Hipsters brought to book through satire

GRAB a bag of cruelty-free popcorn, pour a glass of organic chardonnay - and tune in to season three of Portlandia.

Kristen Wiig, Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen in Portlandia.

GRAB a bag of cruelty-free popcorn and pour a glass of organic chardonnay - a sense of irony is also recommended - and tune in to season three of Portlandia, the brilliant comedy sketch show set in the hipster headquarters of Portland, Oregon.

Fred Armisen (a Saturday Night Live alumnus) and Carrie Brownstein portray a range of recurring characters in the city where "young people go to retire".

"We were portraying a certain kind of person," said Brownstein in a recent interview. People with a "stunted maturity ... who are flummoxed by the ever-changing rules of progressivism".

Memorable sketches from last season include the Allergy Pride Parade; a couple whose binge watching of Battlestar Galactica takes over their lives (One More Episode); and a mimed tribute to 80s synth-pop anthem Oh L'Amour by a moustachioed man in a canoe.

Women and Women First, a fictional feminist bookstore that features in the show, deserves special mention.

Cheerless proprietors Candace (Armisen) and Toni (Brownstein) do everything possible to alienate potential customers, which have included wonderful cameos from Steve Buscemi, Aubrey Plaza and Heather Graham.

Candice frequently resorts to graphic threats of violence. When a queue of people block the entrance to the bookstore, Candice addressed them thus: "We are a peaceful organisation but at this time, this makes me very warlike. So help me God, I will jump from head to head using your skulls as stepping stones," before dousing their belongings in petrol from a jerry can.

It must be said, the satire is tempered by the affection the actors have for their characters and Portland itself.

The opening credits are a joke-free homage, featuring drowsy beats and sepia-toned shots of landmarks and tattooed hipsters.

And the sketch last season with Portland's fictional mayor, played by Kyle MacLachlan, singing the John Denver-esque My Portland, was as touching as it was hilarious.

The show has been renewed for a fourth and fifth season, though Brownstein has hinted that might be enough.

Like all good hipsters, they'll know when things have gone - gasp! - mainstream or, in hipster lingo, become "played out".

Portlandia

ABC2

9pm