Fred Armisen for years has been known as a sketch comic on “Saturday Night Live,” playing characters ranging from Barack Obama to Prince to Steve Jobs.

But he has extended his comedic resume to IFC sketch show “Portlandia,” which uses Portland, Ore. as its palette and stage. Armisen and musician Carrie Brownstein play different characters gently sending up the quirky, liberal city where riding a bike and eating organic is a way of life.

“Portlandia,” which airs Fridays at 10 p.m., is only in its second season yet the pair has taken the show on a national tour, stopping in Atlanta Thursday at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points. The first seven dates sold out, starting, of course, in Portland in December.

[UPDATE 2/20/12: The first show sold out so they’ve just added a second show at 10:30 p.m. Buy tickets here.)

“We had never done a live performance together before,” said Armisen in a phone interview from New York City earlier this week. “At first, we didn’t know what we wanted to do. We’re not a standup comedy act. The Portland crowd was very forgiving because that was our first night out.”

Not surprisingly, the New York City resident said Portland residents “are really really nice,” he said. “They give me pastries. They hand me business cards and hope we can do a sketch about them.”

The stage version will feature a mix of videos from the TV show, behind-the-scenes stories and music. Brownstein, who lives in Portland, was part of the respected alternative rock band Sleater-Kinney and Armisen was once a drummer in punk rock bands. All in all, he said, it’s very casual and loose.

“It’s like visiting us in our living room,” Armisen said.

The characters he plays on “Portlandia” are more subtle than many he does on “SNL,” “With no live audience, it changes the dynamic of how you do a character,” he said. “In an ‘SNL’ sketch, you have to face the audience, let them in. On ‘Portlandia,’ I can crouch into something and look at the other person a little closer.”

Among the oddball characters “Portlandia” has introduced so far include Toni and Candice, two feminist bookstore owners who don’t seem to care much about selling books; militant bike messenger Spyke and his fiance Iris who plan an unconventional wedding; and Doug and Claire, who become obsessed with watching the entire DVD series of “Battlestar Galactica” in one sitting.

And despite a limited budget, Armisen and Brownstein have attracted a robust cavalcade of celebrities to make appearances, including Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder (a man with a tacky tattoo), former Conyers resident and “30 Rock” star Jack McBrayer (a shopper who forgets to bring a reusable shopping bag to the grocery store) and actor Jeff Goldblum (owner of a store that sells artisan knots). A few of his “SNL’ buds pop up, too, such as Andy Samberg, who plays a mixologist, and Kristen Wiig, an overly enthusiastic fan of a burgeoning rock group.

He loves how IFC gives him and Brownstein plenty of room to breath putting “Portlandia” together.

“IFC pretty much leaves us alone,” he said. “They give us some notes, which are helpful. I don’t believe an artist should get everything they want. Rules are kind of good. But they don’t question us on some very questions decisions like our choice of guest stars. It was important for me to get Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols and we made it happen.”

“There are no hard jokes,” he added. “Some pieces aren’t even necessarily comedy.”

Armisen is in his 10th season on ‘SNL,” one of the longest tenures to date, but he said he has not thought beyond this year in terms of whether he is ready to move on.

“I love both my jobs,” Armisen said. “I get to spend my days laughing my brains out in New York and Portland. I feel lucky every day!”

Concert preview

“Portlandia: The Tour”

10:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23. $30. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave. NE, Atlanta. www.variety-playhouse.com. 1-800-745-3000.