The Spotlight 8.26.07: The Lonely Island
Posted by Scotty Flamingo on 08.26.2007
Heeeeeeeeeey buddies!
Do you have a certain movie, show, or celebrity that you love, but you don't see much praise about? We're not talking The Shawshank Redemption here, everyone loves that. This column is about those things that seem to be unfairly criticized or forgotten completely. This is The Spotlight.
Greetings and welcome to another edition of the Spotlight. After reviewing Hot Rod for 411, I was inspired to shed some more light on the underappreciated talents of the boys behind the film, the comedy group known as The Lonely Island. I learned about these guys about two years ago when a friend of mine showed me their stuff online. At the time, they were just putting stuff on their website trying to catch a break. I watched a few of their shorts and music videos and was immediately hooked.
The Lonely Island, or The Dudes as they are sometimes called consists of three main members.
Akiva "Kiv" Schaffer – Usually works behind the scenes as the director, but stars in a lot of the older shorts and videos. He directed Hot Rod and most of the Digital Shorts on SNL. He is also a writer on SNL. He makes a brief cameo in Hot Rod as the guy that gives Dave acid.
Jorma Taccone – Another writer on SNL. He co-starred in Hot Rod with Samberg. He is heavily present in all of the Lonely Islands shorts and videos.
Andy Samberg – The most recognized of the three. He is a writer and castmember on Saturday Night Live and starred in Hot Rod. He is referred to as Ardy in some of the older shorts for some reason.
Chester "Chez" Tam – The honorary fourth man. He makes cameos in several of the shorts and runs the Island's website. He has a small role in Hot Rod as a guy trying to join the stunt crew.
A great launching off point for getting into The Lonely Island is to watch the pilot they produced that was never picked up. You know you have comedy gold when you have Brooke Shields saying "Mother Fucker" within the first two minutes.
Next up is another attempt at a pilot. It is pretty much the same sitcom style format of a show and actually could be viewed as a second episode. In this one, The Dudes get addicted to teeth whitener. This episode got the Island their first bit of publicity as Keifer Sutherland appears completely by accident when he thought that Jorma was an actual old lady being mugged. He even mentioned it during a Letterman appearance.
The Dudes are also known for their music videos. This first one stars Kiv and Jorma with a cameo by Andy.
Stork Patrol is a hardcore rap love song…about a bird.
Today, The Dudes are known for pretty much anything that is funny on SNL. They do most of the usually hilarious Digital Shorts. You've probably seen "Lazy Sunday" and "Dick in a Box", but they've also had some other great bits.
"Roy Rules"
"Laser Cats"
That wraps of another column. Join me next week when I'll give my special end of summer edition of The Bullseye where I choose the most overrated film of the summer! Here's a hint, it is sure to be more than meets the eye…
