SNL Digital Short
The opening title that appears before most shorts.
An SNL Digital Short is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for NBC's Saturday Night Live. Generally produced and written by The Lonely Island (Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer and Andy Samberg), the series was originated by Adam McKay, in collaboration with SNL hosts, writers, and cast members. The segments were originally recorded with consumer grade digital video cameras and edited on personal computers.[1] It is usual for the episode's hosts and musical guests (the latter on rarer occasions) to take part in the episode's short, and several shorts have included celebrity cameos.
The shorts generally took fewer than five days to complete.[2] Akiva Schaffer has directed a majority of them, with Taccone as occasional director or co-director. In early 2010, Schaffer took a break from SNL to work on a film, and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! director Jonathon Krisel joined the show as a regular Digital Short director. Taccone, along with his brother, Asa, have produced music for the shorts as necessary.
With the departure of Samberg from SNL in 2012, it was speculated that the era of videos branded "An SNL Digital Short" had come to an end,[3] although the episode on January 26, 2013 featured a Digital Short,[4] as well as two during the Samberg-hosted season 39 finale on May 18, 2014. Another short was aired during the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special on February 15, 2015 (featuring Andy Samberg & Adam Sandler).
The comedic directing team of the late director Matt Villines and Osmany Rodriguez, known professionally as Matt & Oz, were hired by SNL in 2012 to create new digital shorts and pre-taped segments.[5] Together, Villines and Rodriguez directed several memorable shorts across four seasons from 2012 to 2016, including the Emmy-nominated "(Home for the Holidays) Twin Bed" in 2014, as well as "Darrell's House," "Sad Mouse," "Monster Pals," "Back Home Ballers," "Jay Z Story, and 2015's "A Thanksgiving Miracle," which featured a family's Thanksgiving quarrels interrupted by Adele's "Hello".[5][6][7]
List of shorts
2005–2006: Season 31
11 shorts were aired during the 2005–2006 season.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lettuce | Will Forte[8] | Akiva Schaffer[8] | December 3, 2005 | In what is revealed to be a commercial for the vegetable, two friends (Will Forte, Andy Samberg) discuss the death of an unnamed friend while taking large bites out of heads of lettuce. Written and filmed in November 2005 and originally cut from dress rehearsal of the Eva Longoria episode. |
| Lazy Sunday Uncensored | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Chris Parnell[9] |
Akiva Schaffer[9] | December 17, 2005 | Chris Parnell and Samberg rhyme about The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, cupcakes, Mr. Pibb, Red Vines, Matthew Perry, and a host of other products. The short became a viral video online. Music produced by Jorma Taccone.[9] |
| Young Chuck Norris | Andrew Steele[10] | Akiva Schaffer | January 21, 2006 | A Chuck Norris fan (Jason Sudeikis) sings a ballad for him with an accompanying music video. In this video, Chuck Norris is played by Andy Samberg. There are cameos of Jorma Taccone as a man being robbed and then punched by Chuck Norris, Fred Armisen as a man robbing a woman and Amy Poehler as the woman being robbed. |
| The Tangent | Bill Hader[11] | Akiva Schaffer[11] | February 4, 2006 | Joel (Fred Armisen) rambles endlessly about a restaurant he visited to his friend Liz (Kristen Wiig) at first, and becomes so involved in the story, he fails to notice that he is discovered by talent scouts (Bill Hader, Parnell), stars in a movie with Scarlett Johansson, becomes a national phenomenon and then loses it all when his movie flops at the box office. Brian Williams, MTV correspondent Gideon Yago, and Conan O'Brien also make cameos.
This short was filmed the week of the Scarlett Johansson episode, but was cut after dress rehearsal from both that episode and the Peter Sarsgaard episode before finally airing on the Steve Martin/Prince episode. |
| Close Talkers | Will Forte[12] | Akiva Schaffer[12] | February 4, 2006 | Two old friends from school (Forte, Steve Martin) meet up after years apart, greeting each other loudly while standing with their faces only an inch apart. |
| Natalie's Rap[13] | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Asa Taccone[14] |
Akiva Schaffer[14] | March 4, 2006 | Natalie Portman is interviewed about her life and responds with a rap proving she is a "badass bitch", poking fun at her clean and intellectual image. She slaps Seth Meyers and throws a chair at Parnell. Samberg appears dressed as Flavor Flav. Music produced by Jorma Taccone and Asa Taccone, and mixed by Ben Lovett.[14] |
| Doppleganger | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone[15] |
Akiva Schaffer[15] | March 11, 2006 | Meyers, Forte, and Samberg are on a lunch break and start to notice that each one has a doppelgänger nearby. After Meyers and Forte say that a large bum (Horatio Sanz) is Samberg's doppelgänger, they kill the real Samberg in an evil twin scenario. |
| Laser Cats! | Andy Samberg Lorne Michaels Bill Hader[16] |
Akiva Schaffer[16] | April 15, 2006 | In a frame story, Hader and Samberg pitch their new ultra low-budget Digital Short, Laser Cats! to SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels. In the Laser Cats! short itself (a short within a short), Hader and Samberg play the heroes Nitro and Admiral Spaceship in a post-nuclear war world in which cats can shoot lasers from their mouths and are used as weapons. They are saving the princess (Lindsay Lohan) from the evil Robotron (Will Forte). Rachel Dratch makes an appearance, disguising herself as the princess/Lohan. Jorma Taccone appears in the opening credits for Laser Cats! Fred Armisen also makes a cameo. Laser Cats! is shot in the SNL offices (this is done with intended obviousity, as the short is supposed to be "low-budget"). |
| Please Don't Cut My Testicles | Unknown | Akiva Schaffer | May 6, 2006 | Friends in the early 1990s (Kenan Thompson, Forte, and Parnell) discuss the music video by pop stars Ariel (Andy Samberg) and Efrim (Tom Hanks), where we see the lyrics consist of constantly begging for their testicles not to be harmed, in a parody of Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" and C+C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat". Fred Armisen plays the guitar player, Jorma Taccone appears as a backup dancer, and Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph are women in the video. |
| Peyote | Will Forte Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | May 13, 2006 | An apparent suicide jumper (Samberg) is negotiated with by a man on a bullhorn (Forte). After a bit of dialogue, it is revealed that the "jumper" is safely on the ground and the man with the bullhorn is mere inches away from him. This is revealed to be a commercial for peyote. Peyote was written and filmed back in November at the same time as the Lettuce short. |
| Andy Walking | Andy Samberg | Akiva Schaffer | May 20, 2006 | Samberg asks factual questions of passers-by outside NBC Studios in the style of the Jay Leno bit Jaywalking, instead laughing off correct answers as false. John Lutz (a then writer for SNL) makes a cameo as a man walking that Andy ridicules. |
2006–2007: Season 32
A total of 12 shorts were created for 2006–2007.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cubicle Fight | Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | September 30, 2006 | New office employee Gary (Hader) gets into a fight to the death with incumbent cubicle holder Steve (Dane Cook). Sudeikis appears as the boss and Samberg, Forte, Armisen, Thompson, Poehler and Wiig are other employees cheering on the fight. |
| Harpoon Man | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | October 21, 2006 | Harpoon Man (John C. Reilly), a suave action hero and parody of Shaft, tracks down an insulting announcer dressed as a whale (Samberg), who is narrating his life in a theme song. There are appearances by Jorma Taccone, who plays a man getting robbed, and Bill Hader, who plays the man robbing Taccone. |
| Pep Talk | Fred Armisen John Lutz[17] |
Akiva Schaffer | December 9, 2006 | A fast food boss (Armisen) gives his employees (Forte, Matthew Fox, Poehler, Samberg, Thompson) a pep talk and has trouble controlling his anger until one of his employees (Forte) comes in late. It originally was scheduled to air on the episode hosted by Matthew Fox (which explains his appearance), but ended up airing on the following episode hosted by Annette Bening. |
| Dick in a Box[18] Uncensored | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | December 16, 2006 | A Christmas song about two men (Justin Timberlake and Samberg) giving their lovers (Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph) a box with their genitalia inside as presents, in a style reminiscent of early 1990s R&B sex ballads made popular by acts such as Bell Biv Devoe, Color Me Badd, and R. Kelly. Won a 2007 Creative Arts Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics. Music created in part by Asa Taccone, Jorma Taccone and Katreese Barnes. It was the first official single from The Lonely Island's debut album, Incredibad.[19] |
| Laser Cats! 2 | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Bill Hader |
Akiva Schaffer | January 13, 2007 | In the same frame-story format, Hader and Samberg apologize to Lorne Michaels for the original Laser Cats! claiming to understand where they went wrong: not enough politics. They then introduce Laser Cats! 2, based on the same premise, now set in the Iraq War which has gone nuclear and caused the feline mutations. This time, Dr. Scientist (Jake Gyllenhaal) has stolen the cure that turns Laser Cats back into regular cats. Jorma Taccone appears in the opening credits for Laser Cats! 2 (Which is the same as Laser Cats!), and Fred Armisen and Amy Poehler are the scientists who created the cure. |
| Nurse Nancy | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | January 20, 2007 | Scott Garbaciak (Samberg) is the multi-role star in a commercial for the fictional film Nurse Nancy, in parody of Eddie Murphy films such as Norbit and The Nutty Professor. |
| Body Fuzion [20] | Amy Poehler Maya Rudolph Kristen Wiig[21] |
Akiva Schaffer | February 3, 2007 | Drew Barrymore is Desiree, host of a 1986 sexually suggestive, low-impact, high-result exercise video Body Fuzion, with "her friends" Donna, Michelle, and Donna M. (Rudolph, Wiig, and Poehler respectively). |
| Andy Popping Into Frame | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | February 10, 2007 | Samberg quietly pops into view as the camera routinely cuts to different locations and landmarks. Forte begins doing the same, before being forced out by Samberg at gunpoint. Samberg wears his "Andy" shirt from the failed sketch show Awesometown created by The Lonely Island. |
| Business Meeting | Jorma Taccone Seth Meyers |
Jorma Taccone | February 24, 2007 | A corporate executive (Rainn Wilson) leads a meeting to take ideas on how to save his failing company, and hears suggestions from an increasingly bizarre set of employees, including a gigantic turkey sub and Arcade Fire. Upon reaching the end of the meeting, Wilson receives a phone call, seemingly informing him that the office building is about to be blown up. Then, the office building explodes, killing all of them inside. Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Kristen Wiig, Will Forte, Darrell Hammond, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg all play employees of Wilson's, and Kenan Thompson plays a water guy. |
| The Shooting | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | April 14, 2007 | In a spoof of The O.C. episode "The Dearly Beloved", a man (Hader) writes a letter to his sister, he is shot by his friend (Samberg), leading to a series of overly dramatic, slow-motion shootings set to "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap, including their roommate (Shia LaBeouf), the sister (Wiig), and two police officers (Sudeikis, Armisen). |
| Roy Rules! | Jorma Taccone Andy Samberg |
Jorma Taccone[22] | April 21, 2007 | Samberg performs a rhyme about how much he likes his brother in-law named Roy (SNL writer Bryan Tucker). |
| Talking Dog | Jorma Taccone Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer |
Akiva Schaffer | May 19, 2007 | While meeting the owner of an apartment he's about to rent (Zach Braff), a man (Samberg) is shocked to find out that the owner's dog can not only talk (with the voice of SNL writer Jorma Taccone), but has fallen in love with him. Later he finds out that the dog was using him to get a plate of ham. The owner implies that this happens regularly, but the dog convinces the man that it's still something more, and the man ends up french kissing the dog. |
2007–2008: Season 33
A total of 11 shorts were created for 2007–2008.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iran So Far | Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | September 29, 2007 | Samberg sings a love song for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Armisen), along with Adam Levine from Maroon 5, sampling "Avril 14th" by Aphex Twin, with a chorus based on the 1982 A Flock of Seagulls hit "I Ran (So Far Away)". Jake Gyllenhaal has a cameo, owing to the observation that Ahmadinejad looks like "a very hairy Jake Gyllenhaal". |
| People Getting Punched Just Before Eating | Andy Samberg[23] | Akiva Schaffer | October 13, 2007 | Samberg punches people who are about to eat, then gleefully dances afterwards; victims include Forte, Armisen, Sudeikis, Taccone, host Jon Bon Jovi, and Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. The punched victims then become zombies and do the Zombie Dance. After the dance and just underneath Samberg's head has the quote "Believe in Your Dreams". The short shares the style of Andy Popping Into Frame. |
| Brian Diaries | Akiva Schaffer Brian Williams |
Akiva Schaffer | November 3, 2007 | Brian Williams describes a day in his life, including watching footage of himself, meditating while the disembodied head of Bono praises him, and dropping pennies on Al Roker and Matt Lauer from the NBC building. |
| Grandkids in the Movies | Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg Bill Hader |
Akiva Schaffer | February 23, 2008 | An old man presents films which have his grandsons (Hader and Samberg) digitally inserted in order to help old people be more comfortable with today's films. Features clips from the films No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton, Juno, Transformers (referred to as "The Transforming Robots"), and There Will Be Blood. |
| The Mirror | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer |
Akiva Schaffer | March 1, 2008 | A girl (Ellen Page) wakes up from a nightmare and begins seeing a zombie (Samberg) in her bathroom mirror, which turns out to be the nightmare of the zombie, a wolf man (Forte), and a woman named Debbie (Wiig) who is married to Dracula (Sudeikis). After several nightmares, the camera returns to Page waking up from a nightmare, and as the short ends, the zombie pops up at her bedside. |
| Hero Song | Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg |
Akiva Schaffer | March 8, 2008 | An apparently wealthy man (Samberg) sings about crime infecting the city, then turns into a superhero (à la Batman) and tries to save a woman (Amy Adams) from being mugged, only to have the mugger (Sudeikis) beat the superhero to death. |
| Andy's Dad | Jonah Hill, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | March 15, 2008 | Jonah Hill confesses to Samberg about how he has fallen in love with his father, Ben Samberg (played by longtime SNL writer Jim Downey). Hader also confesses the same thing. |
| Laser Cats! 3D | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | April 5, 2008 | Samberg and Hader interrupt Lorne Michaels' dinner with Christopher Dodd (appearing as himself) to attempt to pitch Laser Cats! again, this time with a scene enhanced by 3D glasses. The plot revolves around a ban on all laser cats and a battle against the corrupt Mayor Top-Hat (Thompson). Christopher Walken appears as a general. |
| Daiquiri Girl | Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg |
Akiva Schaffer | April 12, 2008 | Samberg appears in an amateur, early-90s music video about a girl who loves to drink daiquiris. Meanwhile, text scrolls up the screen explaining that the producers apologize for airing the video because a certain musical guest (Gnarls Barkley) failed to appear for the shooting of a digital short, despite an agreement to do otherwise. |
| The Best Look in the World | Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | May 10, 2008 | Samberg and host Shia LaBeouf sing a high-energy country song for an infomercial about Samberg's new dress shirt, black socks, no pants look (the best look in the world). Armisen, Forte, Thompson, Sudeikis, and Hader all appear as people following the trend (a dad, a husband, two cops, and an illiterate genie). |
| Japanese Office | John Lutz Marika Sawyer[24] |
Akiva Schaffer[24] | May 17, 2008 | Ricky Gervais presents a clip from a Japanese show that was his inspiration for The Office, featuring Japanese versions of Michael (Steve Carell), Dwight (Hader), Jim (Sudeikis), Pam (Wiig), and Stanley (Thompson). Additionally, Darrell Hammond plays Regis Philbin in a tampon commercial. At the end of the episode, Gervais comments "It's funny 'cause it's racist". |
2008–2009: Season 34
A total of 16 shorts were created for the 2008–2009 season.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Space Olympics | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone Akiva Schaffer |
Akiva Schaffer | September 13, 2008 | Samberg sings through an autotuner, while wearing a white pompadour wig and spangled jumpsuit. His song promotes a low-budget, ill-planned, ultimately doomed athletic competition held in space in the year 3022. Athletes are portrayed by Sudeikis, Casey Wilson, Hader, and real-life Olympian and episode host Michael Phelps. |
| Hey! (Murray Hill) | Jorma Taccone Akiva Schaffer |
Jorma Taccone | September 20, 2008 | In this spoof of teen dramas, a young man (James Franco) is talked to by a girl (Kristen Wiig). Some small talk is made, until the subject of his small "ding-dong" comes up. Then another girl (an uncredited cameo by future season 35 host Blake Lively) comes up to him and tells him she has a small "ding-dong", too. |
| Extreme Challenge | Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | October 4, 2008 | Samberg and Wiig compete in nonsensical activities, from arm wrestling to human ATM. Forte is the pathetic referee, Thompson is an ATM customer, and Anne Hathaway appears when Andy turns into Jane Austen. |
| Ras Trent | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | October 25, 2008 | Samberg plays a college student legalist who has converted to Rastafarianism, who sings boastfully (and stereotypically) about the culture, while being aware that he's not fit for it when he walks by a group of actual Rastas. Wiig and Wilson appear as backup singers. (The real backup is actually provided by J. Newsom and Maya Rudolph). In the Incredibad version, the song ends with a fade. Music produced by Sly & Robbie.[25] |
| Everyone's A Critic | Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | November 15, 2008 | In a clip from Paul Rudd's new movie, Samberg romantically paints him nude and then Rudd returns the favor (A parody of the film Titanic). While selling the painting at an auction, it is shown to be so graphic that everyone who sees it begins convulsing violently, vomiting, bleeding from the eyes, and committing violent acts of suicide. Armisen appears as the auctioneer, Wilson as the interviewer, Hader and Wiig as Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood respectively (they appear tied to a post with their eyes closed while everyone else is dying after seeing the painting, parodying the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark). |
| Virgania Horsen's Pony Express | Kristen Wiig | Akiva Schaffer | December 6, 2008 | Wiig reprises her role as Virgania Horsen in a crudely made commercial for her new business, which consists of mail delivery by horse. *Note the original Virginia Horsen short did have the Digital Short title in front of it. According to the credits, these shorts were all directed by Jorma. |
| Jizz in My Pants | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone Akiva Schaffer |
Akiva Schaffer | December 6, 2008 | The Lonely Island sings about premature ejaculation, often at the slightest provocation. Fellow Lonely Island member and director Akiva Schaffer – who rarely is seen on screen – shows up in the video as a DJ. Molly Sims, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and Justin Timberlake make cameo appearances. The music video is for their first single of their debut album, Incredibad.[26] |
| Cookies | James Anderson Fred Armisen |
Akiva Schaffer | December 13, 2008 | An executive (Hugh Laurie) announces to the department heads that things are not going well and drastic steps may need to be taken. During this, Marcus (Armisen) begins outstretching himself to eat cookies on the table. At the end of the skit, another executive (Thompson) reveals that the "cookies" are really laxatives. Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, Bobby Moynihan, and Abby Elliott all play other employees. |
| Doogie Howser Theme | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | January 10, 2009 | Neil Patrick Harris and the entire cast perform the theme to Doogie Howser, M.D.. While Harris wears a tuxedo, the SNL cast dresses as Doogie Howser, wearing lab coats, a picture ID of Doogie, dress shirts, blonde wigs, colorful ties, acid washed jeans, and Nike hi-tops (Armisen and Samberg wear green sunglasses as well). Harris plays keyboard; Wilson, Elliott, and Michaela Watkins play violin; Moynihan plays tuba; Thompson plays harp; Hader plays saxophone; Hammond plays trumpet; Wiig plays electric guitar; Sudeikis plays double bass; Forte plays drum kit; Armisen plays synthesizer; and Samberg plays an Akai MPC 2000XL drum machine. At the end of the performance, Harris sheds a tear. |
| A Couple of Homies | Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg Will Forte |
Akiva Schaffer | January 17, 2009 | Samberg and Armisen casually talk in a break room while Forte sings about every little thing that they're doing (giving each other a high five, reading a magazine, drinking soda, and wearing dresses). At the end, it's revealed to actually be a commercial for D.A.R.E.. It was originally cut from the Ben Affleck dress rehearsal. |
| Laser Cats! 4-Ever! | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | January 31, 2009 | Steve Martin pitches yet another Laser Cats! short to Lorne Michaels. It becomes evident that Samberg and Hader have put Martin up to it, as well as crediting him as "Executive Producer" of Laser Cats! 4. The robotic Cyber-Face (Thompson) goes haywire, but is revealed to be Admiral Spaceship's father (Martin), who reveals that Spaceship and Nitro are brothers. |
| I'm on a Boat | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | February 7, 2009 | From The Lonely Island's album Incredibad. Samberg wins a prize from a cereal for a boat trip for three and selects himself, Akiva Schaffer and surprisingly, T-Pain while Jorma Taccone stays out of the excitement. Then the group proceeds into a highly aggressive, profane rap song about sailing on a boat, including 17 uses of the word "fuck". The second single from the Lonely Island's debut album Incredibad. |
| Property of the Queen | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | February 14, 2009 | Samberg blackmails the Jonas Brothers with a videotape of them as an 80s band called Property of the Queen. Samberg ultimately wants to know how they stayed young for 25 years and it is revealed that the wizard (Hader) featured in one of their music videos kept them young. Thompson, Forte and Moynihan appear as band members. |
| Party Guys | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Bill Hader |
Akiva Schaffer | March 14, 2009 | Samberg and Hader are at a party where everyone and everything is a literal representation of a slang term (i.e., a "serial rapist" (Forte) is shown having sex with a box of cereal, a group of "motherfuckers" are men with their mothers, a group of "sons of bitches" are a litter of puppies, a "numbnuts" is a man (John Lutz) shown sitting on a block of ice with his pants around his ankles, a group of "jokers" are dressed as different incarnations of The Joker from The Dark Knight, a knucklehead is a hand with plastic eyes glued on it, etc.). When Samberg and Hader discover "two douchebags", however, it's revealed that they're looking at themselves in a mirror. |
| Like a Boss Uncensored | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | April 4, 2009 | The Lonely Island rap about what it's like for the boss of a big company. Samberg describes his average day, which initially features plausible activities such as approving memos and sending faxes; however, his actions become increasingly erratic, and eventually, overtly surreal (for example, having sex with a giant fish in the sewer). From their Incredibad album. Seth Rogen replaces Akiva as the company evaluator in the music video, though Akiva does appear in the video as a hooded gun dealer. Taccone makes a cameo as a man giving Samberg a notice about getting a lawsuit. |
| Motherlover | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone[27] |
Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone[27][28] |
May 9, 2009 | Five months after the events of "Dick in a Box," Samberg and Timberlake's characters (who have just been released from prison) sing about special gifts for Mother's Day, with Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson appearing as their mothers. They decide the best present for them would be for them to have sex with the other's mother. They proclaim it is the second best idea they have ever had. Music originally omitted from sessions for the album Incredibad, as produced by Asa Taccone and Drew Campbell.[27] 12th single on Lonely Island's new album, Turtleneck and Chain. |
2009–2010: Season 35
A total of 19 shorts were created for the 2009–2010 season.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Date | John Solomon Will Forte[29] |
John Solomon Akiva Schaffer[29] | September 26, 2009 | A man (Forte) with a strained voice discusses his life commanding a SWAT team and raising lambs for slaughter with an increasingly fascinated date (Megan Fox). |
| Megan's Roommate | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | September 26, 2009 | Andy Samberg is brought home by Megan Fox, and meets her hostile roommate "Optimus Prime" (Moynihan), a man wearing a bathing robe and a mask of the Transformers character. Cameo by Brian Austin Green as "Bumblebee". |
| Threw It On The Ground | Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer[30] | October 3, 2009 | A beatnik (Samberg) raps at a poetry slam about throwing many things offered to him "on the ground," in order to show his anti-conformist nature, until he throws Ryan Reynolds' and Elijah Wood's (both appearing as themselves) dinner on the ground and the two celebrities chase down the beatnik and taser him "in the butthole." 15th single on Lonely Island's new album, Turtleneck and Chain. |
| Brenda & Shaun | Fred Armisen Akiva Schaffer |
Akiva Schaffer | October 10, 2009 | A 1990s commercial for two amateur laser magicians (played by Fred Armisen and episode host Drew Barrymore). They announce they are suitable for any occasion such as birthday parties, but disrupt events such as graduations, engagements, and people meeting their biological parents. As the video progresses, the two fall on hard times and are arrested for harassing people on the street. |
| Firelight | Seth Meyers Akiva Schaffer |
Akiva Schaffer | November 7, 2009 | In this parody of the movie adaptation of Twilight, a high school girl (played by host and musical guest Taylor Swift) falls for Frankenstein's monster (played by Bill Hader). |
| Get Out! | Andy Samberg Fred Armisen |
Akiva Schaffer | November 14, 2009 | A man (Fred Armisen) keeps barging in on his roommate (Andy Samberg) sitting on the toilet – even when Armisen is at the gym, on an elevator, and walking outside of Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Center. |
| Two Worlds Collide (ft. Reba McEntire) | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | November 21, 2009 | Andy Samberg sings a very raunchy techno/hip-hop ballad about his love, a man pretending to be Reba McEntire (played by Kenan Thompson). Bonus track on Lonely Island's new album, Turtleneck and Chain. |
| Shy Ronnie | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Music by Aleric Banks |
Akiva Schaffer | December 5, 2009 | Rihanna and a redheaded nerd named Shy Ronnie (Samberg) perform an uplifting song for a classroom full of children, but the song is ruined by Shy Ronnie's weak singing (and bladder control). Rihanna eventually leaves, at which point Ronnie mouths off to the kids. This short was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding music. |
| Tizzle Wizzle Show | Jorma Taccone Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg |
Akiva Schaffer& Jorma Taccone | December 19, 2009 | James Franco guest stars on a children's show about wearing "jammies". Suddenly the cast pick out knives, take pills, then kill each other. A horrified Franco survives and is declared the "king". Though it is never said, the show is most likely a lab experiment. |
| Booty Call | Andy Samberg | Jonathan Krisel[31] | January 9, 2010 | Alicia Keys makes a late-night phone call to a flamboyant, yet socially awkward man (Samberg), who is talking to her during an intervention for his heroin-addicted friend. |
| James Cameron's Laser Cats 5 | Andy Samberg Jonathan Krisel Bill Hader |
Akiva Schaffer | January 16, 2010 | Samberg and Hader once again try to persuade Lorne Michaels with another Laser Cats! movie with some "help" from James Cameron (appearing as himself). The short includes many references to James Cameron's films, including Aliens (Sigourney Weaver reprises her role as Ellen Ripley), The Terminator, Titanic, and Avatar. |
| The Curse | Andy Samberg | Jonathan Krisel | January 30, 2010 | In a loose parody of Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell, a young businessman (Samberg) is cursed by a homeless shaman (Fred Armisen) to be haunted by a sexy, shirtless saxophonist named Sergio (played by host Jon Hamm) after stepping on the shaman's dreamcatcher and not paying for it. The saxophonist is loosely based on a scene from the 1987 film The Lost Boys featuring musician Timmy Cappello.[32][33] |
| Flags of the World | Andy Samberg Jonathan Krisel Akiva Schaffer |
Jonathan Krisel | February 27, 2010 | Samberg raps about many different flags of the world including some made-up flags, including the American flag, "Spain-ish flag", white flag, "We Love Betty White" flag (referring to the campaign on Facebook to try to get her to host the show), and "No You Didn't" flag. The short also included a "Black Flag" based on the band of the same name. |
| Zach Drops By the Set | Zach Galifianakis | Jonathon Krisel | March 6, 2010 | Zach Galifianakis shows up on the sets of various NBC shows (with fictional scenes and archival footage) either talking to the actors, or just standing in the background, finishing with a clip from a 1984 SNL episode hosted by Robin Williams showing a bearded child (supposedly Galifinakis) and the words: "Zack Galifinakis: on TV for over 30 years." The NBC Website has posted this as a Digital Short, despite that it didn't have the "SNL Digital Short" title screen on the televised version. |
| Boombox | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Asa Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | March 13, 2010 | A music video for the song "Boombox" from Incredibad performed by The Lonely Island and Julian Casablancas. The second verse about the businessmen from the album was cut. Cameos by Schaffer (dancing with two cops), Fred Armisen (Spanish guy doing the Bartman) and Bobby Moynihan (the orderly in the old folks' home who pockets one of the resident's money). |
| The Other Man | John Mulaney Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | April 17, 2010 | A man named Kyle (Ryan Phillippe) keeps knocking on his loved ones' (ex-girlfriend, best friend, parents, etc.) doors to find that they are romantically involved with a man with a bizarre European accent (Samberg). Eventually, the European man shows up at Kyle's house, wanting to have sex with him. But Kyle reveals that he's already having sex with the European's twin brother. |
| Cherry Battle | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer& Jorma Taccone | April 24, 2010 | Gabourey Sidibe and Andy Samberg (dressed in imperial Japanese kimonos) spit cherries at each other in rapid succession, catching the ones the other throws. At the end, Samberg spits one last cherry at Sidibe. The cherry sings dramatic music in midair before Sidibe just misses catching it in her mouth. They bow. |
| Golden Girls Theme | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer[34] |
Jonathon Krisel Akiva Schaffer[34] |
May 8, 2010 | Samberg shows Betty White how grateful the entire SNL cast is to have her host by having the cast and guest stars (Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Molly Shannon) sing the theme song from The Golden Girls. White likes it but then shows her own version to the cast: a death metal trash rock version, with the cast members being attacked by leather-clad mosh pit dancers. |
| Great Day | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Jorma Taccone Akiva Schaffer |
May 15, 2010 | An unemployed cocaine addict named Dennis (Samberg) goes on drug binge while singing an elaborately choreographed Disneyesque musical-theater number about how it is going to be a great day. The more cocaine he snorts, the faster he sings, and the more disjointed and surreal the song becomes. Eventually the whole experience is revealed to be a vivid, cocaine-induced hallucination. Cameos by: Bill Hader, Jorma Taccone (as a nameless stranger who asks Dennis if he's really going to Spain's Running of the Bulls) and Alec Baldwin and Tom Petty as themselves. 9th music video on Lonely Island's new album, Turtleneck & Chain. |
2010–2011: Season 36
A total of 17 shorts were created for the 2010–2011 season.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boogerman | Jonathon Krisel Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg |
Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel |
September 26, 2010 | Katy Perry sings at an Academy Awards-like ceremony the theme song from the fictional superhero film Boogerman (played by Peter Sarsgaard), features most of the cast including episode host Amy Poehler. |
| Rescue Dogs 3D App | Jonathon Krisel Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg |
Jonathon Krisel Akiva Schaffer |
October 2, 2010 | A man (Samberg) tries to call 911 to report a home invasion on his iPhone using the app "911 Emergency," but is bombarded with ads for the movie Rescue Dogs 3D. At the end, Samberg is caught by the burglars, only to be saved by Rescue Dog. Helen Mirren appears as the police chief in the trailer for Rescue Dogs 3D. |
| Relaxation Therapy | Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel Andy Samberg |
Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel |
October 9, 2010 | A man (Samberg) is the subject of a bizarre therapy session conducted by his psychiatrist (played by episode host Jane Lynch) who inserts herself in his self-conscious images of peace and tranquility. |
| I Broke My Arm | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel |
Akiva Schaffer | October 23, 2010 | A girl (played by episode host Emma Stone) sings in her school's cafeteria about breaking her arm by slipping on grape jelly. Her situation only worsens as each verse ends with her falling again, breaking a new appendage until she ends up paralyzed, confined in a wheelchair, and only able to talk through a computer program a la Stephen Hawking. The grape jelly (Andy Samberg) comes to life and claims not to be the cause of the girl's broken appendages. |
| Shy Ronnie 2: Ronnie and Clyde | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer |
Akiva Schaffer | October 30, 2010 | Shy Ronnie (Samberg) and Clyde (Rihanna) team up for a second time and perform a song while they rob a bank. Unfortunately, Ronnie's social awkwardness puts the heist in jeopardy and forces Clyde to do most of the work. He raps aggressively when Clyde leaves. Cameo by episode host Jon Hamm as a bank hostage. 9th single on Lonely Island's new album, Turtleneck and Chain. |
| What Was That? | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer | November 13, 2010 | A Model United Nations team interrupts a meeting at the United Nations to ask about past and present world atrocities, such as the Holocaust and Darfur. Musical guest Arcade Fire cameo as themselves. |
| Party at Mr. Bernard's | Andy Samberg John Solomon John Mulaney |
Akiva Schaffer | December 4, 2010 | A parody of the movie Weekend at Bernie's, in which two men (Hader and Samberg) find the corpse of their boss and attempt to make him look alive are arrested and put on trial, being proved innocent by Mr. Bernard's (played by episode host Robert De Niro) video will to ask for the previous events. |
| Stumblin' | Andy Samberg Mike O'Brien John Solomon |
John Solomon | December 11, 2010 | A parody of the Dolly Parton song 9 to 5 throughout which Andy Samberg and episode host Paul Rudd stumble throughout the city. Musical guest Paul McCartney is featured. Chef Mario Batali makes a cameo appearance. |
| I Just Had Sex | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Justin Franks Jerrod Bettis |
Akiva Schaffer | December 18, 2010 | Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and rapper Akon celebrate just having sex with women (Blake Lively and Jessica Alba respectively), despite that the women found the sex to be mediocre. Lonely Island's Akiva Schaffer shows up at various points during the video congratulating them on having sex, he also mouths the chorus at the end of the song. There is a brief cameo by John McEnroe. This is the first single off the Lonely Island's second album, Turtleneck and Chain. |
| Andy and Pee-Wee's Night Out | Andy Samberg John Solomon |
John Solomon& Jorma Taccone | January 15, 2011 | Samberg has some shots with none other than Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens). After beating Anderson Cooper (who appears as himself) over the head with a chair, Samberg and Pee-Wee are caught by the police, to which they escape by hitting the officer with a chair. When they return to Samberg's apartment, they come to an intervention with Cooper (bandaged up from being hit in the face with a chair by Pee-Wee and Samberg), Samberg's friends (Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig, and Kenan Thompson), and Pee Wee's Playhouse friends Chairry, Pterri, and Conky, who plead with Andy and Pee-Wee never to be friends again. Andy and Pee-Wee reluctantly agree, and everybody celebrates the breakup with more shots. Parody of the song, "Shots", by LMFAO. |
| The Creep | TBA | Akiva Schaffer | January 29, 2011 | The Lonely Island and Nicki Minaj pose as middle aged stalkers and rap about the latest dance craze (The Creep). John Waters introduces the short. The second single from their sophomore album Turtleneck and Chain.[35] |
| Beastly Parody | TBA | TBA | March 5, 2011 | A witch curses a handsome guy (Samberg portraying Gene Hackman as the protagonist) into a nerdy guy, he starts to fall in love a girl (played by episode host Miley Cyrus) who likes him a little bit. A sequel (possibly prequel) to "The Roommate" short, where Samberg is the same nerdy character. |
| Zach Looks for a New Assistant | TBA | John Solomon | March 12, 2011 | Zach Galifianakis interviews young children as possible candidates for being his assistant. |
| Laser Cats: The Musical | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
Akiva Schaffer& Jorma Taccone | April 2, 2011 | Hader and Samberg again use a celebrity (Tom Hanks) to pitch a new Laser Cats film to Lorne Michaels; this time, a musical version which includes parodies of Cats and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. It is revealed that Hader and Samberg have stolen Wilson the volleyball to blackmail Hanks. Episode host and musical guest Elton John portrays the villain and Carmelo Anthony plays a security guard. |
| Helen Mirren's Magic Bosom | Nasim Pedrad, Sarah Schnedier, one other writer (original sketch); Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer (final short) |
TBA | April 9, 2011 | Nasim wants to be inspired, so she finds Helen Mirren in her dressing room, where Pedrad dreams she is in "Helen Mirren's Titties", a place beyond space and time, and a sequence of shots involving happy things like two leaders shaking hands, flowers, etc. |
| Jack Sparrow | TBA | TBA | May 7, 2011 | A music video of the song of the same name from The Lonely Island's Turtleneck and Chain album featuring Michael Bolton, in which said singer writes a hook for a new Lonely Island rap that features storylines from Pirates of the Caribbean, Forrest Gump, Erin Brockovich, and Scarface. |
| 3-Way (The Golden Rule) Censored Version |
Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Justin Timberlake |
Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone[36] |
May 21, 2011 | The "Dick in a Box" and "Motherlover" characters (Timberlake and Samberg) return in a song about how any sexual contact between them does not count as a homosexual act, as long as there is also a female (Lady Gaga) involved. Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson have cameos in the opening scene. Released as a standalone single. |
2011–2012: Season 37
A total of 14 shorts were created for the 2011–2012 season.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stomp | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone |
Jorma Taccone | October 1, 2011 | Two cops (Hader and Samberg) bored at work find music in everyday life (parody of Stomp). The entire precinct gets involved, but things turn aggressive when The Blue Man Group (played by Fred Armisen [who actually was a member before becoming an SNL cast member] and Paul Brittain) show up to play along until they get shot by everyone. |
| V-Necks | Andy Samberg John Solomon |
John Solomon | October 8, 2011 | At a clothing store, a man (Samberg) is unconvinced that the V-neck shirt he is trying on is for him, despite his girlfriend's (Pedrad) assurances. But when the store owner (episode host Ben Stiller), wearing a deeper V enters, Samberg attempts to one-up him and asks a clerk for "something deeper" starting an impromptu V-neck battle, ending with the store clerk getting arrested for indecent exposure. |
| Drake Interview | Andy Samberg John Solomon |
John Solomon | October 15, 2011 | Andy conducts several short and increasingly bizarre interviews with actor-singer Drake. Each segment follows a very literal theme as described by a title card (announced by Don Pardo) that appears onscreen before each interview. Some of the interviews included are: An Extremely Sarcastic Interview, A Racist Interview (which is cut short before Samberg can say anything racist), A Wordless Seduction, A Matching Sweaters Interview, and a Dark Interview. |
| Wish It Would Rain | Akiva Schaffer Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone |
Jorma Taccone | November 12, 2011 | A depressed singer (Samberg) sings about how his girlfriend left him for another man (Armisen). Samberg gestures towards the sky, hoping it will rain, but it doesn't (and gets urinated on by a man on the roof). Samberg begins complaining to the crew that he can't do the music video without rain, making insulting remarks about the producer (Vanessa Bayer) and his big-butted assistant (played by host Emma Stone) |
| Seducing Women Through Chess | Andy Samberg John Solomon |
John Solomon | November 19, 2011 | In an early '80s-style instructional video, a nerdy man dressed like Carl Sagan (Samberg) shows viewers how to seduce women by playing chess, but the first two women (played by Nasim Pedrad and Abby Elliott) beat him. The instructor then changes the game to checkers and still gets beaten by a woman (Kristen Wiig). He tries Jenga, but ends up knocking the tower over. He tries eating glass, but ends up scaring the woman he's trying to seduce (played by special guest Olivia Wilde). The instructor (with his lips and mouth now bandaged up) gives up and lectures on how to hire a prostitute. The prostitute (played by episode host Jason Segel) offers sex to him for $5000, but the instructor only has $60. The instructor is stabbed and robbed of his money. Before dying, the prostitute comes back and beats him at chess. |
| Batman | Andy Samberg John Solomon |
John Solomon | December 3, 2011 | Commissioner Gordon (Steve Buscemi) keeps getting stalked by Batman (Samberg). Paul Brittain and Kristen Wiig appears as Aquaman and the Riddler respectively. |
| Best Friends | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone |
Jorma Taccone | December 10, 2011 | Katy Perry and Samberg become best friends, then meet up with a "handsome drug addict" (Matt Damon) and "brilliant lunatic" (Val Kilmer) who want to be best friends too. Perry and Samberg become more and more frightened until Perry abandons the three when the drug addict shoots himself during a game of Russian roulette. The lunatic then builds a time machine, retrieving two cavemen, Marilyn Monroe (played by Nasim Pedrad), Amelia Earhart (played by Vanessa Bayer), Abraham Lincoln (played by John Solomon), and Julius Caesar from the past, who, along with Samberg, the lunatic, and the lunatic's "failed bird-man experiment" (who briefly left the duo to have sex with a white girl at the mall) wish the audience a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. |
| Convoluted Jerry | Unknown | Unknown | January 7, 2012 | A fake commercial for a CD collection featuring Convoluted Jerry (Andy Samberg), a singer whose lyrics are wordy and confusing, with songs including "Quit not Being My Lover," "Backwards Day" and "Jerry Explains the Movie Inception". Host Charles Barkley guest stars as Marvin "Gay" Jackson, who sings a duet with Convoluted Jerry. |
| Afros | Andy Samberg John Solomon Jorma Taccone |
John Solomon Jorma Taccone |
March 3, 2012 | A man (Samberg) and woman (Wiig) dressed in '70s-style clothing declare their love for each other in song. As the camera pulls back we can see that they are connected by their shared enormous afro. An unexplained man in janitor's clothing (Kenan Thompson) appears in between every verse and plays one riff on a strange instrument such as conch shell or didgeridoo. When the camera has pulled all the way back, revealing the full, massive afro, the couple invites the viewer to come to their wedding, whereupon the video is revealed to be a Save the Date. RSVP options "Yes" and "No" appear. "No" is clicked. |
| Science Finders/Ghost Finders | Andy Samberg | Jake Szymanski | March 10, 2012 | To test the effects of stress on the human heart, a man (Jonah Hill) is hit repeatedly in the testicles by tennis balls fired from a tennis ball machine. Things get more bizarre as he continues to get hit even though the machine is turned off. A ghost hunter (Kenan Thompson) reveals to the host of Science Finders (Andy Samberg) that a ghost (Taran Killam) is the one hurling balls at the man. The man flatlines and a doctor (Fred Armisen) uses hits to the groin to revive the man. |
| Laser Cats 7 | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone |
Jorma Taccone | April 14, 2012 | Despite Lorne Michaels' objections, Hader and Samberg show him the latest Laser Cats short – this time directed by Steven Spielberg (appearing as both himself and a "Hitchcockian" cameo in the short), which contains many references to his films, including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Host Josh Brolin appears as a "Space Nazi." |
| Gotye Backstage | Andy Samberg Taran Killam |
Jake Szymanski | April 14, 2012 | Samberg and Taran Killam visit Gotye in his dressing room, then stalk him by appearing in nothing but body paint and black wigs (as seen in the "Somebody That I Used To Know" music video). |
| 100th Short | Jorma Taccone Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer |
Jorma Taccone | May 12, 2012 | The Lonely Island celebrate their 100th Digital Short by revisiting many digital short favorite characters (Shy Ronnie, Dennis the Drug Addict, Michelle the Body Fuzion Lady, The "Dick in a Box" singers, etc.), clips from previous Digital Shorts, and fresh footage from numerous celebrities, including: Justin Bieber (who is standing in for Akiva Schaffer and was tricked into appearing in this short), Julian Casablancas (from the "Boombox" Digital Short), Natalie Portman, Michael Bolton as Captain Jack Sparrow, Jon Hamm as Sergio (the shirtless saxophone player), Justin Timberlake (as one half of the "Dick in a Box" singers), Lorne Michaels, Usher, and Will Ferrell (who congratulates himself on his own popular recurring SNL sketches, such as the Spartan Cheerleaders, Harry Caray, and Celebrity Jeopardy). |
| Lazy Sunday 2 | Jorma Taccone Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Chris Parnell |
Jorma Taccone[37] | May 19, 2012 | Samberg and Parnell do another "Lazy Sunday" rap for Sister Act: The Musical. |
2012–2013: Season 38
One short was aired during the 2012–2013 season. It was during an episode hosted by Adam Levine featuring a live cameo by Andy Samberg.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YOLO | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
The Lonely Island | January 26, 2013 | The Lonely Island, Adam Levine, and Kendrick Lamar sing about the virtues of staying safe in daily life (flipping the intended meaning of YOLO with "You Ought to Look Out"), and become increasingly paranoid of everything. Danny McBride cameos as a man attempting to do cocaine in a nightclub. Video featured on The Wack Album |
2013–2014: Season 39
Two shorts aired during the 2013-14 season, in the episode hosted by Andy Samberg.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Music produced by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| When Will the Bass Drop? | Matt & Oz | SAM F | May 17, 2014 | In a parody of stereotypical electronic dance music performers, the DJ Davvincii performs a number of unrelated activities rather than actually mixing music.[38][39][40] Lil Jon and the entire Season 39 cast also appear. | |
| Hugs | The Lonely Island | The Lonely Island | May 17, 2014 | The Lonely Island and Pharrell sing about how their hugs are the best. Tatiana Maslany and Maya Rudolph (as Oprah Winfrey) also appear. This video was featured on the The Wack Album |
2014–2015: Season 40
One short was aired during the 2014-15 season.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Music produced by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| That's When You Break | February 15, 2015 | Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler sing about times when people broke character on the show. Chris Parnell and Bill Hader also appear. This short was written and produced for the SNL 40th Anniversary Show. |
2015–2016: Season 41
One short was aired during the 2015-16 season.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Music produced by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song) | May 21, 2016 | Conner4real (Samberg) sings about having sex with a girl like the execution of Osama bin Laden. This is a song written for The Lonely Island's comedy film Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. |
Dress rehearsal shorts
These shorts were filmed and shown to the studio audience during the weekly SNL dress rehearsal, but were not included in the live show and have yet to appear on air.
| Title | Date Intended to Air | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Lobster Claw and Handlebar | April 8, 2006 | A police officer (Samberg) with lobster claws struggles to eat his meal in a diner. A ninja (Banderas) provides the officer with a straw. First shown during the Antonio Banderas dress rehearsal. It was shown again during the remaining rehearsals of the 2005–2006 season.[41] |
| Gawker Hopefuls | October 28, 2006 | Samberg and Armisen attempt to get noticed by Gawker.com, paparazzi, and Us Weekly. They even go to the Us Weekly and Gawker offices. It was only shown during the Hugh Laurie Dress Rehearsal.[42] |
| The Sun's Day Off | September 27, 2008 | Samberg plays a sun who tries to brighten up Anna Faris, Bill Hader, and Will Forte's days. Only shown in the Faris Dress Rehearsal.[43] |
| Guys In Sunglasses Lookin' Dope | April 11, 2009 | Short features close-ups of male castmembers, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Kenan Thompson and Zac Efron(host) posing in their designer shades. They keep proclaiming they're lookin dope, camera cuts to Andy who is posing in some cheap shades. Shown to audiences only during the Efron dress rehearsal.[44] |
| Will's Secret Weapon | May 16, 2009 | Will Ferrell has a puppet that looks like a dog and keeps attacking cast members like Bobby Moynihan, Kenan Thompson and Andy Samberg. Shown only during the Ferrell dress rehearsal.[45] |
| Traveling With PJ | October 17, 2009 | Kristen Wiig visits New York City. At first, she's impressed but in the end realizes that she misses her hometown. Shown during the Gerard Butler and James Franco dress rehearsal. |
Other Lonely Island shorts on SNL
Produced by The Lonely Island,[46][47] and/or labeled Digital Shorts on official YouTube postings, these shorts aired on an SNL episode but not with the official SNL Digital Short title card. As with the Digital Shorts, these are directed by Akiva Schaffer. However, according to the official LonelyIsland website, the MacGruber shorts are directed by Jorma Taccone and written by Will Forte.
| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An SNL Movie Trailer Recut: Apocalypto | Matt Murray[17] | Akiva Schaffer | December 9, 2006 | The trailer for Mel Gibson's film Apocalypto is newly subtitled, implying that the Jews destroyed the Maya civilization, in reference to Gibson's anti-semitic remarks in 2006. |
| MacGruber (Parts 1, 2, and 3) | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | Jorma Taccone[48] | January 20, 2007 | In three parodies of MacGyver, the titular hero (Forte) demands odd objects of his disgusted sidekicks (Jeremy Piven, Rudolph) in his attempts to stop catastrophic events that are mere seconds away. The episodes invariably end with his failure to stop the event. |
| Sloths | Unknown | Jorma Taccone | February 10, 2007 | A Staten Island Zoo worker (Wiig) introduces Staten Island Tech High School student's crude and vile documentary on sloths before previewing it herself. |
| United Way | Seth Meyers Akiva Schaffer[49] |
Akiva Schaffer[49] | March 24, 2007 | Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning takes time out to be a mentor to kids, but ends up being physically, mentally, and verbally abusive to them (a parody of his public service announcements for the United Way during 2001–05). |
| MacGruber 2 | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | Jorma Taccone[48] | May 12, 2007 | In three more segments, the titular hero (Forte), after 15 years of sobriety, begins drinking just as his sidekicks (Molly Shannon, Rudolph) need his bomb-defusing skills most. MacGruber's behavior evolves into a parody of David Hasselhoff's hangover video. |
| MacGruber 3 | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | Jorma Taccone[48] | October 6, 2007 | In three more segments, the titular hero (Forte) becomes obsessed with his recent plastic surgeries just as his sidekicks (Seth Rogen, Rudolph) need his bomb-defusing skills most. |
| Virgania Horsen's Hot Air Balloon Rides | Unknown | Akiva Schaffer | February 23, 2008; February 14, 2009 | A fake commercial about a woman (Kristen Wiig) offering free hot air balloon rides to combat the long lines and intrusive searches at airports. There was a 2nd part to this commercial, in which Horsen flies over New York and Montreal, that was cut for time from the original airing. Both parts aired during Alec Baldwin's 2008–2009 appearance. |
| MacGruber 4 | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | John Solomon | March 15, 2008 | MacGruber (Forte) feels insecure when his assistant (Jonah Hill) says that he cannot do his job when he and Vicky (Wiig) need his bomb-defusing skills the most. Only two segments aired. In the third segment (which is available on some video websites), Hader appears as MacGruber's life coach. |
| MacGruber 5 | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | John Solomon | May 10, 2008 | MacGruber and his son, Merrill (Shia LaBeouf), team up together. However, in the process of escaping, Merrill inadvertently confesses that he's gay (by showing anal lubricant, a vibrating dildo, and his boyfriend Scott (Samberg) showing up) leaving MacGruber to make him straight again by reciting Bible verses and forcing him to kiss Vicky (Wiig). |
| MacGruber 6 | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | Jorma Taccone | October 18, 2008 | MacGruber discovers he lost all his money in the stock market and seeks desperate ways for cash just as his sidekicks (Josh Brolin, Wiig) need his bomb-defusing skills most. |
| Jam the Vote | Unknown | Akiva Schaffer | October 23, 2008 | Samberg walks around New York City asking people if they're registered to vote, which Wiig's character points out ended 2 weeks prior. Meanwhile, Samberg also fights back vomiting a spicy hot dog he stole. |
| Giraffes! | Unknown | Jorma Taccone | November 1, 2008 | A sequel to the "Sloths" video, only with Jason Sudeikis as the head of the Staten Island Zoo instead of Kristen Wiig. The same students create a video that proclaims giraffes are from outer space and will destroy mankind. |
| MacGruber 7 (Parts 1, 2 and 3) | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | Jorma Taccone[50] | January 31, 2009 | MacGruber is helped by MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) and keeps trying to promote Pepsi, changing his name to "Pepsuber" and eventually replaces every word in his sentences with the word "Pepsi". These shorts were paid for by Pepsi as advertisements; as a result they aired during commercial breaks, not as part of the show itself,[51] and did not air at all on the Canadian simsub on Global. The second of the three shorts was replayed as an ad during Super Bowl XLIII the next day.[52] |
| MacGruber 8 | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | Jorma Taccone[53] | March 7, 2009 | MacGruber is once again joined by MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson), who reveals that he's MacGruber's long-lost father (MacGruber's full name is actually "MacGruber MacGyver"), who left MacGruber's mother (Abby Elliott) for a stripper. |
| An SNL Movie Trailer Re-Cut: Palin 2012 | Unknown | John Solomon & Colin Jost | November 21, 2009 | In another installment of An SNL Movie Trailer Re-Cut, the trailer for the disaster film 2012 is changed into a political horror about Sarah Palin's possible election as U.S. President that year. |
| MacGruber 9 | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | Jorma Taccone[54] | January 9, 2010 | When MacGruber gets an African-American sidekick (Charles Barkley), he inadvertently reveals that he is a racist. |
| An Even-Tempered Apology from White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel | Unknown | Unknown | February 6, 2010 | Rahm Emanuel (Samberg) apologizes to the Democratic Party for calling them "retarded," but then says what he meant to say with a lot of profanity. He also apologizes to Sarah Palin, only to put her down as well. At the end he says, "As for Mel Gibson, shut the fuck up!" |
| MacGruber 10 | Will Forte, Jorma Taccone & John Solomon | Jorma Taccone[34] | May 8, 2010 | MacGruber works with his grandma (Betty White), who embarrasses him by telling Vicki stories about his past. |
| An SNL Movie Trailer Re-Cut: The Roommate" | Unknown | Unknown | February 5, 2011 | An SNL Movie Trailer Re-Cut of The Roommate, where a college student (Justin Bieber) believes his increasingly bizarre and obsessive roommate (Samberg) is planning to kill him. |
| We're Gonna Make Technology Hump | Andy Samberg, John Solomon, John Mulaney | John Solomon | November 12, 2011 | Upbeat technology showcase program hosts (Emma Stone and Andy Samberg) show various porno movie scenarios acted out by electronics and appliances (such as an Android phone and a digital camera having sex in a restaurant kitchen, an iPad hotel maid/call girl having sex with an Xbox controller after the Xbox controller recognizes her from her sex job, and a curling iron modeling nude for a GPS navigator). |
| Buble Christmas Duets | John Solomon, Erik Kenward, John Mulaney | John Solomon | December 17, 2011 | Fake commercial for Michael Buble's Christmas Album featuring outre duets with a variety of artists including Taylor Swift (played by Kristen Wiig), a gun-toting M.I.A. (played by Nasim Pedrad), Ke$ha (played by Abby Elliott), Lady Gaga (depicted as an overdecorated Christmas tree with a pink wig), Thom Yorke from Radiohead (played by Fred Armisen), Justin Bieber, Russell Brand, and Sting (all three played by episode host Jimmy Fallon). |
Reception
The short "Lazy Sunday", which aired December 17, 2005, was viewed more than five million times on YouTube alone before it was removed due to copyright infringement. In late 2006, however, NBC began uploading SNL shorts on YouTube themselves. The short "Dick in a Box" which aired in December 2006, was viewed more than 28 million times on YouTube. It was available uncut on YouTube with a special warning, stating that the sketch contained explicit language that was censored from the television version. The short also won an Emmy Award.
The Shooting
Samberg in "The Shooting"
The Shooting, also known as Dear Sister,[55] was broadcast during an episode aired April 14, 2007. The short satirizes the final scene of The O.C.'s second-season finale.[56][57] The NBC network, which usually uploads Saturday Night Live digital shorts to its official site and YouTube channel immediately following broadcast, did not do so for Dear Sister due to music clearance issues.[58] It nevertheless became immensely popular on YouTube with artists making parodies, re-enactments and other references.
Plot
Keith (Bill Hader) writes a letter to his sister, as Dave (Andy Samberg) asks what he is doing. As Keith responds, explaining he hasn't seen his sister in a long time, Dave suddenly and inexplicably shoots him. In the following overly dramatic, slow-motion death overdubbed by a cue of "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap, Dave is seen visibly shaken as Keith, in shock, collapses. As Dave gathers his bearings, Keith suddenly shoots him in return, having recovered from his injury long enough to exact his revenge to the same music cue.
After both men have fallen to the ground from their separate shootings, another man, Eric (Shia LaBeouf), enters looking for them (saying he's "just thought of the funniest thing"). Dave comes back to life to shoot Eric in the stomach, who collapses, once again to the same music. The sister herself (Kristen Wiig) enters the scene, and begins to read the letter (Dear Sister, By the time you read this..) until she too is shot in the gut several times by each of the three men on the ground, with the music cue restarting with every shot, until she collapses too.
The short ends as two police officers (Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen) are observing the crime scene. One finds the letter, left on the table near the brother's body, and begins to read. The letter is revealed to be a prediction of each shooting, in detail, and ends claiming that two police officers will come across the letter and then shoot each other after reading it. While the reading officer laughs it off, his partner turns and shoots him as the reading officer shoots him as well to overlapping "Hide & Seek" cues.
Controversy
On April 16, 2007, two days following the initial air date of the sketch, the Virginia Tech shooting occurred and became the deadliest school shooting in modern U.S. history.[59][60] Noam Cohen of the New York Times criticized fans of the short for insensitivity when they continued to make YouTube videos based on it.[58]
External links
References
- ↑ Itzkoff, Dave (December 27, 2005). "Nerds in the Hood, Stars on the Web". New York Times.
- ↑ "Andy Samberg Profile". AskMen.com. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ↑ Ryan, Mike (17 May 2012). "'Saturday Night Live': Looking Back At The Digital Short Era". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
- ↑ McGlynn, Katla (January 27, 2013). "WATCH: The Lonely Island Returns To 'SNL'". Huffington Post.
- 1 2 Fox, Jesse David (2016-07-11). "Saturday Night Live Director Matt Villines Has Died at 39". Vulture.com. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
- ↑ Smith, Michael (2016-07-13). "Tulsa filmmaker known for 'SNL' projects dies of cancer at 39". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
- ↑ Agard, Chancellor (2016-07-11). "Saturday Night Live director Matt Villines dies at 39". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
- 1 2 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Lettuce". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2005-12-22. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- 1 2 3 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Lazy Sunday SNL music video". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2005-12-18. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Young Chuck Norris". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2006-01-22. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- 1 2 http://thelonelyisland.blogspot.com/2006/02/tangent-snl-digital-short.html The Tangent
- 1 2 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Close Talkers - SNL Digital Short". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2006-02-14. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ Featured as an Easter egg on the two-disc DVD of V for Vendetta.
- 1 2 3 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Natalie Portman SNL Digital Short". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2006-03-05. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- 1 2 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Doppleganger - SNL Digital Short". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2006-03-12. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- 1 2 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Laser Cats (SNL Digital Short)". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2006-04-16. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- 1 2 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Apocalypto Re-cut". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2006-12-10. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ 2007 Emmy Awards Winner for Outstanding Music and Lyrics.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Justin Timberlake Digital Short". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2006-12-17. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ In the original broadcast, the short was a full-screen image within Saturday Night Live's widescreen presentation, causing the video to be surrounded by black bars. NBC later posted a second, cropped version on YouTube to remove these bars. This version contained an alternate ending in which Body Fuzion was viewed by the characters in the film The Ring.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: SNL Digital Short - Body Fuzion (80's workout)". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2007-02-04. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Roy Rules!". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2007-04-27. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: SNL Digital Short - People Getting Punched Just Before Eating". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- 1 2 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: SNL Digital Short - The Japanese Office". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2008-05-18. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: SNL Digital Short - Ras Trent". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2008-10-26. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ Pastorek, Whitney (December 8, 2008). "J in My Pants: The Resurgence of Jamie-Lynn Sigler". Entertainment Weekly Online. Retrieved December 22, 2008. External link in
|publisher=(help) - 1 2 3 Archived May 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: SNL Digital Short - "Motherlover"". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2009-05-10. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- 1 2 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: SNL Digital Short - "The Date"". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2009-09-27. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ /10:35c. "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | NBC". Latenightwithjimmyfallon.com. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑
- ↑ Kreps, Daniel (February 1, 2010). "Jon Hamm Breaks Out Saxophone, Ham and Buble On "SNL"". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
- ↑ Zulkey, Claire (January 31, 2010). "Jon Hamm/Michael Bublé". A.V. Club. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
- 1 2 3 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: SNL Digital Short - "Golden Girls Theme"". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2010-05-09. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ The Lonely Island's New Single "The Creep (ft. Nicki Minaj)"
- ↑ Taccone is listed in the credits as having helped write an "Additional Sketch", and as having co-directed this short.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: SNL Digital Short - "Lazy Sunday 2"!". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ "SNL Digital Shorts return with 'Davvincii' to skewer EDM and overpaid DJs". The Verge. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
- ↑ "Watch Saturday Night Live Mock Big Room DJ Culture". Mixmag. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
- ↑ "SNL takes stab at EDM culture in new digital short featuring 'Davvincii'". Dancing Astronaut. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
- ↑ "Antonio Banderas/Mary J. Blige Trivia and Quotes". TV.com. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ↑ "Hugh Laurie/Beck Trivia and Quotes". TV.com. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ↑ "Anna Faris/Duffy Trivia and Quotes". TV.com. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ↑ "Zac Efron/The Yeah Yeah Yeahs Trivia and Quotes". TV.com. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ↑ "Will Ferrell/Green Day Trivia and Quotes". TV.com. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ↑ Tam, Chester (December 10, 2006). "The Lonely Island's Chez-Chat: Apocalypto Re-cut".
- ↑ Tam, Chester (March 26, 2007). "Peyton Manning SNL Digital Short "United Way"".
- 1 2 3 "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: SNL: MacGruber". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- 1 2
- Meyers, Seth (writer) (2007). Saturday Night Live: The Best of '06–'07 (DVD). Broadway Video.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: MacGruber Pepsi Super Bowl Commercial!". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2009-02-01. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ Brian Steinberg, "'Saturday Night Live' Acts as Ad Agency for Pepsi", Advertising Age, February 5, 2009
- ↑ "MacGruber Pepsi Super Bowl Commercial".
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: MacGruber w/MacGuyver!". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2009-03-08. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: New MacGruber!". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
- ↑ The short was originally unofficially known as Dear Sister on YouTube when it was first uploaded. However, a blog post from the official website of Andy Samberg and Digital Shorts director Akiva Schaffer claimed the title to be The Shooting instead. This was regarded by many to signify the official title, until an NBC recap of the episode listed the short as Dear Sister. See NBC recap.
- ↑ Tam, Chester (April 15, 2007). "SNL Digital Short – The Shooting". Retrieved April 15, 2007.
- ↑ "SNL Digital Short inspired by the O.C."
- 1 2 Cohen, Noam (May 7, 2007). "Taking Violence to a New, Technological Absurdity". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
- ↑ Allen G. Breed (April 28, 2007). "Va. Tech Gunman's Motives Still a Mystery". Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
- ↑ "Fact File: Deadliest shootings in the U.S.". MSNBC. Retrieved April 28, 2007.
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