The Lonely Island
The Lonely Island | |
---|---|
surreal humor | |
Years active | 2001–present |
Labels |
|
Members | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Website | thelonelyisland |
The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program Saturday Night Live (SNL).
The three first met in junior high. After graduating from college, they regrouped and moved to Los Angeles, where they struggled to find work and began making short films, combining absurdist comedy and occasionally music. Among the first performers to post their material on the Internet, they involved themselves with Channel 101, a non-profit monthly short film festival. Their popularity at the screenings led to unsuccessful pilot deals with Fox and Comedy Central and a writing job for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. Subsequently, that show's host, Jimmy Fallon, recommended them to Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live.
The group was hired for SNL in 2005, with all three as writers and Samberg as a featured player. Bypassing the traditional process of pitching, they recorded their own material independently and submitted it to the program. Their second sketch to air, "
The troupe has written, directed and starred in two feature-length films, Hot Rod, released in 2007, and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, co-produced by Judd Apatow and released in 2016. The group also produced the 2020 film Palm Springs, starring Samberg and Cristin Milioti.
History
Formation and early years (1990–2004)
The Lonely Island first formed at Willard Junior High School in
In September 2000, they moved to Los Angeles and created their website, which would host short films.
We would come home every night after having some drinks and challenge ourselves. Like: 'It's only midnight. By 2am, let's have this video done.' It would be the shittiest 8mm camcorder effort, and we would know it wasn't going anywhere, but we were consciously training ourselves. If one of us had got a killer assistant job to a director or something, we wouldn't have done that.
Akiva Schaffer on the group's early years[4]
Unable to secure full-time positions, the trio took temporary jobs; one season, they worked at
Mainstream success at Saturday Night Live (2005–08)
Early sketches and "Lazy Sunday"
Following their success with The 'Bu, The Lonely Island secured a pitch meeting with Fox's then-president Gail Berman. There, the trio showed executives the video for "Just 2 Guyz", which received a positive reception.[1] Following their deal with Fox, they produced a pilot titled Awesometown, over which the network passed. MTV and Comedy Central also passed on the series.[7] Consequently, they began to question whether their material was humorous enough for a wide audience.[1] They subsequently released two versions of the pilot on their website, the Fox-edited version and a "director's cut".[3] Their increasing profile within Los Angeles comedy circles led to a writing job at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, hosted by then-current Saturday Night Live cast-member Jimmy Fallon.[7][8] Fallon's praise, in addition to word of mouth spreading to others at SNL, among them Tina Fey and creator Lorne Michaels, led the trio to audition for the series in mid-2005.[3] For his audition, Samberg impersonated a 1980s jogger, commenting on the recession.[8] SNL hired the trio in late August, with Taccone and Schaffer as writers and Samberg as a featured player.[3] Samberg was the second new cast addition that season, alongside The Second City alumnus Bill Hader.[3] Their debut episode premiered on October 1, 2005.[3]
Schaffer and Taccone had been on the writing staff for nearly three months, yet to this point, they had only two live sketches that survived the dress rehearsal process and aired.
In December, 2005, the trio, alongside Chris Parnell, wrote and recorded "Lazy Sunday", a short rap song. Samberg and Parnell adopt the brash personas of hardcore rappers, while the song follows their quest to achieve their "ultimate goal" of attending a matinee of the fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was recorded on a laptop in their offices at SNL, while it was shot throughout Manhattan the next day.[9] In the moments preceding the show's live performance and broadcast, the team learned from Michaels that "Lazy Sunday" would be shown on that night's show.[9] The three comedians were very worried about how the video would be received by the studio audience.[10]
"Lazy Sunday" aired on December 17, 2005, when the comedy troupe were little known to even Saturday Night Live's most devout fans.
Following his stardom on SNL, Samberg became a celebrity, being covered in tabloid publications.[8] A profile of Island in The New York Times led to a record deal and their own division at SNL: SNL Digital Shorts, which the group controlled with complete autonomy.[4] In March 2006, the trio produced their second viral hit, "Natalie's Rap". In the sketch, actress Natalie Portman acts as a gangsta rap star, juxtaposing her clean-cut, Harvard-educated image with profane and shocking lyrics.[4] Portman was the host of the program that week and came to the three having seen "Lazy Sunday".[4]
Their rise to fame was highlighted by a combination of "new" and "old" media, with Schaffer later remarking:
We had two things happening at once. First, we had a national TV show broadcasting our video, but we also had that moment in technology when anyone could stream it, so it could have that second life online. It wasn't just for early adopters or college kids with fast connections. Now it was for, like, my mom.[6]
Further work: "Dick in a Box" and Hot Rod
Much of their work on Saturday Night Live further explored music. Their office—described by Taccone as "the nastiest dorm room you've ever been in"—doubled as a recording studio and editing bay.[4] Multiple artists in the ensuing years would record their vocals for The Lonely Island songs on a $500 microphone in the office (which was not equipped with sound-proofing).[4] The songs were recorded without professional audio engineers, and each video was edited by Taccone, Schaffer, and Samberg.[4]
Creator Lorne Michaels was often confused by the trio's pitches.[7] His attitude towards their work is referenced in the Digital Shorts series "Laser Cats", which consisted of Samberg and Hader brandishing cats as weapons that shoot lasers from their mouths. In each sketch, Michaels appears at the end, dismissing the visual quality and stupidity of concept.[7] As such, he decided to stop taking their pitches and allow them independence from the program, producing their efforts themselves and turning them in.[15]
In the summer of 2006, The Lonely Island filmed their first feature film, Hot Rod, in Vancouver.[16] The film concerns Rod Kimble (Samberg), an Evel Knievel-type daredevil who dreams of jumping 15 school buses on a moped.[16] The role was originally conceived for Will Ferrell before Samberg signed on. Subsequently, the trio re-wrote much of the original script to match their standards: "Which is another way of saying, just dumb it down," said Schaffer.[17] The film was released in August 2007 to mediocre reviews and a tepid box office reaction.[18] Despite this, the film later attracted a cult following; in 2012, The A.V. Club wrote that it differentiated itself from other Lorne Michaels–produced comedies: "They may be just as poorly received, but their rhythms are unpredictable and exciting, shocked to life by moments of anti-comedy and wacky deconstruction. Hardcore comedy devotees pick up on them like a dog whistle."[18]
The Lonely Island's next major viral success came in December 2006, when they collaborated with singer
Timberlake also made a guest appearance in the group's subsequent track "Jizz in My Pants"
Music, television, and film careers (2009–present)
Incredibad and continued viral success
In the summer of 2008, the trio rented a home in Los Angeles and began recording their debut studio album, Incredibad (2009), over the course of three months.[15] The album is composed of new songs and pre-existing songs debuted and recorded for SNL. Many songs recorded for the album would later premiere as Digital Shorts in the following season of SNL.[15] In contrast to their work at SNL, the troupe went through each song in detail, taking their time to craft the album.[24] For the first time, the group incorporated professional mixing and mastering, leading to an improved sound quality of the recordings.[24] The first song they created for the record "Jizz in My Pants", was the lead single and debuted as an SNL Digital Short in December 2008.[24] It received millions of views, and was their first single to go platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.[25]
Incredibad was released a dual CD/DVD set in February 2009.
Taccone quit SNL in 2010, but nevertheless returned for the following seasons to produce Digital Shorts related to their musical work.[15]
Turtleneck & Chain and videos
The group returned to Los Angeles, renting the same home and setting up a makeshift studio to record
The group held a fundraiser to promote their new album on April 16, 2011 at Amoeba Music in Berkeley, California.[30] There were only 250 tickets available, and the only way to obtain a ticket was to preorder their album. They hosted a Q&A session and an autograph session. Shortly after, "Motherlover" was released on iTunes. On May 7, they released a new track, "Jack Sparrow", featuring Michael Bolton singing passionately about the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. Turtleneck & Chain was both Emmy nominated for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and Grammy nominated for Best Comedy Album.[31][32]
Shortly after the release of the album, the group premiered a new song, "3-Way (The Golden Rule)", featuring Timberlake and Lady Gaga, on the season finale of SNL.[33] Timberlake and Gaga were guests for the show, and the song re-approaches territory explored in "Dick in a Box" and "Motherlover". Much like their past work, it was recorded and shot in the week preceding the broadcast.[33] At the end of the 2011–2012 season of SNL, Samberg's last season on the cast, a sequel to "Lazy Sunday" was released, also with Chris Parnell.
Taccone and Samberg left at the end of the program's
The Wack Album
Despite these obstacles, the trio regrouped in late 2012 to begin recording their third album for
The album's lead single, "
"Everything is Awesome", Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and Palm Springs
In early 2014, the group collaborated to write "Everything Is Awesome," a song featured in The Lego Movie, with Shawn Patterson, Joshua Bartholomew, and Lisa Harriton. The song, performed by Tegan and Sara, also features in The Lonely Island. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 87th Academy Awards.
In 2014, the troupe signed a deal with Fox to develop serial comedy programming for digital platforms
The day after the 90th Academy Awards the group premiered a song on YouTube titled "Why Not Me" which they claimed was commissioned by the academy although not used because it was "financially and logistically impossible."[43] The song features characters from various movies who did not get nominated sing about being snubbed by the Academy.[44] It was not immediately clear if the group was actually asked by the Academy to perform or if this was part of the joke.[43]
In 2018, Lonely Island held their first live performance at Clusterfest, a comedy festival in San Francisco hosted by Comedy Central. Several of their featured guests appeared at the festival, including Chris Parnell and Michael Bolton.[45]
In 2020, the group produced the romantic comedy film Palm Springs starring Samberg and Cristin Milioti. The film was released at Sundance Film Festival in January 2020 and released widely via Hulu on July 10, 2020. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances and concept.
Netflix specials and television production work
In 2017, the group released Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special, a Netflix special starring Michael Bolton and featuring numerous cameos from celebrities and SNL cast members. On May 23, 2019, the group released a Netflix special, advertised as a "visual poem" to go with a new album, The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience, itself framed as a rap album written and performed by baseball players Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire in the 1980s, while the pair were known as the Bash Brothers while playing for the Oakland Athletics.[46]
As part of the team's television production contract, several programs produced by The Lonely Island began airing.
Style
The comedic influences of the group include SNL forebears such as
The group parody a variety of aspects of rap music, by inverting the machismo of much rap music by rapping with enthusiasm about their
The group's popularity through television has allowed them to access much higher-end production and special guests than most comedy music acts. Nicki Minaj was in "The Creep," and Rihanna was in "Shy Ronnie". "I Just Had Sex" features production by DJ Frank E and Akon as a special guest, while Justin Timberlake has appeared in "Dick in a Box", "Mother Lover" and "3-Way (The Golden Rule)."
Discography
- Incredibad (2009)
- Turtleneck & Chain (2011)
- The Wack Album (2013)
- Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
- The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience (2019)
Filmography
Films
Year | Film | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | ||
2007 | Hot Rod | Yes | No | Uncredited | Yes |
2010 | MacGruber | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
2012 | The Watch | Yes | No | No | Yes |
2013 | Grown Ups 2 | No | No | No | Yes |
2014 | Neighbors | No | No | No | Yes |
2016 | Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2017 | Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Brigsby Bear | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
2019 | The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2020 | Palm Springs | No | Yes | No | Yes |
I Used to Go Here | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
2022 | Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers | Yes | No | No | Yes |
2023 | Self Reliance | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Television
Year | Film | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | ||
2005 | Awesometown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2005 MTV Movie Awards | No | No | Yes | No | |
2005–12 | Saturday Night Live | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
2009 | Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! | No | No | No | Yes |
2013–2021 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
2014, 2016 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | No | No | No | Yes |
2016 | Party Over Here | No | Yes | Yes | No |
2017 | I'm Sorry | No | Yes | No | No |
2018 | Alone Together | No | Yes | No | No |
2019 | PEN15
|
No | Yes | No | No |
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
2023–present | Digman! | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Awards and nominations
Year | Awards | Category | Recipient | Artist(s) | Outcome | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | Creative Arts Emmy Award
|
Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics | "Dick in a Box" | The Lonely Island Justin Timberlake |
Won | [23] |
2009 | “Motherlover” | Nominated | [56] | |||
2010 | Grammy Award
|
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
“I’m On A Boat” | The Lonely Island Faheem Najm |
Nominated | [57] |
Creative Arts Emmy Award | Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics | “Shy Ronnie” | The Lonely Island | Nominated | [58] | |
2011 | “I Just Had Sex” | The Lonely Island | Nominated | [59] | ||
“Jack Sparrow” | Nominated | |||||
“3-Way (The Golden Rule)” | The Lonely Island Justin Timberlake Stefani Germanotta |
Nominated | ||||
2012 | Grammy Award | Best Comedy Album | Turtleneck & Chain | The Lonely Island | Nominated | [57] |
2014 | Golden Raspberry Award | Worst Screen Combo (shared with the entire cast) | Grown Ups 2 | N/A | Nominated |
See also
- Please Don't Destroy
- SNL Digital Short
- List of Saturday Night Live musical sketches
- List of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches
References
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