For the Record

Remember How Everybody Was in Portlandia?

An incomplete list of the show’s celebrity cameos.

By Matthew Trueherz January 5, 2026 Published in the Winter 2025/2026 issue of Portland Monthly

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein brought all their famous friends to town when they made a show that totally is but also totally isn’t about Portland.

TV Portland was filled with so many famous people. Of the many, many things Portlandia did or didn’t do for/to/in the city (January 21 marks the 15-year anniversary of its premiere, and we’re talking about all that over here), one thing that’s not up for debate is the truly wild number of punk heroes, MTV hosts, former Olympians, movie stars, and rock stars it brought to town. There was Jack White’s wordless appearance, where he glows like a garage rock Father Christmas. Kyle MacLachlan of course played the mayor. No Doubt silently waved from a hot-air balloon at one point. Remember customer support superhero Kumail Nanjiani? A sketch filmed at the Ace Hotel, despite cooking up a marvelous wormhole of commodified 2010s cool, is the peak of these star-studded bits that seem to go absolutely nowhere on purpose. The show’s stars and cocreators, Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, play desk clerks at “the Deuce Hotel.” When James Mercer (The Shins), Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), and Corin Tucker (Brownstein’s Sleater-Kinney bandmate) check in, the desk clerks destroy the lobby to, um, I think it was about proving that they're cool. The point is these people are famous, people! Below, we drudged up all the cameos we could find. 


Former actual Portland mayor Sam Adams (left) and Kyle MacLachlan, who played the mayor on the show.

A

Sam Adams

Tunde Advebimpe (of TV on the Radio)

Shohreh Aghdashloo

LaMarcus Aldridge

Paul Allen

Tuck Andress (of Tuck & Patti)

Steve Buscemi as Celery.

B

The B-52’s

Maria Bamford

Lance Bangs

Vanessa Bayer

Roseanne Barr

Ed Begley Jr.

Jello Biafra (of the Dead Kennedys)

Selma Blair

Rachel Bloom

Aidy Bryant

Isaac Brock (of Modest Mouse)

Steve Buscemi

Rose Byrne

C

James Callis

Brendan Canty (of Fugazi)

Louis C.K.

Annie Clark (of St. Vincent)

Jenny Conlee (of the Decemberists)

John Corbett

Kevin Corrigan

Catherine Coulson

Wayne Coyne (of the Flaming Lips)

Terry Crews

Rachel Dratch as Giuseppina.

D

Claire Danes

Glenn Danzig

The Dirty Projectors

Rachel Dratch

Steven Drozd (of the Flaming Lips)

Kirsten Dunst

E

John Early

F

Ana Fabrega

Shepard Fairey

Alex Falcone

Bobby Flay

Jeff Goldblum played several eccentric salesmen throughout the show’s eight seasons. Here he is selling couches at the Pull Out King.

G

Jim Gaffigan

Greta Gerwig

Jeff Goldblum

Kim Gordon (of Sonic Youth)

Gregory Gourdet

Heather Graham

Dan Gregor

Judy Greer

Matt Groening

H

Bill Hader

Ryan Hansen

Sean Hayes

Tim Heidecker

Josh Homme (of Queens of the Stone Age)

Mitchell Hurwitz

J

Abbi Jacobson

Dwight Jaynes

Cherry Jones

Rashida Jones

Steve Jones (of the Sex Pistols)

Miranda July

Nick Kroll and John Mulaney as George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon from season eight.

K

Ian Karmel

Zoë Kravitz

Nick Kroll

L

k.d. lang

Juliette Lewis

Damian Lillard

Kurt Loder

Justin Long

Robin Lopez

Greg Louganis

Matt Lucas

Jane Lynch

Natasha Lyonne

Seth Meyers on the totally real news station Portland’s CW 32.

M

Kyle MacLachlan

Aimee Mann

Johnny Marr (of the Smiths)

J Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr.)

Edie McClurg

C. J. McCollum

Sarah McLachlan

Duff McKagan (of Guns N’ Roses)

Colin Meloy (of the Decemberists)

James Mercer (of the Shins)

Laurie Metcalf

Lorne Michaels

Bobby Moynihan

John Mulaney

Seth Meyers

N

Kumail Nanjiani

Martina Navratilova

Michael Nesmith (of the Monkees)

Joanna Newsom

Brigitte Nielsen

No Doubt

Krist Novoselic (of Nirvana)

O

Edward James Olmos

Patton Oswalt

Parker Posey, with a great do, appeared on season five.

P

Robin Pecknold (of Fleet Foxes)

Jay Pharoah

Matt Pinfield

Aubrey Plaza

Parker Posey

Henry Rollins, Krist Novoselic, and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty jamming out with Armisen.

R

Linda Ramone

Paul Reubens

Andy Richter

Tracee Ellis Ross

Tim Robbins

Henry Rollins (of Black Flag)

Gabriel Rucker

Maya Rudolph

Run the Jewels

Cameron Russell

Jason Sudeikis of course ran the cult farm that raised Colin the chicken.

S

Andy Samberg

Dan Savage

Chloë Sevigny

Alia Shakwat

Paul Simon

Robert Smigel

Tabitha Soren

Caroll Spinney

Jessica St. Clair

Cheryl Strayed

Jason Sudeikis

Nick Swardson

T

Amber Tamblyn

Tessa Thompson

Corin Tucker (of Sleater-Kinney)

Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco)

V

Gus Van Sant

Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam)

Kurt Vile

W

George Wendt

Ted Wheeler

Jack White

Kristen Wiig

Olivia Wilde

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