Andy Samberg - New interview released from Comic-Con 2009

Update: Added interview notes at the bottom.
=====================

HITFIX.com posted an interview today done at this year's Comic-Con. This one goes a little more into MacGruber, the MTV Awards, and Twilight fans than other text and video interviews. Enjoy!



Here's a sneek peek:

Q: I'm a huge fan of The Lonely Island. Loved the album. I don't think many expected a song like 'I'm on a Boat' to be such a great, catchy track.

I keep hearing more and more awesome stories about 'I'm on a Boat' that it comes on at clubs and people's spin classes. That's awesome. That song has like gone gold. It's crazy and in Australia and Canada it's gone platinum.

Q: So, are you guys working on another album yet?

No, Jorma is directing the 'MacGruber' movie so Lonely Island -- the three of us projects are on hold.

Q: But it's not dead?

No, I certainly hope not. I mean there is nothing I'd rather do more. It's my favorite thing. Making songs with those guys is like absolutely my favorite thing to do.

Q: Was there one guest star or producer you couldn't believe you landed? Like T-Pain, how did that come about?

We knew T-Pain was a fan of 'Hot Rod' because I met him on 'SNL' and he came with Mariah Carey and he stopped me and was like, 'Hey, man can you stop and take a picture with me and do an ultimate punch?' 'I was like, holy [expletive] you do like it!' And we were huge fans of his, so it was like a lovefest. So, when we started making that song we were like, 'Omigod, what if we got Tedder Pender' and he was down and did it. But, we got a lot of rad people on the record. We were so lucky.

Q: 'McGruber' is supposed to be happening really quick.

Yeah, they are shooting it this summer.

Q: Will you be having a cameo or anything small role in it?

Not that I'm aware of. (Laughs.)

...

Q: Many first-time hosts talk about the pressure of being in front of such a big television audience for an event like [the 2009 MTV Movie Awards]. Do you think being on 'SNL' helped alleviate some of that?

Yeah, it definitely helped not make me feel nervous being out there. There was only one moment when I first walked out where I was just a little overwhelmed with how positive the crowd response was. It was sort of this weird moment of, 'Oh, wow. Everyone actually knows who I am. That's crazy.' (Laughs.)

...

Q: Don't people yell things out to you on the streets of New York?

Yeah, people yell out 'I'm on a Boat' to me the most. For the longest time it was '[expletive] in a Box.'

Full Article Here

=================================



TAE: Here are some things we've learned...

• Andy Samberg came up with the idea for J*** In My Pants (Jorma helped take it more toward being a British pop song; many of the ideas are joint efforts: Jorma came up with **** In A Box, Akiva and Andy came up with I'm On A Boat; for Ji**, Andy was listening to the track that the studio sent them over and over until he thought of Ji** In My Pants)
• Andy and TLI aren't doing another album yet (but we know they plan to, because they were offered a contract to make more albums; this is a bummer because when they recorded the songs for the Incredibad album last year, they set up a ton of sweet SNL digital short songs for the 08-09 season of SNL; can they rock the digishorts this year without the summer to prep?)
• Andy wasn't scheduled to cameo in MacGruber (but this was from July, and they hadn't started shooting yet; there's still a good chance that the Andy and Chez clip was for MacGruber)
• T-Payne was a huge fan of Andy and TLI (when they met on SNL, T-Payne asked Andy to do the Super Punch, a gag from Hot Rod, so they had no problem hitting up T-Payne for "I'm On A Boat")
• The creators of "Cloudy..." go way back with Andy and TLI (Andy keeps mentioning Clone High, which was a one-season toon that aired well in Canada and in the US on MTV for one season, 13 episodes, in 02-03, and the series was about a high school with clones of historic people like John F. Kennedy, Cleopatra, Abe Lincoln, Joan of Arc, Gandhi, etc; the creators went on to produce several other shows, including... AWESOMETOWN in 2005)
• Andy wants to keep his options open for animated films ("Cloudy..." will be Andy's second animation and his first Sony animated film; his first animation was Fox's "Space Chimps"; in this interview, he gushes about Pixar, DreamWorks, and Sony animated films, hoping not to ruin any possible opportunities with the other studios)
• Andy seemed slightly hesitant to host another MTV Movie Awards, but he'd be up for it if offered (Andy seemed to keep it incredibly vague and middle-ground as to whether or not he'd host the MTV Movie Awards again; he talked about how much work it was and how he'd hate to ruin the success he had this year with it)
• Andy is interested in hosting other awards shows (it seemed like Andy lit up when asked about hosting the Emmys or Academy Awards; he knew it would be a ton of work, but he sounded/read like he'd love the challenge)
• Andy is a little surprised that people see him as a star (specifically, when he came on stage at the beginning of the MTV Movie Awards, he was shocked that everyone was treating him like a star)
• Andy hears "I'm On a Boat" yelled at him more than anything else (this replaces "**** In A Box" as the previous winner)

Overall, I think this was an excellent interview. The interviewer, Gregory Ellwood, had some excellent material ready for this and asked questions that we were all thinking. Great job! If only we could get interviews like this every two months or so. =^)

Enjoy!