Portlandia (2011–2018): Season 8, Episode 7 - Most Pro City - full transcript

The Mayor sets out to prove Portland's diversity. Text message drama unfolds during a business meeting. Activists on a hunger strike take a cheat day.

- I am so glad to finally
be here, you guys.
Thank you for having me in.
- And, uh, how--how was Denver?
- Denver's great.
Uh, I saw a Rockies game.
That's always fun.
- You know,
I love what they've
done with that stadium.
- Mm-hmm.
- Just really revamped
that whole area.
[cell phone buzzes]
- And they've got
some great restaurants.
I mean, that place is really...
[muffled chatter]
♪ ♪
Michael.
You've been to Denver, right?
- I was there for two hours.
And I thought I was going
to be really cute,
and I got myself
a Denver omelet...
[solemn electronic music]
♪ ♪
- But that's an opportunity
for us.
That's what I was
saying earlier
about the residential
component...
- Mm-hmm.
- Of the overall model
would allow for growth there
which again...
[cell phone buzzing]
- Something I wanted to bring
up was just...
[muffled chatter]
[somber string music]
♪ ♪
- Uh, too prodigious
of a water feature
in terms of the, uh, aeration
[muffled]
of the golf course.
You know, I think--I think
it's going to be great.
- Guys, all we need
is NGF approval.
[cell phone buzzes]
- I'm not worried
about them at all.
- Yeah.
- You know, I know those guys
and, uh...
[muffled chatter]
Footprint of this, you know.
- Right.
[muffled chatter]
[somber music]
- I was happy even
before I saw it.
- Mm-hmm.
- I was...oh, my God.
[chuckles] I go,
"You know what?
"I approve but I don't want
the color changed,
and I want this whole thing
yellow."
[tense electronic music]
[laughing]
- Yeah, right?
- Remember how much
you laughed?
- Yeah.
- When I said "yellow."
[cell phone buzzes]
- There aren't a lot
of these properties
going up as it is.
The grassless driving range
cuts 20% off
our water usage.
- The first thing I said
was I approve.
- Mm-hmm.
- I'm happy.
Remember this, Erin?
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.
- I really need you to
you know, look at this
to make sure it's right.
[somber music]
[tense electronic music]
- Yeah, well, somehow
I think it's
more cost effective.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know,
for the whole group.
- I was worried about--
[intense music build-up]
[cell phone ringing]
- Uh, hey, buddy.
- No phones.
We have a no phone policy
at the meetings, buddy.
[dreamy chillwave music]
♪ ♪
[calming music playing]
♪ ♪
- Mr. Mayor,
is everything okay?
- You, uh--you said
it was urgent.
- It's very urgent.
- Uh. Sorry.
My crystal reading skills
are just a little rusty.
- Oh, what?
You mean my earwax sculptures?
No.
That's not it.
[thud, whip]
It's this.
Do you see this?
- It's common knowledge.
Portland is very white.
- Yes, but "least diverse"?
Least? I don't want to be
the least at anything.
- You know, I actually think
that's a great idea.
I think it's a good time to do
some soul searching,
to ask ourselves
those tough questions.
- Tough, well, the only
tough questions I want to ask
is why that journalist
is printing these lies.
I have many people of color
working here at City Hall,
many people of color.
- That's great.
- Yes.
Sam, get in here.
- Yes, sir.
- Sam.
Are you white?
- I am.
- [sighs] Damn it.
But you're gay, right?
- Yes.
- A rainbow isn't white.
Um, Jessie, Phil, Susan, Chuck.
Darn it.
All white.
- Still white.
- [sighs]
It's just not right.
Darn it.
Wait, wait!
Who are you?
- Um, I'm Mike.
- Mike!
What is your position
here at City Hall?
- Oh, I'm--I'm just visiting.
I could never live
in this city.
This city is too w--
- Don't say it.
- W--
- White?
- Wet.
- Wet?
- White?
- What?
- Wait.
- Wait, no.
I'm sorry, Mike.
Thank you.
We'll work on making
the city less wet.
[sighs]
This is awful.
- Mr. Mayor, you know
that I'm not white.
- You're not white?
- Mm-mm.
- You know, I always suspected.
I just thought you
were maybe sick
or had that thing
that Vin Diesel has.
- No, no.
My dad's Korean,
and my mom is from Venezuela.
- How is that possible?
Those countries are
very far apart.
- Isn't that crazy?
- How do you know all this?
- I took one of those home
DNA tests.
They're great.
They tell you where you're from
like down to a percentage.
- Really?
- Hardly anybody
is 100% European.
- Hardly anyone
is 100% European.
Well, this could be great.
- What could?
- Well, we just need to test
the entire city of Portland.
[martial music]
Oh! Right.
Sam? Sam?
Yes, Sam.
We need to have DNA testing on
all the citizens of Portland.
Would you get on that?
- Uh, that sounds
slightly unconstit--
- Thank you!
That's fantastic!
We are gonna prove
to that journalist
that we are actually
very diverse.
- This is kind of exciting.
I might be, uh,
a little Norwegian.
- Oh, I don't think so, Carrie.
I have an eye
for Scandinavian women,
and they're much taller
than you.
And also blonder.
[upbeat rock music]
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
- Tiger Stadium?
That is not the oldest
in the country.
That's bullshit.
It was rebuilt in the '40s.
No one remembers that
or writes it down, but yeah.
So, you guys got to get
some salmon burgers.
Go get a salmon burger.
I made a bunch of them.
- Hey.
- What's up, buddy?
Are you enjoying the party?
- Yeah, this is a cool party.
You have a great pad here.
- Ah, you're nice.
Thank you very much.
Hey.
- So, um...
It's crazy what's going on
in Venezuela right now.
Hard--hard to believe.
- I don't think it's hard
to believe.
I think it's easy to believe.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
Right? Chávez put Maduro in
power exactly for this reason.
Right? Because there's all this
chaos that brings dependency.
It's the kind of chaos
that they like.
That's our monster.
We created like uh, uh,
Frankenstein.
What's Venezuela's main export?
- Um.
- Oil.
So what's America's investment?
- Money.
- No, oil companies.
Ah, we're standing here
with our dicks in our hand.
We're shitting bombs
out of our asses.
Guess what's gonna blow up?
Our own assholes.
[explosions]
- Damn.
I didn't even know all that.
- Yeah, but you know what?
- It's pretty crazy.
- But it's all out there.
- Man, it's...crazy what's
going on in Venezuela.
- What's going on?
- What was it, 1979?
We put those guys there.
- Hmm?
- We sell them oil.
- Doesn't Venezuela
produce oil?
- A billion--$1 billion...
Um...
[doorbell rings]
Hi.
Sorry to bother you.
I was at your party
the other day.
We talked about politics
and Venezuela.
- I remember you, yes.
Hi.
- Yeah.
I just embarrassed myself
at work.
And you seem so knowledgeable
about politics and the world.
How do you do it?
- It's so easy.
It's a trick.
I just memorize a few things
about one little subject
and just focus on those.
Say, for me, it's a country,
right?
So I pick Venezuela.
What you do is you just
remember a leader from there,
uh, a year that they were
in office.
- Well, what if I would have
brought up a different subject?
- You steer the conversation
back to that subject.
- Huh.
- So, okay.
Pick out any subject matter.
Go ahead.
You start talking about it.
- What about
like Ancient Greece?
- No, like in Venezuela?
With Maduro and Chávez?
They put them there.
It's a vacuum. Bush.
Let's do it for you.
There you go.
Southeast Asia.
So just pick out one.
- Cambodia.
- Ah, this is great.
No one's gonna challenge you
on this.
So, look at that page.
Find a sentence that has,
uh, a number in it.
- Cambodia,
independence in 1953.
- Memorize that.
- Prime Minister Hun Sen.
- Yes, perfect.
So, Hun Sen.
Remember that name.
- That's it?
- And you want to throw
in some curses.
You know, you want to be
a little rock and roll.
Just a little--pepper it in
a little, you know,
"We're holding our dicks."
- Mm-kay.
- All right?
- Holding our dicks.
- You know what's a good one?
[bleep]ers.
Those [bleep]ers think that
they can get away with that?
And right away you got passion
in there.
That's it.
That's all you need.
- And who put the Khmer Rouge
into power?
We did.
President Carter
was college roommates
with Hun Sen, and they got
their independence in,
what was that? 1953?
But they had a puppet in power.
A puppet. 1953.
- All right.
[applause]
[joyous music]
♪ ♪
- I'm starving.
- Me too, Tiff.
- It's been like five days,
right?
- Five days and they still
haven't met our demands.
- [sighs]
It's a struggle to breathe.
That's how hungry I am.
[down-tempo guitar chords]
Is there anything
that's like eating,
but you're not
really eating?
If I got, like, lemon seeds
and just sort of, like,
sucked on them?
- That's kind of horrible.
- They haven't met our demands,
and we are going nowhere!
We'll be right here.
How about a hunger strike
cheat day?
- [gasps]
- It's just really quick.
We get some sesame seeds.
You know, suck on them
for a little while.
Put some stuff in our mouths.
And come right back.
- All right, one Caesar salad.
Would we like anything
else today?
- No, this is all that we want.
We're barely gonna eat this
at all.
- Okay.
- All right?
And we're gonna ignore
the croutons.
I'm just gonna take
a little bit of this lettuce
and just for the green,
so that I can stay alive,
I'm just gonna, like...
Just put it behind my teeth.
- And your
complimentary quesadilla.
- No, no, no, no.
We did not order this.
We are just sticking
with the salad.
- They--they come together.
All right, thanks.
- What do we do?
- Well...
They made--okay.
We're not gonna eat...
I'll tell you what
I'm gonna do.
I'm going to breathe in
some of the dust
from the tortilla.
Just...
Pah-peh-peh.
Pah-peh-pah.
Pah-peh-bah-ba.
[inhales loudly]
Don't eat it.
Whatever you do.
[dark tense music]
Pah-peh-pah.
[inhaling loudly]
♪ ♪
They haven't met our demands!
[echoing]
And we are going nowhere!
[laughter]
There's cheese
in the eggroll.
Put that right over there.
[upbeat music]
Meatballs.
Can I have a couple more,
please?
One, two, one, two.
[chewing loudly]
- [laughing]
- Hey, Josh, what do you think?
[tense electronic music]
♪ ♪
- These dunkers are good.
all: Yeah!
[laughter]
- These dunkers...
[chews loudly]
These dunkers are good.
Good. Good.
Good. Good.
all: Yeah!
- These dunkers--du--du--du--
These dunkers--good--
These--good. Good.
These--good.
Good.
all: Yeah!
- Du--du--dunkers are good.
Du--du--dunk--dunkers--
are good.
[bell rings]
- We will not relent!
Change can't happen
if no one's paying attention.
- [burps]
- Good.
[upbeat rock music]
♪ ♪
[soft piano music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
- Welcome, everyone.
Welcome to Portland's
Potluck of People,
a night where we celebrate
the diversity
that is our great city
of Portland.
You know, before DNA testing,
we were 75% white.
Now there is scarcely
a white person
in the entire city
of Portland.
We are more diverse than
New York City or even Detroit.
[applause]
Huh.
Now, to show our journalist
friend just how this works,
I'm gonna have Fred
read the latest results
of our DNA testing.
Fred.
- Great.
Thank you so much.
Uh, all right, is Judd here?
Why don't you come on up?
All right, Judd's
genetic breakdown is
98% Northern European,
1% broadly European,
0.5% Ashkenazi Jew.
- Hm.
- 0.25% African,
0.25% other.
- 0.25% African.
I'm black.
Yes.
- Hey, congratulations, Judd.
- Congratulations.
[applause]
- Well, we lost
another white person,
but the melting pot
continues to grow.
Well, Anna, as you can see,
Portland is much more diverse
than how you characterized us
in your article.
- What?
- Yeah.
Well, look, there's Tim.
Hey, Tim.
[laughs]
I mean when are you going
to see something like that?
- Coachella.
- My favorite festival.
Hi, Carrie.
- Hey.
- Nice hat.
- Thank you.
I mean, obviously I wouldn't
have worn this a week ago.
That would have been offensive,
but, you know,
I just wanted to acknowledge
my heritage.
- I can see that.
- Yeah.
- Oh, uh, Carrie can teach you
how to use chopsticks.
- I know how to use chopsticks.
- Ah, but have you learned
from an actual Japanese person?
And Chico, our token white guy.
- And I've got a
little Scottish in me as well.
- Oh, I love Scotland.
- Oh, I tell you what.
What you need to do is take
a trip to Scotland.
Learn how to play golf.
That's all there is to it.
- All right.
- Sounds perfect.
[chuckles]
Fred, why don't you tell Anna
about the play
you're working on?
- Yes! Oh, this is great.
It's called "Purple Roots."
And it's, uh,
part "Color Purple"
part "Roots."
It's about a black hair salon
in the Depression-era South.
- Yeah.
All black cast.
- Mm.
- [stammering]
- I know.
- Yeah, incredible.
- How about you, Mr. Mayor?
Did you find that you had
a little, uh,
Fonz in your DNA?
- You know, it turns out
I'm a 110% Puerto Rican.
- How is that possible?
- Anna, ask me in Spanish.
- Cómo es eso posible?
- Ayyy.
- I can't decide if we
should do the seven course
or the 12 course prix fixe.
- Mm, I think 12 course.
It's a special night.
- Happy anniversary.
- Happy anniversary.
Mmm.
Mmm!
- Mmm.
both: Mmm.
- Steak tartare.
- That's raw.
[gasps] Raw like you.
- Mmm.
- Whoa.
- Oh, my.
- I'm gonna finish
this whole thing.
- Oh, I can taste
young onions.
- I like your young onions.
- I like your cream.
- Mmm.
[both exhale]
- This is the
mushroom stroganoff.
- I'd like you to "strog"
my "noff."
- Well, I'm going to.
Mmm.
both: Mmm.
[gags]
- Oh, more pasta.
So much meat.
- It's a zoo in here.
- I want to visit that zoo.
- Get in my cage.
[tiger roar]
[slurping]
[cracking]
[slurping]
[both gulping]
Mmm. Mmm.
- [burps]
- [hiccups]
- Oh, thank you.
- All right, let's go home.
- The night is still young.
[crickets chirping]
[romantic jazz music]
Oh, I love you.
- I love you.
both: Mmm, mmm.
♪ ♪
[stomach rumbles]
I'm sorry.
Did you want to be on top?
- No, I want you to be on top.
- No, can we be--
let's both be on the bottom.
- All right, I'll be
on the bottom too.
How do we do it?
- I think what I need
is to take my stomach
and rest it on the bed.
- Okay.
- [stomach rumbling]
Sorry. Ooh, sloshing.
- There you go.
- [burps, exhales]
- Um. Um.
- I'm having trouble.
It's the squash.
- Yeah.
I'm trying to rest
my belly on your back.
The squash was too creamy,
I think.
- This is--oh, yeah,
I'm settling in.
- Yeah, there you go.
- Hun-- [burps]
I have to go.
I have to throw up.
- Okay, hold on.
[sloshing, pop]
- [groans] All right,
I'll be right back.
I'll be right back.
Okay, okay.
- Don't take
too long, all right?
- I won't, I won't.
- 'Cause I have to use
the bathroom too.
Don't come back yet.
I'm gonna fart
real quick.
[farts]
- [retching]
[splashing]
[continues retching]
[romantic jazz music]
- Honey.
[knocking]
Don't take too long, okay?
I have to go
to the bathroom too.
And as soon as I'm done,
I'm gonna come out here
and finish making love to you.
- Yeah, um,
I, uh,
I need another minute.
Okay?
- Oh.
- [farting]
- It's okay.
- Please don't touch me.
[farts]
- It sounds like there's
nothing left.
It's all air.
- [farting]
- Is that you or me?
- It's me.
- Wait, here's me.
[squeaky fart]
That's the shrimp.
[splashing]
I love you so much.
- I love you too.
- [loudly burps]
[romantic jazz music]
♪ ♪
- Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.
- Ow. Ow. Ow.
- Ow! Ow. Ow. Ow.
Ow. Ow.
- Ow. Ow.
both: Ow. Ow.
- [farts]
- Ouch.
- [exhales]
- [exhales, burps]
[rooster crowing]
- Good morning.
- Morning.
- Guess what I'm thinking.
- Breakfast?
- I'm starving.
[blissful music]
- [farts]
[upbeat rock music]
♪ ♪
[upbeat piano music]
♪ ♪
[orchestration music playing]
♪ ♪
[piano music]
♪ ♪
[distressing music]
♪ ♪
- Check this out.
It's a pulled quote
from the article.
- It's a what?
- From the article.
- Oh, wait, the article.
I want to see it.
- The journalist sent over
a preview of what's gonna be
printed today, but, um,
we need to come up
with a response
at some point in time.
- Fine, I just want
to see the article.
- Yeah.
- Well, it's, um...
- No, no, let's see it.
Let's see it.
- Oh, you got it right there.
- Okay, I'd love to see it.
- Yeah.
- Wait.
Oh, no.
- Oh, Mr. Mayor.
- No.
- No, it's okay.
We're the most something city.
- Are you legally allowed
to do that?
You know, with the
bumper stickers and the shirt
and everything?
- Oh, well, it's a direct quote
from the--from the title.
- This a gross
mischaracterization
of what she's saying.
- But I needed to shorten
it so that it would
fit on a bumper sticker.
- Wait a minute.
So you saw the preview
of the article
and then you had bumper
stickers and shirts made?
- Yes.
- How many bumper stickers?
- Well, we have these five.
- And?
- And 5,000 more.
- Well, how recently
did you see this?
- We go--we move quickly.
- We should sue
that testing company.
They didn't say we
weren't allowed
to celebrate the results.
- No.
We just have to come up
with a response to this
to counter these allegations.
- We need a distraction.
There's gonna be think pieces
about this.
We need a new new story
to make everyone forget
about this one.
- Animals.
- Animals are good.
- Animals are good.
- A pregnant panda.
People love pregnant pandas.
- Or like a bear
who goes swimming
in someone's swimming pool.
- He came down
from the mountain, we found him
in our swimming pool.
- That's great.
Let's call some zoos.
- Call zoos.
- Let's call zoos.
- Mm-kay.
- Hello, zoo.
- Hi, Portland Zoo.
- Do you have any, uh, hippos
that are friends
with chimpanzees?
No.
They had a falling out.
- How are you, Oregon Zoo?
Do you have, uh, any snakes
who know sign language?
- Hi, are there any reports
of alligators who are
interested in marrying,
uh, a human?
Oh, the mayor.
Thank you.
- I got it.
This is great.
I got two rare tortoises
having sex.
- Yes. This is it.
- Uh-huh, and--
No, tell me that's not true.
[sighs]
Thanks for trying.
He pulled out.
- Jeez.
- That's it. This is terrible.
No one is gonna want to come
to Portland ever again.
[indistinct chatter]
- Great piece.
Great piece, Anna.
Oh, this is so exciting.
- I did it!
- This is an incredible story.
- And now this
is a bright, shining light
on the problem,
nobody can ignore it.
- Yes! Yes.
I'm just so proud...
- Listen! Listen.
- To have you on my staff.
- I just got an anonymous tip.
And you're gonna want
to hear this.
- What is it, Francesca?
- Did the mayor step down?
- No. Portland is getting
a Whole Foods 365.
[cheers and applause]
- Oh, my God.
- On opening day,
they're giving away
free ice cream.
- Oh, my God.
- Yeah, but we're--we're
leading with my story.
Right?
- Well...
I mean...
- Sir, congratulations
are in order.
- Wholly guacamole!
[quirky music]
♪ ♪
- So, we're out here just
holding our dicks in our hand,
[bleep]ing around.
All they're doing
is [bleep]ing themselves.
They're a two-headed
tarantula.
On the left, "New York Times."
It spins its own web.
It eats its young.
[sighs]
Hey, let me see that scarf!