The Lonely Island

American comedy troupe

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, "Lazy Sunday", became an internet sensation, the first of many viral videos they produced while at SNL. They led their own division at the program — SNL Digital Shorts — which led to numerous viral videos, including "Motherlover", "Dick in a Box", "Jizz in My Pants", "I'm on a Boat", "Like a Boss", "I Just Had Sex", "Jack Sparrow", and "YOLO". Their musical comedic work has comprised four full studio albums: Incredibad (2009), Turtleneck & Chain (2011), The Wack Album (2013), and The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience (2019), along with a soundtrack album for their 2016 film Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. The three retired from SNL in the early 2010s, but occasionally make guest appearances. 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.

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. Incredibad was released a dual CD/DVD set in February 2009. Their next significant viral success was "I'm on a Boat", a collaboration with T Pain that spoofs hip hop excess. The trio had met T Pain when he guested on SNL a year prior, who confirmed he was a fan of Hot Rod. "I'm on a Boat" was a bigger success than its predecessor, going double platinum and earning a nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Although not an official single, based on digital downloads, "Like a Boss" was certified gold. On April 1, 2011, the Lonely Island appeared as guests on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where they premiered the lead track, "We're Back! ", as well as the new album cover. On April 19, 2011, the group released "Motherlover" featuring Justin Timberlake as the fourth single from the album. This song was last featured on season 34 of SNL. The group held a fundraiser to promote their new album on April 16, 2011 at Amoeba Music in Berkeley, California. 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. 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. Rather than rent the same home in Encino, they cut the album in nearby Los Feliz at a home equipped with a professional recording unit. For the album's production, they solidified song premises long before receiving beats for each song, which came from both high level and low level producers. The album's lead single, "YOLO" featuring Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar, with a prominent sample from the song Whirring from the Welsh band The Joy Formidable, premiered on SNL in January 2013. The song is an anthem parodying the phrase "you only live once" and a culture lacking caution and responsibility. The group wanted to mount a full scale tour behind the album, but other opportunities (Samberg's comedy series Brooklyn Nine Nine was just ordered as a series by Fox at the time) made it difficult. and were listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 YouTube Channels, ranked at number 70. Later that year, Universal Studios acquired a pitch from the trio for a second feature film, which was co produced by Judd Apatow. Schaffer and Taccone co directed the film, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which was released on June 3, 2016 along with a corresponding soundtrack album. The trio promoted the film by airing a Digital Short for the track "Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)" during the Saturday Night Live season 41 finale. 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." The song features characters from various movies who did not get nominated sing about being snubbed by the Academy. It was not immediately clear if the group was actually asked by the Academy to perform or if this was part of the joke. 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.

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. As part of the team's television production contract, several programs produced by The Lonely Island began airing. Party Over Here, a sketch comedy series, aired on Fox in 2016 but was cancelled after one season. The next year, I'm Sorry, a sitcom starring Andrea Savage and produced by the Lonely Island along with Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, began airing on TruTV In 2018, the group created and produced Alone Together, which had 2 seasons on Freeform. The next year saw the release of PEN15, comedy web television series focusing on middle school, and airing on Hulu.

The comedic influences of the group include SNL forebears such as Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, the Monty Python troupe and the Marx Brothers. While the group is most strongly inspired by hip hop and R&B, the lyrics are commonly rooted in self deprecation as is reflected in a 2011 interview conducted shortly before the release of Turtleneck and Chain. The Lonely Island's debut Incredibad was produced with the goal in mind to make an impact on listeners just as They're All Gonna Laugh At You (1993), a musical comedy album by Adam Sandler, had heavily influenced Samberg. Songs by the Lonely Island rarely exceed three minutes, as brevity is very important to the troupe, who believe that is "about as much as the audience can stand." The group parody a variety of aspects of rap music, by inverting the machismo of much rap music by rapping with enthusiasm about their erectile dysfunction problems ("We're Back! "), rapping in a bombastic tone about mundane subjects ("Lazy Sunday"), or diss tracks by recording a song featuring death threats in deliberately weedy voices ("We'll Kill You"). Much rap music tends to feature inventive boasting about the speaker's wealth, power or sex appeal, and the group have regularly inverted this by creating deliberately repetitive tracks that make similar statements in an extremely literal way ("I Just Had Sex", "I'm on a Boat"). "I'm on a Boat", created to parody the style of many rap music videos, avoids making any comment about the group's wealth besides the fact that they are, indeed, standing on a boat in the music video. Many of their songs, both during and after their tenure on SNL, are produced with accompanying videos. 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)."