Fred Armisen Can't Keep Quiet in Portlandia Web Series for Subaru

Portlandia creators and stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have teamed up with longtime partner Subaru for a four-part Web series tied to their hit IFC show. In "Talkative Driver," Armisen plays an unusually chatty car service driver discussing his every thought with increasingly impatient passengers.

Subaru, which has been a partner since the debut of Portlandia in 2011, has been integrated into the show since Season 2.

"This year we wanted to evolve the partnership a little bit," said Blake Callaway, evp of marketing and digital media at IFC. "So we went to the writer's room and created this first standalone Web series."

In addition to the Web series, which people can watch on IFC's website, Subaru will continue to be integrated in the satirical sketch comedy's sixth season. Dos Equis will also come on board, and Geico returns for a so-called "near-show integration"—in Season 3, the insurer riffed on its spokesman Maxwell the Pig in a spot titled Piglandia.

Another of IFC's satirical sketch comedies, Documentary Now, will return later this year with its own unique, in-show advertising.

"We couldn't integrate ads into the series, so we created the 'pledge break,'" said Callaway. In it, the PBS-style pledge drive is actually a Boston Beer sponsorship for its Sam Adams brand.

Portlandia's new season begins this Thursday.