Buddies despite the breakup. Natasha Lyonne brought out ex-boyfriend Fred Armisen when she hosted the Saturday Night Live season 47 finale just one month after confirming their breakup.
During her opening monologue on Saturday, May 21, the New York native said she feels “a cosmic connection” to SNL and was “genuinely humbled” to host for the first time.
“The people here are my real-life chosen family. I’ve been coming here since I was a teenager,” Lyonne said. “I co-created Russian Doll with Amy Poehler, and I have great friends from the show.”
Former SNL stars Maya Rudolph and Armisen joined their friend on stage. “Hey are you busy?” the Portlandia alum asked. “I thought maybe we could try our Natasha Lyonne impressions for you.”
Armisen mimicked his ex-girlfriend’s accent as he said “ipso-facto” while Rudolph mocked her pal’s “cockroach” pronunciation before they exited.
“You know, Freddie and I, we dated for seven years,” Lyonne told the audience. “Yeah, we’re the only couple who had a sex tape nobody wanted to buy.”
The friendly comedy bit came weeks after she confirmed rumors that the pair split. “I had been there living [in Los Angeles] with Fred and during COVID,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in an April feature. “I honestly think we broke up because I wanted a swimming pool.”
The But I’m a Cheerleader star added that they were still friends despite the breakup. “We love each other just about as much as two people can love each other and we’re still talking all the time, but Freddy doesn’t like a swimming pool,” Lyonne continued. “It might seem like a mundane reason for a breakup, but during that pandemic, you’ve got to get your laps — I’m like Burt Lancaster in The Swimmer. So, I got myself a house with a pool out in Los Angeles. So that’s the real scandal. I guess I finally am an actual bicoastal.”
Armisen, for his part, previously said his romance with the Orange Is the New Black alum was very much an opposites attract situation. “She’s very loud and likes a lot of noise in the house and I’m very quiet,” he explained during a November 2019 appearance on Conan. “We’re very similar but opposite. … She likes the sort of feeling of chaos and I like quiet all the time.”
Prior to their longterm relationship Armisen was married twice, first to singer Sally Timms from 1998 to 2004 and then to Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss from 2009 to 2011. Lyonne has previously been linked to comedian Michael Rapaport and The Equalizer actor Adam Goldberg.
Scroll down to see Lyonne and Armisen’s complete timeline:
