"Andy Samberg"

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Speaker 2 Hi. Hi.
It's Smartless, everybody.

Speaker 1 You want to go around and introduce yourselves?

Speaker 2 We haven't done it in a long time. We haven't.
Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 1 I'm Sean Hay. I'm Sean Hayes.

Speaker 2 I'm Will Arnett. And I'm Jason Vabe.

Speaker 2 What's your porn name, Sean?

Speaker 2 Middle name and street you grew up on.

Speaker 1 Patrick Valley.

Speaker 2 Patrick Valley. That's actually pretty good.

Speaker 2 That's pretty porn. JB,

Speaker 2 Kent Emerson.

Speaker 2 No way. Sounds like he's got a strong mustache, right? Guess what? Mine is Emerson Edgar.
Oh, my God. Wow.

Speaker 1 Should you guys do a porn together?

Speaker 2 Are we going to do porn together? Yeah. Let's do it after an all-new smart list.
Smart.

Speaker 2 Smart.

Speaker 2 Smart.

Speaker 2 Sean, were you, when we had, we had dinner Saturday night, all of us, at our friend's house in New York. We did.

Speaker 2 And then at a certain point, Downey was wearing that shirt, that t-shirt that he sort of wore for JB. And he said, I want to give it to you.
And he said, okay, he said, let's switch now.

Speaker 2 So all of a sudden, in the middle of this dinner party, JB and Downey stand up and they go tarps off

Speaker 2 and

Speaker 2 switch.

Speaker 1 I didn't see that.

Speaker 2 We did a little top swap.

Speaker 1 Wait, but you had a sex pistols t-shirt on.

Speaker 2 Right, that was his. He gave it to me.
Downey walked in with that.

Speaker 1 Oh, I thought that's what you showed up with.

Speaker 2 No, I was just in just a generic blue tee, a nice tea. Sure.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 I said, you know what? Who was that? Robert, we're looking for beautiful vintage rock t-shirts for this idiot character I'm playing.

Speaker 2 And man, that looks like that. You had the sex pistols on? Yeah.
Yeah. And he goes, he goes, oh, yeah, I paid a lot of money for this.
And he told me the number. And I was like, good Lord.

Speaker 2 And he said,

Speaker 2 you want it?

Speaker 1 For a t-shirt? He paid a lot of money for a t-shirt?

Speaker 2 Oh, buddy. I said, yeah, I want it.
He he goes well here let's let's let's step over here and i'll give it to you i said

Speaker 2 no you're what and it's and and then he said yeah yeah i said well we don't need to step anywhere let's just do it right here jason so we just did a little top swap and now i'm going to work it into the show but we're trying to get clearance on sex pistols um and if we don't get clearance on it then i'm just going to put it in my wardrobe you know my closet at home and wait for down here to forget yes but i can get you a thousand of those for five dollars you can get me a thousand t-shirts for for $5?

Speaker 1 Well, like, like vintage old 70s, 80s, 90s bands.

Speaker 2 Where are you getting these?

Speaker 1 You just get them online.

Speaker 2 Yeah, or in vintage shops. I just went, I went vintage shopping with Franny yesterday because she wanted to do some shopping here in New York.

Speaker 2 And while she was looking at her stuff, I went looking at the old rock t-shirts there in this incredible store called Metropolis down on Broadway. And God, they got a great second.

Speaker 2 And I bought five great old rock concert t-shirts. and man, they're expensive.

Speaker 2 You know, you should have asked how, you know, Alessandra had a t-shirt business, this not a bit, for years.

Speaker 2 And she has, yeah, she has like a warehouse full of incredible vintage teas that she procured over the years. But boxes upon boxes upon boxes.
Why is she holding on to them?

Speaker 2 Why does she sell them to places like New York?

Speaker 2 It was hard for her to. Well, because they don't do the business anymore, so they got to figure out what they're going to do with the

Speaker 2 stock. Yeah, yeah.
Huh. Well, I can take a lot of that off her hands.
Yeah, me and Sean. As long as it's in New York, you can take a look at it.
Great. Where's she at? Is she still here? She is.

Speaker 2 Has she come back with you? No, she is. She's there.
I'll tell her to call you after. Great.

Speaker 2 JB, I don't know if you know this. Sean's had two hours of sleep.
He had another A fib in the middle of the night. True story.
I just got home and had to go to bed. I got home an hour ago.

Speaker 2 Did you OD on gummies?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 So now I don't. You know what I did?

Speaker 2 Which you guys are going to laugh. I got it.

Speaker 2 Did they have a sale on butter pecan ice cream? What happened? And you went crazy?

Speaker 2 I was walking down the street and I hailed a cab and i ran to get the cab and it just triggered it you can't run okay what you need is a nice aerobics class i think is what i'm saying i know no no i'm gonna get the ablasion where they go in and get the blade and they like they fry a little part of your heart out you've heard what that is no i've also heard about just like a step class you know or a stationary bike when you work on your endurance

Speaker 2 No, I have endurance. I should have been in the center.

Speaker 2 Clearly not. You're running after a cab and you end up in the hospital.
No.

Speaker 2 Sean, you should go into your pantry with a flamethrower and do an ablation on all the food that's in there. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 Listen, hey, Glass House, let's not talk about pantries. Yeah.
Okay.

Speaker 2 JB loves coming into my pantry. It's so.
But here's what happens.

Speaker 2 Every single time he comes in, he goes in. He goes in the pantry and he comes out and he's like, you got a lot of stuff? Were you going to eat all that? As he's stuffing his stupid fat face.

Speaker 2 Did I ever show you the picture I took of

Speaker 2 your freezer? Or sorry, your ice cream fridge? Yes. I mean, so you got one side with soda and food, and then the other side, which is supposed to be a freezer, is just basically like

Speaker 2 a repository for ice cream. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's all that sweet, sweet, sweet McConnell ice cream, which I adore. And I like Haagen Dazz.
Here comes more.

Speaker 1 Haagen Daz is the best. Haagen Daz, I'll take it.

Speaker 2 Hagen Dazz. Are you guys looking for free ice cream?

Speaker 2 I'm just going to. Sorry, I'm going to put a little web.
I'm going to put an address, a link they can click on at the end.

Speaker 1 But Jay, you know why I love Haagen-Daz, vanilla ice cream? Because it's only milk, eggs, cream, and sugar, and that's it. And vanilla.

Speaker 2 Sometimes you just pour those ingredients in your mouth, right? And then stick your head in the freezer.

Speaker 2 You can do a little mouthwash with them. Make it in your mouth.
Pour them in. They stick your head in.

Speaker 2 Oh, God. Jason's busy over there.
I'm always unlacing my new shoes. So,

Speaker 2 Maple, Franny got me into a t-shirt addiction. Maple's gotten me into really expensive tennis shoes.

Speaker 2 Yeah, those aren't. And now I can't stop them.

Speaker 2 difference in my.

Speaker 2 I don't know, are they more comfortable? No, they just make me feel pretty, you know? They're still pretty much funny. Okay, well, you look pretty.

Speaker 1 Guys, I want to get back to the funny

Speaker 1 guy who's like waiting for us. He's the best.
I'm excited.

Speaker 2 He's clearly a patient guy, too.

Speaker 1 Yes, and he makes me.

Speaker 1 He's a fellow podcaster and all-around funny guy.

Speaker 1 At age five, he asked his parents if he could change his name, and they said, Yes, I'd consider him part of my own personal SNL Hall of Fame, mastering some of my favorite impressions of all time.

Speaker 1 And though he's a standalone talent, his comedy work usually comes as a package deal of three.

Speaker 1 Together, do you know who it is yet? No.

Speaker 1 Together with his comedy trio, he helped put YouTube on the map with his hilarious star-studded music videos in the early 2000s. It's my comedy friend, Andy Samberg.

Speaker 2 Andy Samberg.

Speaker 2 Andy.

Speaker 2 Damn, that's so overdue. Plus, he's so relaxed.
He's really overdue. I know.

Speaker 2 Have you been ducking us? Have we not been able to make your deal?

Speaker 3 What is it? What's happening?

Speaker 2 Yeah. Ryder.
Uh-huh.

Speaker 1 Are you at a massage place right now with the screen behind you?

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Are you kidding me?

Speaker 2 Are you kidding me? He said, I'm going to do your podcast, but I'm doing one word ahead. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Wait, wait, can I just say that I saw, so Andy knows what I'm about to say, which is I saw him like two weeks ago.

Speaker 2 Oh, really? We were out, and he goes, Hey, hey, idiot, I'm coming to do your stupid podcast.

Speaker 2 Oh, he's so young.

Speaker 3 The retelling.

Speaker 3 This is a major Rashaman.

Speaker 2 That's pretty true.

Speaker 2 This is almost word for word. You said.
So I said, Hey,

Speaker 3 first off, hadn't seen you in years.

Speaker 2 I know. Right? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Hey, I'm about to be on your very successful podcast. That's literally what I said.

Speaker 2 And you went, No,

Speaker 2 you're not supposed to tell me and stormed off.

Speaker 2 It does sound like success. Going like this.
La la la la ho.

Speaker 3 And I was like, all right, you have a foot on me first off. Very intimidating.

Speaker 2 It does happen quite a bit.

Speaker 3 And then I spent the rest of the night at the Vanity Fair party, like sulking because I ruined your night.

Speaker 2 You were there. I didn't see you there.

Speaker 3 I was there. I saw you guys all together promoting the show.

Speaker 2 I put some eyes on you there.

Speaker 1 Andy, we dressed almost exactly the same, although I'm not wearing my hoodie, but baseball hat.

Speaker 2 You can grab it.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 2 We got time, right?

Speaker 2 It's a podcast. It's great.

Speaker 1 So, Andy, thank you for coming on today. I was really excited about you coming.
And I, well, first of all,

Speaker 2 I didn't know you changed your name.

Speaker 1 I thought you were always Andy.

Speaker 2 What was it before?

Speaker 3 Sean, hi.

Speaker 2 Hi. Nice to see you.

Speaker 3 When I was five, I changed my name to Andy from David. My middle name.

Speaker 3 It was my first name was David and then

Speaker 3 we get it.

Speaker 1 Your middle name.

Speaker 3 It's not. I mean, my mom was just cool about it is basically the short version.

Speaker 2 version why do you hate david so much

Speaker 2 what's wrong with david i don't know i just felt like an andy is the are you serious

Speaker 3 you knew you were an andy but honestly like when you look at me uh-huh yeah the first name you think personality wise obviously is adam that's what everyone calls me on accident but then

Speaker 2 then after that

Speaker 2 adam sandberg and justin bateman yeah he gets justin i got i got another one yesterday do you really did you are you serious

Speaker 3 by the way everyone has someone that they get the name of that person for. And I always think you get big enough and it stops, but then everyone I talk to has someone.

Speaker 2 No, I'm nowhere near it. I get the, I get the,

Speaker 2 hey, um, I loved you on SNL, and I'm like, never on it. Right.
Um, and then they're like, and I figured, like, they've got me confused.

Speaker 2 And I've talked about it with like either like Sudakis, me, Forte, just kind of middle-aged white dude.

Speaker 2 And they just go, you're.

Speaker 3 I bet it's Forte because you're both Wills.

Speaker 2 Maybe.

Speaker 1 You know what I,

Speaker 1 the other day I was in a doctor's office, like

Speaker 1 a couple months ago, and I'm walking out, and this guy in the waiting room goes, hey, where are the other two and a half guys?

Speaker 2 Oh, no.

Speaker 1 You're John Cryer. I'm like, I thought they meant Jason and Will.

Speaker 1 And I got to the elevator and I was like, they thought you were Angus, the kid from two and a half

Speaker 2 grown-ups.

Speaker 3 Or I thought it was going to be like

Speaker 3 Jason and Will. And one of them is notorious for having like a massive wang.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's it. Old 50-pound unit.

Speaker 3 Yeah, that's pretty good. That's how long it took me to bring up dicks.

Speaker 1 Wait, so let's talk about.

Speaker 2 I'm all in. What if you hit a stopwatch as soon as you set up?

Speaker 3 In my defense, I was on ice for a while while you guys chatted about t-shirts and stuff.

Speaker 3 So I count that time as my preamble time.

Speaker 2 Hey, can you believe it? I mean, this is the kind of talk I'm going to hit podcast.

Speaker 2 Can I embarrass myself early?

Speaker 2 Andy, you're a fella.

Speaker 2 I don't know well. We never really cross paths.
I know precisely the times we have

Speaker 2 because

Speaker 2 I think I've always wanted to be your friend and I just never would never cross this path.

Speaker 2 And both these guys know that that's a big deal because I don't really have a lot of friends, but I've targeted you.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 I feel like we'd be great together.

Speaker 3 I completely agree, and I feel the same. This is nice.

Speaker 2 Thrilling to have you here. If you could just quiet.
Sorry, while we're talking, dude, just give us one second. I'm just going to go take a break.
I'm going to go to the next wheels. Yeah.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 I really like the cut of your jib.

Speaker 2 Likewise in Ditto. Thank you.

Speaker 3 First off.

Speaker 2 All right. I like that you're in Los Angeles.
That increases our odds. That's true.

Speaker 3 I think probably your kids are older than mine, so that...

Speaker 2 decreases our odds. That's true.
Although mine can train yours.

Speaker 3 I pretty much only see people with kids my age at this point.

Speaker 1 But Jason, you're in luck because we're going to get to know Andy right now.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God, you're right.

Speaker 1 And we're going to start at the end of the day.

Speaker 2 I don't know, Sean, if you've ever listened to our podcast, but we don't really, we're not known for our fucking

Speaker 2 guests talking much at all. Letting our guests talk a ton.
So

Speaker 2 you listen back to your part.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, so Andy, you take a five.

Speaker 2 You take a five.

Speaker 2 Can I just say, can I just say, Andy? Yes.

Speaker 2 I know you a little bit, probably better than the other two guys from over the years. Yeah, we've hung out a lot.

Speaker 2 We have hung out a lot over the years and a lot, a lot. And then Andy was also, first of all, JB, you know this, so that you don't embarrass yourself, you know that Andy was in a rest of development.

Speaker 2 Oh, what?

Speaker 3 It was a blip.

Speaker 2 Wait. It's a blip.

Speaker 2 I believe it's how I got it in there.

Speaker 2 We what? And we talked about it on the DVD extras of season two as well. That's how long there was a video.
I didn't even know there were DVD extras.

Speaker 2 You were participating in it.

Speaker 1 Did you know you were in the show?

Speaker 2 What did I? Tell me the name of the show one more time.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 it was season two, and

Speaker 2 I had just seen Andy.

Speaker 2 Andy and Akiva and Yorma had just done, the Lonely Island Boys, as they're known, had just done a pilot called Awesome Town that was produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. I want to see that.

Speaker 2 Right, Andy? Yes. And for Fox.
It was really good.

Speaker 2 For Fox, it was a sketch comedy sort of variety. I don't even know how to describe it, especially.

Speaker 2 before snl yes pre yeah yeah the year before what year was that andy that you guys did that do you remember like 04 04 and it was so funny

Speaker 2 and i was like oh my god i was just obsessed with that pilot these guys are awesome yeah i want to know about that andy so like the lonely well hang on no wait i want to know what episode he was in in arrested development where where was i now don't tell me i was in the scene with him andy go no

Speaker 3 i think it was me and cross right well yeah it was you and cross which

Speaker 3 first off, Arrested Development was our favorite show. Like, me, Kevin, Norm sat around talking about it.

Speaker 3 It was how it was like, this is the first time ever on American television that comedy has been allowed to move this fast and be this funny, and every single person on it destroys.

Speaker 3 And we were absolutely.

Speaker 2 British Office was our inspiration, or at least me and Will.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Which showed, but like, it felt super different.

Speaker 2 And we were super big fans of Mr.

Speaker 3 Show also. So like the cross-pollination of those things was making our brains explode.

Speaker 3 So I was not in SAG. Really? I was doing stand-up and we were shooting our own videos and sort of like trying to cobble it together.
And then I got the call to come do this like one line.

Speaker 3 I think I was an usher at Blue Man Group. No way.
And it was the like next

Speaker 3 week on the show thing that's not real.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 3 And it was me talking across. I think I had one line.

Speaker 2 Were you in Blue Man makeup?

Speaker 3 No, really?

Speaker 2 I don't think I was. No.

Speaker 2 You were like, yeah, you were like in an usher's outfit or something.

Speaker 3 Yeah, and my hair was just massive. Seth Meyers said when he first met me, it looked like my hair was trying to eat my head.

Speaker 2 Man, I gotta, Willie, remember how we used to sit and watch the show? We'd watch them when America, when they were on on Sundays, right?

Speaker 2 We'd sit there like a couple of couple of newbies, just like, here comes our show. Our show's coming on.
And we'd watch it. And then we'd go outside for smokes during the commercial breaks.

Speaker 2 And then we'd go back in.

Speaker 2 And then

Speaker 2 we check online to see what the comments were. And then the next morning, what the ratings were.
Television without

Speaker 2 TV without pity. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
It's like a message board. And up at your old house.
Yeah, yeah, I do remember that. And I remember, you know what?

Speaker 2 Yesterday I was going through some of my stuff upstairs and I found the New York Times TV.

Speaker 2 Remember, they used to put out like this sort of the New York Times TV guide, you know, what's coming up in the week and whatever. Yeah.
And Arrested Development was on the cover.

Speaker 2 It was November of 2003. Jesus.
And they didn't really know what to make of nobody. And they're like, this is Amy.
Who knows? And anyway, I'm just going to go ahead and do that.

Speaker 2 Wait, what show are you guys talking about? It's called Arrested Development.

Speaker 2 Anyway, so Andy comes and does that. And then how, so that was like 2004.

Speaker 2 That was the spring of 2005. Larry Lou Henner that you did.

Speaker 2 Well, I think. Crazy.
Right. Dates.

Speaker 2 Because it was like

Speaker 2 one of the last episodes of that second season. So that was like 2005.
And then when was it that SNL, how did it, how did SNL happen? You guys had done the pilot that did not get picked up by Fox.

Speaker 3 Yes. And then we tried to sell it around town.
We We thought for sure we were going to get snagged by like MTV2 or something.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 No dice.

Speaker 3 And we were like, we're cooked. That was our shot.
And we were writing together, splitting a single writing check, working on the MTV movie awards for the second year.

Speaker 2 Three of you?

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 3 the first year we wrote for it, it was Lindsey Lohan. And then the second year we did it, it was Fallon.
And so Fallon came in hosting and he brought all the SNL people with him.

Speaker 3 And we just hung hung out with them basically for three or four straight weeks and loved them and hit it off.

Speaker 3 And Higgins and Shoemaker were there, who were, you know, one is still a big producer there and the other now runs Seth's show, but they were high up there. And Jimmy was obviously

Speaker 3 the SNL guy.

Speaker 3 And so we, me, Kevin Yorm and

Speaker 3 some others were responsible for writing a few of the like pre-tapes where you put the host in the movies from that year. Right.
And we wrote a Star Wars one and a Batman one that both got picked.

Speaker 3 So we were just hanging out with everyone on set, pitching jokes. And they were like, hey, these guys seem like they love comedy a lot

Speaker 3 in a way that, you know, you sometimes are shocked to realize that people don't.

Speaker 2 And did they invite you to audition or did they just say, we've seen enough, let's make them writers?

Speaker 3 Invited to audition. I had done stand-up at that point for six or seven years on and off, starting in college.
And I'd been on Premium Blend on Comedy Central, which was a thing.

Speaker 3 And then we had our pilot.

Speaker 2 I didn't think I knew that, that you'd been doing stand-up before that. Yes.

Speaker 3 I wouldn't say I was like

Speaker 2 H-O-T in the biz, but yeah, H-O-T. I was like, I was at the edge of it, though.

Speaker 3 Like I had just gotten to the point where I went in for the meeting at the improv on Melaros to be like, hey, you could come start doing real spots.

Speaker 1 Wow. Just for my sister, Tracy, who lives in Consonant, just a little context.

Speaker 1 And I didn't know this until I started reading about you that the three, so you started this little comedy troupe, which is now also a production company called The Lonely Island.

Speaker 1 And it's three of your friends. I did not know this that you met in eighth grade.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Well, Kevin, you're in seventh grade.

Speaker 2 That's crazy.

Speaker 1 Seventh grade. Yeah.
And so, and then, so when you got hired in SNL, so you guys had been friends for all those years. And then when you get hired in SNL, they hire all three of you at the same time.

Speaker 1 That's what I couldn't understand.

Speaker 2 It's like, but Andy was on, oh, they were, oh, I see. So they wrote.
Did all three of you audition to be performers? Or did they, were they just like, well, we just want to be writers.

Speaker 2 You you can be the performer?

Speaker 3 I auditioned first, and it went pretty good. And they said, We want you to come back.
And then at that time, they asked Keev and Yorm if they also wanted to audition.

Speaker 3 And so, Yorm did, and Akiva said, No, I don't want to be on camera.

Speaker 3 And then the three of us also submitted a writing packet on behalf of the three of us, so we were kind of hedging our bets in all directions.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, that's so cool, so rare.

Speaker 2 Andy's the performer, yeah, and

Speaker 2 your

Speaker 2 Keeve is going to keep them grounded. Tracy, that was Lauren Mystery.

Speaker 1 It's like American Idol when the parents bring the kid on and then the parents get on.

Speaker 2 So then at what point then do you guys say, hey, you know, we make some pretty snazzy vids too. Do you guys want to maybe hire us for that?

Speaker 3 We weren't hired for that. Interestingly.
We had been doing it. Like we had even made a few joke raps.

Speaker 2 Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 It just kills me.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's raps.

Speaker 1 And you basically started the SNL Digital Shorts. They'd never done anything like that.
Now they do it all the time.

Speaker 3 Well, McKay had done it.

Speaker 1 McKay, yeah. Oh, McKay did it.
That's right. That's right.

Speaker 2 Forgive me.

Speaker 3 Much less frequently.

Speaker 3 But his were great, obviously.

Speaker 1 TV Funhouse and all that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 McKay did them with like Pat, what's his name? And a bunch of those dudes. I forget that guy's name.
Anyway, but yes, but those guys had done them, but they were more esoteric, if you will.

Speaker 2 Like they were kind of off the wall and kind of you guys kind of were able to hone in on stuff.

Speaker 2 Obviously, McKay's a legend, so I'm not disparaging him. And anyway, the guy's an absolute giant.
But you guys came in and were doing something different. And you really,

Speaker 2 I remember that night that

Speaker 2 Lazy Sunday came out. I think it was the last show before Christmas.
Am I right?

Speaker 3 Yeah, Christmas show, our first season.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I know.

Speaker 2 I'd like to see you maybe just have a bit of a weed problem in the future just to knock down your memory a little bit. Yeah.
But

Speaker 2 I remember even just the reaction in the building, Andy, and you to walk us through that because it was palpable.

Speaker 2 That thing, they aired that thing, and it was just like electricity. Everybody went like there was pre-Lazy Sunday and there was post-lazy Sunday.
I'm serious. But tell people what Lazy Sunday is.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 Lazy Sunday was our first hashtag comedy rap that we aired on the show.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 3 It was me and Parnell, the great Chris Parnell. Chris Parnell.

Speaker 2 Who everyone on earth loves.

Speaker 1 The greatest.

Speaker 1 Nicest guy in the world.

Speaker 3 And, you know, we had done, like I said, we had done stuff on our own like that

Speaker 3 for like thelonelyisland.com

Speaker 3 and like tried to get it put on other websites that had bandwidth for streaming before YouTube existed.

Speaker 1 But you guys emerged at the same time YouTube was created, which is phenomenal.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And crazy.

Speaker 3 It was very fortuitous for us where it was like, oh, YouTube became a thing at the moment we had this song people wanted to share.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And we will be right back.

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Speaker 1 And now back to the show.

Speaker 2 So, but Andy, walk me through. So, you guys have this idea for Lazy Sunday.
You wrote it, what, on a, or you submitted it on a Wednesday

Speaker 2 just at the table read.

Speaker 2 How did you, did you go to Shoemaker and those guys? Like, how did that come about?

Speaker 3 Keev and Yorm had done one

Speaker 3 on their own, which was an idea we'd had for a while. I left town to do some general meetings.

Speaker 2 Yeah, sure. Sure, sure, sure.
The best part of our business. You had a kingdom.
And

Speaker 1 how are you? How are you? I don't know why I'm here.

Speaker 2 What would you like to do next, Mr. Samberg? Yeah.

Speaker 3 I mean, obviously, we're familiar with your work. Sure.

Speaker 2 Not going to say any of it because we're not.

Speaker 1 Right?

Speaker 1 Or Tracy, that's how all those general meetings in Hollywood go.

Speaker 2 Well, you leave everyone thinking like, I'm about to make 12 movies in a row, and then you never heard.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.
They're going to call.

Speaker 3 Anyways, they made a little music video thing called Bing Bong Brothers, which was a send-up of of this song by the yin-yang twins.

Speaker 3 And we showed it to Shoemaker and Higgins and they were like, this is great, but we have so much cast right now. Our first season, I think we had like 17 or 18 cast members.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 3 And they were like, if you can do stuff like this, but put the cast in it,

Speaker 3 you don't even have to ask our permission. Just go shoot something.
And if it's good, then we can try and use it at dress to change sets because we always need pre-tape pieces to change over sets

Speaker 3 during commercial breaks and stuff is not enough always. And it can save other people's live sketches if you have a pre-tape.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 2 Right, right.

Speaker 3 That was kind of honestly why they were pushing us to do it.

Speaker 3 And so then

Speaker 3 we did one that was based on an idea Forte had had called Lettuce, where it's just me and him dramatically having a conversation and taking huge bites out of heads of lettuce on the stoop.

Speaker 3 And that was the first one that aired.

Speaker 2 Just so good.

Speaker 3 Just the most Forte shit ever.

Speaker 2 I'm just going to be

Speaker 2 so serious.

Speaker 2 Yep, that's his entire life.

Speaker 2 And then we did another one

Speaker 3 that was basically that one again called Peyote that didn't air till the end of that season. And then the third one we shot was Lazy Sunday, which was

Speaker 3 a dork rap about me and Parnell having a lazy Sunday going to see the Chronicles of Narnia.

Speaker 2 So good.

Speaker 2 So good.

Speaker 1 Wait, can I, but, but I mean, this sounds such a cheesy fan question because I am and we are, but like, it's so dumb. So just bear with me.
And I'm sure you've been asked this a million times.

Speaker 2 How did you? Is your business hard?

Speaker 2 It's so hard.

Speaker 1 No, is, is, uh, you know, dick in the box, like, all of them just became so huge on their own. How did you, I would ask the same

Speaker 1 question to a musician. How did you come, how do you come up with them? Is it like, are you at home in the shower thinking the most bizarre, funny shit?

Speaker 1 Or is it like, do you come up with a song first and then you're like, let's do a video?

Speaker 3 Or like how does it all happen it's uh it's different every time so like

Speaker 3 lazy sunday was very similar to a song keevan yorm had done before we were on snl called the heist which was about them you know talking about chamomile tea and stuff so it was tonally very like

Speaker 3 this is our version of that you know which now we feel slightly guilty about because everyone and their mom has done that and still some are doing it and it feels a little like, okay, we get it.

Speaker 3 And then

Speaker 3 like Dick in a Box was Timberlake hosted and was like, we were chatting with him in our office and sort of realized we all had come up on the same music in the early 90s, like that early 90s RB.

Speaker 3 and that we loved that style and he was obviously capable of singing it really, really well.

Speaker 2 The little half and the little half glasses, the little Barry Gibb glasses, adjusted.

Speaker 3 Sorry, keep going. Which, you know, yeah.
I look back at it now. I'm like, oh, this is like almost fully back in style.

Speaker 2 But Andy, so, but I kind of want to get back into because there was that, like I said before, there was that moment sort of pre and post Lazy Sunday.

Speaker 2 And I just remember as soon as that hits and it goes crazy, like one of the first sort of viral videos, if you will, really,

Speaker 2 all of a sudden,

Speaker 2 It's like you guys are at Paramount,

Speaker 2 right? All of a sudden, you're at Brad Gray's office, you're making hot rod,

Speaker 2 and you've got a movie deal, and you've got all that. It just went like that.

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 2 Right?

Speaker 3 Am I right about that? Some would argue too fast.

Speaker 2 Really?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 2 Not me. I mean,

Speaker 3 hot rod, you know all about because you're in it and you're fantastic in it. And we were so grateful you did it.
Yes.

Speaker 2 No. Yes.
I actually do remember, you know what? I do remember, Andy, funny you say too fast. I remember one day going to Paramount to meet Lorne

Speaker 2 one of the off weeks, and you guys were at the Broadway video office. Do you remember that? And you guys were writing? Rewriting it, yeah.

Speaker 2 And you were rewriting it, and I remember that you, Keeve and Jorn, being in the room, and I was like, how's it going? You guys have your laptops, and you were so, you guys were so stressed out.

Speaker 2 You're like,

Speaker 2 I don't know if we're going to be able to do this.

Speaker 2 Because it was like really quick. And they're like, great, here's a movie, rewrite it.

Speaker 2 And we start shooting July 1st. Yeah.

Speaker 3 I mean, we were psyched and we knew that it was a window that had opened and you got to go through it. But it was also like,

Speaker 3 I mean, I had been on someone's desk like a year and a half before that.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 Dreaming of this happening. And then all of a sudden it's like, boom.
And it's happening so fast. This is the thing I've really thought about more as we've gotten older is.

Speaker 3 It never occurred to me how anyone else was perceiving us because we were so in it and like shot out of a cannon.

Speaker 3 And now I'm like, oh, oh, if that happened to someone now, I'd be like, who the fuck are these guys?

Speaker 2 But you guys. What did they do to get this?

Speaker 2 One song thing?

Speaker 2 Exactly.

Speaker 2 Your proof of concept, though, was already just like right there. And

Speaker 2 you'd already been stamped and embraced by, you know,

Speaker 2 the SNL, you know, pedigree and embraced by the exact demo Paramount's asking you guys to hit. So it was like, I'm sure you guys had, you weren't paralyzed with fear, but

Speaker 2 sort of knowing you're going into new ground.

Speaker 3 Yes. Also, we were still like,

Speaker 3 not just actually young, but like young in the industry. So for us, we still had the like,

Speaker 2 no, man, we're going to make it this. Right.

Speaker 3 And like,

Speaker 3 no shade, because I love this movie. They wanted dodgeball.
Right.

Speaker 2 And we wanted like wet hot American Summer. Right.
Right.

Speaker 1 Red Hot American Summer.

Speaker 3 And I think Hot Rod ended up somewhere in between.

Speaker 2 Had Akiva and Norman directed anything other than the digital shorts at that point? No. Right.

Speaker 3 That must have been. But, you know, we had shot,

Speaker 3 Keeve had directed basically everything we had done

Speaker 3 for five straight years leading up to that. Like we moved to LA together and just started shooting stuff because we both went to film school.
Yeah. And we were, that was the plan.

Speaker 3 Like, we're just going to keep shooting stuff and show people why we're funny and not try to tell them.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I know.

Speaker 2 It's funny. I was, I was talking about photos just before about the finding the arrested thing.
I was also found a, I have a photo weirdly in a silver, it looks like a really fancy frame.

Speaker 2 And it's, it's on the set of Hot Rod. I just saw it, and it's Keeve talking to me in this, and he's being really serious, and I'm being really serious.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, we're on the set of Hot Rod, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it couldn't be more serious.

Speaker 3 He's like, say babe three more times.

Speaker 2 Andy, where does the film school and filmmaking kind of desire for you live currently? Or is it you just sort of just acting now and or do you still kind of thirst for making stuff?

Speaker 3 Well, I mean,

Speaker 3 I'm basically a producer on almost everything I do. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I.

Speaker 3 I feel like I'm a creative producer. If that's

Speaker 3 a thing.

Speaker 3 For sure. And it's not for everyone.
Right.

Speaker 2 Well, Andy, explain for people, for Tracy, what that the difference is.

Speaker 3 Like a hardcore producer-producer is the person who's actually talking to all the production heads and like putting together a movie or a show and dealing with the studio or network on a daily basis.

Speaker 3 And it's a grind and it's a specific skill set and it's a specific personality type that is really valuable and rare to find someone that's great at it. And then for me, I'm like,

Speaker 3 I am heavily involved in the creative decisions of everything I'm in, basically.

Speaker 2 Right. If, if whoever I'm working with is amenable.
Right.

Speaker 3 But like

Speaker 3 that to me is, that was my role with the guys with Keevon Yorm. So that's kind of how I developed.

Speaker 2 You were on the producing track as opposed to the directing track in film school, yeah?

Speaker 3 I mean, I was technically directing, but I didn't enjoy it because it's just so much multitasking and I also wanted to be acting in stuff. I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 3 I am blown away by people like yourself that can act in it while directing. That to me is such a headfuck.

Speaker 2 I don't know how.

Speaker 2 Just try it once, you'll see, oh, it's pretty efficient.

Speaker 3 It's, it's a well, let me ask you this, not to get too granular. Yeah.
But the one thing that worries me more than anything is giving notes to the actors I'm in a scene with. Right.

Speaker 3 Like, as soon as I have this like insecurity, as soon as I'm like, can you do it more like this?

Speaker 2 And they're like, what you do was also great. Exactly.
Yeah, you do it more. Yeah,

Speaker 2 you do it more like this. I know what it's gonna be.

Speaker 2 It is true. It is, it is a certain amount of unstated arrogance and hubris to actually be giving a note to somebody you're on an equal playing field with.
I, I, I hear you on that for sure.

Speaker 2 Um, I have no explanation for that, uh, aside from the kindness of the person that's listening to the note,

Speaker 3 especially like what if you're doing like romance stuff, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah, be like, I feel like I wasn't believing that you like me enough. Right.
Be more into it.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And that's how you met your wife. Right.

Speaker 2 Be more into it. Good.

Speaker 2 Marry me. Right.

Speaker 2 I want to feel from your kiss that we should be married. Here we go.
Still rolling.

Speaker 2 Like you're just, you're just eye, like just face to face, and they're like sitting there and you keep going, no, more. No.

Speaker 2 I get no.

Speaker 2 Close deeper. Yeah.
But you do, but yeah, but you do, because TV is sort of a writer's medium, you do end up

Speaker 2 by default, kind of directing, especially in comedy,

Speaker 2 kind of directing anyway, right? And

Speaker 2 so it's pretty, it's directing adjacent.

Speaker 3 Yes, we did eight seasons of Brooklyn Night Nine, for example, and I was a producer on that. And as the show went on,

Speaker 3 I would definitely be on set.

Speaker 3 as a producer, not just an actor, a lot creatively and making sure scenes were working and being a big part of editing editing with Dan Gore and knowing like we're gonna need like some alts on the end of this scene because this isn't playing you can just feel it in the room it's not landing right and then you pow wow and you pitch a couple extra jokes and then you have each cast member try a different thing and then you know you have options and blah blah blah and you're hiring the directors right yeah

Speaker 2 Yeah,

Speaker 2 yeah, you worked with the great, the great Dan Gore, and obviously you had a lot of great comedic minds on that show as well, with the great Mike Schur,

Speaker 2 whom we all adore, and Phil and Chris as well. Yeah, they shot the pilot.

Speaker 2 They shot the pilot. So you had a pretty, that was like

Speaker 2 a fucking Hall of Fame team.

Speaker 2 I got to re-watch it during the pandemic with my oldest son, Archie. He was there and Ableto is super into it.
We ended up watching it all through. So, so, so funny.

Speaker 2 And, you know, one of the through lines we mentioned right at the top, one of the through lines in what you do so well, and you do so so many things so well, but you always, there's oftentimes you incorporate music into what you do.

Speaker 2 And I kind of want to understand a little bit about like what your history is with music. Did you study music as a kid? First of all, you got a great voice, you got great timing.

Speaker 2 It's true.

Speaker 2 It's true. It's totally true.
How do you come by it?

Speaker 3 Well, thanks. I grew up in a house that music was always playing.
And

Speaker 3 me and one of my two sisters were both kind of just always obsessed with music.

Speaker 3 I don't know exactly why. I think, you know, I had a father who had a great appreciation of it, had a big record collection.

Speaker 3 And then when I hit like junior high and high school, I pretty much just went to the record store all the time.

Speaker 3 I grew up in Berkeley, California, where the first Amiibo music was built. And I was at Amio Records in high school two or three times a week, just DITC, which is digging through the crowd.

Speaker 1 They do vinyl again, right?

Speaker 1 They sell.

Speaker 1 They're still in business. They sell vinyl.

Speaker 3 Yeah, apparently vinyl has made a massive resurgence.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Massive.
Yeah. Yeah, it's cool.

Speaker 1 Wait, so I want to talk more about that. So you grew up in the Bay Area, you grew up around music.
What kind of music did your dad listen to and then you listen to? And what kind of would you

Speaker 1 gravitate towards a specific genre at Amoeba records?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Make those in order, please.

Speaker 2 You can go backwards. It was definitely all kinds of music.

Speaker 3 I mean, I think a lot of people that grew up in the Bay Area would say the same thing, which which is music is just a big part of the culture there for

Speaker 3 no matter who you are as a kid there. And so, like, there were definitely people who were like, we're punks and we listen to punk and like we're backpackers and we listen to hip-hop.

Speaker 3 But most people were like, I listen to 12 genres of music and I love the

Speaker 2 history of all of them.

Speaker 3 And we were certainly that.

Speaker 3 And my friend group was that where we'd be like, super into dance hall and reggae, but also super into contemporary hip-hop and old hip-hop and old funk soul because of hip-hop because we chase down the samples from our favorite hip-hop songs and yeah yeah but also like I love Bob Dylan and grew up listening to Bob Dylan and wore my mom's purple scarf to try and look like Bob Dylan in high school

Speaker 2 that's great that's great but you were so you were so adept at hip-hop and you guys were kind of like the west coast comedy beastie boys well that's high praise yeah oh nice will that's true very nice

Speaker 2 and you guys totally true it's totally true and you were able to do it in in such an authentic way too because there are a lot of like sort of white boys from Berkeley who couldn't pull it off, and you guys just made it work because you were actually good at it.

Speaker 2 And God, what did I, I just, you know, what just I saw the other day was one of the video from Bash Brothers, the thing that you guys did about the Oakland days. Have you ever seen that, you guys?

Speaker 2 And I can't believe that you pulled it off. What is it? You play Jose Conseco, Keith plays Mark McGuire,

Speaker 2 and then they do this rap about being on steroids and fucking, and how small their balls are.

Speaker 2 and i'm yeah me and key

Speaker 3 did as kind of just like as like a side project because yorm was unavailable so we didn't want to do a proper lonely island album without him uh concept album and then we did like a visual poem kind of like lemonade and very quietly released it on netflix and it's really just mark maguire and i'm jose conseco and the whole thing is an album of if the two of them had made a rap record in the late 80s at their during their heyday what would have sounded like i remember I remember

Speaker 2 being totally fanning out, being so excited and kind of nervous.

Speaker 2 Sudakis and I were, we were on like on a lunch break while we were doing one of the horrible bosses that we were in the valley. And he's like, oh, you know, the guys, they rented a house down here.

Speaker 2 They're recording one of their albums. And he took me over there and it was like noon or something.
And we walked in.

Speaker 2 I think you guys are recording Turtleneck and Chain, maybe, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah. And Turtleneck and Chain.

Speaker 2 I was like,

Speaker 2 where's Andy? They're like, oh, he's still sleeping. I was like,

Speaker 3 damn right.

Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 But we took a lot. They had rented like this

Speaker 2 colonial style mansion in Encino.

Speaker 3 The monstrosity.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And they just set it up, you know, just like a rock band would.
You know, you record in a mansion, but it's usually in the Cotswolds, you know, but this was like off Louise Drive in Encino.

Speaker 2 But it was pretty, it was pretty awesome to see that.

Speaker 3 Those summers were so fun. Yeah.
And everyone,

Speaker 3 the coolest thing about it was how much space we had. And we just put out like everyone in comedy come over.
That's really cool. And it really happened.

Speaker 3 Like, we have photos of so many of the people that are just the biggest names in comedy now that swung by because they were like, hey, I heard those Lonely Island guys have this stupid house in Encino.

Speaker 2 Oh, that's great.

Speaker 2 And we would just

Speaker 3 drink and have fun and then record songs and knew we were banking them for the next season of SMS. That's so cool.

Speaker 2 That's so cool. Do you guys ever

Speaker 2 talk about getting together and doing another one of those house rentals and just putting down another record?

Speaker 3 It's tough now because we have kids.

Speaker 2 Well, they can be in it. Yeah, they can write them in.

Speaker 3 I don't know that we'll do another house rental ever unless it's like a compound for all the kids to run around in. Do that.
Right. But I definitely think we're going to try and make more music.

Speaker 3 I don't think we'll die.

Speaker 2 Boy,

Speaker 1 look how young your face is. Kids having kids.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I know.

Speaker 2 It is funny, though. Like, I always, because, Andy, you're younger than I am than we are, because the three of us are basically the same age.
Jason's older, obviously. Is that

Speaker 2 no, just a lot older. But

Speaker 2 how old a fellow are you, Andy?

Speaker 3 I'm 45.

Speaker 2 Oh, good for you. Yeah.
A youngin'.

Speaker 2 And so now that you've got like, I'll Google it. 54.

Speaker 2 You just seem to be in. Oh, 35.

Speaker 1 I mean, well, I'm 53. 53.

Speaker 2 Oh, we're 53.

Speaker 1 You're the coolest.

Speaker 2 But I have have a new penis. Did I tell you guys that? Is that true? Do you not? No, you buried the leaf.
Oh, you got it. Amazon.
Fucking crazy, right?

Speaker 2 But anyway, sorry. Brand new? Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 And you just rehydrate it. It's like a sea monkey.

Speaker 2 Well, no, this one's full of moisture. The old one was getting tired of it.
Yeah, I had a Spritz bottle. I had a fucking Hudson sprayer.

Speaker 3 It's just enough.

Speaker 2 So you've got an

Speaker 2 got yourself a new one that you're not going to use? Yeah. Why didn't you just keep not using the old one?

Speaker 3 Can we get a time check on how long it was since the last dick to?

Speaker 3 I just want to point out, I didn't start that one. That was not me.
I was not the instigator. I jumped right in.

Speaker 2 How hard is it for you to not talk about dicks?

Speaker 1 We'll be right back.

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Speaker 2 All right, back to the show.

Speaker 1 Andy, I want to talk to you about growing. No, when you were a kid, because I read this thing where

Speaker 1 you wrote a letter to your eight-year-old self,

Speaker 2 which

Speaker 1 what was that about?

Speaker 1 And were you into comedy at such a young age that you knew that you wanted to do it even at eight years old?

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 3 I mean, I have said forever, and it's really genuinely true, that at eight, I just said that I wanted to be on SNL specifically.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God, that's great. I love it.

Speaker 3 I used to, I was into WWF wrestling, and there was that show called Saturday Night's Main Event, which was on once a month.

Speaker 2 We don't need to tell Tracy about that one, huh?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I didn't know what Saturday was going to be on. Yep.

Speaker 3 I missed it.

Speaker 2 Shrimp. It's the first reference we haven't had to explain.

Speaker 2 Oh, I got you.

Speaker 3 Speaking of the demo?

Speaker 2 She's quietly nodding there in Chicago, right? Continue. And

Speaker 2 she's going to be saying, she's saying continue.

Speaker 2 Got it.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God.

Speaker 3 But yeah, so the nights that it wasn't on was SNL. So I found it by accident as a kid and watched it.
And it was, you know, Love It's Carvey era.

Speaker 1 And you wrote a letter saying doing like what of goals or something?

Speaker 3 Oh, no, I think it was like a school assignment where it was like fill in the blank thing.

Speaker 2 And it was like, when I am older, I will be, and I was like, a comedian. Obviously,

Speaker 2 was there ever a moment where it got emotional for you on Saturday Night Live? Either your first performance or your last one or

Speaker 2 the whole time. Yeah, I'll bet.

Speaker 3 The like, the feeling of I'm living inside of actual dreams I've had.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 Like I'm and now I'm friends with people that I would meet in my dreams

Speaker 3 that were cast members on the show. And then I got on the show and they were still working there because we watched every episode.
It was my absolute obsession. That's so great.

Speaker 3 And then now I'm like, oh, yeah, now I just like chat with them whenever.

Speaker 2 And you're part of, and you're part of that fraternity now of people who were on it. And it is a very sort of tight-knit nomad.

Speaker 2 It's kind of like a, you see each other, you can give a nod, or you can say, hey, because

Speaker 2 it's the smallest demo, right? Like, I mean, it's just the tiniest percentage of people who've ever been cast members on the show. Yes.

Speaker 2 Was it what you thought it would be?

Speaker 2 Or, or, or, uh, I mean, answer that, but then also, like, what was, what was the most surprising part of it, or, or the part that really kind of like floored you, like that you didn't really imagine?

Speaker 3 I think it was similar to what I was expecting

Speaker 3 because I had read so much about it. But the thing I wasn't expecting was for it, and I genuinely mean this, for it to go so well for us.

Speaker 2 The whole camera.

Speaker 3 Like having watched it and having seen how hard it is,

Speaker 3 especially in terms of like how quickly, because the thing about SNL generally, unless you're like one of 10 people, is you have to like.

Speaker 3 ingratiate yourself to the SNL audience and give them time and space to figure out what you do that is funny and yeah, it's very smart of you yeah sure and so for us that speaking to what we were just talking about with lazy sunday that was a crazy shortcut to the path i thought we were on like when lazy sunday aired will you asked and i didn't answer it what was it like when you guys were in the studio when that aired we were not thinking like we did it We were just like, oh, we got something on.

Speaker 3 I'm so relieved we're not going to get fired.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 3 Because it was halfway into our first season.

Speaker 2 And then when did it start to dawn on you that, oh, this thing, this thing, this thing caught on? Like,

Speaker 2 was it the next day when you woke up from the after party? Like, you saw online that there was some traffic about it? Yes.

Speaker 3 And the press part of it. Like, we immediately were in touch with the NBC PR people,

Speaker 3 which I was like, oh, I don't know anything about this world.

Speaker 3 And they're like, hey, New York Times wants to talk to you. You guys free right now? And you're just like, okay.

Speaker 2 Jeez. Sure.

Speaker 2 Sure, let me check. You sure are.

Speaker 1 But, you know, everybody always talks to you about those shorts, but I loved tons of stuff that you did. I love the impressions you did.

Speaker 1 Mark Zuckerberg, Nick Cage, Mark Wahlberg, Hugh Jackman. Was there a celebrity of somebody you did that you heard from about any of your impressions?

Speaker 3 I mean, the one that was the most gratifying was Cage.

Speaker 3 for me. Nick Cage? Because he came on and did it with me.
Yes. I remember that.
And the Cage thing,

Speaker 3 and he, you know, he was so cool about it. And he did not have to be because we were like doing a psychotic character and saying it was Nick Cage.
You know what I mean? It was like,

Speaker 3 and I was, and still am, and we all are a massive fan of Nick Cage. And I've seen so many of his movies.

Speaker 3 And that's how it ended up being something I could do because I was like, I've seen him talk so much.

Speaker 2 Well, that's the thing, too, is that you made, you didn't make fun of, but you poked fun at certain elements, but you never punched down.

Speaker 2 It was always people who were massive, whether it was Nick Cage, you did it. Wahlberg came on.
I remember he came on as well as you were doing, say hello to your mother for me. Like,

Speaker 2 again, you're punching up, like, you're making jokes because he's such a massive movie star.

Speaker 3 And by the way, that's when you're on SNL. This is the thing I always think about because I'm like,

Speaker 3 I never got into comedy to like do impressions or make fun of anyone. Right.
Obviously, amongst my friends, we'll talk shit about literally anything, but

Speaker 2 and anybody.

Speaker 3 But like, when you're on the show, impressions are such a

Speaker 3 it's such currency, right?

Speaker 3 And you know it plays and you know it'll get on and you're just desperately trying to get on.

Speaker 3 So if you do one that works and everyone's laughing at, it's hard to be like, no, I'm not going to do that. I don't feel good about it morally.

Speaker 2 Did you have to do it for your for your audition?

Speaker 1 Did you have to do impressions? Yes.

Speaker 3 Yeah. For your audition, they asked you to do characters and impressions.
And when I got asked, by the way, I had been doing stand-up, but I had no impressions or characters.

Speaker 2 So we wrote them all leading up to the audition. Oh, wow.
What was your go-to impression at that time?

Speaker 3 Honestly, by chance, it was Fallon because I did the temp Fallon voice on the movie awards for like the storyboards of the pre-tape we wrote.

Speaker 3 And then Jimmy, who is, you know, the nicest and was so nice to us. It was, he really helped put us on.

Speaker 3 But he heard me like in the temp VO of the like animatic, which is, you know, the storyboards of like whatever it was.

Speaker 2 And it was me being like, Oh my God, we got to go, Batman, you know? And he was like, Who's doing my voice? Oh, yeah, it's so funny.

Speaker 3 And so they were like, Even Higgins was like, Hey, when you audition, you should do Jimmy.

Speaker 2 And I was like, Oh, yeah, really? So I did Jimmy Fallon at a funeral, but he was like, Oh my god, so sad

Speaker 2 at a funeral, it's really funny. Oh man, I'm so sad.
Everybody was crying, it's so sad,

Speaker 3 So then I made up a few other ones that were like, I knew I couldn't do them. So the joke was that they were one word.
So I did like,

Speaker 3 this is like Alan Rickman and Die Hard.

Speaker 2 And I just went, McLean, thanks.

Speaker 2 And they're like, okay.

Speaker 2 This guy can't do impressions.

Speaker 2 I love that. I love that so much.

Speaker 1 So wait, so tell me about how, you know, I did that little thing with you, the Maya, the Maya Rudolph show, and you made me pee in my pants.

Speaker 3 So we had fun, Sean.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. I laughed so hard with you.

Speaker 2 I was crying, laughing.

Speaker 1 And so many bits came out of that. But you told me about your wife, and you're like, you know, you're a musician, Sean.
My wife plays the harp and she sings and she. I'm like, oh, who's your wife?

Speaker 1 And Joanna, as you tell me, Joanna is. And I downloaded her album.
And I was like, oh, my God, this woman's amazing. Like, I fell in love with her right away.

Speaker 1 Do you guys work work on music stuff together? Do you check in with her?

Speaker 2 How does that work?

Speaker 3 We don't work on music together because,

Speaker 3 yeah, mine's pretend and hers is arguably amongst the best ever.

Speaker 2 Yeah. In my opinion, tell me about her.

Speaker 2 Did she play

Speaker 2 in an orchestra?

Speaker 3 No, no. Her name's Joanna Newsome.
She's a singer-songwriter who plays harp and piano and sings at the same time.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Jay, you would love to.

Speaker 2 She's

Speaker 2 so great. Good.
I'm such a fan. You know I'm a fan of of her.

Speaker 3 She's I mean, we met because I was at her concert with Fred and our friend Matt Murray because I was obsessed with her music.

Speaker 2 Is that true? Yeah. You, Fred, and the Panther.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Wait, who's the Panther?

Speaker 2 Our writer friend Matt Murray.

Speaker 3 I forget who dubbed him the Panther. Maybe like Spivey or someone.

Speaker 2 Somebody like that.

Speaker 3 Or Dratch, possibly, that he would sit in the corner quietly and then...

Speaker 2 Yeah, when somebody goes like, oh, that's the Panther. You're like, that's the Panther.

Speaker 3 but because he would lay in the cut and wait and then strike with his joke that would kill everybody after

Speaker 2 so funny yeah so so you're at so you're at joanna's concert and you and you wiggle your way backstage as as as a creepy fan and um and and somehow get her your number how what would no it wasn't she uh we just met and hung out all together that night just friendly style

Speaker 3 but fred had met her and her friends at a at a music festival that he had been at i guess in the summer previous.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 it just worked out.

Speaker 3 Like, I had been listening to her albums for years and been to her show before even.

Speaker 3 But when I met her, it turned out she and her siblings had watched Lonely Island stuff. So it was very comfortable and not as creepy as I was.

Speaker 1 I love that. And then you fell in love and you made babies.
And here we go.

Speaker 2 Whoa, whoa.

Speaker 2 You don't want to talk about the lovely stuff, Sean. How they make babies? You want to talk about, hey, did anybody ever forget a line during a live taping?

Speaker 2 Tell me,

Speaker 2 could you ever not read? Oh, you know, I love that. Could you ever not read the cards? I love those stories.

Speaker 2 Did someone ever get in your way between you and the cards?

Speaker 2 You know, I love that.

Speaker 1 If you have a biggest flub SNL story, I live for them.

Speaker 3 I mean, I do have one, but it's not that crazy.

Speaker 2 No? Okay, well, what is it?

Speaker 3 I was standing underneath

Speaker 3 the main part of of the bleachers, like the main walk that you do towards the main stage. And Seinfeld was on,

Speaker 3 I think he did really with Seth on update.

Speaker 3 And he stopped and started talking to me.

Speaker 2 And I was like, holy shit.

Speaker 3 So we were just chatting.

Speaker 2 And I was like, oh, yeah, Seinfeld. And I was like, yeah, this and that.

Speaker 3 And then I was like, I looked up at, you know, they have monitors all backstage showing you what's airing. And I just like casually look up and I'm like,

Speaker 3 oh, I'm in this sketch. And it just started.

Speaker 2 Oh my God, God, no way.

Speaker 2 I was like, I'm so sorry. And just like took off running.

Speaker 2 And it was a courtroom sketch.

Speaker 2 I

Speaker 3 missed getting on before it started. They stopped me and said, no, because I was going to try and run on.

Speaker 2 Totally

Speaker 3 by fortune's fucking hell, who knows?

Speaker 3 I had had one line at the top of the sketch and they had cut it between dress and air and no one had told me so i actually didn't screw up the sketch but i did have my like nightmare that i had had every week that time working there and still now have where i'm backstage and i can't find the set oh god i can't find stage right and i'm in a sketch and i can't get there and i see it on the monitor and it actually happened but i got very actress nightmare that's i love those stories wait now palms palm springs is one of my favorite movies i love that movie when i saw it come out i was like oh andy's in a gay film And then it wasn't gay at all.

Speaker 2 Another one?

Speaker 2 Bennett Barbicane's brother. So, as you know, Bennett, who is part of our team,

Speaker 2 say hi. It's his brother, directed, as you know.

Speaker 1 Yes, I do. Love that movie.
Love you in it. So good.
I love that movie.

Speaker 2 Andy, that movie is so good. And I tell anybody, it's one of my favorite films of the last 10 years.
So it needs more attention, so unheralded. You're so funny and profoundly good and kind of sad.

Speaker 2 Like it's the perfect blend of, I just love that movie. Thank you.
I love it. Any truth to the sequel rumors, Palm Desert? No?

Speaker 2 Death Valley.

Speaker 3 It's Palmdale.

Speaker 2 Palm Dale. Indian Wells.

Speaker 1 And Andy, you have a new podcast with Seth Meyers called The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, right?

Speaker 2 That's right.

Speaker 1 And how did it start? Are you excited? As it started, tell us everything.

Speaker 3 Well, me and Keeve and Yorm forever, especially during COVID, and we didn't jump on it like you smart guys, We're like, we should do one.

Speaker 3 It'll make it that we get to see each other and talk all the time. We should do one where we talk about the digital shorts, and every episode can be a digital short and what was going on in our lives.

Speaker 3 And at SNL that week when we did the digital short,

Speaker 3 and then because we're us, we kind of just let it drift. And then Seth called us and was like, Hey, I just had an idea.

Speaker 3 How would you guys feel about doing a podcast where every episode is about one of the digital shorts and what was going on at the show that week? And I'll host it and my team will organize it.

Speaker 3 And you guys just show up and do it.

Speaker 2 And I'll take half. Yeah.
Yeah. Right.
And he'll take, yeah.

Speaker 3 No, he's giving, he's got his good 80%.

Speaker 2 But I mean, he's late night. No, but it's late night.

Speaker 2 He's a good guy.

Speaker 3 Like when other people aren't around, he's nice to me.

Speaker 2 I love that. Why? We got to check it out.

Speaker 2 That's so fun. So that's coming on soon.

Speaker 2 What's it called?

Speaker 1 The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast.

Speaker 2 Yeah. We debated that name.
Yeah, I get it. I see why.
Why? Because it rolls off the.

Speaker 2 Sure. It's me a while to get that one.

Speaker 1 Sounds like a huge argument happening.

Speaker 2 Why wouldn't you stick with it? Only on a South Mario Spot guys.

Speaker 2 What's your favorite, Andy?

Speaker 2 I know it's hard, but what's your favorite digital short

Speaker 2 that you guys did?

Speaker 2 When it's all said and done. I love the boat one on the boat.
Thank you. Yeah.

Speaker 3 I'm on a boat, I think, is the biggest selling song we ever did.

Speaker 2 Is it really? Yeah.

Speaker 2 I'm like boat. What's your personal favorite?

Speaker 3 Platinum or something stupid? That's incredible.

Speaker 3 My favorite, if I had to just pick one out of thin air, probably Jack Sparrow with Michael Bolton.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Sure.

Speaker 3 And the reason I would give, and

Speaker 3 we do generally say this one, and the reason is because it's sort of a confluence of all the ones. So it's like people who really love comedy ride for it.

Speaker 3 Like I've been told that like writers' rooms have watched it all together and enjoyed it, which is the highest compliment.

Speaker 3 And then also it sounds pretty good and the video is big and slick and it it feels like big business which is you know something else that we were able to pull off for it does feel like big business i would say um

Speaker 2 my favorite personally of the digital short and i'm a as you know i'm a massive fan of them all and i embarrass you all the time because i just tell you all the time how much i love the but

Speaker 2 dear sister oh nice that's dear sister for me uh scratches an itch because it just keeps going

Speaker 2 and then it but it's got a real story to it

Speaker 3 And I love a non-musical one, too. I mean, I guess it is still music.

Speaker 2 It's still kind of musical. It's not your original music, but it's musical,

Speaker 2 but there's something about it.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 Dear Sister was an idea that we had started shooting before we got SNL.

Speaker 2 Oh, wow.

Speaker 3 Yeah, me and Yorm, I think, and my friend Chester, Chester Tam.

Speaker 3 Because it's originally based on this moment from the end of an episode of that show, The OC,

Speaker 2 which we loved.

Speaker 2 Of course.

Speaker 3 Where the character, Marissa, you know, shoots someone and it cranks into slow-mo, and that song comes on. And it's those slow-mo shots of everyone's face being shocked that it's happened.

Speaker 3 And like someone falls out of frame. You're like, oh my God, what just happened? And the slow reveal.
And I remember us being like, that was fucking good TV. And what is that song?

Speaker 3 So then I was like, you know, what do we do? We do the same thing over and over again and then make it go faster and faster.

Speaker 2 So we started doing it,

Speaker 3 but never even finished it. And then I love that that is one that you like, Will, because for us that week, it was like out of desperation, we said, oh man, let's just try that.

Speaker 3 And then we'll just write an ending for it. And we wrote like way more and actually ended up liking it.

Speaker 2 Well, the cast, first of all, first of all, the cast, if you look at it on paper, is insane. So it's, it's you, and it's uh Shia La Buff and it's uh Wig

Speaker 2 and Sudakis and Fred and Hater. Like it's a it's a freaking murderer's row of cast.

Speaker 3 I loved our cast.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 It was really fun to get to work with that group.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I did too.

Speaker 1 And you know what, Andy? I have to say, how you looked forward to Center Night Live as a kid.

Speaker 1 I looked forward to your digital shorts watching Center Night Live in the same way. Yeah, maybe.

Speaker 2 Yeah, every single week.

Speaker 1 And now it continues to other things. Like when I saw you in Palm Springs, I was like, oh my God, another movie that Andy's doing.

Speaker 1 I just can't get enough of it.

Speaker 3 this has been life-affirming, frankly. I wasn't expecting it to be this.

Speaker 2 It's true. It's true.
Andy, it's totally true that you are one of,

Speaker 2 you truly are one of the good guys because you're A, supernaturally funny. You can't help it.
You have no choice. And B, you're very generous and you're very sweet.

Speaker 2 And any success and all the success you

Speaker 2 have had and will continue to have, you have completely earned it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 There's no hiding what you anyway. So it's just awesome.
I'm just psyched. I just think you're a great dude.

Speaker 1 So and I'm so we're so grateful you you came today. So thank you for keeping

Speaker 2 little show.

Speaker 3 Likewise, guys, we're industry, we're industry staples.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, sure. We're not going anywhere.
We did it. We did it.

Speaker 2 We did it. Came over.

Speaker 2 But also with that, the caveat being,

Speaker 2 you know, your next bomb, I'm going to be the first there to say you bombed.

Speaker 2 Well, guess what?

Speaker 3 We didn't talk about the box office on Hot Rod.

Speaker 2 We just skimmed right past that. Oh, we just did talked about it.
Yeah, that's true. You know, when you set out to make a cult classic on a studio's dime? It's because I was in it.

Speaker 2 I'm box office poison.

Speaker 2 True.

Speaker 1 Andy, thank you, my friend. Thanks for being here.
We appreciate it.

Speaker 2 We appreciate you guys. You're the greatest.
Yeah. Keep on keeping up.

Speaker 3 You are this. And

Speaker 3 let's just be friends now and hang out, Jason.

Speaker 2 It's done. It's done.
You can't shake me now.

Speaker 3 We'll find a time and just do it.

Speaker 2 I'll put you guys in touch. Please do.
Please. I will.
Yes, please. Definitely will.

Speaker 3 Okay. And Sean, love you.

Speaker 2 Let me talk. Bye, guys.

Speaker 2 I mean, bye, everybody. When I say guys, I mean,

Speaker 2 Baba Buoy. Baba Fui.
Fafa Fuhai. Fafa Fu Fly.
Wait, what's Baba Bui? Buoy. Gary De Labante from Howard Cern.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, Baba Bui. That's right.
Baba Buoy.

Speaker 2 Keep it real up in the field, all right?

Speaker 2 I would love to.

Speaker 2 I would.

Speaker 2 I would love to. I would love to.

Speaker 2 So, guys, that was Andy Sandberg. Yes.
And

Speaker 2 he's the greatest. The greatest.
Created his own lane. New friend.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 he's stuck with me now. He doesn't realize it yet, but it's going to be a problem.

Speaker 2 He's the real deal. And as I said, again, at risk of embarrassing him, he is such a good guy, and he totally deserves it.
He's just one of the good dudes.

Speaker 1 Oh, for sure. And everybody agrees, everybody can agree that everybody loves Andy Sandberg.

Speaker 2 Yeah. That's a new name for his TV show.

Speaker 1 Everybody, everybody loves it.

Speaker 2 Everybody loves Andy Sandberg. Everybody can agree.
And everybody agrees that everybody loves Andy Sandberg. There you go.

Speaker 1 That's a good tune.

Speaker 2 There you go. Yeah, he's extra special.

Speaker 1 I love everything he does.

Speaker 1 Always good in everything he does.

Speaker 2 Good guest. And I'm excited to hear their new podcast that those guys are doing with Seth because

Speaker 2 I love hearing how they put together each one of those digital shorts. I love that they're like, it was last minute they needed something.
Somebody had a song.

Speaker 2 I love that.

Speaker 1 So, and I think he could for the Lonely Island, for yeah, for the Lonely Island guys, they created this brand and this company and this thing that's really awesome and cool and stays like real smart and real funny always.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 2 No, I have nothing.

Speaker 1 But if I did have something, it would be

Speaker 1 reference Howard Stern, and I would say something like,

Speaker 1 Bye, bye, Booy.

Speaker 2 Bowie.

Speaker 2 Bye, bye booie bye bye booy close enough

Speaker 2 smart

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