Fulldisclosure: your humble Portlandiarecapper lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and has a handful of friends who residein Portland, Oregon. Whenever I ask my pals in these two hipster enclaves ifthey're watching Portlandia, theacross-the-board response is: "I don't think that show's really that funny," or"Nah, it's kind of overhyped." This is surprising to me for a number ofreasons, chiefly: Portlandia is oneof the sharpest satires on TV in years! It is SO funny. Even if the show ispoking fun at the hipster culture that we all participate in, surely we cantake a step back and laugh at ourselves, right? But much in the same way thatmy Greek parents were horrified by My BigFat Greek Wedding, or New Jersey Governor Chris Christie denied standard tax breaks to the production of Jersey Shore, it's harder to stomach comedywhen you feel you're not laughing along with the audience, because they'relaughing at you.

In "One Moore Episode," the secondepisode of Portlandia's second (sofar, so stellar) season, Fred and Carrie come closest to developing athesis statement for the show, one that reveals that this isn't simply a zanysketch comedy romp like Mr. Show or Kids in the Hall, but a comedic socialcommentary about how hipsters see themselves. In the third sketch of Fridaynight's episode, Jeff Goldblumguest-stars as Alan, the foppish owner of an artisan knot store. Fred andCarrie visit the shop (after reading about it in the Sunday Times) looking to buy a knot to give toa friend as a housewarming gift. They end up buying a set of tangled-up iPodearbuds. "An artist that we work with makes these by jamming them in hispocket," Goldblum says. "You can pair these with a rosé or even a burgundy." Fred andCarrie present the gift at the party, and the hostess takes the gift, goes downto her basement and places it on a table filled with other artisan knot gifts.The (very funny) joke: Hipsters pride themselves on thinking they're so unique,but in essence, they're all the same. It's a hipster's worst nightmare. Thepunchline to the sketch was the first time I could see why Portlandia gives my Portlander and Greenpoint friends the willies.

Because Fred and Carrie sharpentheir claws with the writing in "One Moore Episode," it's also one of theseries' sharpest episodes. The cold open sketch, "Allergy Pride Parade" castsFred and Carrie as TV presenters at a Portland parade celebrating people whosuffer from allergies to wheat, makeup, soy, bug bites, milk, Pad Thai and onand on. The sketch ends with Carrie's character dying because she's allergic todextrose. I love that Portlandia doesn't shy away from heightening a sketch tothe point where someone dies from the game of the scene. The show'sfearlessness in getting laughs (and getting really dark sometimes) is one ofits strengths.

The episode's title sketch, "OneMoore Episode," finds Fred and Carrie getting dangerously addicted to Battlestar Galactica. Anyone who haswatched that show (or The Wire or Doctor Who or Downton Abbey) can attest to the experience of needing to watch"one more episode" of the serial again and again to the point of exhaustion.This sketch taps into that TV viewing experience and heightens it to the pointwhere Fred and Carrie lose their jobs from watching so much Battlestar. When they run out ofepisodes to watch, they track down (who they think is) the show's writer, RonaldD. Moore, to write one more episode. It climaxes with a hilarious read-through,featuring Edward James Olmos, andthe actual Ronald D. Moore as alocal Portland actor who is "currently playing the Mad Hatter."

This episode also features one ofthe biggest guest-stars of the season, Pearl Jam frontman (and Carrie's former Sleater-Kinneytourmate) Eddie Vedder. Kudos toVedder, who's usually described as a humorless dude, for being game to poke funat himself. The sketch's premise -- having a terrible tattoo - leads to somesuper silly animation, and even though Vedder is such a good sport, you can seewhy he hasn't acted since 1992's Singles.Vedder should stick to crooning "Betterman" and leave the acting to AnthonyKiedis.

Dowload "One Moore Episode" on iTunes here!