Emmy Contenders: Can ‘Portlandia’s’ Fred Armisen be the voice of traffic app Waze?

We wish the timing had been a little better, so we could visit “Portlandia” star Fred Armisen in Portland, Ore., like this guy did, waiting way too long for a hipster to make our coffee and grilled cheese sandwich and driving around in a vintage Saab.

But we got the next best thing: Armisen dropping by the Los Angeles Times for a video chat during which he shared his love for Paul Reubens and “The Simpsons” and the joys of working alongside “Sesame Street’s” Oscar the Grouch.

“You feel yourself become this little kid, you’re like, you’re talking to Oscar the Grouch,” Armisen says. “Now I’m realizing what a cool character that was. He lived in a trash can. He was the punk of that whole organization.”

There were a multitude of questions raised during the interview -- many from Armisen himself, who pondered whether Earth should preemptively remove itself from the list of planets, what exactly did Grover represent on “Sesame Street,” whether it’s possible to hate the Eagles but love Joe Walsh, and the pros and cons of early-onset grumpiness.

We also talked about his upcoming IFC series, “Documentary Now!” a six-episode run of faux documentaries that Armisen made recently with his “Saturday Night Live” castmates Bill Hader and Seth Meyers. Oh ... and he’d really love to use his “Californians” accent and become the voice of the traffic app Waze. Can we make that happen? Please?

Twitter: @glennwhipp