You're tuned to the good stuff
Music Room
The setup
The premise
Here’s the bit.
Carrie arrives home just in time for her birthday, and Fred, eager to honour how much music has shaped her life, leads her into a house she barely recognises. He has given away their prized mid-century furniture and redecorated in rock-club style, down to a backstage pass for the front door. He proudly unveils a moving sculpture of a female guitarist that he insists is her double, quizzes her about her favourite women in music, and reveals an enormous, permanent Chrissie Hynde wall portrait; when Carrie questions its caption naming Hynde's band, Fred checks, a little condescendingly, that she has heard of the Pretenders. He then introduces Kurt, a well-paid roadie stationed by a backstage fridge with a beer and a set list, shows off a bathroom deliberately dressed like a grimy venue toilet, and greets the arrival of the pyrotechnics crew, while Carrie's polite bewilderment grows with each surprise.
The funny people
Meet the cast. 3
Say it with us
Highly quotable.
I think you might need a backstage pass to get in here.
Because she's singing a sad song about her own life.
It's permanent, like a rock tattoo.
Behind the scenes
The people who made it.

Bill Benz
Director
A little extra
Notes from the archive.
Guest Kurt Vile, who plays the roadie, is an American singer-songwriter and former lead guitarist of the War on Drugs. The birthday surprise centres on Chrissie Hynde, founding singer and guitarist of the Pretenders.
Script
Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.
- 00:00
Fred ?
Hey, welcome home. You're back just in time for your birthday.
- 00:03
Carrie ?
Oh, yeah, I guess you're right.
- 00:05
Fred ?
Hey, so yeah Um, I was thinking about how much music has shaped your life.
- 00:11
Carrie ?
Mm-hmm
- 00:11
Fred ?
So I wanted to get you a birthday present. Okay that captures your love of music
- 00:16
Carrie ?
I hope you didn't do anything crazy like get me a fancy guitar cuz I do not need that
- 00:20
Fred ?
Okay, so follow me into the house.
- 00:23
Carrie ?
Okay.
- 00:23
Fred ?
Welcome to your new home
- 00:26
Carrie ?
Oh, what?
- 00:30
Fred ?
Hold on a second. I think you might need a backstage pass to get in here. Let me check it out. All right, you're good. Come on.
- 00:38
Carrie ?
Seriously, what did you do with our real furniture, like our nice mid-century furniture?
- 00:44
Fred ?
Well, I gave some up to your sister, and then I put the rest out on the lawn with the sign that says free.
- 00:48
Carrie ?
That stuff was expensive.
- 00:49
Fred ?
Yeah, it went so fast. They loved it.
- 00:51
Carrie ?
What is that thing?
- 00:53
Fred ?
Do Do you like it?
- 00:58
Carrie ?
What is it?
- 01:00
Fred ?
That's a woman playing guitar.
- 01:01
Carrie ?
How can you tell that's a woman?
- 01:02
Fred ?
No, because she's singing a sad song about her own life. You guys look identical. Come on. Go stay next to it.
- 01:07
Carrie ?
Identical?
- 01:07
Fred ?
You know, when your hair is forward and your mouth is like, oh, you're playing guitar?
- 01:11
Carrie ?
That's not how I look when I play guitar or when I just stand around.
- 01:14
Fred ?
Look here, shake it a little bit.
- 01:15
Carrie ?
Shake what?
- 01:15
Fred ?
Shake the sculpture. Look at you rocking out. Look at the shoes, your flat shoes and how your right foot comes up and you're stomping.
- 01:25
Carrie ?
There's nothing about this that looks like me.
- 01:27
Fred ?
Look, that is your guitar.
- 01:28
Carrie ?
Why is it still moving?
- 01:29
Fred ?
It goes on for ages. Who is your favorite female musician or singer?
- 01:34
Carrie ?
Uh, Patti Smith.
- 01:37
Fred ?
Okay, someone else.
- 01:38
Carrie ?
Um, Nina Simone.
- 01:41
Fred ?
No.
- 01:42
Carrie ?
Um, Cindy Wilson from the B-52s.
- 01:45
Fred ?
Okay, not in your top ten.
- 01:46
Carrie ?
I give up.
- 01:48
Fred ?
Okay, ready? Turn around.
- 01:55
Carrie ?
Chrissy Hynde. Chrissy Hynde. It's so big. Is it permanent?
- 02:00
Fred ?
Yeah, it's permanent, like a rock tattoo.
- 02:02
Carrie ?
Why does it say, of the pretenders?
- 02:05
Fred ?
Chrissy Hine is of the Pretenders. She's in the band. I know. You know that, right? Do you not know that?
- 02:10
Carrie ?
I do know that.
- 02:11
Fred ?
Kerry, how about your own roadie that we have in the house? This is Kurt.
- 02:16
Kurt ?
Here you go.
- 02:17
Carrie ?
Thank you.
- 02:18
Fred ?
He's gonna open that for you.
- 02:19
Carrie ?
Hi!
- 02:19
Kurt ?
There you go. I got a set list for you.
- 02:22
Carrie ?
Set list.
- 02:23
Kurt ?
You got, uh, 15 minutes to show.
- 02:24
Carrie ?
Are you being paid?
- 02:27
Kurt ?
Yeah, a lot.
- 02:28
Carrie ?
Yeah, and you're paying him.
- 02:30
Thanks.
- 02:31
Fred ?
Here is the finale of it all. Are you ready?
- 02:34
Carrie ?
not really
- 02:34
Fred ?
but here we go this is a venue bathroom so there's graffiti I kind of put some toilet paper all over the place or we did just to make it you know I have that feeling
- 02:47
all right I gotta take a dump carry guitar
- 02:49
Fred ?
we'll give you some privacy
- 02:51
Carrie ?
thanks what's that
- 02:55
Fred ?
oh I didn't tell you that's our new doorbell well it must be the pyrotechnics guy
The rabbit hole continues
One more couldn’t hurt.
More from Portlandia.





