Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - SNL 50: Andy Samberg

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Andy Samberg arrived at Saturday Night Live as a Featured Player in the fall of 2005, and within a couple of months he shook up the legendary show and brought it into the digital age. Willie Geist sat down with the SNL alum to talk about his time on the show and those infamous digital shorts that he produced with his comedy group “The Lonely Island”, his hit NBC comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and more. (Original broadcast date January 21, 2019) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. We've got a good one for you this week again. Andy Sandberg, such a good time sitting down with him. We got together, of course, the Saturday Night Live along you don't need me to tell you that. He was fresh off his hosting of the Golden Globe Awards. And now the return to NBC, we're proud to say, of his comedy, Brooklyn Nine-N-N-N-N. Remember, it was canceled off Fox after five seasons. He's like, all right, my show's over.

What's my next move? there's this grassroots groundswell of support for the show. People get online, including celebrities like Mark Hamill, who was Luke Skywalker, of course, Lynn Manuel Miranda, the creator and the star of Hamilton, and a bunch of other celebrities got online and said, You cannot do this. We need our Brooklyn 9-9. The show was saved within the space of about 30 hours, I think he said.

It was back on TV picked up by NBC, now airing in its sixth season there. Interesting, too, the backstory on Andy. of how he got to SNL. He was a writer at the MTV Movie Awards for Jimmy Fallon in 2005. Jimmy Fallon goes back to Lauren Michaels, the creator of SNL and says, these guys are hilarious. Samberg and his two buddies,

the Lonely Island guys, as they're known. And they get hired and basically revolutionize the show. They make these digital shorts. You remember, Lazy Sunday was the first big viral success. And then all the hits that came after, including that little number with Justin Timberlake, a holiday jingle, if you will. let's call it gift in a box. You know what I'm talking about. That changed SNL, brought it into the digital age, and also came right at the time when YouTube was launching in 2005. So there was this kind of synergy between these moments and Andy Sandberg and the Lonely Island guys stepped right into it. Andy and I got together at a bar here in New York. The conversation started off with a bit of an interruption, a phone ringing. But you know what? When you do interviews in New York, you get used to interruptions, fire trucks, cabs, honking. Who knows what's going to.

happen. We also, you'll forgive us, go off on a bit of a tangent when we realized we were both WWF professional wrestling fans in the 80s. That somehow spun into a long conversation about Rocky 4 and my theory that it helped precipitate the end of the Cold War. Thank God I had a wingman. Finally, someone who agrees with me on that point. Andy Sandberg right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Thanks for doing this, man. Appreciate it. Yeah. I want to talk about Brooklyn 9-9, but got to ask you quickly about the globes. Please. Hosting the globes.

I'll get it. I got it. Sorry, guys. That's my cell. It's Lauren. It only rings like that when it's Lauren. All right. You got your call done.

We're all good now. Call good, yes. We were talking a minute ago about what it's like to be up in that room, hosting the globes, telling jokes with like the biggest stars on earth, eating dinner in front of you. Yes. What's the experience? like?

They were not interested in watching the Globes. They were there in case one of them won. It was cool. It's a mixed bag. I had presented the Globes a few times before, but I realized generally I would come out in the middle of an act, which is to say after the show is back from commercial.

So anytime Sandra and I came out right after a commercial break, it was basically pointless to play to play the audience because everyone was in the wind. Right. You know, you saw whole tables just with their backs turned, people on their phones. It was very, very chaotic.

And I knew it was going to be kind of like that, but I didn't realize to what extent it would be like that. So she and I kind of just laughed about it and leaned into it and went like, all right, let's go out there and tell these super harsh intros. See if anyone notices. I think finally by the time we got to the This Is Us one, we grabbed people's attention. That was strong. Yeah, but it was fun. And I adore Sandra, and it was so fun doing it.

Yeah, I didn't realize, I heard you talking to Jimmy last night. You guys didn't really know each other before this. I think everyone assumed like, oh, it's a comedy duo. They're old buddies. Yeah. But you kind of worked together once for a minute. Yeah. People liked it and then had the idea to put you together on the clothes.

Yeah, and both of the way, I mean, we had a phone call before deciding whether or not we should do it. And we were like, this seems crazy and maybe like a terrible idea. But then I said to her like, If you want to do it, I'll do it. And she said, man, I'm terrified, but you don't say no, right? You can't say no. And I said, that's how I feel. So we just kind of decided to go for it, even though it was fairly last minute.

And the schedule was very odd. Like New Year's Eve made it so that we kind of started working on the Wednesday of that week. So we really worked on it in a real sense from like Wednesday. to Saturday. That's crazy. So is that like an S&L week then, where you just come in Wednesday and go nuts for four days?

Yeah, I mean, S&L you at least even get Monday and Tuesday. Right. It was kind of like a digital short schedule for me at S&L where after the table read, then you start. Right. On Thursday, kind of.

But it was super fun, and we had a great writing staff, and they gave us so much great stuff. So it was definitely a unique experience. To say the least. Yeah. So now you spin off, come back to NBC, Yeah. We're back with Brooklyn 9-9.

Every NBC is so psyched that you're back. That's nice. So when it gets canceled at Fox, do you assume the show's done for good? Or do you feel like, okay, let's find a new home for this? More of the latter. I'm a producer on the show, so I was on those emails

with Dan Gore, Mike Scher, David Miner, and the studio, NBC Universal, talking about where can we take it, if it's not going to be a Fox. And, you know, there aren't that many places that made sense, but there were definitely a few that we felt like were a good target. NBC Network was always, in my mind, like, shoot the moon one.

I kind of had my expectations lower. But my dream scenario were it not to stay on Fox was to come to NBC. I mean, you can't think of a better version of things. going than that. So there was like about a 24 to 48 hour period. I can't really call how much time passed. But we were like, such and such place might be interested. Oh, now they say maybe they're not.

Oh, this and that, this and that. And then slowly it was like, maybe NBC though. And I'm like, really? Like, that'd be great. Who can I call? Right. You know, and they're like, well, we'll just wait and see. I think what it came down to is just them crunches.

numbers and going well it's owned by NBC Universal which is owned by the same parent company and we make this amount on international and we make this amount on syndication and streaming and all these deals and if we keep making it even if the ratings are such and such we'd still be earning like that kind of a thing and I think the numbers came back good so here you are here we are yeah it was miraculous and obviously for everyone who works on our show we were it was more than just like wow, that's so cool, I'm going to keep this job. It was like, oh, we get to keep spending time together.

Right. It doesn't feel like it's time to stop doing this. And it feels in a lot of ways, almost like the world is just finding the show in a lot of ways. And getting canceled and brought back kind of congealed the audience of our show in a really cool way too. Yeah, well, it's interesting you say that because there was kind of this popular uprising. Like, you cannot take the show away from us. And then led by celebrities. Yeah. Mark Hamill kind of leading the chart.

Luke Skywalker and Sam Wise Gamgey. Maybe my two favorite characters of all time. Right. Lynn Manuel Miranda. Amazing. Did you know they were fans before that? I think there had been like rogue tweets. Right.

You know, where it was like, hey, did you hear that Girole Loz deGarro loves the show? And we're like, whoa, that's cool. But yeah, like the way that it sort of started going like that. And I think I've said this before, sort of half jokingly, that it was maybe a little bit of a slow news day really helped us out. There was no insane story that everyone had to pay attention to. So it was like, hey, this Brooklyn out nine things kind of interesting. Take up that cause. Yeah.

And it got proliferated a lot and turned it like we got turn around so fast and picked up so fast that I think we found out like Saturday of that week that we were picked up and the up fronts for NBC were that Monday. So I went from, we're canceled to, we're picked up, to you're getting on a flight tomorrow to New York, to walking through the airport, and, like, people in the airport going, congrats on the show! And being like, whoa, people know about this. And then all of a sudden, walking out on stage at the NBC upfront on Monday. So it was, it was whirlwindish. Yes. And so now do we have to give Mark Hamel a cameo somewhere in the season or Lynn Manuel Miranda? They all have an open invite.

Right. Anytime they're available and ready, they're welcome on our show. I see that. Yeah. Those would be a good walk-on. Except for Seth, obviously. Not a strong actor. No, you don't want to. I've seen him in sketches.

Keep him behind the desk. Keep him behind the desk. We actually, I think we may even have a couple of Seth Easter eggs this year. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, okay. That's a good little tease. Yeah.

So where is the show right now? For the huge fans, season five ends. Yeah. Where do we pick everybody up? It ends with Jake and Amy's wedding, and Holt is. going to find out whether or not he's gotten the job as commissioner. Right. And then Hitchcock and Scully are just kind of useless.

We don't want to give too much away, but in the first episode there's a honeymoon. Yeah. Which has some fun twists and it. It twists and turns, doesn't go maybe as, as, it's not quite as fun as they had hoped. Right. But it's funny. It's a funny moon. It's funny.

And we were just talking about this, you get your first bleep, which you could never have on Fox. Correct. The big moment. Fox, bless them. It kept us on for a long time. You can't do bleeps or blurs, which is kind of my bread and butter for anyone who knows my SNL work. I think we always have this conversation of if I had the most on-screen naked from the bottom down with a blur over me of anyone in SNL history. Has anyone looked into that? I don't know. I think I definitely have the most bleeps because we would do those songs. For sure. And they were all pretty bleeped. Right. bleepy. Right.

But. I think maybe Will, I don't know if Will Ferrell was ever nude. He would just wear like a thong. Yeah. He didn't need the blur. Yeah. We reach it in the writer's room for the Globes.

Somebody brought up this really dicey old digital short called A Couple of Homies, which was me and Fred Armisen. But it's Will Forte keeps singing songs, narrating what's happening on screen. It's like shot horribly in one of the crappy dressing rooms. But it ends with Forte in the recording booth singing the song. And then he turns around and leans against the wall and his full butt exposed. And it aired. And I was like, oh, right, Will showed his full naked butt on SNL.

I don't think anyone else in the history of the show did that. That's extraordinary. Yeah. That's historic. It is. You might say. Yeah, it's like when, what was it? And then NYPD Blue.

Right? Friends, right? Full butt. Dennis France. Take the forte over the France, maybe. If I have to pick. Yeah. They're both good.

I don't like to pick between butts. I just like, I'm all. This show, I mean, it reads when you watch the show, but it just looks like such a blast to make. You're all buddies. You've known Chelsea since you were kids. How much, when you started the show just sort of assembling this super group

of people you wanted to work with, how much fun was that? It was a really interesting and fun problem. I know that right out of the gate, like the first time I met with Mike Schur and Dan Gore when they came by, I was recording a Lonely Island album in LA, and they came by to our like schmancy rental by the pool and they were pitching me Brooklyn 9-9. They were like, we don't know about casting yet. The one thing we know is we really want you and we really want Terry Cruz. I was like, oh my God, I love Terry. Do you do it? And they were like, we're not sure we're talking about it. We're talking with his people. And I was like, oh my God, if you can get him, that'd be incredible. And then, The casting process, we did it with Allison Jones, who I don't know if you know who she is. Yeah. She's just a genius casting director who has placed like everyone in the last three waves of comedy in television and movies. And, you know, she did the office and parks and Judd's stuff and, you know, all kinds of incredible projects.

So she was the one who would be like, you know, oh, there's this woman, Stephanie Beatrice, who's incredible. Oh, Melissa Famerra. you heard of her, she's great. She brought in all these really cool people that maybe we didn't even know about yet and was like, oh, you've got to check them out. Joe, I already knew because I was a huge fan of the state. And then Andre, I don't know who brought Andre up, but as soon as that was breached, it was like, would he do it? Right. You know? Right. Right. Like, that would be hilarious. And just knowing, just thinking about me and my energy that's so cartooning and doofy

and like kind of bouncing around up against his stoicism and his like gravitas and bass, you know, it was like, oh, that sounds really fun. And even after he agreed to do it, when we had our first table read, you're not sure if it's going to work. Right. But Mike always likes to talk about how there's the first moment. when Jake's like, oh, I'm the captain, bleep, or bleep. And then he's like, is that what you think I sound like?

And the whole room just like fell out. Right. Oh, thank God. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's like the core story is intact. Right. Yeah.

Sure. So does the show in season six on a different network change at all? Or is it just a through line from season five? The way you shoot it, the way you present it. More of that. More a through line. It's the characters are going to continue growing the way they have through the first five years.

the show looks the same, you know, the tone is the same. I think we're going to lean into doing a little more, like, what we call issues episodes, which was something we started doing the last few years. But I think percentage-wise, it'll be similar to the last few years where it's not what the show is about, but when we feel like we have a really good take on something, or there's something that's a little more of a social issue that we, want to talk about and feel like responsible to talk about as a show, we're going to do it. And I think that's indicative of our times and probably what a lot of shows and people in

creative realms are doing. So that's stuff that I'm really excited about, but also just making it funny and fun and sweet. Yeah, I was going to ask you about that because you guys have started to do that where you take on racism or homophobia or police violence. Yeah. How do you fit that into a comedy where, as you describe it is cartoonish at times, at least with your character? How do you walk that line?

Editing. No, the writers are great. Yeah. And Dan's been really great, Dan Gore. He's been really strategic about it where we'll talk about like the global subject that we're thinking of addressing or doing a story. story about. And then he'll make sure that we don't have to do that episode in a rush. So like we did an episode, the title of it was Moomoo. It was if Terry gets, you know, racially profiled in his own

neighborhood. He's out of uniform and it pisses him off rightfully and we're all sort of talking about it. And that was an episode that we all knew we really wanted to do and thought would be really incredible, but it went through a lot of iterations because it didn't feel quite right. We wanted to stay true to the show. We wanted to do that episode and still have there be laughs, so it wasn't all of a sudden like a very special, you know, and betray the tone of what we do, but it also needed to give space and respect to the fact that this is a very real thing and it's awful. So they worked on it until it felt right, you know. And even in the edit, there were like funny things we lifted because it was it felt disrespectful to what we were talking about

and other scenes where it felt a little too dramatic and we had to try and figure out ways to make it a little lighter um so it's it's just trying to thread that needle yeah you know and i feel like so far that everyone has done a really great job especially that episode and um the episode where rosa comes out to her parents as bisexual that one i feel like really affected people. I know for me when I watched it, I was crying. Stephanie's performance was incredible and, you know, that's super, super real stuff for a lot of people. I think it says a lot about your show, too, that you have not only writers, but actors who can pull that off. So you can be hilarious one minute and then make somebody cry another. Yeah, with the wrong group of people, it wouldn't work. For sure.

And when you're on set, you know, you do multiple takes and you get different levels to protect. Because Oftentimes I can speak for myself as a performer. If there's something intense and emotional, I'll go deep on it for a take. And then sometimes it's hard to cut from, like, in the same scene being like, do-da-dur-da-da-da-do-do-do. You know, like, it needs to have that right flow to it. So you just try and make sure you protect yourself

when you're cutting it together. Well, we're so psyched the show's back. Thanks. Awesome. Awesome. We're talking about SNL and the genesis of your interest in Saturday, I was telling you I have a nine-year-old son

who's probably the way you were when you were nine. Yes. The story goes that you would sneak to watch TV to watch professional wrestling. But then you'd come across SNL and that's how you sort of discovered it. Is that right? Yeah, Saturday night's main event.

WWF. I'll get it. So many phones. It's amazing. The world runs on Duncan, but also phones. Who was your guy? Who was your wrestling guy? I really liked Junkyard Dog.

Oh, I loved him. I really liked Hacksaw Jim. Dougan. Of course. British Bulldogs. Yep. Yeah. Jimmy Superfly Snucka.

Top rope. Yep. Routy, Piper. Yeah. Hulk. Under the Giant. Sergeant Slaughter guy?

Sergeant Slaughter? He was good. And then somehow he became a G.I. Joe character? He became a bad guy. They made his uniform. First he was camo and then they made his uniform black. Yeah. That's how he knew he was a bad guy.

I did not like the honky talk man. No. Bad guy. He was a bad guy. When there was something crazy, I was at WrestleMania 1 at Madison Square Garden. out yeah yeah uh wrestling mania is when i learned the word pandemonium i think it was russlemania four is that hulk hogan and and andre the giant was the main event it's pandemonium at the pottyac silver dome i'll never forget that sentence for some reason

i wonder who said that was it mean jean oakreland had to be yeah he died last week i heard i'm bringing this down no no not at all he was he was the best so we're so we're gonna have a full wrestling podcast By the way, the wrestling thing, my favorite thing when the ice cream truck would come. When I was a kid and we still lived in Oakland, the ice cream truck would come down our street. And I would chase the ice cream truck because they had the WWF wrestling bar where it was cookie on one side and chocolate on the other side with vanilla ice cream in the middle. And the cookie side had like a chocolate stenciled wrestler on it. And I'd always be like, I hope I get junkyard dog. But I still at this day.

In my mind, I'm like, that's the most delicious treat that anyone could ever eat. On so many levels. And I know if I was handed one now, it would be like a cardboard biscuit. Yeah. But it was delicious to a kid. Oh, God. you love America. That and Rocky Four.

Rock, I can go deep on Rocky Four. I'll talk about Rocky Four all day. Truly. It's so good. The speech at the end. The speech. That, to me,

there's Reagan Gorbachev, the Pope, and then that speech that ended the Cold War. I've seen changes. Maybe using us. We're not so different. And then everyone,

like, slow clap of the country. The whole country of Russia. The fake Gorbachev guy slides out of the chair and stands up and he starts clapping for America. Yeah. And then the generals are all flustered, but then they have to stand up because he did. And the Cold War ended the next day. That should have been the scroll. That's it.

The Cold War ended the next day. Thanks to Rocky. Oh, my God. I don't even remember what we're talking about. Oh, SNL. Yeah. Yeah. So, do you remember your first experience with SNL who was on the cast and when you fell in love with it?

Yeah, it was like Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman. Yeah. Yeah, that group. And I immediately loved it. I immediately, and I think shortly after Mike Myers showed up, and then kept watching into the Sandler Farley Spade, you know, Julia Sweeney, just incredible, incredible casts that were very formative for me. And then learning about it, my parents finally caught wind.

I was watching it, and then they were like, oh, have you seen? the earlier stuff. Right. And I was like, how long has it been on? You know? And then getting to see the original cast and then like the Eddie Murphy years. That stuff was big for me. Yeah.

And so did you have it as you, I mean, obviously when you're that age, you don't know what you're going to do for a living. But as you got older, did you have in your head somewhere? Man, I'd love to be on that show someday. Yeah. You did. Yes. And was that a realistic thing to your mind or was it sort of a fantasy?

No. It was always the thing that I. was like, man, if I could do anything, it'd be that. Wow. But to me, it was like a little kid in Little League being like, I want to be shortstop for the Yankees. Right, right. Yeah, great.

Yeah. So does everyone. Right. Right. Right. And honestly, I didn't really think, like, when me and Akiva and Yorma, the guys I worked with, we moved to L.A. And started doing comedy.

I was doing stand-up, and we were writing on a couple of award shows and making our own videos. I had, like, gone in for the pre-year-old. limb like groundlings audition and kind of tanked it. And I, right before we actually made a connection to get an audition for S&L, I was pretty sure that it was not my path. Really? Where I was like, oh, there's people that are really good at sketch. Like this isn't going to be how it goes for me, even though it's the thing I would most want.

I'm just going to do what we do. You know what I mean? And then randomly because we got a job writing on the movie awards, the MTV Movie Awards, one year. The first year, the host was Lindsay Lohan, and then they brought us back the next year, and it was Jimmy, Fallon. And he brought all the S&L writers and Steve Higgins and Mike Shoemaker with him. And we just kind of all hit it off and had a great time. And he and I think Higgins and Shoe recommended us to Lorne based on that experience. And then you'd come back and do the audition for Lauren. Yeah, and I had no audition. I had stand-up, and it was all kind of meta and, like,

very pleased with itself. Right. But, you know, Meku and Yorma wrote my audition like the week before. I was like, I don't know, who can I sound like? They want impressions. So all my impressions were like one sentence. I literally did Alan Rickman from Diehard. And the whole thing was just McClough.

I was like, thank you. Moving on. I was like, just don't give them too much so they can't see through the cracks. Small doses. Yeah, exactly. And was there, didn't you do Jimmy or Sandler? Maybe you did Sandler? No, I did Jimmy.

You did Jimmy Fallon at a funeral. Which was? Oh man, so sad. But I didn't even know I could do Jimmy. And then working for Jimmy on the movie awards, I did the temp track. They did like a mock-up of the Batman opening thing. Me and my buddy John Solomon

and a few other people wrote it. And so they needed to like show it to Jimmy. Like, it'll be like this. So they were like, Andy, can you do the temp? And I was like, oh, okay. I was like, oh man, hey, Batman, what's going on, man? And he was like, who's doing my voice? He sounds like me.

He was like, that's really funny, buddy. I was like, oh, thanks, I love you. They can go either way. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. I know. When he first said, who's doing my voice? I was like, not me. And do people laugh in those auditions?

I've heard the SNL audition. I've heard both where it's just a dark room with no laughter or you get a couple from the back. I got a couple and I had heard you get nothing. Right. And the one I always talk about that I specifically, heard was Tina. And I would, going in and still, I was such a huge fan of hers.

And I knew her laugh from like interviews and stuff. And I was like, oh shit, Tina Faye just laughed at one of my jokes. I'm so happy. Thank God. And I, it was the same thing with SNL audition where I was like, I can't believe I get to walk into the studio. Right. Like that was the thing I was the most excited about.

I wasn't thinking there was a chance I was going to get it. And then after the first audition and people laughed, I was like, oh, shit, maybe. Well, maybe there's a chance because I saw some of the other ones where people didn't get laughs, even though I thought they were funny. So maybe they could slot me in somewhere, you know. But then I also saw Bills that same day, and I was like, oh, no. Hater's a five tool player. Oh, my God. Also, like, him and Wig, if you watch their auditions.

Everything in their auditions aired on the show. Oh, is that right? Yeah, we were just like, oh, they were ready to go. Right. He did that Vinnie Vedetti character. His whole audition was that character and then pivoting into different other things. And it was, I mean, he's a killer, both of them.

So what's the phone call like then when you actually find out you're on the show? I was told Lorne wanted to meet with me. And could I fly to New York to meet with Lorne? So I wasn't told I got it. I was like, great. Like, probably figured he wants to be like, what's your vibe? And I could either be like a lunatic or normal. And then maybe he still wouldn't hire me, but who knows?

But what I didn't know is they flew me and Bill out together. And Bill had already been told both of us got it. Oh. I don't know why they told him and not me. Maybe they weren't supposed to tell him or maybe they were supposed to tell me. Who knows? But he quickly realized when we, met up at the airport that I didn't know.

And very sweetly was like, well, I don't want to be the one to tell him. Right. And take away this huge moment. Like, I don't even know him yet. So he sat next to me the whole flight. Wow. Being like, in me being like, man, I wonder how it's going to go. Like a little dumb dumb.

And he was like, yeah, man, we'll see. I don't know. A little sweet little guy. And, you know, then you get there. And I went in to have my meeting with Lauren. And he was basically just like, so you think you could do this? And I was like, yeah, I mean, I would try my hardest. And he was like, and my hair at that time, by the way, if you see pictures of me in the beginning of us and I remember.

My hair was insane and it was worse before I started. Oh, that was the cut down. That was the cut down. And Lauren did ask me in that meeting, would you be willing to cut your hair? And I was like, yeah, I'll shave my head. I'll do whatever you want. He was like, okay, well, we're all going to get dinner after, so you should come. And I was like, okay, great.

And then I walked out and all the people in his office, I think Lindsay Shookas was there and some other people. And they were like, so? And I was like, I don't know what happened. And they were like, you got it. And I was like, oh, okay. So he never said it. No.

That's so funny because I think Seth, you probably know better than I do, has a similar story where he was like, am I on the show? And then he said eventually, Lauren was like, so we'll do this. I was four years into working there and I still wasn't sure I was on the show. I think it was like maybe I just started showing up and they didn't want to turn me away. Oh my God. But yeah. The first digital short, the first one that blew up, Lazy Sunday, was in 2005, like fall, 05, I want to say.

I think it was the Christmas episode. Christmas, okay, Christmas of 05. You know, you look at the timing of that. People forget YouTube was still a new thing. Yeah, it was the first time we'd heard of YouTube. Yeah, so it was like this confluence of something people weren't super familiar with yet in YouTube and this new way of showing comedy to the world. Yeah.

Was that your way, because you said you weren't good at the sketches and all that, was that your way of like, okay, this is my lane on SNL? Yeah, I mean, we were trying to get on any way we could. We had had a couple of things air. I wouldn't say we were not getting anything on the show. Our first episode, me and Bill got on an update and went really well. So it was more a thing of like, that's what we were. doing on our own before the show.

If you look at like the old Lonely Island stuff, it was a lot of like fake comedy rap videos and you know, goofy surrealist pre-tape sketches. So we were definitely sort of angling to see if we could start doing that because we really liked the pre-tape aspect of it that we could control it and control the timing and keep it tight and adjust after dress and make it shorter. so that there was no flab on it. You know, that's our MO is like only stay in the idea as long as it's worth staying in kind of a thing. And they told us, you know, hey, if you can do some cheap stuff, run out and try it.

You know, we're always looking for things to put in between sketches because if you're in a long act, they need a pre-tap to switch over the set. Right. So they're basically like, Lauren needs things. switch over the set. And we were like, great. Fine. That's where we want to live. Right.

And then we did one with Will For Takeh, a lettuce that aired. And we were like, great, we got something on. It costs like $10. Right. I mean, I think we shot on like mini-d-V tape or something.

And then the second one was Lazy Sunday. Oh, that was the second one. Yeah. Wow. Which was like, and our heads just exploded. Like when it aired,

we were like, hey, we got another thing on. That's really cool. And I remember that night's smigel, Robert Smygle, was like, that thing's going to be big. And we're like, really? He was like, why do you think it caught on the way it did? I couldn't say. Yeah.

I think for whatever reason, it was the right moment for that kind of joke. And obviously it birthed so much awfulness. Oh, greatness. But so many other like hacky joke raps and. Right. The one thing that we always would talk about is that we grew up listening to that music and really love and respect that music. And we always would try and make sure that when we were doing those jokes, that the joke was about us or about something outside of what the music itself was. It was never like, isn't it funny of like white guys are rapping or like, isn't rap funny?

Because to us, it's not. It's great. It's an art form just like any other. and it's like what we came up on. So I think a lot of other people after us that were like, hey, look what they're doing. That's really funny. Right. Who didn't have the same respect and love for it would do things.

And it would be kind of the old joke of doing that. Right. I'm saying out in the world. Yeah. Not anywhere like SL or anything. But just a lot of stuff on YouTube basically. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. Where you're like, oh, no, this is, I feel conflicted now. Right. Yeah. But yours was always. I mean, it was clear. Yeah. We tried to bury a lot of details in all the stuff we did so that people would, people who knew would be like, oh, they know their stuff.

So if you had to, I mean, people do D and a B, right? I'm on a boat. Lazy Sunday because it's the original. Do you have a favorite as you look back at the Cannon, the Lonely Island Canon? I love having one. I love Jack Sparrow with Michael Bolton. I love I ran so far

the Akhmedina Jod one I love mother lover with Justin I love Reba with Keenan Oh yeah with Keenan That one is bonkers It's so weird

That's definitely one where when it aired We were like well we just put that on television And I also just love Kenan so much I was really happy to get to do one that really starred him I just feel like he's so Even though he's like hugely famous and everyone loves him, he still feels somehow underrated to me. Yeah.

I just think he's a genius. So that's a good point to sort of investigate how you guys operate. That idea, to a song about Reba McIntyre and make it Keenan. Keenan. Where does that even come from? Kenan, and I think Emily Spivey, who's a writer, wrote a live sketch where Keenan played Reba at a photo shoot. And it, I think it went to dress and then got cut, but it was like our favorite thing

ever. So we then said to them, hey, would you be cool with us doing that same idea of it as a song? We have an idea for it. And they were like, yeah, great. But I do wonder if they could find that old live Reba sketch is so funny. They got it somewhere. So we kind of poached it. Right. But flipped it and made it a new thing with more energy. Tom Reba. Yeah, he's so good. You figured he had the costume. We might as well And also it's a Roshaman where you see the two different perspectives. Right.

Right. I have to keep saying that so that people will say it. No one was like, what a Roshabon. Are there things that, so you've done everything you can possibly do in comedy, season six of the show.

Are there other things that you, you're such a creative guy? Are there things up on the board? You're like, I haven't had time to get to that yet, but I want to do it. Directing a movie, doing drama? Is there some other... Are you happy where you are?

I love doing comedy. It's all I ever wanted. I think there's definitely some movie stuff I want to do that maybe is a little more of a blend. I did a movie with Rashida Jones called Celeste and Jesse Forever that. I had a really wonderful experience doing that. I wouldn't mind doing more stuff like that. It was funny,

but it also had more earnest, dramatic elements to it. And I enjoyed that experience. We're going to do live shows. The Lonely Island. I saw that. That's something that we always wanted to do.

It never did. And then we finally did it this past summer. And it was super fun. So we're going to do more of that, I think. You're doing Bonnaroo, aren't you, this year? Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing.

I said it on Fallon, but we're going on after Post Malone. So we're post-post-Malone. Even better the second time. Even better than that's like that. Great. What's a live show like for Lonely Island? I mean, you get the, obviously, you get the guest stars to come on. Yeah.

Um, we, we like, like everything with us, we tried to, we really overloaded with content for it. Like we were working with this really awesome guy, Mike Diva, who has a great YouTube channel, and he created a lot of stuff for the screens behind us so that it feels new and, and kind of exciting. He's a lot of really incredible graphic work, and there's like a couple new little video clips, not full music videos or anything, but things that are just, just for the concert kind of. But it's an incredible experience. I mean, the Cluster Fest show we did in SF, it was like 12,000 people.

Wow. And, you know, for the last song, we did, I'm on a boat, and T. Payne came out, and they, like, flipped the lights out, like at a real rock show, and it's 12,000 people know every word. Isn't that crazy?

And you're just like, this isn't right? Like, we loved it. It was so fun, but it felt so, surreal and beautiful that that many people wanted to spend their time on something so stupid. Right. We're like, wow, yeah, there are people that really like dumb stuff.

You know, like smart, dumb, intentionally done, which has always been, it's always hard to play that lane because it's so easy for people to write it off and go, well, that's dumb. And you're like, yeah, on purpose. Right. Because what is anything? Right. But, I don't know, it was very satisfying and to feel that energy coming back to us. after so many years of doing it,

it was really gratifying. I'm happy for you, man. Congrats and everything. Next time we do a full, like an hour on Rocky 4 and wrestling. And what it would do the nexus of those two things? Consider it done. You know what I mean?

I mean, wasn't Mr. T in both? I think he was in Rocky 3. He was in Rockies. What's he in 4? I'm just saying the Rocky franchise. Oh, the franchise. Yeah, I was going just four. Didn't he do WWF?

Yeah. He was at WrestleMania 1. Exactly. And who else was there? Uh, Liberace. There's an amazing photograph of like Hulk Hogan, Cindy Lopper, and Liberace. Cindy Lopper. Oh, right.

Oh, right. Yeah, yeah. Captain Lulbano was in The Girls Just Want to Have Fun video. The rubber band in his beard. I love her. There's so much to say. Cindy Lopper, my first celebrity crush. She was?

Wow. Oh, yeah. That's interesting. She's the greatest. Off that video, Girls just want to have fun. Just all of it. Both my sisters were obsessed with her, and I was just like, uh-huh. She's the coolest person I've ever seen.

Yeah, she was cool. I still listen to that album all the time. True Colors is a great classic song. Forever. Forever. She's a bunch of them. Yeah. It's a great song.

She's so unusual is one of the best pop records that ever made. It really is. And now that we have a daughter, it's just like, oh yeah, this isn't heavy rotation. Oh, is she into it? Well, I think it's still me, but I'm trying to... I'm using her as an excuse to keep playing it. You'll learn to do that, too, and they're like, What's this Bieber doing on?

You guys, they're like, we don't like you're just like Too late to say sorry guys. They're like, we're not listening to it. Where are you now? I still love that song. Yes. And the one, the big, like, Collad Collabo one was so good that came out last year.

He's good. I know. There's the Omna one, but then the follow-up one was great, too. No-brainer. Yeah. Speaking of that homage, Top Star had some great sort of Bieber homage to it.

It did. I still have not seen him since that. I hope he's really. Really? Yeah. Oh, it's so funny. That movie's really funny. Thanks.

I was really happy with it. It feels like it's finding people a lot now. It's a tough thing putting out a mockumentary. Right. Right. The full-length, lonely island project. Exactly, exactly. But yeah, it turned out great.

As long as we're talking about our 80s, obsessions. Yeah. We've covered wrestling, covered Cindy Lopper, diehard, and Jake's obsession, which, again, not giving away too much, but in first episode of season six, really comes together. Yes, yes. And in the promo we shot, which is amazing. Right. Where does that come from? Is that from you, real life, diehard obsession? I am obsessed with die hard. Although I feel almost like a fraud saying it because my buddy Yorma is so obsessed with it. that I'm like Fairweather compared to him. Right.

Where he's like, he's like Jake in earnest. However, I would say it's one of my favorite action movies of all time. It's incredible. I don't remember how it started on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, whether it was something I pitched or whether it was just a joke that a writer wrote. But it just kept making sense to bring it back up. And it, there's something about Jake Peralta's worldview. that is almost synonymous with his love of diehard.

Like his idea of why being a detective is a good thing to be. Right. And a positive thing in the world is connected to his view of John McLean and what he does in Die Hard. Right. He wants his life to be a movie where he's an action hero and he's stopping bad guys from doing bad things to good guys. Right.

And he wants his wife to be Holly General. He does. Yeah. It works out very nicely. Yeah. But we'll leave that to that episode. one. Cool.

Thank you. Awesome. My thanks again to Andy Sandberg for that conversation. You can catch new episodes of Brooklyn Nine-N-N-N-Earthly at Nine-Central on NBC. And thanks, as always, to all of you for tuning in to the Sunday Sit-Down podcast to hear more of our conversations with all of my guests, including recent ones with Jerry Seinfeld, J-Lo, Margo-Robbie, Natalie Portman. Be sure to click subscribe and listen for free, for free, everywhere. And of course, don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist.

We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.