $120 a month cable TV to see it (Comcast).

Hulu

Hilarious.

I’m still trying to figure out how they do such a great job of understanding Portland culture. It is so accurate that it’s almost as if they’re filming by hidden camera rather than acting. I guess it is the time Brownstein spent in Portland because the other three writers (Armisen & two others) have not been Portland residents.

And I do hold out some hope that this amazing piece of art will help some Portlanders to realize just how pretentious they seem to others and perhaps take it down a notch. Or just keep it up so we can keep laughing.

But he’s not wearing a helmet!!!!!!

Definitely the best Portlandia clip yet. Superb!

love it, can’t wait to see this tonight. Nice piece on NPR today as well on this.

“Ugh……Cars, man, whyyyyyy-uh?!?”

I watched the first episode on hulu and the show does seem to touch on the things I love and the things I hate about this town. I came away smiling yet irritated.

10 FOOT RULE !

Just when I thought I couldn’t love Portland more came Portlandia.

Ughghg, lofts, why?

hahah I live that. LOL bike lane bike lane..

B**ching at the dumpster…priceless!

Like Tony, this was the first clip from Portlandia that really had me laughing.

It’s me. In fact, I just rode through a Walgreen’s to get out of the rain.

is the whistle a new york thing? never seen that here, even on a messenger

I almost got a whistle, still busting up, nice work..

A whistle, huh? That’s…actually a good idea (if your goal is to annoy, anyway). In my younger less civil days I would fill my pockets with gravel to fling at drivers who cut me off etc.

Or an air horn, that’s good times too.

These days I think I’d reserve it for people texting & driving.

I’m with Tony, this was the first Portlandia clip that made me LOL.

bike right bike right move move move, hey I get the whole lane. haha

Attention Portland Bike Shops! It’s time to stock up on bike whistles!

Ideally… locally crafted organic bike whistles made from aluminum that has been recycled from Caldera and PBR cans.

And no Portland bike whistle set-up is complete unless it has been accessorized with a unique wool leash knitted from fibers reclaimed by hand from retired Pendleton blankets.

Skits are for church camp. That was a sketch.

Howdy–

My grandfather used to command Boston traffic with his whistle. Following him was like being in the wake of an ice-breaker; a clear space would open ahead, then close up behind. It was at once thrilling and mortifying.

He was on a 70s touring bike (I’m thinking back to that era), and he didn’t have any tribal jewelry or ironic facial hair, but he still startled drivers into compliance with force of will and a shrill blast.

I got a little dose of nostalgia along with a great laugh. The whistle may have been a little misplaced on a Portland rider, but it was a great device.
Happy Trails,
Ron

Tony Fuentes
Attention Portland Bike Shops! It’s time to stock up on bike whistles!
Ideally… locally crafted organic bike whistles made from aluminum that has been recycled from Caldera and PBR cans.
And no Portland bike whistle set-up is complete unless it has been accessorized with a unique wool leash knitted from fibers reclaimed by hand from retired Pendleton blankets.

Id buy one for sure.. haha PBR

Are the full episodes online someplace? I don’t get IFC.

Excellent, just excellent. “I’m on a bike!”.

hahaha! awesome!

Whistles? Oh please no. But how about kazoos?

fabulous!

hilarious. I’m amazed at how much press this show is getting too. NPR piece was good.

it looks kind of dumb to me

I’m *terrified* at how much press this show is getting. Especially if it inspires hordes of unemployed, newly-minted bachelor’s degrees to move here from Everywhere Else. We already have enough underemployed creatives in this town. Seriously.

If someone wants to step up and make those recycled PBR-can whistles I’m sure at least half a dozen bike shops would carry them. This could be The Next Big Thing at Bike-Craft 2011…

Agent cooper likes his style!

freaking hilarious. my favorite sketch by far. though the one shot at the Gilt club is pretty funny too. “I’m only going to ask you one more time – this is LOCAL?”

BURR
it looks kind of dumb to me

Ditto.

That WAS Agent Cooper! LOL! He’s in the right town for that cup o’ joe and piece of pie. That constant chatter is certainly inside every bike riders head. The whistle though …. doesn’t ring true.

1st episode was a too long SNL skit. let’s hope it improves.

I want the bike whistle too, if only so I can blow it and say: “Stopped! That means I’m stopped!”

I think it’s okay. But, I haven’t seen any bicyclists like this in Portland. Seems that there’s enough freakish bicyclists here that they could have simply chosen an existing style of bike nut and portrayed them, rather than choose a caricature that exists in the hard core bike culture of other cities, but does not represent the culture here.

That’s my $0.02, FWIW.
Ted Buehler

Maybe.

I enjoyed this sketch. As a former Portland bike messenger, I assure you all that no Portland bike messenger in history has ever rocked the whistle. Regardless, although this isn’t authentic to the local bike messenger scene. Who cares!

well, whether it is funny or not, literally, I still get yelled at on alberta – which I tried to close to autos – while I am riding home. unbelievable 😉

meh.

i feel like one of maybe 15 portland residents who doesn’t think this show is the funniest thing in the world.

Haha, “Please don’t be working at the co-op.”

It hurts so good! I feel like everyone is allowed one of those “everything is out to kill me” weeks in the winter.

You spoke and we listened! Available soon at Pedal Bike Tours: locally crafted organic bike whistles made from aluminum that has been recycled from Caldera and PBR cans, accessorized with a unique wool leash knitted from fibers reclaimed by hand from retired Pendleton blankets!

Kazoos too!

And check out our full width bike lane running through the entire store (no cars allowed)

Thanks Fred and Carrie for giving us the gift of laughter!

Ditto on the whole messenger whistle scenarion…
I even tried to use one working, really just a logistical nightmare……especially yelling and whistling, when the whistle is caught up in your radio/ bag strap.
The show, I think, may be almost funny.
Almost.

Bike polo is in the opening credits, for why I do not know.

The show uses Portland as a foil for the real target: hipster culture. This exists in most cities worth moving to. So the writers being from elsewhere isn’t that surprising because this could be set in Williamsburg or The Mission or Capitol Hill and be equally funny. I think it would be a funnier show if they took the satire even further. This clip just seems pretty accurate, not necessarily that over-the-top. More yelling at dumpsters, please.

Barney
The show uses Portland as a foil for the real target: hipster culture. This exists in most cities worth moving to.

As a Portland native, I gotta say: The Detroit, MI of the Pacific is worth moving to?

So the writers being from elsewhere isn’t that surprising because this could be set in Williamsburg or The Mission or Capitol Hill and be equally funny.

Not sure those would work quite as well as Vancouver, BC or St. Paul, MN for the particular brand of hipster we’re talking about.

I think it would be a funnier show if they took the satire even further. This clip just seems pretty accurate, not necessarily that over-the-top. More yelling at dumpsters, please.

They manage to pace the comedy death spiral just right and make it stop at just the right point to make it funny. And you’re right, for Portland, most of this isn’t that over the top or outlandish; I mean, we’re talking about a city that is probably best known on Youtube for a man having sex with the front of a Toyota 4Runner on Northwest 10th.

Here’s a quote from Carrie Brownstein from the Willamette Week, Nov. 3, 2010:

“For the record, I am not afraid to hit someone with my car as an act of aggression,” she says. “I think polite drivers should be met only with aggression, to teach them a lesson.”

That’s real humor, just like Portlandia is so funny too! I laughed so hard when I read that that I threw all my Sleater-Kinney CDs in a free box in the rain after riding over them with my tall bike.

That WW article lowered my hopes for Portlandia and made me expect it to be making fun of Portland in a bashing way … and the “act of aggression” quote, whether meant in jest (and I don’t think it was) is not in the least funny.

But you know what? So far, Portlandia’s pretty damned funny. We’ll see if it continues to give Seattle’s old “Almost Live” sketch series a run for its money.