The Sketch of a Troupe: The Lonely Island

If you own a computer, and judging from the fact that you are reading a blog you do, then you have been on a little site called YouTube. And if you’ve been on YouTube you have probably watched some video shot on a hand held camera of someobody acting silly. But let’s think back, before Chocolate Rain, before Shoes, before Numa Numa, even before YouTube there was a little group called The Lonely Island.

Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone first met in junior high school and where the first realized that the three of them had an incredible knack for being incredibly silly. It was then that they formed the sketch comedy troupe that would be known as The Lonely Island. Their very first shorts where filmed and posted online in 2001, that’s four years before YouTube! At first their sketches where only viewed by friends and family, but with advent of YouTube in 2005 they exploded to internet stardom. People loved their quirky style and their ridiculous concepts. They had gone viral! The good kind.



The Dudes (as they are sometimes called) went on to a great deal of moderate success after that. Their OC parody, The ‘BU, became the longest running series in the Los Angeles Channel 101 short film festival, Andy appeared on Premium Blend performing stand-up and they were hired by Fox to film a pilot for a sketch comedy show. Awesometown is a fan-favorite, but the pilot was ultimately rejected by Fox, MTV and Comedy Central. The Dudes did land some righting gigs, but their real big break came when the three of them where hired to write for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. The host, Jimmy Fallen, was impressed with their wit and charm. He got the three of them an audition with his old boss Lorne Michaels. It was then that they reached a lifelong goal. They had done what all young comedians dream of doing. They did what I am dreaming of doing right now. All three were hired on Saturday Night Live, Andy as a cast-member; Jorma and Akiva as writers.

The SNL gig was incredible for The Lonely Island. They were proud to work in the same halls were so many great funnymen of the past had started, but a lot of their sketches weren’t airing and Andy was not being cast in many. The Dudes realized that they weren’t used to live sketches in front of an audience. They came from the little shorts that they filmed and edited themselves. So, for SNL’s Christmas episode (always one of the most heavily viewed episodes each year) the three of them and filmed something on the streets of New York with fellow cast-member Chris Parnell. That little short made it to air, prefaced with the words “An SNL Digital Short, it was called Lazy Sunday. Twas a gansta rap about sleeping in, eating cupcakes and watching The Chronicles of Narnia. That sketch spread like wildfire across the internet. And just like that Andy Samberg was the new breakout star of Saturday Night Live.

Now I’m really tired of people saying that Saturday Night Live is no longer funny. People have been saying that since Season 2! People have this idea in their heads of what SNL should be. This is an opinion based on what SNL was when they where watching. The beauty of Saturday Night Live is that it’s always changing. New generations of comedians come and go. Different styles emerge. That is why the show has been able to last for 35 years and counting. In fact, last year, the 34th season, was one of the highest rated seasons in the show’s history. The high ratings were, in part, due to the fact that it was an election year, but the whole show couldn’t be Seth Meyers’ clever commentary and Tina Fey’s spot on Sarah Palin impression. Sometimes you just need People Getting Punched Just Before Eating.



The Digital Short was a terrific invention. The Dudes had created the latest thing to look forward to every Saturday night. Some generations stayed up in hopes of seeing the Czech Brothers being wild and crazy, others stayed up to see Wayne and Garth party on, my generation stays up waiting for the screen to go black and “An SNL Digital Short” to appear. The brilliant thing about a Digital Short is that you never know what you’re going to see. It could be the space-epic “Laser Cats”, Natalie Portman performing an unbelievably vulgar rap or simply Andy popping into frame repeatedly. The creation of these shorts insured that The Lonely Island would not become stale. Unlike most recurring sketches, the Digital Shorts were completely different from each other, apart from the fact that Jorma, Akiva or Andy were involved somehow. Digital Shorts are now a staple of the show. The Dudes where even nominated for Emmys for their Justin Timberlake collaborations: Dick in a Box and Motherlover. The first of which won the Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.



Winning the Emmy was a great achievement because it meant that The Dudes where not only being recognized as comedians, but as musicians. They were officially musical comedians. Those who know me well know that musical comedy is the way to my heart. View this chart:


In 2009 the Lonely Island released an album entitled Incredibad (a reference to their You Tube days) containing never before heard songs along with many of the popular songs from SNL Digital Shorts. The album was a huge success reaching #1 on the iTunes album charts and remaining at #1 on the comedy charts for months. Incredibad was a brilliant mix of songs for the SNL fans (Lazy Sunday and Dick in a Box), songs for the YouTube fans (We Like Sportz and Incredibad) and brand new material that anyone could enjoy (Boombox and Like A Boss). The original song, I’m On A Boat, scored The Lonely Island a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration along with T-Pain who was featured on that song. The Dudes were, however, completely snubbed for a Best Comedy Album nomination, a complete insult considering that George Lopez was nominated. But, none the less the album was a success.

Now I hate to be an indie fan, but it really bugs me when I see a couple of guys standing around in football uniforms singing I’m On A Boat. You can tell that these guys didn’t drive out of town to see Hot Rod (The Lonely Island’s film starring Andy and Jorma and directed by Akiva). They had probably never been to www.thelonelyisland.com before the album came out. And I bet you that they don’t even know Jorma and Akiva’s names! I don’t mean that I’m one of those fair-weathered fans who wants The Dudes to remain obscure for the rest of their careers, but whenever you get in on the ground level of something that becomes popular you feel like you’ve been robbed. This was something that used to be yours, you know? And now that it’s gone public it no longer belongs to you, it belongs to everyone and you feel like you have to inform them that you liked that thing first. But, that just makes you look like a jerk. However, you can write in you blog that you liked that thing first to prove that you’re a bigger fan without looking like a jerk … not that that’s what I’m doing.