Ari Shapiro recently took a break from his beat as NPR's White House correspondent to do a Morning Edition story about Portlandia, the new IFC sketch-comedy show that stars Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein and Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen and pokes fun at the achingly crunchy Northwestern city. If you haven't heard the Morning Edition piece, you're in for a treat -- Shapiro, a Portland native, visits a few quintessentially "Portland" locations with Brownstein, including a feminist bookstore that sells a zine called Moldy Soy. In town to moderate a talk between Armisen and Brownstein at the Apple SoHo store tonight, Shapiro swung by the PAPER offices for a chat about the accuracy of the show, his side-gig singing with Pink Martini and what it's like going to work in the White House. 

You're from Portland. Is Portlandia a pretty accurate portrayal of the city?
It is so accurate. For the Morning Edition story, I had the concept of meeting Carrie in Portland and doing a tour of places with her that are just too Portland for Portland and would therefore translate directly to the show. There were so many to choose from. Everywhere we went, people were completely playing to type. I love it, because it's where I grew up and it's what I identify with but it's also very mockable. I say that as someone who fits that description myself.

Anyone who has spent any time in a left-leaning city, or a college town or Brooklyn can probably identify with the show.
Right. I sometimes tell my friends that Portland was Brooklyn before Brooklyn was Brooklyn.

Do you have any Portlandia-esque stuff happening in D.C. right now? Have you started putting birds on everything?
When I moved to Washington ten years ago, it was purely an industry town and the industry was politics. And that's still very true of Washington, but there's more and more food, arts and creative expression that you would be proud to find in any city and that Washington really didn't used to have. It's been really great to see these places popping up that really have that distinctive D.C. character, but are in no way connected to politics or the industry.

The food scene has really grown there.
It's booming. There's one guy in particular named Eric Hilton, he's part of a DJ collective called Thievery Corporation, who has opened a bunch of restaurants and bars and a Jamaican dance hall and its all in my neighborhood. I feel so lucky to live so close to these places that make D.C. so distinctive and fun to live in. It's a little like Portland in that sense -- people ride their bikes, I can walk around the neighborhood and see people I know and there are lots of locally-owned shops. And they aren't necessarily even selling things with birds on them.

Will you have any hardballs for Fred and Carrie tonight?
No, I know what clips we're going to show and having talked to Carrie about the show before, I sort of have an idea of what the most interesting nuggets are about the show. I've never met Fred before, but I know that Fred and Carrie have known each other for a long time and the two of them have a great dynamic. I'm hoping that I can get them to banter a bit.

They're very funny together.
Yes. She told me that a lot of the dialog in the show is actually from conversations that they've had.

So if the dream of the '90s is alive in Portland, what dream is alive in D.C.?
The dream that you will some day be president is alive in D.C. I sometimes think D.C. is a place where everyone believes they will some day run for president, and they want everything they do in every moment to be consistent with that goal, which is unfortunate. I don't want to say that everyone behaves like that all of the time, but there is certainly an aspect of that.

Everyone is secretly vetting themselves for a possible future in the White House.
But the flip side of that is that they're about the country and the issues and having thoughtful conversations about foreign affairs. It's a city where people are passionate and people care about what's going on in the world.

Do you have any more shows performing with Pink Martini coming up?
In April we're doing four nights at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony. This will be my first time playing with them in D.C., which is exciting. And New Year's Eve was my first time playing with them in Portland, which was great. I think we're also playing San Francisco over the summer, which is where my in-laws are.

And people at NPR know about your side gig with the band?
Yes. There have actually been a couple of NPR stories about me and Pink Martini. It's kind of a double life, but everyone knows about it. 

Do you ever sing on Air Force One?
I've never sang on Air Force One and I have no plans to.

What's it like working out of the White House? The press corps have offices down in the basement, right?
There's the press briefing room, which you see on TV and where people sit and ask the press secretary questions, and behind that there's the basement where the White House Correspondents have their offices. NPR has a little booth there that we can broadcast from. I was afraid that the White House would be filled with arrogant, self-important, preening egoists and, in fact, I have found the White House press corps to be smart, thoughtful, collegial and just great people to work with.

Is it true that President Obama has fruit sitting out in his offices instead of candy?  
I have not seen any fruit. But I haven't been in all of the offices, so maybe there's fruit somewhere.