Thursday, June 30, 2011

Andy Samberg - Sharking it up (photos)

Nothing new in the article, but here are some fun photos! Looks like Andy missed the water...



Andy Samberg has been tapped to host the 24th annual Shark Week (airing on Discovery starting July 31st), which has become a nationwide obsession over the years. Is getting a young, hip, celeb host a little too much though—has Shark Week now jumped the shark?



According to EW, Samberg will become the Chief Shark Officer, and he told the site about any reservations he had accepting the new career challenge: "I had reservations at the restaurant of destiny. It has very little to do with me on the surface, which to me was a perfect sign that I should do it. Everyone loves Shark Week. I love Shark Week. I was just so flattered. The pitch was that I would get to fly to the Bahamas and literally swim with sharks, and I was thinking there’s no way I would ever have the balls to do that on my own, so I went for it.” Though he jokes that he did suggest just Photoshopping the sharks in, noting, however, that they're "purists over at Discovery."

Samberg won't be doing any Lonely Island-esque songs for his stint on Shark Week, but he will have his own shark special coming out on August 4th, also on Discovery.

From (click to watch the Jaws trailer):
http://gothamist.com/2011/06/20/shark_week_now_with_100_more_andy_s.php
===========

And now the question of the NOW...

How would you feel if Andy showed up in your swimming pool with a shark fin on?

Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Andy Samberg & The Lonely Island - We'll Kill You (song)

This is a video on their Turtleneck and Chain album.



Of course, this is the third in their series (Just 2 Guyz and We Like Sportz). Andy always plays Steve.

In this video, I liked the effect of a lot of them (Kiv and Jorma) on screen at the same time. I also like the part where Andy and his snake sang along.

What did you like about it?

Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Lonely Island - "Japan" (song)



Hahahahaha. I think they should do a video for it that's not on SNL.

Pretty funny!

Did you enjoy it? Do you want a video made for it?

It sounds like they intended to turn it into a video. So funny. I think that would be hilarious!

Remember to buy it off iTunes if you're going to listen to it repeatedly.

Leave a comment if the video is taken down! Thanks! And...

Enjoy!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Spotlight on "I Hate You Dad" directors - Sean Anders & John Morris



Sean Anders and John Morris come from screen writing background mostly. They wrote:
- Mr. Popper's Penguins (Jim Carrey)
- Hot Tub Time Machine (John Cusack)
- She's Out of My League (Jay Baruchel)
- Sex Drive (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135985/)

Sean previously directed Never Been Thawed (his indie debut) and Sex Drive.



Adam Sandler usually uses his regular cast of directors for his films (friends from college and SNL days; even Judd Apatow fits in that category), but they likely enjoyed Sean's previously films and wanted to give him a shot directing one of their comedies.

Enjoy!

The Lonely Island - "After Party" (Song, Featuring Santigold)

UPDATE: Good comment from Katie we added below as a question. Originally posted 6/23/11.
===================================

Is this a sequel to Ji$$ in My Pants???

We continue our showcase of Turtleneck and Chain songs.

WARNING: Explicit language.



QUESTION FROM KATIE: Did anybody else hear the return of "f***ing the brains out of a giant fish"? (Leave a comment below with any thoughts about it. Of course, that's originally from Like a Boss.)

This song is pretty cool.

Not as good of a concept as Ji$$ of course.

Buy it on iTunes.

Here it is faster:



I think this might make an okay music video, but I'd rather see Japan, Attracted to Us, Rocky, and Turtleneck and Chain get music videos.

What do you want to see get a music video? Or should TLI just move on instead?

Leave a comment if the video gets removed!

The song is featuring Santigold, but it sounds like Lady Gaga. That's cuz Santigold's got the gold. Here she is in Creator:



Enjoy!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Emma Roberts is obsessed with Andy Samberg & Rashida Jones



Emma Jones is now in the thick of filming her next flick, the romantic comedy "Celeste and Jesse Forever."

The film centers around a divorcing couple (played by the always funny Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg) who are trying to work out the logistics of their relationship as they date other people. Emma plays a pop star who hires Rashida to revamp her image.

So if she's filming this now, does that mean Andy's done shooting I Hate You Dad, or maybe he's juggling both shooting schedules? What do you think?

Enjoy!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Samberg / Sandler comedy films wedding at church

Adam Sandler comedy filming at church in Brookline

[The church was established in 1717:]



A crew filming a new movie called “I Hate You Dad” starring Adam Sandler is in Brookline today in and around First Parish church on Walnut Street.

The Columbia Pictures production is filming a wedding scene at the church at 382 Walnut Street, just south of Boylston Street/Route 9, and was in town from Tuesday, 6/21 through Wednesday, 6/22, said Brookline Police Lt. Phil Harrington.

The Unitarian Universalist church has been rented out for the comedy and Harrington said Sandler and actor James Caan were at the church Monday for filming.

Leighton Meester of “Gossip Girl” is also in town for the movie, which also stars Andy Samberg and Susan Sarandon.

From:
http://articles.boston.com/2011-06-21/yourtown/29684399_1_church-leighton-meester-comedy

So if Sandler and Caan were in the scene, then the wedding might involve Sandler's character's back story.

Enjoy!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Leighton Meester photos - filming I Hate You Dad (Andy Samberg & Adam Sandler flick)

Leighton Meester: 'I Hate You, Dad' in Boston!



Leighton Meester grabs a snack while on break from filming I Hate You, Dad on Monday (June 20) in Boston, Mass.

The 25-year-old actress stars in the comedy along with Adam Sandler, Milo Ventimiglia, and Andy Samberg.



[Leighton began filming I Hate You Dad on Father's Day, and she thought that was ironic...]

“Happy Fathers Day!! Ironically, I start shooting I Hate You Dad tomorrow #IHYD haha,” Leighton tweeted the day before.



Leighton, who performed in West Hollywood last week, recently told Parade.com she’s hoping to release an album “very soon - hopefully before the end of the year.”

“In the meantime, I want people to get a glimpse of what I’m doing. I love live music and I love to see people’s faces when I’m performing,” she added.

From:
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2011/06/20/leighton-meester-hate-you-dad-boston/
===================



In what was her first day of filming on the Adam Sandler-fronted project, the "Gossip Girl" actress grabbed a quick snack of Tostitos and salsa during a break between takes.

Directed by Sean Anders and John Morris, "I Hate You, Dad" is about "a disagreeable father who moves in with his son before he's about to get married."

Due in theaters on June 15, 2012, the comedy also features Will Forte, Susan Sarandon, Milo Ventimiglia and James Caan.

More info here:
http://gossipcenter.com/leighton-meester/leighton-meester-i-hate-you-dad-first-look-516962
======================

Go here for another large batch of photos of Leighton on set:

http://www.popsugar.com/Leighton-Meester-New-Hair-Color-Pictures-17960990?page=0,0,5#5

Now we can see better how she'll look in the film. She seems pretty nice. Apparently her hair is darker than normal for this film. What do you think?

Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Andy Samberg and Vanilla Ice - I Hate You Dad

Vanilla Ice In 'I Hate You Dad,' New Adam Sandler Comedy



Could Vanilla Ice finally be delivering his long-awaited second hit?

The onetime rap star is out of the music business, but after a rocky two decades, has landed a major film role. Variety reports that Vanilla Ice, real name: Robert Van Winkle, has been cast in the upcoming Adam Sandler film, "I Hate You Dad."

Ice will play a longtime friend of Sandler, who, in turn, will play Andy Samberg's dad. In the film, Sandler moves in with Samberg and his new fiancee, whom Sandler immediately begins to feud with.

Variety also reports that Leighton Meester, last seen on the big screen in this winter's "The Roommate," and before that, "Country Strong," is in talks for the role of Samberg's bride to be.

For the past two decades, Vanilla Ice has released a number of poorly received albums, jumping between hip hop, rock and grunge to create a unique, if not highly popular, style. He's continued to tour, but drug problems and some outlandish behavior have taken their toll on his reputation.

In 2008, he was arrested for assaulting his wife, though she later said he only pushed her; as part of a 2009 marketing campaign for a mobile phone company, he "apologized" to the world for his career.

It was recently announced that he'll play Captain Hook in a pantomime performance of "Peter Pan" in England.

From:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/02/vanilla-ice-in-i-hate-you-dad_n_843964.html

So Ice plays Sandler's friend. Surprised Rob Schneider's not in that role. I love to watch Sandler movies to see how Rob's going to pop up, because he's such a chameleon.

From the previous article, we know that Ice is playing himself, which makes his character more interesting, I think.

Are you interested in seeing Vanilla Ice in the film?

On a slightly-but-not-really-related note, we made this silly Lego-style 3D animation about Vanilla Ice:



Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Studio News: Gurkel's Revenge (Thanksgiving Turkey on Revenge)

We completed the longer version of this short, with an action sequence at the end.



Animation is by Patrick from:

http://youtube.com/CartoonKing3

Music is used by permission and composed by Kevin Macleod from:

http://incompetech.comb/

CREDITS:

Animation by Patrick Jenkins (CartoonKing3)
Written & Directed by Ed 'word' Price
Animation Supervision by Willem Serne
Music by Kevin Macleod

VOICES:

John Kubin - Gurkel, Bobby (murderer 1), Jeff (murderer 2)
Diedre - Globble (turkey boy), Lucy (love interest), Officer
Ty Miller - Turkel (turkey dad), Bartender
Amber Conner - Cindy (Bobby's wife)

Thanks for watching!

- TAE

Leighton Meester - Andy Samberg's love interest in I Hate You Dad

So Adam Sandler's getting old enough where he has played a man trying to get back with his ex (Funny People) and a man who is already married (Grown Ups). Now he plays the father, and Andy Samberg gets to play the young man with the love interest. And Andy's love interest is Leighton Meester.



Leighton Marissa Meester (born April 9, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Meester gained fame for playing the role of Blair Waldorf in the CW young-adult television series Gossip Girl. She most recently appeared in the 2010 country drama film Country Strong and the 2011 thriller The Roommate.

After her television debut in 1999 playing Alyssa Turner in Law & Order, Meester appeared as a guest in two more series before landing her big role in the movie Hangman's Curse, based on the best-selling book by Frank Peretti. Meester also appeared in Tarzan, which ran for only eight episodes. Meester started to land guest roles in other series such as Crossing Jordan, 8 Simple Rules, 7th Heaven, Veronica Mars, 24, and Entourage.



In 2005, Meester began a regular role in the series Surface as Savannah Bennet. Meester appeared in two more 2006 movies, Flourish and Inside. She also guest appeared in Numb3rs and in three episodes of House M.D. as Ali, a young girl who has a crush on House.

After that guest roles on CSI: Miami, Shark, and playing the female lead in the horror film Drive-Thru.



In 2007, Meester was cast in the CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl as Blair Waldorf. The show is based on the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar about the lives of New York's privileged Upper East Side young adults. Her performance is the most critically acclaimed of the show, with Blair being cited as the series' breakout character, and also garnering much media recognition due to her wardrobe.

In 2007, Meester appeared on the television film The Haunting of Sorority Row, and played a part in the ensemble comedy/drama Remember the Daze. She also appeared in the horror/thriller film Killer Movie in 2008.



Meester had a small role in the 2010 comedies Date Night and Going The Distance. She starred in Screen Gems' 2010 country drama Country Strong, and 2011 thriller The Roommate. She will star in The Uncatchable Cowgirl Bandits of Nottingham, Texas alongside Amber Heard; in the indie dramatic comedy The Oranges opposite Hugh Laurie; and will star next to Selena Gomez and Katie Cassidy in the young femme comedy Monte Carlo, loosely based on Jules Bass's young-adult book Headhunters.

Info from Wikipedia.

So do you think she's a worthy on-screen love interest for Andy Samberg?

Enjoy!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Susan Sarandon joins Andy Samberg in I Hate You Dad

'I Hate You Dad': Susan Sarandon In Talks For Adam Sandler Comedy



Sarandon has indeed signed on for the part, and her daughter, Eva Amurri, will also appear in the movie. James Caan has been added to the cast, as well.

Making a film that requires a cougar sleeping with a younger man? There's only one true name to call.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Susan Sarandon is set to join the Adam Sandler/Andy Samberg comedy, "I Hate You Dad." The film, about dad Sandler moving into son Samberg's home and starting a rivalry with his fiancee, already has an eclectic cast: Leighton Meester will play the bride-to-be, while Ian Ziering and Vanilla Ice will play significant roles -- as themselves. Ice will be, in the film, a long time friend of Sandler's character.

As for Sarandon, she'd play a sexy teacher with a significant connection to Samberg and Sandler. Vanilla Ice told the Huffington Post that Sarandon's character slept with Sandler's character when he was 13 years old, with Samberg as the embarrassed progeny.

James Caan, Will Forte and Milo Ventimiglia are in talks to join the cast --

Sarandon, of course, played a sexy older woman in "Bull Durham," starting her trend of taking on that role. Perhaps it's art imitating life; Sarandon is rumored to be dating much younger business partner Jonathan Bricklin.

She's had a busy past few years; by the end of 2011, she'll have been in 18 movies since 2006. She'll soon star in the big screen adaptation of "Cloud Atlas," as well as take on a supporting role in "Gently Down The Stream," another film about young lovers and their obnoxious parents. She's also due to top line the drama "Hemlock Drive" alongside Adam Brody and David Arquette.

Click here for more on Susan Sarandon:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/01/i-hate-you-dad-susan-sarandon_n_869905.html
==========

From this article we get confirmation that Will Forte is in the film (since we already saw him on set), and we see that Vanilla Ice and Ian Ziering will be playing themselves. It's kind of cool that Vanilla Ice will play himself and be a major character. That doesn't happen very often (Being John Malkovich is the only one I can think of right now).

Of course, Susan Sarandon has also appeared in two Andy Samberg shorts... Mother Lover in a major role and Golden Rule (Three Way) as a cameo.

Enjoy!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Salma Hayek visits I Hate You Dad

Salma Hayek: 'I Hate You Dad' Set Visit



Salma Hayek visits the set of the film I Hate You Dad on Wednesday (June 8, 2011) in Boston, Mass.



The 44-year-old Mexican actress took the trip to visit her pal Adam Sandler. The pair starred together in 2010 film Grown Ups.

Salma recently signed on to star the new movie Savages!



Is that her bodyguard?

More info on Salma and more pics here:
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=32139549

So it's cool that Sandler and Salma are such good friends that she'll visit him two movies later like this (his Just Go with It came out after Grown Ups).

Enjoy!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Andy Samberg shooting "I Hate You Dad" with Adam Sandler (photos)

Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg film in Boston



The cast of "I Hate You, Dad" breaks for lunch while filming scenes in a tough part of town.

Is this Will Forte?...





Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Andy Samberg - Shark Week

First look at Andy Samberg, Chief Shark Officer



Did Andy Samberg have any reservations about being the host — or Chief Shark Officer — for Discovery’s 24th annual Shark Week, which kicks off July 31? “I had reservations at the restaurant of destiny,” he jokes to EW. “It has very little to do with me on the surface, which to me was a perfect sign that I should do it. Everyone loves Shark Week. I love Shark Week. I was just so flattered. The pitch was that I would get to fly to the Bahamas and literally swim with sharks, and I was thinking there’s no way I would ever have the balls to do that on my own, so I went for it.”

This week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly has the first look at Samberg swimming with Caribbean reef sharks for his own Aug. 4 special, Shark City. “My buddy John Solomon, who’s a director and a writer at SNL came with me. We were doing a bunch of wrap-arounds for the show, and I’d been floating there in the water, and I was like, ‘Okay, I think we got that. Should we chum the water and get some sharks over here?’ And everyone on the boat kinda looked down, kinda looked away, like, ‘Yeah, yeah, we should, um, get some sharks over here,’” Samberg recalls. “It turned out that there had been huge sharks all around me the entire time, and I just hadn’t realized it because they were under the water.”



Samberg also shot footage at his CSO desk in the water, which was quickly surrounded by sharks after some chumming. “They were definitely dumping tons of bloody meat into the water all around me. I knew that they needed to do it to get the sharks over there, but there’s also a part of me that was like, have you guys heard of Photoshop? Like, we live in an era where you don’t have to actually do this. But I guess they’re purists over at Discovery,” he says. He admits falling backwards blindly into sharks, even if they’re gentle Caribbean reefs, scared him. “But I had to just kind of ignore it. I went into Braveheart mode,” he says.

“If you want to know the coolest part,” Samberg says of filming the special, “it was getting to go in the little one-man submarine and, like, drive through a bunch of tropical fish while they tickle my feet. I just kept asking everyone if they’d seen my son Nemo.”

Watch a tease of that outing in the exclusive video below. (It is, perhaps, the closest we’ll get to a musical number from him: “I mean, I think LL Cool J already nailed the shark song,” he says.)

As part of Samberg's duties, he's also the face of Discovery's Shark Week Challenge. At sharkweekchallenge.com, fans can post their own 30-second Shark Week commercials. A select 16 will make it into a tournament bracket game, and the two spots receiving the most votes will actually air on Discovery. "That’s definitely a fun part, encouraging people out there to do their own Shark Week stuff," Samberg says. "Like, I’d always enjoyed Shark Week, but I didn’t realize until I did this how much people love Shark Week. Every single person I’ve told that I’m doing this has to take a pause and be like, No [pause] Way. There’s a real passion and excitement for Shark Week, so I lucked out."

Watch Andy Samberg's "Fishy Fish" video here:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/06/13/andy-samberg-shark-week/

Thanks to Freya and Ale for the scoop!

Are you excited to see Andy on Shark Week?

Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Lonely Island - "Rocky" (song)

Hahahaha.



"And onto some kids." Hahahaha

Remember to buy it on iTunes if you're going to listen to it a lot.

Oh, this is another one that deserves a video. Great how it makes fun of the old "story" raps.

Do you think it deserves a video? I wonder if Stallone would do it? That would be awesome!!!

Leave a comment and let us know if they pull this video off.

Enjoy!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Andy Samberg and TLI interview - The Times Magazine

The Times - Magazine. 23/04/11

TAKE THREE GEEKS, ADD SOME CHEAP SPECIAL EFFECTS AND A COUPLE HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITIES... NOW WATCH AS YOUR VIDEOS BECOME AND ONLINE PHENOMENON

Click for a bigger version:




How Lonely Island made the internet a funnier place.


In 2006, long before Natalie Portman was an Academy Award winner, she was known to the majority of the world as either Queen Amidala, the doe-eyed heroine of the blockbusting trilogy of Star Wars prequels, or as the precocious 12-year-old Mathilda in Léon. But not long after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was released, she guest-hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live during which she stared in a rap video portraying her as, variously, drug-addicted, violent, sexually aggressive and horrible to young star wars fans. It was called Natalie’s Rap.

As well as containing couplets that would make Eminem blush (really blush), it was properly, outrageously funny, the sort of thing that should have given her agent an aneurysm. You immediately wanted to show your friends and, thanks to the internet, you could: millions of people saw her screaming taste-defying lines (“All the kids looking up to me can suck my d***!/ It’s Portman motherf*****, drink till I’m sick!), which is exactly what she wanted.

“She wanted to do the raunchiest rap possible,” remembers Jorma Taccone, who along with fellow comedians Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer, was responsible for Natalie’s Rap. “We were really surprised. That’s not what you expected from her. But that’s what makes it funny.” “It made us laugh anyway,” says Samberg. “So we thought, yeah, let’s do it.”

Nothing could have exorcised the spectre of Queen Amadala faster. And if Portman’s career has subsequently blossomed, then that of Samberg, 33, Taccone, 34, and Schaffer, 33, operating as the Lonely Island, has exploded. In the ten years since the three began producing their crude, catchy comedy music videos, they have developed into the kind of pop-cultural force that simply hadn’t existed before.

Click for a bigger version:


If Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is the geeky king of online social networking, then the Lonely Island are his peers when it comes to the goofy viral videos we post on our Facebook walls and e-mail around the office. They have a deal with Universal Republic Records and have spawned a slew of imitators. They are probably responsible for the majority of rude songs being sung around the playgrounds of the Western world, but A-list celebrities queue up to work with them for free. Justin Timberlake is a regular collaborator. Norah Jones, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes and rapper Akon have all sung on Lonely Island tracks. Rihanna recently filmed a duet with a character, played by Samberg, who ends up wetting himself. Their videos have included cameos by Jessica Alba, Susan Sarandon, Will Ferrell, Blake Lively, Elijah Wood, John Waters and, for some reason, briefly, John McEnroe.

Attracting such names is not difficult. If, like Portman, they want to show people they have a sense of humour, then working with the Lonely Island is a guaranteed means of reaching the world. Consider these stats: if you visit their official YouTube channel, you will see that the Lonely Island’s music videosm with such wilfully juvenile titles as Jizz in my Pants and I Just Had Sex, have been viewed more than 450 million times - several million more views than, say, Beyoncé’s YouTube videos. Rap superstar Kanye West’s numbers are a good 100 million lower. Madonna flounders at only 190 million total views. Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone may now quite be the most watched artists on the web (Rihanna’s YouTube channel recently topped a billion views), but for three blokes who “sort of stumbled into doing music” by “getting drunk and messing around” with some recording equipment and deciding it would be “sort of fun to shoot a video”, it’s not bad going.

“Being in a successful online video is now the equivalent, for a celebrity, of going on a talk show,” explains Samberg, who, when we meet, sits with Schaffer and Taccone at a long table in a dimly lit room in Manhattan just south of Central Park. “And it’s possibly even more powerful, because it’s a piece of created work rather than just fluff. More and more celebrities are seeing what it does for other celebrities. We’re not going to take credit for those sorts of things. But if you look at people like Justin Timberlake or Natalie Portman, doing a video with us has helped them in terms of their careers. It gave them a chance to be seen in a different way, and let the public understand that they are smart people who know how to take the p*** out of themselves. It’s a chance to show the world they have a sense of humour.”

Around their record label’s offices, the wall are covered with posters of multimillion selling acts: Taylor Swift and Florence and the Machine peer down in artful pop-siren poses. In contrast, Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone are loitering, with their hands in their pockets, all in jeans, hi-top basketball sneakers and checkered shirts. They are here to promote their second album, Turtleneck & Chain - essentially a compelation of songs from their videos, plus new material and celebrity cameos, the follow-up to 2009’s Incredibad.

Celebrities sending themselves up is nothing new: Morecambe and Wise were masters of placing stars in unlikely contexts, and more recently, the Ricky Gervais sitcom Extras have the likes of Kate Winslet the opportunity to poke fun at themselves. What hadn’t existed before is a place where they could be unapologetically puerile: thousands may watch celebrities being admirably self-aware, but millions will watch them make willy jokes.

The Lonely Island acknowledge that convincing Justin Timberlake to sing and star in the video for D*** in a Box (in which he shows men how to gift-wrap their genitals and present them to women as a token of love) kick-started the celeb-cameo trend that others followed. Timberlake had enjoyed an early spoof rap song they produced for Saturday Night Live, and when they approached him with the idea and a sheet of lyrics (including crooned lines such as “A gift real special, so take off the top/Take a look inside it’s my d*** in a box”), they were surprised to find that he was more confident than anyone that it would be a success.

The song ended up winning the 2007 Creative Arts Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. This was not a fluke: last year, they were nominated for a Grammy for thier song I’m on a Boat, which poked fun at the excess of videos featuring rappers aboard giant yachts.

Our rule is always comedy comes first, music second,” says Samberg. “But we do try to make the music as good as we know how.”

Andy Samberg is, more than anyone, the public face of the Lonely Island. He is also a cast member on SNL, a job which he was offered after work with Schaffer and Taccone was noticed by the producers (Schaffer and Taccone write for the influential show). He stars in almost every Lonely Island video and played the lead in the 2007 film Hot Rod, about a wannabe stuntman.

“In America, Andy is much more famous than us because he is actually on Saturday Night Live.” explains Taccone. “We might get recognised in the street, but Andy has to deal much more with the actual press.”

Schaffer, bespectacled and skinny, is the quietest of the three. He appears in their videos the least, in part because he directs most of them. He is the one who is forced to have the occasional “awkward conversation” with stars making cameos about what it is they have to do. In the video for Mortherlover, for instance, Samberg and Timberlake duet about what a good idea it would be to sleep with each other’s mothers, played by Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson. “I didn’t get them on the phone till midnight, we needed them for 9am the next day, and I was trying to explain why it was a good idea. I mean it certainly didn’t sound like a good idea... it sounded like it could be very embarrassing and bad. We don’t want people to feel they’ve been tricked into doing something. But at least people might have an idea of who we are now. It would have been much harder to convince Susan Sarandon to be in a video if we were kids making them at home.”

The trio became friends at high school in Berkeley, California, just outside San Francisco. Schaffer says that the thing that impressed him most about Samberg and Taccone was their gift for sarcasm.

Being “three scrawny little white guys in a very urban high school” meant that the notion of comedy as a defense mechanism was at least party true. “It was a survival technique for years,” explains Samberg. “Not that we were bullied or anything per se, but school was very cut-throat. It was just the way you’d traverse things socially.”

Each member of the Lonely Island has parents who were from New York and relocated to San Francisco’s Bay Area in the Seventies, drawn to it’s artistic and liberal reputation.”I wouldn’t go as far as to say our parents were hippies, but you’d probably get it from our two names: Jorma and Akiva are not common names in America,” Schaffer explains. Taccone was named after a guitarist in the Sixties psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane, while Samberg has a sister named Darrow after Clarence Darrow, the early-20th century American civil right lawyer.

Behind the knob gags, there remains a strong artsy pedigree. Samberg majored in experimental film at college, and is dating alternative-folk singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom. Taccone studied theatre and is married to playwright and actress Marielle Heller. And despite their Average Joe appeal, they were ambitious from the start when it came to forging a career in comedy. “We all wanted that,” Taccone admits. “So we made a decision to move to LA together to try it.”

This was around 2002. They shared an isolated apartment (they dubbed it “the Lonely Island”) and filmed themselves “goofing off, trying to do music videos, and trying to turn it into a medium that could be sold”. The problem was, there was no appetite for what they were producing. Schaffer showed the tape to a friend.

“He was like, ‘Great, but how can you make it into showbusiness with that?’ And he wasn’t wrong, because YouTube didn’t exist then and the internet barely supported video. I was like ‘Oh... you’re right.’ Even as recently as that, there were only television shows and movies.”

They produced a pilot for a comedy show called Awesometown, a song and sketch revue that, while funny, lacked the short, sharp, sugar-rush effectiveness of their later videos. It was through a job writing scripts for the MTV Movie Awards that the trio secured work on SNL. In 2005, the show screened a short music video they had made called Lazy Sunday, which featured two friends sternly rapping about their plans to see The Chronicles of Narnia at a local cinema. The SNL viewers loved it. Thanks to the advent of YouTube, which had launched earlier that year, a viral hit was spawned, which allowed them to go on to dominate a medium they had inadvertently stumbled upon.

“Everytime I go home for the holidays, no matter what the function, almost every dinner you go to usually ends up becoming a YouTube fest,” says Taccone. “The kids all go off into a room and show each other their favourite videos. And if you haven’t seen someone in a while, too, it’s a way to communicate.”

It is funny that, having risen to fame by poking fun at showbiz excess, the Lonely Island are today having to do all the promo required of any “real” pop group, with a platoon of PR’s in tow. Similarly, when asked if there was anything they would go back and change, there is a cautious pause, and Samberg mutters, “Don’t say anything crazy” - when saying crazy things is how they got where they are in the first place. That they will film themselves rapping about what their penises look like, but not risk elaborating on “a few things on the business end...” doesn’t seem quite right.

Still, for all the A-list appearances and tasteless humour, there is at heart something wholesome about the Lonely Island; about the fact that three friends from school have got to where they are, in part, due to the simple fact that people will always enjoy showing their friends things that will make them laugh.

It’s become part of our culture - something you do with people you care about or share the same sense of humour with,” says Samberg, before the trio are shepherded out of the room by their PR’s. “I’ll see something and I’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t wait to see Jorma and show him this and watch him laugh at it.’ I’ll send him the link while we’re talking on the phone, and I’ll listen to him watch it because I know how much he’s going to enjoy it.”


It’s a sweet image. They all smile at each other a little bashfully before leaving to go and decide what, in the future, will be popping up in our inboxes and, let’s hope, making us laugh.

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

Thanks to Freya for typing this up and sending us the photos!

What was your favorite part of this interview?

Enjoy!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Ask AS: American America on SNL - what is it?

In short, it was an attempt made by Fred Wolf to fill some of the time gaps with short animated bits (to fill in the void from Saturday TV Funhouse leaving). There were only two episodes, and they both aired at the beginning of this past season. They featured the voices of Dana Carvey and David Spade, so the idea was that they'd tap SNL alumni for voice talent.

It's a good idea, but the concept wasn't all that great and the shorts themselves just weren't funny enough. Granted, it's hard to make them funny and short, but you have to at least nail the funny part, and these didn't.

Here's one of them...

Film - American AmericaI, Hippie
Dana Carvey ... hippie

An old hippie recalls how it was back in his heyday.



Animation by Wirestone
Character Narration - Dana Carvey
Music - Mark Mancina
Written by Fred Wolf

Enjoy!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

3-Way (Golden Rule) is up on YouTube



Uncensored, no live audience laughing, and available everywheres. As Kiv said, he's the one that got TLI international on Hulu.

And TLI got permission to put this up on YouTube to advertise their iTuning the song, so...

Enjoy!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Q&A with The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg) at YouTube HQ



Thanks to Anony for letting us know... the interview they promised is up on TLI's channel!

What's your favorite part?

Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Should Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island make more music videos from Turtleneck & Chain?

I wasn't sure of a short way to title that and get all the keywords in. =^)

 


 
I've been thinking a lot about this, and Anony sent us this nice write up:

 
In total T&C has 7 tracks with videos:

 
We’re Back!
I Just Had Sex [ft. Akon]
Jack Sparrow [ft. Michael Bolton]
Shy Ronnie 2: Ronnie & Clyde [ft. Rihanna]
Motherlover [ft. Justin Timberlake]
The Creep [ft. Nicki Minaj & John Waters]
Threw It on the Ground

 
Leaving 12 tracks without:

 
Mama
Attracted to Us [ft. Beck]
Rocky
My Mic (Interlude)
Turtleneck & Chain [ft. Snoop Dogg]
Trouble on Dookie Island
Falcor vs. Atreyu (Classy Skit #1)
Watch Me Do Me (Classy Skit #2)
Japan
After Party [ft. Santigold]
No Homo
No Homo Outro

 
And they won't do videos for My Mic, Falcor vs. Atreyu, Watch Me Do Me and No Homo Outro. If any they might do videos for: Japan, After Party or No Homo IMO.

 

 
That's true, but three of the music videos were made on SNL and then added to the album:
  • Shy Ronnie 2: Ronnie & Clyde [ft. Rihanna]
  • Motherlover [ft. Justin Timberlake]
  • Threw It on the Ground

 
So they basically have done four new music videos for their album:
  • I Just Had Sex [ft. Akon]
  • The Creep [ft. Nicki Minaj & John Waters]
  • We’re Back!
  • Jack Sparrow [ft. Michael Bolton]

 
This is similar to the four they did for Incredibad:
  • Ji## in My Pants
  • We Like Sports
  • I'm on a Boat (ft. T-Payne)
  • Like a Boss

 
And then the next season they also did Boom Box.

 
So here are the ones I'd love to see as music videos:
  • Attracted to Us [ft. Beck]
  • Rocky (I'd love to see Stallone cameo)
  • Turtleneck & Chain [ft. Snoop Dogg]
  • Japan

 
These also might be turned into music videos, but they are a bit too graphic for my taste:
  • After Party [ft. Santigold; could be a sequel to Ji$$ in My Pants]
  • No Homo

Overall, I think T&C had more new songs that deserve music videos than Incredibad did.
 
What do you think? What would you want to see as a music video?

 
Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Andy Samberg - Shark Week promo video



Andy Samberg promotes Shark Week.

Thanks go out to Anony for the scoop!

What do you think? Do you like it? Do you want to see more Andy Shark Week clips?

Let us know if you find any more Andy Shark Week videos!

Enjoy!

Monday, June 06, 2011

Elijah Wood joins the Andy Samberg & Rashida Jones romantic comedy "Celeste and Jesse Forever"

Elijah Wood Joins Rashida Jones-Andy Samberg Romantic Comedy

"Celeste and Jesse Forever," written by Jones and Will McCormack, is directed by Lee Toland Krieger.



Elijah Wood has joined the cast of Celeste and Jesse Forever, the romantic comedy starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg, which is being directed by Lee Toland Krieger.



The script, by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, follows a couple (Jones and Samberg) in the midst of a divorce attempting to maintain their friendship while pursuing new relationships.

Wood will play Celeste’s business partner, a metrosexual who tries to be her “saucy gay friend.”

Emma Roberts, Ari Graynor and Chris Messina are among the cast members.

Jennifer Todd and Suzanne Todd are producing for Team Todd along with Lee Nelson for Envision Media Arts. The movie was previously set up at Fox Atomic and Overture Films before those companies shuttered.

The casting comes as Wood heads into his first TV series, the offbeat FX comedy Wilfred, which premieres June 23 and runs for 13 episodes. And later this summer the actor reprises his role as Frodo in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and will be voicing a lead in Tron: Uprising, Disney’s animated series due next year.

Wood has a few projects in the can: Sky TV and Syfy’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and the animated tentpole Happy Feet 2, which sees Wood coming back as the voice of Mumble the fleet-footed penguin.

From:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/elijah-wood-joins-rashida-jones-192703

Excellent!

Rashida and Andy were in I Love You Man together, she did a video short with Andy for the MTV Movie Awards, and she also co-hosted a party with him. Plus she cameo'd on SNL when he did. So they're pretty tight.

It's cool that they're in a rom com together. We mentioned this earlier. But...

Elijah Wood supporting? That's gravy! Also Emma Roberts is supporting as well. Emma is Julia Roberts' niece and has starred in Nancy Drew and "Kind of a Funny Story".

What do you think?

Enjoy!

Andy Samberg's Shark Week - Videos?

Updated 6/7/11 with better info (thanks to Anony).
=======================

Andy promos Shark Week when you click on the link:

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/shark-week-shark-week-video-challenge.html

Let us know if you see any other Andy Shark Week videos!

Enjoy!

Sunday, June 05, 2011

Andy Samberg talked Jason Sudeikis into hosting MTV Movie Awards

Why's Movie Awards Host Jason Sudeikis 'Mad' At Andy Samberg?

Jason Sudeikis is one lucky MTV Movie Awards host because, not only is he friends with a previous Movie Awards host, he has one on hand at his other job.

When MTV News chatted with Sudeikis after the Sneak Peek Week preview of "Horrible Bosses," he talked about the advice his "Saturday Night Live" costar and former Movie Awards host Andy Samberg gave him about this weekend's big show. Here's a surprise: his advice wasn't very funny.

"It was merely, 'Have a good time,'" Sudeikis said. "When I asked him, 'Should I do it?' he said, 'Yes, you have to do it,' and I was like, 'Okay, 'but then I realized that's because he forgot all the hard work that went into it, and just remembering how fun it was after he was done with it and people probably telling him what a great job he did, which he did."



The process has not been so easy for Sudeikis. "When I started doing it, it was immediately difficult and like really hard to do while doing 'SNL,' like stacking both schedules at the same time. So, uhh, I'm mad at him about that," he said with a laugh.

In addition, Samberg told Sudeikis to book the talent he wanted for his sketches sooner rather than later. Though Sudeikis joked that he "just didn't do" that advice, he clearly did, because he managed to book prime stars like Daniel Radcliffe, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Emma Stone and Leighton Meester.

"I really like Kristen Stewart. I had never met her, but she had worked with Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig on that movie 'Adventureland,' and she was super quiet, and had a cool dog, and was like, 'whatever,'" he said. "I have two younger sisters, so being around kids younger than me and sort of busting their chops is what I've been doing since I was five and they were one, so it felt, even though all these kids are much younger than my sister, it felt really natural, it was fun."

From:
http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/06/04/movie-awards-jason-sudeikis-andy-samberg/

Jason recovered well from the "You did sleep with Kristen Stewart?" line. He's a natural. Also, lining up those stars for skits that he mentioned, it makes me wonder if the shows going to be awesome. It might be. =^)

What do you think?

Enjoy!

Saturday, June 04, 2011

Andy Samberg on Adventure Time

Andy plays Party Pat and possibly the first bear. What do you think?

[SNIP - This vid was illegally uploaded. Let us know if you find a short clip of any of Andy's scenes on a site intended to be displayed by the creators.]

Is this a weird cartoon or what? =^)

Did you like Andy's character?

Enjoy!

Thursday, June 02, 2011

What is it that the people want? Justin Timberlake, Andy Samberg, or both?



Thanks to Ashley for finding the GIF!

This is of course from the TV commercial/promo that Justin and Andy did for the season finale of SNL.

Slow news day, but we'll strike back!

Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Is this Kristen Wiig's last year on SNL?

Is it time for Kristen Wiig to leave 'SNL'?

This month will probably mark a career pinnacle for Kristen Wiig, who closed out her sixth season as a featured performer on "Saturday Night Live" and received rave reviews at the box office for her star turn in "Bridesmaids." Which may make the following bit of advice for Wiig seem somewhat ill-timed, but here goes.


Leave "SNL." Now. The show will be better off for it, and so will she.

That may seem an especially strange sentiment considering Wiig probably clocks more screen time than any of her cast mates. In a recent New York Times Magazine interview, "SNL" impresario Lorne Michaels suggested she was one of the top "three or four" best performers of all time on the long-running series--a stunning estimation given the talent that has come through there.

But you can see Michaels thinks highly of her. In recent seasons, he has run the tires off of Wiig by overusing her to the point where last season there were episodes where she seemed to be in every single sketch on a given night. Consequently, this past season her stable of recurring characters--Kathie Lee Gifford, Suze Orman, Penelope, Gilly, Target Lady--come across as creatively exhausted. Wiig has acknowledged the overuse herself, having retired some of those characters, but it's too little too late: They've all bled together into one whacked-out shapeshifter that's worn out its welcome.

With the momentum "Bridesmaids" is providing her movie career, Wiig has got to be thinking this is the right juncture to move on to greener pastures. Let's not forget she's not only the star of the film, but its co-writer. Surely she's got ideas she wants to execute that last longer than three minutes. Or maybe NBC has bigger ideas for her, with the network having already successfully transitioned Tina Fey and Amy Poehler from "SNL" to their own primetime vehicles.

As hard as it might be to see a franchise player exit, "SNL" is ready to absorb the loss if Michaels takes a look at the distaff side of his own bench. Vanessa Bayer has had a breakout rookie year, getting recurring assignments like her Miley Cyrus sketch that often take cast mates years to earn. Abby Elliott and Nasim Pedrad have been there a little bit longer, but they're underestimated and underused. Getting Wiig out of the way would force "SNL" to lean on these women more often than it does.

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