Portlandia's series finale signals the death knell for hipster comedy

Vulture

Hipster jokes are out and millennial jokes are in, says Jesse David Fox on the occasion of tonight's Portlandia series finale. Older people always make fun of younger people. For Portlandia, hipster jokes were a way for two members of Generation X, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, to mock younger Gen X-ers and older millennials  -- the "Xennials" born in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Hipster jokes now have been replaced by millennial jokes as a new group of younger people have become the object of scorn. "Essentially, millennial jokes are what Gen-X jokes or baby boomer jokes were when those people were in their 20s," says Fox. "Hipster jokes were just a bridge, focusing on the group of young people on the border of two generations, young Gen-Xers and old millennials. It makes sense, then, that Portlandia was made by two true Gen-Xers making fun of the new youths they saw infiltrating their city. Now that it’s over, Portlandia, not unlike Laugh-In, will remain as a sort of time capsule for those between times." He adds: "Portlandia was the king of the once-mighty genre of hipster comedy, but like with skinny jeans, there is no longer a market for it. To quote one of the show’s most famous sketches: It’s over!"

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