The Lonely Island on the Big Stage

America's Top Musical Parody Group and Their Rise To Fame

Sep 3, 2009

The Lonely Island is the most popular musical comedy out right now and their success began before SNL when they were just three guys in an LA apartment having a good time

By now almost everyone in America under the age of thirty has heard of them, except for those whose caves don’t have Wi-Fi yet. They’ve taken over Saturday Night Live, the most recent MTV movie awards, and YouTube. And yet, few people know much about The Lonely Island other than they’re the guys that did that one funny song with Justin Timberlake.

These casual fans may not know that the three guys from America’s premier musical parody group were out there even before SNL made them household names.

Before The Limelight

The story begins in Berkeley, California. Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samburg met in Junior High School. For a slightly embellished version of the partnership’s origin story interested parties can consult the title track on the Incredibad album. From there the three fledgling comedians each went their separate ways to film school before reuniting afterwards in LA. It was during this time that the group began making short films and establishing their trademark off the wall humor.

The Lonely Island’s earliest productions can be found on this website and, while primarily non-musical, often contained hints at the group’s current direction. The songs “Just 2 Guyz”, “Wait (You Guys)”, and “Kablamo!” are notable examples of The Lonely Island’s mastery of hip-hop parody before they gained a wide audience via SNL. In the right dorm hallway at the right time of night, one could often hear people drunkenly crooning “We’re just two guys and we’re having a good time”, and that was how many people first got a taste of Jorm, Andy, and Akiva.

These songs wouldn’t have had nearly as many people rofling had the group not utilized youtube’s wide reach to wrangle young people tired of “The Badger Song” but still not motivated enough to do their homework. So, the group’s self-produced material put them in Lorne Michaels’ good graces and the dudes became a part of SNL, Andy as a cast member and Jorma and Akiva as writers.

This is where the trio’s most notable exploits begin. Andy sang across from Justin Timberlake on “Dick in a Box”, opposite Chris Parnell on “Lazy Sunday”, and with Jorma on “Jizz in My Pants”. Thus, the seminal partnership burst onto the national stage. Their success on SNL begat projects like the hit or miss comedy movie “Hot Rod”, Andy hosting the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, and the successful release of the Incredibad album.

The Lonely Island is not the first musical parody group to achieve the kind of fame usually reserved for artists who take themselves much more seriously. After all, Weird Al is still chugging along. But the Lonely Island, while clearly following in the almighty Al’s footsteps, offers a slightly different take on musical parody. Andy, Jorma, and Akiva’s songs generally avoid mocking a single song and instead focus on a genre, often hip-hop, R&B, or dance music.

Their hits "Dick in a Box" and "Jizz in My Pants" place contemporary radio hits in a funhouse mirror, distorting the parodied genres for humorous effect while presenting something that could be construed as a top forty hit if one wasn’t paying close attention to the lyrics. The success of these tracks rests on The Lonely Island’s refusal to accelerate from zero to absurd in no time flat. Instead, the tracks feign the lyrical content of an average pop song for a while before breaking into hilarity during the first chorus and never looking back.

Other tracks, notably “I’m On a Boat” and “Ras Trent”, start at full throttle ridiculousness and don’t let up. Both tracks mix the mundane with the ludicrous for an effect that will keep a listener in hysterics for two and a half minutes before pausing briefly to regain composure and hit play once again.

The Lonely Island has become popular with cynical detractors of radio hits and those whose car radio dials are glued to the local top forty stations because of their simultaneous embrace and subversion of modern pop. Since their SNL-aided rise to fame they have become a bridge over which music fans of all persuasions can reach consensus.

Anyone who doubts this should put on “I’m On A Boat” at the next party they’re at and count how many people don’t get into it. One hand probably won’t even be necessary.

The copyright of the article The Lonely Island on the Big Stage in Alternative Music is owned by Eric Gibbs. Permission to republish The Lonely Island on the Big Stage in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.