Dick in a Box

You guys, are you ready to take a victory lap?

Because I'm just going to get it right out at the top.

I feel like this week, when this aired, was no less than a coronation.

Really?

This was the completion of a trilogy, began with Lazy Sunday, and then Natalie Rap,

and then today's digital short.

The three of them, this was your Lord of the Rings, except mercifully shorter and watchful and good.

Tread lightly.

It was such a special thing.

Yes.

Anytime we want to do a full episode where we just step away from digital shorts and you guys defend Lord of the Rings to me, I'm also down for that.

Akeeva's right there.

No, no, no.

Akiva's on your side.

I will defend it till I DIE.

It's two against two?

Yeah.

Oh, that's wonderful.

Thanks, Keeve.

I'd be right in the middle.

So, yes, it is two against two.

Andy watches it every year.

Yeah.

Do you really watch it every year?

Joanna and I, until we had kids, we'd watch it at least once a year, yeah.

And do you like start in January in hopes that you'll be done by the summer?

That's a funny joke because they're very long movies.

They're very long.

And you have to keep stopping them because you have life to do and stuff.

No, we used to just stay up all night.

By today's standards, they're not long.

We're so conditioned for super long movies now.

I don't know that they'd feel crazy long anymore.

Right.

Which is why I think everybody should watch the film in Bruges.

We know that's your favorite.

Which is like right around 90 minutes.

Isn't Bruges that short?

No way.

I think it might be.

Look it up, Keeve.

Okay.

We've gotten a little off track.

No way.

That's not us.

No.

I mean, I just think that everybody's going to stick around because they know we're talking about dick in a box.

And this is a Christmas episode.

This is December 16th, 2006.

And I forgot Lazy Sunday was a near about a Christmas episode, right?

One hour 47 minutes.

One hour, 47.

That's today's 90.

Yeah, that's correct.

So Lazy Sunday was Christmas, but not Christmas-themed.

And now it's a year later.

And this is a Christmas-themed digital short that I think, due to the content of it, probably never makes the primetime SNL Christmas.

I don't know.

No, it does.

It does.

They blur the mouth.

They blur the mouth.

Yeah.

It's not enough just for a beep.

Correct.

It's so funny that they blur the mouth because the amount of miming in this digital short makes it very clear what the words are.

Actually, no, there were a lot of people who thought it was cock in a box because of the blur.

Oh, so they made it worse.

By blurring it, they made it worse.

Yes.

But just because of the beep.

As with all censorship, it makes it worse.

The blur was not when it first aired.

It was just because of the beep.

People thought it was C-O.

Yeah.

C-K rather than D-I.

But some people thought it was a rooster.

Right.

Right.

I forgot that.

Thank you, Andy.

It's like that famous MASH episode.

You think it's a rooster in the box, but it was a baby.

Yeah.

And then people are just like, um, this is so random.

And we were like, no, it's a MASH reference.

You guys must have been so high when you read this.

It's the lonely island and Seth Meyer's foreguest.

We're up and running.

We're talking about possibly the most famous digital short, and we've named dropped Lord of the Rings and MASH and just the stuff that kids want to hear us talk about these days.

That's right.

Yeah.

Well, this one's from 2006.

So

I have a cough.

We noticed.

I'll be coughing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hopefully we can cut a lot of it out.

So I'll try to only cough when people aren't talking.

It is one of those famously audible coughs.

So we are, yeah, we are down with hearing that you have one.

Yeah.

No, I understand.

I'm just letting you guys know I'm powering through it.

That's brave of you.

Is this Timberlake's first SNL?

No.

I know it's not because we were fans of him from afar.

Gotcha.

Pre-SNL at home in L.A.

Well, Omeletteville was the first one he was on.

Gotcha.

But you weren't there for it?

No.

No, no.

We watched from home as fans of SNL.

But he was quite good on that one.

And we're like, oh shit, he was good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We were very into it.

This guy's an entertainer, we kept saying.

I feel you would call people entertainer.

I feel as though people might have forgotten.

And if you go back and watch even two minutes of any episode he hosted, you remember that he is really Mount Rushmore SNL host.

He's sharp.

Yeah.

He's sharp as tech.

Can do it all.

And he shows up.

And so based on the fact of what you're telling me, because my first question was i'm assuming you do a song with justin timberlake you are going to collaborate with justin timberlake you don't just write a song independently right did you have him in the room not right off the bat not as much on this one got it that changed over we wrote most of it and then when he came in he helped us actually make it into a song yes and really helped us record and like taught us how to use pro tools and in particular how to make singing sound good yes we had no idea how to record singing Which we've since mimicked his teaching for every other thing we've ever done that involves singing.

And was it above and beyond your wildest dreams what he brought to the room the first time he came in and heard it?

The thing about this one was, again, we kind of idolized him.

And he was at the peak of just the coolness and he was so great at it.

But we didn't have a short.

We didn't have a short on Tuesday and Writing night.

We couldn't think of one on Wednesday.

And we went to Lauren and he kept going, it's just Wednesday.

But at that point, we had never written that late into the week.

So we stayed up all night Tuesday, all night Wednesday.

And we went to Lauren and he was just like, you have to try to figure out when he's down to do one.

But we had barely even talked to Justin or met Justin.

And then, correct me if I'm wrong, guys.

And then like Thursday afternoon is when Yorma maybe said it.

Well, there's a few steps here.

First off, I want to clarify.

I wouldn't say I idolized him.

Okay, that's the wrong one.

But I, what would you say?

How would you put it though?

But we thought he was cool and we knew he could sing his ass off.

And then we met with him and he said he was down to do a song.

And we sort of all talked about how we loved early 90s RB.

And we were like, ooh, we should do something like that.

So then we got the beat going, right?

First, before we had the idea.

That might be true.

Yeah, but I remember going into Lauren's office and saying we'd failed.

We didn't come up with one.

It's Wednesday at like three in the morning.

So you have to call it now because there's no way to get a short done.

And he was like, there's still three more days.

And it was kind of the start of this idea that you can make a short in any amount of time.

Sure.

100%.

That definitely happened.

We absolutely were saying we couldn't do it.

And do you guys remember Seth's pitch?

Yeah, that was the other thing I was going to mention is that Seth asked us to do an idea.

And I believe that Seth pitched that it should be two guys in line waiting to buy a Nintendo Wii that had just come out.

Is that correct?

Yes.

Yes.

I'm glad you brought it up.

Although, no, I'm heartbroken you brought it up.

It's a little bit of a burn.

I had hoped you had forgotten.

That was clearly a Lauren assignment of him being like, go help those guys.

They really need, we needed them to do a song.

It was a part of that.

And I should note, we were right by the Nintendo store.

So I I had walked by a bunch of dudes waiting outside for a Nintendo Wii.

And I'd gone to you guys and told you maybe that is a good area.

And then I also remember going to Lauren's office and him complaining that you guys didn't have an idea and me saying, well, it ain't on me because I just dropped some gold at their door

that they cared not for.

I did feel like you were just helping Lauren, like we were being shitty and we're like bailing on an opportunity.

And Lauren was like, no, fucking do it.

You have Justin Timber, like, like, do a fucking song.

And you were trying to help.

But I will say, Seth, you coming in and pitching the idea did help us be like, no, not that.

I mean, it should be.

And then I think probably came up with something.

What about the fact that we's are kind of shaped a little bit like dicks?

Do you think that maybe

could have been it?

I don't know what your dick's shaped like.

Well, there was a we,

there was an Alec Baldwin.

It was later a wee dick scene.

Yeah, there's an Alec Baldwin we jerk off scene.

Really wasn't.

Yeah, that's true.

So that observation made it on the show.

It just wasn't through us.

Isn't it more about what you do with it than how it's shaped, though?

I mean, do you guys have like super rectangular-shaped wings?

That's for a different podcast.

All right.

So you mentioned early 90s RB.

This is really maybe the most hyper-specific you guys are able to be about music, would you say?

Yes.

And Catrice Barnes, who is the music people, who is a genius and wonderful,

was also a fan of R ⁇ B, and she banged out the general ideas for this song.

And then my brother later helped out and also made the beat to this song.

But I can't remember, Andy, if that's what happened first and then the idea.

Were we listening to tracks while we did this and coming up with shit?

We might have asked her to just start working on one just because we knew that was the genre, even though we didn't have an idea yet.

We were talking with Justin, I believe on Tuesday.

He came into our office and he was like, yo, let's do a song.

And we were like, oh shit.

And then we started talking about what kind of song it could be.

And we all started laughing, talking about all the RB we grew up listening to and realized we had common ground.

So we asked Catrice to start making an early 90s R ⁇ B sounding track, but we hadn't come up with the premise yet.

Jodicy, R.

Kelly, H-Town.

I'm trying to think of the main ones that we probably and definitely did talk about.

Was the look inspired by one of those more than the other?

Because the look is so wonderful and specific.

Well, everyone said it was Color Me Bad because we're white.

Gotcha.

Yeah.

And I'm inclined to just go with that.

Yeah, that works for the look.

That's what you pulled off.

Right.

But the sounds are more ones I just mentioned.

It was a little interesting to me because Color Me Bad is not all white.

Yeah, but it was the white guy from Color Me Bad.

Yeah.

We were all being the white guy.

We're both being the white guy from Color Mad.

That cool hairstyle.

Yep.

I think that's the safest way to put it.

So it seems like timeline then is Thursday is when Yorma cracks the premise here.

Yes.

Yeah.

It must have been like, I think it was late Thursday.

Exactly.

That I was in a corner talking to myself, just being like, what if a present was a dick inside a box like in that movie Diner?

And then Andy was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what'd you just say?

So, a shout out to the movie Diner, which Mickey Rourke popcorn box, yeah, correct

movie theater.

It's an assault, an assault.

It was absolutely an assault because she doesn't know.

She reaches her hand into the popcorn, not knowing exactly what the game plan is.

Whereas in this digital short, it is always presented as a gift.

Yeah, the women are given the choice whether or not to accept.

Hey, girl, I got something real important to give you.

So just sit down and listen.

Girl, you know, we've been together such a long, long time.

Such a long time.

And now I'm ready to lay it on the line.

Wow, you know it's Christmas, and my heart is open wide.

I'm gonna give you something so you know what's on my mind.

I give real special

situation.

Take a look inside,

Did they get arrested at the end, Seth?

It's pretty clearly assault in this video as well.

They do get arrested.

Everyone forgets that part of it, by the way.

I always thought that was because they were in public, but we'll get to the arrest, which I have a lot of questions about.

But I do wonder once you had this very funny idea of Dorm, did it right fast once you had it?

As I recall, yes.

I think by our standards, kind of yes.

The ideas did start flowing.

I can answer decidedly yes.

And I can also say, while we all contributed, I remember it was one of the ones where Akiva had a lot of killer things that he came up with, like the steps.

I remember him just saying the entire steps and us going like, oh, fuck.

Yeah, that's in.

You know, it was like that kind of vibe in the room where it was just kind of happening fast.

There are so many nice moves in it.

The steps is one that's great.

The other holidays is another three beat.

That might have been written with Timberlake in the room.

That might be his real, besides making the whole thing way better.

That might have have been also a joke contribution of his.

And backstage at the CMAs is him.

Yeah, exactly.

Cause we hadn't gotten to the end of the song yet and we were kind of writing as he was recording.

And yeah, he definitely wrote that one.

Another big thing I want to give him credit for is we were tentative on the idea.

We were like, oh, yeah.

And we had kind of written out maybe the first part of the first verse, like maybe just getting to the first dick in a box.

And it was just on paper and it barely even had a melody.

And we were like, let's go see if he likes it.

And I have a very clear memory of being on the eighth floor right in that hallway outside of his dressing dressing room.

And we presented it to him kind of like, I don't know, but we, we had just enough that we needed to know if he was going to be on board or else it was wasting our time.

And he was like 100% confident.

Yeah.

Probably more confident than I've ever been about anything creative we've ever done.

I remember thinking when he was talking to us that I was like, I don't think I've ever been confident before.

I remember being nervous because I had put him on a pedestal so much and looked up to him so much.

Yeah, he was my, I don't like, I would dress like him.

I had my hair cut like him.

Just for our listeners, because I remember how you guys looked when the three of you would walk down a hallway nervous.

Or could you just, how you sounded?

Can you just for our listeners, how the three of you sounded when you were nervous?

It was, it's a little bit like when Huey, Dewey, and Louis sleep.

Like, you know how they go.

Oh, it did sound like that.

But each person makes a different slightly nervous sound.

But it's the three of us, you know.

And you also walk down the hallway head to toe to head.

That's right.

Which is hard to explain exactly how that looks.

Sorry, it's hard, but it's worth it.

You did go back to one of your favorite venues to shoot this, which is the side of the Hudson River.

Finally paid off.

You guys did more to clean up the Hudson River than RFK.

That's why I always say you guys are my RFK juniors.

That's right.

You do say that.

We did go to so many of the same places over and over again.

There's a moment, I think you do it.

Is the basketball hoop where we later shoot United Way with Peyton Manning?

Yes, it is exactly the same place.

Good call.

It is very funny because it is a lot of the same locations.

But I also think, based on early RB music videos, probably working with the same kind of budget they had to do one of these.

For sure.

Which makes it really fun.

Did we record the song Friday morning or really late Thursday night?

Does anyone remember that?

Really late Thursday night.

Because we weren't into that yet.

Yeah.

Like it got later and later as we made shorts, but this one was Thursday night.

You can't pull permits from the city of New York at like three in the morning Thursday night for a nine in the morning, Friday morning shoot.

that's also partially why it's just like the Hudson River and stuff, because you just have to go outside and start filming.

You also would have shot any other day because the weather is so bad.

Not bad, but it's just so flat and gray.

Yeah.

Which also, I would say, looked like a lot of early 90s RB videos.

Right.

Because there's like, well, this is when we're shooting.

And also a lot of them are in Philly.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, there you go.

Very Philly weather.

Yeah, they're part of Motown Philly, these guys.

Very, I would say, pleasant to watch, yet underwhelming dance moves.

Oh, you thought so.

Very deliberate.

There is a choreography, but it seems to be a very simple choreography, and yet thought went into it.

Justin, to his credit, again, was like, we should have super shitty little moves.

And we pretty much just made them up as we were shooting.

Yeah.

Watching two people have the same shitty move is pleasant.

Oh, yeah.

I agree.

It's actually funny thinking about Justin and how complicated his dance moves can be and seeing him dumb it down.

I also remember being out shooting and no one was recognizing him.

Wow.

Like people would walk by and be like, oh, look at those guys.

But no one was like, oh my God, it's Joseph Diberlick.

Because he was so unrecognizable in that outfit.

But that also is a benefit of how lo-fi the shooting is at that point, right?

Because at some point, if there's enough people standing around, you think it's a real movie, but you guys were still smashing grab at that point.

So nobody would think.

We didn't have lights.

Yeah.

There was one security guard for him.

That was his like personal bodyguard following us.

And then the camera guy and then like three assistants just hanging out.

We did not look like a professional operation.

We looked like NYU students, basically, which we would tell people occasionally.

Shout out to the wardrobe that they can get the call.

We probably called them Thursday night, being like, This is the area we're thinking, told them and hair and makeup, like, this is the looks.

We're still working on it.

And the fact that we could start shooting on Friday morning means that they had to pull that stuff, you know, in the 12 hours leading up.

They came so correct.

Yes.

Truly.

The only thing they couldn't get were starter jackets, of course.

Yeah, those are hard to find.

But I think in the end, maybe better off for it.

I think better off for it.

Yeah.

And they built us a couple sets or just the one,

the fireplace kind of living room set by that night, right?

Yeah.

Which were both great.

And again, I mean, the glasses you had, Andy, your beard, that was all deliciously perfect.

Sometimes at SNL, it just comes together.

And that was one of those times where everyone just saw it and it just went.

Yeah.

There's some shots I want to talk about that I really like.

There was an insert of just Justin's feet dancing.

And that really made me laugh because it's already a bad dance move.

They have to show it off.

And then I like that in this world, the director thought we got to show him even more.

The fancy footwork.

That's a pretty classic Lonely Island move right there.

I was going to say it's kind of just too guysy.

Yes.

Yeah, it is.

Andy sliding down the banister and then making him slide back up again, showing it.

Late edition.

We were like, this is a boring moment.

Yeah, this has got to suck even more.

Here's a real question I have that I can't remember.

How did we get you up on the basketball ladder?

Ladder, that was low.

So why did we have a ladder?

We planned ahead being like, let's do a quintessential basketball court, and someone drove a ladder to us?

I can't remember what video it's in, but we were mimicking something.

Yeah, but we had some sort of plan.

We must have planned that ahead of time.

I know.

I'm saying it's a reference to it.

It's a BBD or something or another bad creation.

Yeah.

There is also a very nice, I don't know if this was planning, but the first time we see Andy sitting on the backboard is early in the song, just singing.

And then the second time we see it, Timberlake is then hanging on the rim with the box on his crotch.

And it is, I think, the second time you hit the dick in a box.

So it's an incredible heighten from the first time.

Thank you for calling it singing.

You're very welcome.

And there is so much nice structuring in this because you could have sailed by on the premise and the fact that Timberlake and Andy have beautiful voices and it was a catchy song.

But there are all these really nice visual heightens that get really big laughs.

Yes, agreed.

It came together.

Once we had recorded the song, I think we all got super excited because it's Justin at the height of his power, pouring all his creative energy into it and sounding so dope that you just can't, like we were like, this song is very catchy.

Just the stack he did in Pro Tools, a stack for those who don't know, is like many vocals stacked on top of each other.

Just watching him do his stack, he's like, check this out.

And for the, is my digital box?

For that line, he did what, like 16 tracks?

Yeah, 12 to 16.

I want to say 16.

and we were like, damn.

And it was like, this one split out, these two split out to the side.

Here comes the harmony.

Here's a counter harmony.

And then he's like, this is what that music sounded like at this moment.

And then he played it back.

He's like, watch this.

And then played it.

And we were like, oh, fuck.

Like, how'd you do that?

You're just in our dorm room.

In addition to just learning from him, like, I was running the Pro Tools at the time.

It was like, holy shit.

Was also that when he would do another take, I've never seen this before, but his lyrics lyrics were exactly on top of each other.

Like the waveforms are exact.

But like when we make music, we would have to shuffle things around like always, oh, like sometimes split them apart and put fades and like his are perfect.

He was just perfect at singing.

I know a dumb observation, but he's very good at singing.

Justin Timberlake.

This might be a dumb question too, but layman here, when you say stacked, does that mean when you're hearing the song, we're hearing 16 different versions of Justin Sing?

Yes.

Yeah.

At different volumes and some in the left speaker, some in the right speaker, but you're hearing them all at once and that's what gives it that crazy sound that when you try to sing along in the shower you never can sound like somebody on a song there's all this production behind it but also knew how to mix it down so that it just sounds like something from the radio he literally was like mixing for us in the room as well it was crazy it was a very educational experience there's a really nice i can't remember i guess it's the bridge where it's a shot of two of you singing together but i did notice when i was watching it today oh i don't know if i can hear andy at all right now there's many times where we did that he got lowered a little bit When we were making our album and we like went back to Dick in a Box because we were like, Well, we got to put Dick in a Box on it.

And we started to go into the mix.

It was so fucking funny, Seth.

Because we'd be like, All right, here's Timberlake.

And it was like,

just perfect.

And it was like, all right, here's Andy.

And I was like,

I was like, oh, God, did that air?

And they're like, yeah, you can't really hear it.

Do you want to talk about Madison Square Garden?

Yeah, well, not to put you on Front Street, Andy, but will you talk about Madison Square Garden real quick?

That's what that just reminded me of.

I totally forgot about it.

Oh, Madison Square Garden was really funny.

It was really funny.

So, this was a long time later, but I guess we should do it on this one.

Yes, talk about it now.

It was not that long.

It was probably three months later.

Three months later.

So, it had gone through its whole like got big and pressed and everyone like dick in a box.

And Justin was like, hit me up.

He's like, Yo, I'm coming to New York.

I'm doing Madison Square Garden.

We're going to do it as the last encore.

And I was like, Fuck yeah.

Oh my God.

MSG, this is it.

So I went there in the afternoon.

We did a rehearsal.

We come up through the middle of the stage, all dramatic.

And it was the first time I'd ever worked with in-ears.

You know what those are?

Where you like put them in your ears and you've done it stuff when you host stuff.

Yeah, but not that often.

But just for our listeners, so that's you hearing yourself or you hearing the director?

To hear the track because the audience sound, he's like, dude, just so you know, like it gets really loud.

Got it.

So you have to have the in-ears.

And I was like, I'll be fine.

Also, they're not real in-ears.

Real in-ears are molded to your ear with wax so that that they fit you perfect and make a complete seal like you're underwater.

Yeah, they're very expensive.

So you can hear the music.

Yours were like temp ones.

They were loners.

But at rehearsal, it was like super calm and chill.

We're just in a big old empty Madison Square Garden.

We come up through the middle.

I can hear him perfectly.

We're doing all our funny choreographed moves.

I'm singing.

And we're like, oh my God, it's happening.

Keeve and Yorm come to the show.

Other friends of ours come to the show.

I was there.

Yeah, Seth, you were there.

I watched most of the show.

I was like, this is fucking incredible.

We were laughing, being like, I can't believe I'm about to be on that stage.

This is so crazy.

It's like, you know, tens of thousands of people going crazy.

Go backstage, get in the thing.

It's a stage and a round.

So we like are under it.

And he's like, here we go.

Come up through the thing.

The place goes fucking insane.

It couldn't have been a hotter move at that moment.

He knew what he was doing.

We pop up on stage.

I take one step off the platform and both my inners fall out.

And all I hear is,

and I go, oh, no.

And I can sort of hear it.

And it's like, ooh.

And I'm like, oh,

it does be.

Oh, it's Christmas time or something.

Now, this is a good time to note you sing first.

I'm supposed to sing first.

Yes.

And I cannot hear the beats.

So I'm just like, I think I know where we are in the song.

And I can't hear myself.

And I like five octaves higher than what i'm supposed to do so instead of girl you know we've been a killer i go

and then oh it was such a long

time

i'm like oh no and but i know it's wrong but i'm so overwhelmed and i'm trying to remember like where i'm supposed to walk on stage to meet up with him and he sees that it has happened and he looks at me and he just kind of looks at me like what what

and i was like i point to my ears like ah

so we go through the rest of it and i never recover and i get off and i get changed and i come back and akiva and yorma were just dying laughing i mean it had been a while since i was up there and they were still laughing i was like dude i think i sounded really bad the ears fell out and they were like you sounded so bad

it was trash oh my god i was like all right don't sugarcoat it.

But I still think if you go on YouTube, there's like fan phone videos of it.

It might be our videos of it.

Like, honestly, while we were recording it on our like iPhones, our early iPhones, like it was one of those things of like while it was happening, you can hear us being like, oh, oh, God.

Key Vinjoram, did you know that something had gone wrong?

Not like that.

As soon as you just mentioned that, I was like, oh shit, I didn't know it was that bad.

I thought you were just.

And I swear to you, I sounded good at rehearsal.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was just so green that I didn't even know to be like, I have to find those innears and put them back in.

You know what I mean?

I was just like, well, I guess this is what's happening.

Yeah, the show goes on.

Well, there's like you think the monitors on stage, but now having done concerts ourselves, we know that like the monitors on stage do not work when you're with a huge audience.

Correct.

And the sound you hear is bouncing off the back wall, and you'll be fully offbeat if you try to go with the sound in the room.

Yes.

If you can even hear any of it.

Yeah.

After hearing this story again andy i'm impressed you did as well as you did like

because now we've done shows and you know how crazy yeah it's impossible in that moment andy did you actually think god i'm so happy none of our songs are longer than two minutes and 10 seconds

no but i did think i'm so happy that everyone is still fine with this because they just want to hear justin yeah and seeing two people together like that they knew it was a gift and every time he's saying it was perfect so they were still getting their like version of what it was supposed to be.

I do want to say, real quick, just to make Andy feel better about bombing at Madison Square Garden, I think I've told you guys the story, but there was a Hurricane Sandy benefit, and they reached out to Lorne because they wanted me and Bill to do Stefan.

And Bill correctly realized that was going to be a bad idea at a giant concert at Madison Square Garden for Hurricane Sandy.

But then Lauren talked me and Bobby Moynihan into doing it as me and drunk uncle.

And we were standing backstage.

I was in my update outfit and Bobby was dressed like drunk uncle and the who

was wrapping up a set

and Chris Rock walked over and saw the two of us and he said, what are you doing?

And I'm like, we're going on next.

And he goes, you're going to do sketches?

He goes, you're going to follow the who with a sketch?

And he wasn't wrong.

He wasn't wrong.

I think weirdly, it was seeing the faces of 14,000 people and then watching them all collectively decide now would be a good time to get concessions or go to the bathroom.

There's certain shows that comedy just cannot happen.

I feel personally like any music awards show is that.

Because Seth, I'm sure you have been asked, I've been asked sometimes to do stuff to host, to present.

And I'm always like, I mean, I think the Grammys are awesome.

And I think, you know, the VMAs are awesome, but those are not comedy rooms.

No, they're not.

No one's listening.

They just want to hear their song.

And they are wired to scream.

That's what they came to do in a very good way for music.

Tonight is a night where I'm going to scream when I hear a thing I know, not I'm going to listen and judge wry observations.

I think there are some other really funny moments.

The first time someone goes hands-free on the dick in a box is a really nice moment when you realize that you actually don't have to hold the box.

It is.

Shout out to Wig and Maya, which we haven't even mentioned, as the two receivers.

It's one of the great nonverbal performances in SNL history, both of them.

Smoldering.

First of all, the fact that they are both very touched by the gift.

They find it both thoughtful and sensuous.

It definitely helps our cause.

Definitely helped your cause.

Then there are two moments that I wrote down that I want to talk about.

One, I believe Andy is putting a rose in Maya's face, and he's getting a little too clumsy with it.

You're just sort of pushing it around her face in a way that does not not seem enjoyable anymore, but she maintains that she's into it.

You can see her struggling to a little bit.

Struggling, but still kind of makes it work.

Near the end of the song, I apologize to both you and Justin, Andy, but I think maybe my favorite moment in the whole video is he has a feather on Wig's face.

Yeah.

And she takes her hand up and pushes the feather away as if to say, Okay, that's enough.

And it's in a million years watching music videos.

You've never seen Leighton the song like a lady, a lady who's being wooed, have that reaction of, okay,

that's good.

We're good.

That's enough.

Have I not given you enough for the dick in a box?

There's a really cool musical thing where the music cuts out with about 30 seconds left in the song.

Yeah, that's Timberlake, too.

You put your hands up and say, dick in a box.

And we've talked about this a lot, leaving room for people to laugh.

That is one of the great moments in a digital short because it leaves room for people to think it's over.

And there's applause as if they were rewarding it for being done.

And then there's more.

And it's such a cool, awesome moment.

But by the way, also, if it wasn't doing good, that'd be the worst.

If they were like, okay, it's over.

And then you're like, oh, no, there's more.

So we got lucky on that.

But musically is so cool.

And that's all, Justin.

It's also one of the exceptional things about watching these.

And obviously, these are different than real music videos because they were always built for comedy.

But it's so fun to go back and listen to not just the short, but listening to how it was received in real time the first time it aired and having those laughs and reactions.

Because, you know, again, in just the course of two minutes, you kind of hear it becoming a hit to everybody who is seeing it in real time.

By the end of it, they're so appreciative of what you've just given them.

And it is just a blast to watch.

Yeah.

I will not pretend like we didn't feel like it was going insanely great and we were gassed as fuck.

Yeah.

It might have been like our happiest moment ever on the show for me personally, at least.

Yeah, honestly.

And there's a photo that was taken of the three of us.

I'm glad we're talking about the famous photo.

I think about it all the time.

It's so nice and crazy to have a photo of the exact moment.

It's us, and we're watching the monitors and the audience while it's playing live.

So it's capturing kind of one of our happiest moments on the show.

And there it is in that photo.

And who else is there with us?

Mike Shoemaker.

I want to say Shoemaker Higgins Willforte.

PTA.

Paul Thomas Anderson.

Paul Thomas Anderson, Maya Rudos partner, is there and he came to the show and it's really, you kind of couldn't ask for a better photo because you have one of our greatest living directors just cracking up with us.

Just cracking up.

He's the buddy.

And I've always said there's about, if you're lucky, take however many years you were on the show, divided by that number of years.

And that's how many moments you have where you just know it's crushing.

Yes.

And I don't know if I've talked about this on our cast before,

but for me, and I think still to this day, going out of that into Barry Gibb Talk Show, where they realized Jimmy was there and it was Barry Gibb Talk Show, which was by all accounts his best or one of the best sketches he ever did.

And everyone knew it from the last time Justin hosted it.

And it fucking kills also.

The cheer, the discovery cheer of Dick in a Box ending into the realization that they were getting Jimmy and Barry Gibb talk show, it felt like the rafters were shaking in the studio.

You know what I mean?

Where I remember saying to these guys being like, this is crazy.

Yeah.

Like out loud had to say, this is crazy.

It was.

Like didn't realize that SNL could get quite that exciting.

Yes, it felt like the Studio 60 Only Sunset strip version of what they would hope SNL would be where it's like a rock show and everything's just destroying.

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So, Andy, you talked about going into Barry Kibb Chalk Show.

I mean, this is,

as episodes go, it's a banger.

Yes.

It's a Christmas show.

So, people, I think, again, Christmas show audiences are in general better just because it's Christmas season.

Everybody's in a good mood, saw the giant Christmas tree on their way in.

It's also Justin Timberlake, who, as we've established, people at this point, not only is he a huge star, people know he's a good SNL host.

So you are going to that show knowing you're there for a night that, for all intents and purposes, be a good episode of SNL.

And this does not disappoint.

This is one where you look through it and you just think, oh, yeah, this is, I mean, if you think an episode like this could exist in a time that was not in golden era, I don't know who you are.

Seth, should we talk about the one thing thing that we talked about after the show?

What was that?

I was a huge fan.

Colin Joe wrote a sketch called Michael McDonald's McDonald's.

Oh my God.

Oh yeah.

It was a commercial for McDonald's, but a fake McDonald's owned and run by Michael McDonald with Timberlake doing a really good Michael McDonald impression.

Yeah.

And it got cut on air.

And there was a downy piece.

that aired late in the show.

It was a Nancy Grace about the Duke La Crosse team.

Yeah.

And it was such a downer.

Yep.

And I remember having this conversation with you.

I don't even know who's right or wrong.

It was just, I think it's fascinating to talk about this kind of thing when it comes to SNL.

I was like, I can't believe.

And by the way, you're head writer at this point.

So I was challenging what you did.

Right.

But I was mistakenly doing that thinking we're friends.

I should just talk about it.

And I was like, I can't believe that McDonald's got cut for that fucking Downey piece.

By the way, Downey is a legend who we love.

But in the tone of that night, I was like, I can't believe we did this downer, dry political thing last.

We could have had a perfect episode where every sketch killed because the McDonald's one played really good address.

Yeah.

And I remember you saying to me, no, but that piece had something to say and it was the right call.

And I remember being like, oh,

I shouldn't have said anything.

That's interesting.

Having no memory of that, as you set up that story, I was surprised that I would land there.

Got it, got it.

I mean, I'm sure that it was a choice made, you know.

Yes.

Were you just being a corporate guy, just like toe in the line, being like, yep, you know, we made the call and it was the right call.

I don't know.

I mean, I certainly share all of our take on Downey's legendary status.

He did write things that were almost never in service of a live audience's reaction.

He wrote what his head had to say that day.

Yes.

I mean, he's perfectly capable and did thousands of times of writing things that crushed.

Yeah, yeah.

He wrote things that played red hot, but it was like, that was not the week to have a Nancy Grace piece at the Duke La Crosse.

That was my point where I was like, I was so high on the buzz.

And I was still very new to the show, obviously, but I was just like, man, the audience.

I was just thinking about the audience in the studio.

And I was like, they fucking loved everything except that one that made them think about the Duke La Crosse team thing.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, they could have heard Timberlake singing more.

Yes, exactly.

And I also just loved that Just piece.

That sketch was so funny.

Well, now I should say, Michael McDonald's McDonald's did air eventually.

Did it eventually air?

It eventually aired the next time he hosted, I believe.

No, I do not think it aired.

Kevin, I think that you've seen dress because it became sort of a Dead Sea Scroll sketch you passed around.

No, it aired.

It had to have aired.

Didn't they do it again?

I will tell you that rewriting it, all we did was, it was the most fun SNL rewrite day I've ever had because it was just writers who couldn't sing sitting around pitching two-line.

It was a terrible McDonald's.

Yes.

That was the gist of the sketch.

It was that he didn't know that McDonald's existed, right?

He didn't know that there was another McDonald's.

So he was being sued.

And so there was a lot of talk about lawyers and how he had to charge.

Yes.

And the music was what a fool believes.

So everything was to that.

Yes.

And the line that forever is stuck in my head is, My life is a nightmare.

We also have chicken McNuggets.

Yes.

So we just sang those couplets over and over again.

And Emily Spivey, who was pregnant at the time, thought she was going to have the baby.

She was laughing so hard.

And Joast wrote down every single thing we pitched.

And we sent it to, we had it framed.

We wrote it up as if it was like an ancient scroll that you would find with just the couplets that we cut from rewrites.

And we gave it to Spivey when she left the show.

Oh, my God.

But it was a, it was also just the most wonderfully stupid idea.

Is this a good second chance theater, Seth?

Feels like a good one.

It's a really good second.

It only went to dress again, so it never aired.

Oh, man.

I can't believe it.

It's a perfect second chance theater.

That should go top of the list.

You just have to get Justin to come on.

Yeah.

Hasn't he done Michael McDonald's somewhere at some point?

I feel like he's done it.

Definitely.

Probably on tonight show or something.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I don't know, man.

I also think that it's pretty.

It was weird that we were allowed to do it

because.

So by the way, this is a change they made between dress and error.

No, it did not erod,

but this is, he was playing the real Michael McDonald.

Okay.

He was not playing a brother of Michael McDonald.

And this is one of the.

I'm required by law to tell you I'm a sex offender.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, that's not okay.

That might have been why I got cut right there.

No, no, that was Forte coming in.

No, they added that between dress and error.

They were like, oh, this will be better.

No, no, that was Forte's character, right?

He was Donald.

Oh, you're right.

I'm sorry.

Forte comes in as Donald McDonald.

Again, he has never heard of McDonald's, and he also has a spokesman whose name is

Donald McDonald.

And Forte comes in to say, I'm required by law to tell you I'm a sex offender.

So he has a very bad spokesperson.

One of the many sex offender characters he played.

Yes.

Justin says, bring your kids down.

They can meet my special friend, Donald McDonald.

Will enters dressed as Ronald McDonald, but with Michael McDonald bright red hair and beard.

I'm required by law to tell you I'm a sex offender.

Everything's going bad for his restaurant.

That's his lead.

Is it where else can you get fries for $16.99?

Yeah.

It's all that he didn't know.

He opened a restaurant because he thought a burger and fry restaurant would be a good idea, and he had no idea there was an actual McDonald's and he was getting sued a lot.

And it's very short.

I think that's the other thing.

Downey probably wrote a 30-page sketch about the Duke LaCrosse case and this came in at like four and a half pages.

Well, look, Seth Lee, I don't want to put you on the spot.

I was just remembering an interesting moment.

Oh, I like it.

I love the interesting moments.

Do you kind of feel bad about ruining the show now, Seth?

No, because I want to talk about this episode.

Because I would say this might be certainly a top five episode that I ever worked on.

Cold Open was Polar, Rudolph, and Wig.

Singing, right?

Yeah, Santa's my boyfriend.

Is that what the song was?

Yeah.

I should note, I bet that Nancy Grace was the cold open, maybe and dropped down because it was maybe too much of a drag for Christmas time.

So, beautiful cold open monologue.

Do you remember the monologue, Andy?

Muppets?

Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Oh, oh, close.

Oh, yeah.

New York is so beautiful this time of year.

I myself grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, but no matter where you are, Christmas is about family, good cheer, and of course, Christmas songs.

So if you don't mind, I'd like to sing my favorite, the Christmas song.

No, no, no, not that Christmas song.

The Christmas song by Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Thanks, guys.

Whatever, dude.

All right, you chipmunks ready to sing your song.

Woo!

Let's sing it!

Okay, Simon.

Oh, Pete!

Kate Theodore.

Oh, hey!

Okay, Alvin.

Just good times, fun.

Everything's rocking.

And then bring it on down to Homelessville.

Destroyed.

Just destroyed.

And again, that's Paula Pell understanding exactly what sort of Swiss Army knife of talent she had with Justin Timberly.

Any extra change you have can bring comfort.

Even a dollar is helpful to those in need.

Did someone save those in need?

There's a body over here, body over there with your hands in the air, shake your dairy air.

Soup it is,

suit it is, suit it.

Give it on up to homelessville.

Now we're into Target, Target Lady, where Timberlake was super funny and a target lady.

Still early, might have been target lady number two.

Right.

Akiba, huh?

You do a good target lady, right?

Oh, yeah.

Condor.

Yeah, see?

Condor.

Really good.

Thank you.

Approved.

I will say approved is something my wife and I will still yell when we swipe.

Yeah, 100%.

Approved is really, really good.

It's so funny.

Target lady is such a wonderful character.

She's just so happy.

I feel like it was an era where a lot of people wrote comedy as angry or sad.

And the fact that Target Lady was just super psyched.

That your card was approved.

Yeah.

She just wants you to get your shit.

And she was always going to get deals.

Like, where did you get this?

And then leaving to go get the item.

She just loves working at Target.

But this is the second, I mean, second act of the show.

Target into Dickin' a Box into Barry Gib Talk show.

Yeah.

I mean, come on.

Find me a better act in the last 25 years of SNR.

Ooh, that's a good challenge.

Yeah.

We're going to go looking for a better act than that act right there.

Now, can we take a quick stop into Seth's Corner?

Seth's Corner, you're all invited.

Seth's Corner, it's happening right now.

Take it wasted.

Dry Eyes, a game show sketch I wrote for originally Matthew Fox.

Steve Higgins said, you know who I bet can do that thing of almost crying and not crying?

Justin Timberlake.

And he was right.

This is a game show where if you cried, you lost.

And they would say very painful or emotional things to you.

And I had forgotten that Timberlake was really good at not crying and he was playing against Fred, who would immediately start crying, which was another Fred move.

So, example, Fred was a teacher, and Bill was the host.

Also, I don't know if I did this on purpose or just incredible bad luck on my part.

The name of Bill as the game show host was Gary Pibb on a week that we had a Barry Gibb talk show.

Probably should have changed the name from Gary Pibb.

This is something said to you by your ex-girlfriend, Sarah.

I'm leaving you, not because I don't love you, but because you never let me in.

Go!

Oh, God.

Sarah.

You know how people don't remember drives.

And I know there are a lot of people who think there are too many game show sketches on SNL.

And I think there are two sides to that.

One side is, you know, I think you have a point that it becomes a little repetitive.

And the other side is, fuck off.

That's a good point.

That's fair.

You don't know how hard it is.

Yeah, that's an interesting point.

You don't know how hard it is.

Wallace arguments.

Week in and week out.

Then we have a Timberlake song, then we have Update.

And again, Seth's Corner was not well remembered.

No, it wasn't not well remembered.

It just was, you know, other things happen.

But Hip Hop Kids is one of my favorite things I ever read.

Do you guys remember Hip Hop Kids?

It's kind of like a Nickelodeon show, yeah.

They're in the caverns or something.

They're like spelunking.

They got stuck in the cave.

Yeah.

Nickelodeon show about a group of hip-hop kids and they're stuck in a cave, a mine shaft.

But they're positive.

And in a very Nickelodeon style kids show way.

They dance their way out of trouble, but every time they dance in the mine shaft, rocks fall and hit them on the heads.

And they don't piece together that their dancing is the issue.

And then, you know, look, I'm going to toot my own horn here just because nobody's going to hear it from behind the dick-in-the-box track.

But there was a really nice turn where then Forte and Bill showed up as two of the creatures from the film The Descent, who were subterranean carnivores.

I don't think anybody saw that turn coming.

Also, Amy plays a very smart hip-hop kid who notes that maybe the dancing is what's causing the rocks to fall.

And Timberlake says, I think we should probably dance our way out of this problem.

And she said, I actually think probably if we make noise, they'll be able to find us.

And she's right.

They eat Sudakis.

So it was educational, too, in some ways.

Is Sudecus doing his What Up With That dance?

It's pre-what up with that.

Yeah.

I mean, I called both the we sketch and what up with that.

Yeah.

Not bad.

Not bad.

Put it in the ether.

Thanks for visiting Seth's Corner, everybody.

That was Seth's Corner.

Until next time, Seth.

Oh.

I have a couple more questions about Dickin' a Box.

We would always be very, you know, whiny and tired, but the fact that we didn't come up with dick in a box till Thursday cursed the rest of our time at SNL to Lorne thinking it was never too late for us to think of not just an idea, but maybe the best idea we've ever had.

And so it'd be Friday mornings and we'd go to him being like, I'm sorry, Lorne, we didn't think of a good one this week.

And he'd be like, you still have 36 hours.

And then it'd be Friday night at midnight.

And we'd be like, we don't have any.

He'd be like, you still have 23 hours.

There was no amount of time that was too small that could possibly, because we came in so sure we were out of time and then turned in dick in a box.

We could never be trusted again.

To be fair, once you're told to do something and then you do it, like you have to do it, he did prove himself right every time by forcing us to do them.

Every time?

Well, not every time.

Sometimes they were bad.

That was the issue.

Got to wish it would rain episode.

Would he actually cite Dick in a box by name, Keith?

Would he say dick in a box?

No, no.

But it was a very clear thing that every time before this, we had it by Wednesday and it was very controlled like the rest of the show.

And then because of this one, it was just like, we could never say anything.

Well, we also, we also sort of, I felt that too.

I was like, oh my God, we almost blew it.

I mean, this was great.

This was a great experience.

Yes.

If we had been allowed to just be like, well, we didn't think it won, it wouldn't exist.

And we were so happy it existed.

So then we knew we were wrong as well.

This is a question.

When did it start being a thing?

And it did start being a thing where after pics came out, it would say digital short, as in, like, and they will do one.

That's a good one for you, Kev.

Like TBA, TBD, I should say.

Yes, TBD, where there was just slotted in.

It was the dime also when we went into his office where famously there's all the cards up on a bulletin board that say the sketches, but there's a few permanent cards for people that don't work there.

There's a card that says monologue.

Monologue.

Update.

Musical.

There's cards that say commercial break one, commercial break two.

Yeah, yeah.

And they're laminated.

All the other cards are just index cards that get thrown away.

And then once we went in there and there was a laminated digital short, it was both a moment of pride and terror.

Like, whoa, there's a new laminated card.

This board has been the same for 40 years or 35 years, maybe at that time.

And now there's a new laminated card.

So in that way, it was a very exciting, prideful, and also just horrifying.

It's just like, oh, no.

Like, no matter what we say.

No matter how bad we were going to embarrass ourselves.

Right.

At that point, it would have been like me going to Lauren's office and and saying, I don't think we have an update.

Right.

Not going to be an update this week.

And I will say, I remember Lauren saying about Dick in a Box, you know, you have to give a lot of credit to the Lonely Island and Justin and the film crew and Catrice and hair and makeup and wardrobe.

But don't forget the fact that I told them they had to do one.

I'll be honest, he would be partly right to say it.

Did you also fall a little victim to that, Keith, where you guys realized you had pulled off Dick in a Box so late that you started having a little bit more confidence as the week got later?

Yes, but the reason it would never get better is because everyone else just stays up all night on Tuesday and has the rest of the week to recover to be back at full strength by the show kind of.

And if we didn't come up with a Tuesday, then we'd stay up again all night Wednesday.

And then by Thursday, when it's like, all right, now it's time to go start shooting or get to work, we were crazy people because we hadn't slept sometimes three nights in a row.

Like imagine having to do writing night three times in a row because we were holding ourselves to that standard where we just wouldn't accept a doable answer.

We We would be like, no, but is it going to be great?

And lots of times it still wasn't great, but we also then hadn't slept for an entire week.

So we were always just crazy by the time the show was coming.

Everybody's under pressure at SNL, but certainly when you're a writer on a Tuesday night, you can know that if you don't have it, your A-list idea, you can write a B or a C-list idea.

And in a perfect world, the show will not need it that week.

And you will have given your best effort, but no one will actually see it if it doesn't rise to your high standard.

And you guys obviously wrote your way into a problem where we were going to see your best effort no matter what it was.

Also, even if you write your B-level material, but it has a good idea, you know it becomes everyone's problem after it gets picked.

Sure.

You're going to have people like yourself at a table being like, how am I going to fix this?

And the actors are all going to be on stage blocking it, being like, is this funny?

Like it goes into the machine for better or worse.

And ours gratefully was not in the machine, but also we would get all the credit and all the blame.

So it's great.

This was also to the exhaustion point.

This was also a time before there was infrastructure to do this exactly.

So everything was edited by us as well.

Like you'd be editing up until the moment, you know, sometimes you'd sleep three hours.

I can't remember how much sleep we got on this one, but sometimes you'd sleep three hours and know that you had 15 hours until the show airs.

Yeah, which once again is fine for the editors that come in to do that.

They know, okay, on Friday and Saturday, I'm going to have a crazy thing, but we're coming off the whole week of it.

And so the easiest weeks for us were the ones where we had a good idea right at the start of the week, because then when you could plan your week because it's not hard to shoot a short in a week if you know what you're doing.

Yeah.

It was when it was 48 hours that it was difficult.

We didn't make it easy on ourselves.

I have two more questions about it.

One, the cop car planned?

No, those cops saw us shooting and then realized who we were and just were like, hey, we'll hang out.

We'll make sure no one messes with you.

Wait, is that right?

I believe so.

Seriously?

Yes.

We didn't think of that except for when we saw them.

They were just real on-duty NYPD officers that just kind of saw we were doing a thing and just came and hung out.

And then we were like, can we do a shot?

And they were like, yeah, sure.

And they acted in it.

Oh, my God.

It's such a perfect end.

It's such a perfect end.

We were like, hey, will you arrest us?

Pretend you arrest us.

And they were like, okay.

Holy fuck.

That is perfect.

While I was watching it, because it is so perfect.

And then to foreshadow, Mother Lover starts with you guys getting out of jail.

So it does feel like this perfect connective tissue.

But then I thought, based on how late in the week it broke, there was no way they got a cop car.

There was no way they got the permits to use a New York City cop car.

That had to be dumb luck.

So whose idea was it that you guys would get arrested?

Because it does put a perfect, you know, bow on it, for lack of a better term.

It sounds like the type of thing that we would, I'm sure we all were thinking that was a good idea.

They really needed it.

And I love that they get arrested.

It's what they deserve.

I don't know whose idea it was.

It was just, again, the same way everything else just came together.

It just all came together.

And it is the perfect coda to it because you can tell the audience.

Because it's so triumphant and everyone's so enjoying the triumph.

And then, when the two sort of heroes of it get arrested, it's just this wonderful turn at the end.

They still seem kind of stoked getting arrested, though.

Yeah, yeah, they know the game.

It's funny because we had over the course of the time at our show developed some characters that were very easy for lazy guys to be for Halloween.

Like, that's a pretty easy thing to build a box, get an old suit, and put it on, and become the dick in the box guys.

And occasionally, there would be guys who you'd talk to, and they'd be like, I really did it.

I put my dick in the box.

And we were like, watch the end of the video.

Like they get arrested.

It's a cautionary tale.

A guy did tell us he got fired from his job.

He's like, yeah, I'm dressed up as it for the Halloween party, but I really have my dick in there.

And I got fired.

And you were like, yeah.

Don't do that.

Another guy got fired because he wore laser cats and his boss was like, yeah, I just never got it.

Just wasn't anyway.

He said, it just didn't get it.

You were his boss.

Yeah, I was his boss.

It was one of our writers.

Andy, is it fair that when I watch this, I think of those two characters as the smart one and the dumb one, and you're the dumb one?

Yeah.

Okay.

By design.

I mean, yes.

You are so good at doing a doofy, dumb dude, and this might be the dumbest dude I ever saw you play.

He is very dumb.

I also just like, for me, obviously, one of the potential knocks on me, especially in the early days, was so arched, so goofy, so over-the-top performance-wise.

And this was a very restrained performance.

And I think that, what, Yorm?

I know, yeah, that, yeah, you don't think it's a very restrained performance.

I was smiling, and Andy was commenting on why I was smiling.

Yeah, I guess I could say, yeah, restrained, restrained.

You were very restrained.

I mean, I'm not doing much with my face.

Yeah, because you're playing a cool guy.

That's what I think is so impressive about it.

You're hardly doing anything with your face, and yet it's very clear that you're dumb as a box of rocks.

Yes, exactly.

It's a really funny voice.

The choice right off the bat is just the best.

I feel like we we definitely knew dudes like the dude I'm playing in high school.

And I like those guys.

They were a good time.

What else?

I feel like there's got to be more we can milk out of dick-in-a-box, right?

Honestly, there is, but it is a trilogy.

And so there's more to come.

Yeah, we will have more time to talk about these fellas and their growth as characters.

The beards came off a lot while we were shooting.

Oh, because it was hot.

Oh, no, it wasn't that hot.

It was Christmas, but just they just kept coming off.

And it won an Emmy.

Oh, yeah.

That's the end of that.

That's right.

That's the big coda to the story.

Yeah.

Won an Emmy.

Tick in a box won an Emmy.

It did win an Emmy for music and lyrics.

Deservedly so.

The only Emmy we won in that category our entire run, even though we did get nominated other times.

Do you remember what happened the next year is that you flooded the zone.

I did.

And because there were three digital shorts, I won the Emmy.

Right.

That's right.

We do remember that.

I didn't want to bring it up, but you know.

And we're still angry about it.

That's a little Seth's corner addendum.

Look, John Mulaney and I and Justin Timberlake won an Emmy for for a monologue song that Timberlake wrote, which was a very good monologue song, like top shelf monologue.

Yeah.

But it paled in comparison to the three digital shorts that were nominated in the category.

But it's very hard to have three nominees in one category and not split your own vote, which I think is what happened.

Yeah, we blew it.

What were they?

Do you remember what all the three were?

Well, it had to be from next season.

Yeah.

So it's ones we haven't talked about.

I mean, I feel like probably I'm in a vote.

Is it next year?

Is that right?

Maybe?

We did that our third season?

No.

Are we forgetting about the writer's strike?

Oh, yeah.

Next year is the writer's strike.

So it's a few years later.

Sorry, it's a few years later that this happens, but we'll be able to drill down and find out which of your three great digital shorts lost to me.

But it's the only MA I have, so I wouldn't trade it for the world.

You guys, I feel like I'm going to close just by saying this.

If you hadn't done anything else after this, your legacy would have been firm.

Like I said, this was the conclusion to me of your first act at the show.

And people could have said, oh, they're not as good as they used to be.

And yet you kept making ones at this level.

But my goodness, I remember that night when this aired, it was one of those special things where you just realized people would know this song forever.

It was so much fun to re-watch it.

Thanks, buddy.

It definitely changed our lives.

No doubt about it.

I'm funny.

And then we made 80 more.

And that guy who got fired from his job changed his life.

A lot of people.

It had a long reach.

You know what I mean?

It wasn't just the three of you.

Maybe he didn't watch the whole short.

It's possible.

He might have.

I will be honest.

I got to say something.

I feel like that maybe was strike three for that dude.

And you guys didn't have anything to do with the first two strikes, so you shouldn't have to carry that.

I think that's fair.

Thank you.

Fair to speculate.

Next episode, Laser Cats 2, the first recurring digital short.

Jake Gyllenhal is the host.

We'll see you all then.

Love you guys.

Love you.

Love you.

Very low energy on I Love You from you guys.

Love you guys.

Love you.

I love you.

Thank you, bud.

Still a lot of high energy.