Hey!, Extreme Challenge, and Jam the Vote

Summary

Detailed Summary of "Hey!, Extreme Challenge, and Jam the Vote" Podcast Episode

Podcast Information:
Title: The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast
Host/Authors: The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone) & Seth Meyers
Episode: Hey!, Extreme Challenge, and Jam the Vote
Release Date: March 3, 2025

---

Introduction and Welcome

The episode kicks off with a lighthearted exchange about the movie Beetlejuice, setting an informal and comedic tone. Seth Meyers warmly welcomes The Lonely Island members, expressing his enthusiasm for revisiting their collaborative history on Saturday Night Live (SNL). The hosts reciprocate the welcome, with Andy Samberg exclaiming, "Woo. Great to be here." (00:35).

Discussion on "Hey!" Digital Short

Creation and Concept

The conversation delves into one of their digital shorts titled "Hey!". Andy Samberg introduces the topic by highlighting the short's unique approach, stating, "It's a very good forte part." (16:38). The hosts discuss how "Hey!" attempted to parody popular tropes from shows like The OC and Gossip Girl, aiming for a blend of humor and satire.

Reception and Aging

Jorma Taccone reflects on the short's reception, admitting, "I don't remember it being good necessarily." (15:14). Seth Meyers adds, "Most of them age really well," contrasting "Hey!" with their other works that maintained longevity in humor (16:33).

Notable Quote

Akiva Schaffer humorously critiques their own work:
"It's sort of immediately the fact that the short itself becomes less interesting the longer it goes on... because there wasn't much there to start with." (16:07)

Exploration of "Extreme Challenge" Digital Short

Conceptualization

Moving forward, the hosts discuss "Extreme Challenge", another digital short that aimed to deconstruct reality TV challenge shows. Andy Samberg praises the initial creative twists: "There was clever twists in the beginning that are new." (24:01).

Creative Fatigue

Jorma Taccone shares insights on creative exhaustion, mentioning, "We are doing arguably lesser versions of similar things," highlighting the challenges of maintaining originality over numerous episodes (17:22).

Notable Quote

Akiva Schaffer candidly admits,
"I think we were starting to be in a rhythm where every short wasn't so special." (16:33)

Deep Dive into "Jam the Vote" Digital Short

Political Satire

A significant portion of the episode revolves around "Jam the Vote", a politically charged digital short. Seth Meyers initially expresses his distaste, saying, "I hated that because I just feel like I've never heard someone say that." (46:17). However, upon rewatching, Jorma Taccone admits a change in perspective: "I know for a fact that she listens to every episode of this." (04:10).

Authenticity and Impact

Andy Samberg discusses the emotional depth and perceived realism of the short:
"When the decision's made for you, maybe you're not happy with how it works out. So he's got it all worked out." (47:08). This sentiment underscores the group's intent to blend humor with genuine societal commentary.

Notable Quote

Seth Meyers reflects on the short's execution:
"It's such a bummer because somebody's having French fries and a spicy hot link." (46:09)

Behind the Scenes of SNL's 50th Anniversary

Musical Performances

The hosts reminisce about the 50th-anniversary special of SNL, particularly focusing on the musical performances. Andy Samberg praises the organic feel of the mashups, noting,
"It felt musically satisfying in a way that sometimes those don't." (53:21)

Personal Experiences

Andy shares his concurrent experience attending both the 40th and 50th anniversaries, which provided him with a unique perspective:
"I felt like a lot of times watching it, I was there because I was like, I know exactly how it feels right now to be there." (54:11)

Notable Quote

Jorma Taccone highlights the seamless blend of old and new talents:
"It was like a companion piece to out of Breath Jogger." (33:37)

Reflections on Un-aired and Forgotten Shorts

Lost Content

The conversation shifts to discussing various digital shorts that never aired, including "Lobster Claw," "Handlebar," "Gawker Hopefuls," "Sun's Day Off," and "Tudor's." The hosts express a mix of nostalgia and curiosity about these lost pieces.

Potential Impact

Akiva Schaffer muses on the potential impact these shorts might have had:
"These are six that have never seen the light of day." (51:16)

Notable Quote

Andy Samberg shares,
"There were six shorts never aired, and the ones we've already covered are Lobster Claw and Handlebar." (50:56)

Anecdotes and Personal Stories

Interactions with Cast Members

Throughout the episode, The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers share humorous and insightful anecdotes about their interactions with fellow cast members and guests. One notable story involves a botched interaction with Robin and Beck during the SNL 50th afterparty, leading to the creation of "Super Cool," a song featured in The Lego Movie 2.

Creative Process

Akiva Schaffer discusses the spontaneity and collaborative nature of their creative process:
"Podcasts are the way I'm finally coming around." (04:45)

Notable Quote

Jorma Taccone reflects on a memorable table read incident:
"I felt like in some strange way, it was like a companion piece to out of Breath Jogger." (33:37)

Conclusion and Closing Remarks

As the episode draws to a close, the hosts express gratitude for their shared experiences and the opportunity to reminisce and critique their past works. They toast to the spirited women of SNL and celebrate the enduring legacy of their digital shorts.

Notable Quote

Akiva Schaffer concludes with sincere appreciation:
"I want to toast you guys. I want to toast women of SNL and I think this is a very important month that we're celebrating." (51:32)

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

1. Andy Samberg [00:35]: "Woo. Great to be here."
2. Jorma Taccone [15:14]: "I remember you even being like, I guess, let's just do this."
3. Akiva Schaffer [16:07]: "It's sort of immediately the fact that the short itself becomes less interesting the longer it goes on... because there wasn't much there to start with."
4. Seth Meyers [46:17]: "I hated that because I just feel like I've never heard someone say that."
5. Andy Samberg [47:08]: "When the decision's made for you, maybe you're not happy with how it works out. So he's got it all worked out."
6. Seth Meyers [46:09]: "It's such a bummer because somebody's having French fries and a spicy hot link."
7. Andy Samberg [53:21]: "It felt musically satisfying in a way that sometimes those don't."
8. Jorma Taccone [33:37]: "It was like a companion piece to out of Breath Jogger."
9. Akiva Schaffer [51:16]: "These are six that have never seen the light of day."
10. Andy Samberg [50:56]: "There were six shorts never aired, and the ones we've already covered are Lobster Claw and Handlebar."
11. Akiva Schaffer [04:45]: "Podcasts are the way I'm finally coming around."
12. Akiva Schaffer [51:32]: "I want to toast you guys. I want to toast women of SNL and I think this is a very important month that we're celebrating."

---

This episode offers a comprehensive look into The Lonely Island's contributions to SNL's digital innovation, their creative processes, and the lasting impact of their work. Through candid discussions and shared memories, listeners gain an intimate understanding of the challenges and triumphs behind some of SNL's most memorable digital shorts.

Transcript

[Andy Samberg]

Andy, you didn't have anything to add? We were talking about Spirited Ladies.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I was just gonna add have a toast on us.

[Andy Samberg]

I just thought, you know, something about spirits and I don't know, I thought Beetlejuice's wife would have been pretty obvious.

[Jorma Taccone]

I am now recording. Hey, speaking of Spirited Wives, you just.

[Andy Samberg]

Left it on the floor. And I kept leaving.

[Jorma Taccone]

Speaking of Spirited Wives, we can fly this over.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Whoa, Beetlejuice is here.

[Jorma Taccone]

Hey, I got a Spirited Wife.

[Seth Meyers]

I laughed so hard in Beetlejuice 2 when Michael Keaton said, well, my ex wife's back. It was like the best Beetlejuice line of all time.

[Jorma Taccone]

And he's basically doing stand up.

[Seth Meyers]

He was doing standup. We see that Beetlejuice is ex wife. We don't realize it yet.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. He pulls out a mic like your favorite short, Seth Wish it would Rain. Where all of a sudden there's just a mic.

[Seth Meyers]

His wife is different body parts that sew themselves back together. And it's just that great sort of creepy Tim Burton look, I think reassembles.

[Jorma Taccone]

To Tragedy by the Bee Gees. Right?

[Seth Meyers]

You think you're right.

[Jorma Taccone]

Which is an all time great jam.

[Seth Meyers]

And then it cuts to Beetlejuice in a room full of shrunken head dudes. And he says, well, my ex wife's back. He maybe even says it's official.

[Jorma Taccone]

Hell's official. Just a Borscht Belt comic.

[Seth Meyers]

This is a cold open where you're just listening to us mid Beetlejuice conversation. We wanted you to pick this up because if anybody thinks, well, I wonder if they're always talking about Beetlejuice. The likelihood is we are.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. At least 60% of the time.

[Jorma Taccone]

It's the Lonely island and Set Myers podcast.

[Seth Meyers]

Guys, first of all, welcome to the Lonely Island Seth Meyers podcast. It's great to see all three of you. You too.

[Andy Samberg]

Woo. Great to be here.

[Jorma Taccone]

I got my job.

[Akiva Schaffer]

We're back. All of us are back.

[Jorma Taccone]

I got my job.

[Andy Samberg]

I very much enjoyed the episodes. I missed. You guys did a great job.

[Seth Meyers]

Thanks.

[Jorma Taccone]

Kiev rocks.

[Seth Meyers]

Speaking of the episodes you missed, a little housekeeping, please.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Here's the part of the show where Seth ticks and boxes. I don't know. Is that helpful?

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, no one asked, but it's welcome.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Okay.

[Seth Meyers]

I feel we did not give the proper shout out to the Roots both for the Radio City concert and the work they did on the actual 50th itself.

[Jorma Taccone]

Full on bagree.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah, I mean, just, I think the Roots are so good and well respected that you sometimes forget you need to Say the roots are the best.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's crazy how much work they do. Just hard, hardest working men and women in show business.

[Seth Meyers]

And they can do anything and they can back up anyone and it's just something to see.

[Jorma Taccone]

The variety of genre and eras represented on that Friday night Radio City show that they backed, basically all of, was astounding and sounded, dare I say, tight.

[Andy Samberg]

It sounded like the people had their bands, like everyone had come with their own band. Akiva.

[Jorma Taccone]

Exacte.

[Andy Samberg]

It was amazing.

[Jorma Taccone]

Exactoement.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Exacte.

[Andy Samberg]

No, exact ament.

[Jorma Taccone]

Took the words right out of my merch.

[Andy Samberg]

I love when you're French. I love it when you're French.

[Jorma Taccone]

I wanna give a little. You can't see me, but I'm using a mug given to me by my dear friend Akiva.

[Andy Samberg]

I gave it to him.

[Jorma Taccone]

It was a gift from Akiva. It says SK Skywalker Sound.

[Andy Samberg]

I bought it up in. In Marin at the Skywalker Ranch.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Okay, well, now I'm jealous that I didn't get one. Why didn't you get me one, asshole?

[Jorma Taccone]

Because I was very jealous that he was there and I wanted to come with him and I couldn't. He did it as a sweet friend favor.

[Akiva Schaffer]

This does remind me of when you went to Prague or something, Andy, and I asked you if you would give me a shot glass from there, and you did. I can't remember where you were. I did. Yeah. It was really nice of you.

[Andy Samberg]

Of course.

[Jorma Taccone]

Chums. Monumental chums. God, guys, the fucking java is coursing through my veins. I should drink it. Every ep, Drink it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Every app is sponsored by Java.

[Andy Samberg]

Seth added correction listening. Or rather an omission I noted, which is, Andy, you were talking about the SNL 50th afterparty, and you recounted kind of like a botched interaction with Robin the singer and Beck the singer.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, yeah. Yes.

[Andy Samberg]

You did a joke that was like a fake, mean joke of like, hey, we're in the middle of a conversation and you think Robin might have taken you, and then you never saw her again to, like, clarify. And maybe she was a bit. To clean it up.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I talked to her and I know for a fact that she listens to every episode of this. So, Andy, this is your opportunity to apologize to her directly. Go ahead.

[Andy Samberg]

But what? You didn't even. And I kept waiting for you to mention that we have a song that we did. It is Beck's song featuring Robin and the lonely island.

[Jorma Taccone]

That's right.

[Andy Samberg]

And it's from the Lego Movie sequel, the Lego Movie 2. And it's the end Credits song called Super Cool.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes.

[Andy Samberg]

So I kept waiting for you to be like, I don't know, it's a.

[Jorma Taccone]

Lego two song reunion.

[Andy Samberg]

Something. It felt weird to tell the whole story.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's always weird to have a reunion with people when you didn't record in the same room. Hard to have a reunion, you guys.

[Jorma Taccone]

Podcasts are the way I'm finally coming around. Except for in five minutes when this crash happens.

[Andy Samberg]

That's what I was going to say. I like enjoying the high, but it's scary because, you know, the low is coming.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's really scary.

[Seth Meyers]

Especially when, like, we haven't even started. Really the meat of the podcast by the time we get to the shorts.

[Jorma Taccone]

All right, well, we can cut all that out.

[Seth Meyers]

No, it's. Keep it all in. I want this to be a PSA against Jav.

[Jorma Taccone]

All right, great. But cut out me saying we can cut it out. And then cut out me saying that, oh, no, fuck, I'm in the fucking spiral, you guys. I'm in the fucking cut spiral.

[Seth Meyers]

So what's your anecdote?

[Jorma Taccone]

So we were sitting near Tim Meadows and also Sarah Silverman, as you mentioned, seth, at the 50th, and I saw Sarah and I was like, hey, there's Tim. And I went, hey, pop star reunion. And she was like, what?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Really?

[Jorma Taccone]

And then she went, oh, oh, pop star reunion. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, man, that's cool.

[Jorma Taccone]

But it reminded me of what you're saying, Keith, which is people don't remember what we do. We never remember the stuff we do.

[Seth Meyers]

What do you think the reaction would have been? Be honest. If you had said in front of Robin and Beck, Lego 2 reunion, they.

[Jorma Taccone]

Would have been like, what?

[Akiva Schaffer]

They wouldn't have remembered.

[Andy Samberg]

I don't think Beck would have remembered. The reason we don't. You didn't remember right away is because it's one of the rare things we did where somebody else was in charge.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

Like, it was Beck's song. And then he came to us being like, can you write a bunch of verses? And so we did those on our own and sent them to him.

[Jorma Taccone]

It was also the sending back and forth thing where you're like, we never saw each other.

[Andy Samberg]

That's what I'm saying. He called up Robin, she was in Sweden, she added her vocals. I don't think they were in a room together. And he was in charge of the whole thing. So he's the only one that would've remembered.

[Jorma Taccone]

I do think, though, you're shattering people's dream vision of us all together. In the studio making a Lego 2 song.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah. Like Fleetwood Mac on Rumors. You guys just add each other.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, man.

[Seth Meyers]

But also so much sexual tension.

[Jorma Taccone]

Such. Just turbocharged, like, oh, who's going to do it? And it was me and Keith.

[Andy Samberg]

I think we. I think we did a good job. I'm proud of that song. I think that our verses are very funny.

[Jorma Taccone]

I agree. I really like the end credits raps.

[Seth Meyers]

I. You know, we can sometimes get desensitized to how cool shit is. I still thought it was very cool that after you listened to that podcast, Keev, you texted, hey, guys, remember we did a song with Beck and Robin, and I just really liked. Don't forget that. That's a really awesome thing to have been. Have been a true thing.

[Andy Samberg]

And for them to go, oh, right.

[Jorma Taccone]

We're so fucking jaded now that we've been to the 50th post.

[Akiva Schaffer]

50Th.

[Andy Samberg]

I have another housekeeping thing if you're ready for it, Seth.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, please.

[Seth Meyers]

I'm ready, too.

[Andy Samberg]

Okay. This is from the Space Olympics episode.

[Seth Meyers]

Okay.

[Andy Samberg]

There was some insistence of Andy that I didn't like it, and I kept having to say, no, I kind of did like it. You're putting, blah, blah, blah. He's like, if it's not so good, why is it Phil Lord and Chris Miller's favorite short?

[Seth Meyers]

Speaking of the Lego Movie, nice tie back.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, right. There you go. We could play a clip even from that episode.

[Jorma Taccone]

I mean, if it's so bad, Keeve, how come it's Phil Lord and Chris Miller and Seth Meyer's favorite digital short?

[Andy Samberg]

I'm not even saying it's bad. I'm saying maybe there's a magic to it.

[Jorma Taccone]

I think Keith would like it if it was twice as fast.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

I don't dislike it. It's just a little middling to me. I think that that gives it anarchy, and that's why maybe Phil and Chris. Maybe what's appealing to them about it is that there's a sense of anarchy to it, I think.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I'm sorry. This is Phil and Chris's favorite.

[Jorma Taccone]

Why don't you just admit that you hate it and that you hate me?

[Seth Meyers]

Hold on.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Is that true for real?

[Jorma Taccone]

Just admit to me finally, that you.

[Andy Samberg]

Hate me and you hate the song.

[Jorma Taccone]

Just admit both.

[Seth Meyers]

All I know is Phil and Chris better be getting a phone call about a voice note.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, this is Phil Lord when asked for that voice note.

[Jorma Taccone]

I have never seen or heard of.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Space Olympics, but I'm gonna watch it right now.

[Andy Samberg]

Okay, so.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, my Gosh, that's more what I expected, by the way.

[Seth Meyers]

Heartbreaking. It's a perfect answer, by the way, Keith, Andy went full tilt after that episode. Andy, I think, thinks about your take on Space Olympics more than any of you are willing to ADM Admit. Andy, admit it. You were like. As soon as that was over, you were like, keef hates it.

[Jorma Taccone]

I mean, I felt as if he correctly thought it was a little shaggy, but maybe was less interested in, like, the vibe and spirit of it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

As others, I weirdly felt like I was more judgmental about it than Keev was. Like, I feel like Keith kept trying to defend it, being like, yeah, no, that's. That's, like, kind of punk rock and stuff. Like, I don't know if you said exactly that.

[Jorma Taccone]

Maybe that's internalized Yorm.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I don't know. Well, I hate it.

[Jorma Taccone]

Or maybe I'm like, I don't know how to read people. I don't know.

[Seth Meyers]

Or you only care what Keef thinks, and you don't care at all what Yorm thinks.

[Akiva Schaffer]

That's definitely true.

[Jorma Taccone]

I would never say that on the record, Seth.

[Akiva Schaffer]

No, he wouldn't say that on a podcast. Not on this podcast.

[Andy Samberg]

What do you think happened? Like, why did you think Phil and Chris loved it?

[Jorma Taccone]

I just had a memory of them coming and visiting us at the house in Encino, and we were recording and playing it for them, and them saying they loved it, but I could be wrong.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, the song, though. Maybe you're thinking of the song and not the actual video.

[Jorma Taccone]

I feel like I played it for them and they really liked it.

[Andy Samberg]

I feel like you might be right. And he just can't remember. In any case, just to be fair, a little while later, Phil did watch, and then he sent this.

[Seth Meyers]

I love it.

[Andy Samberg]

I can't believe I denied myself the enjoyment of this for so many years.

[Jorma Taccone]

Why didn't you?

[Andy Samberg]

So you were sort of right.

[Jorma Taccone]

Tell me.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Why don't you tell me?

[Andy Samberg]

I love it. I'm wiping tears from my eyes. So, Andy, you were wrong in the sense that I have never seen it and I neglected to call you and compliment you on it, as I do.

[Seth Meyers]

After every single thing you do.

[Andy Samberg]

No, because I didn't know you guys made it. However, Andy is correct.

[Jorma Taccone]

This is very generous.

[Andy Samberg]

It's my favorite short you've ever made.

[Seth Meyers]

Thank you.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, my gosh.

[Andy Samberg]

It has a happy ending.

[Seth Meyers]

So you just knew. You just knew what he was going to do? Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

That must have been it. I had an instant.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah, you were like, there's no way he does it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, what a great guy.

[Jorma Taccone]

Well, anyways, I mean the, the famous story internally amongst us, and I know this is jumping ahead, is when we were making our second album, Turtleneck and Chain Lord and Miller, Phil and Chris to us came and visited the house and we played them a few songs we'd been working on. But we had a document open on our computer of song ideas. And Chris was just sort of absent mindedly looking at it and he was like, what's. I just had sex. And we're like, oh, that's just like an idea we have written down. He was like, I want to hear that one.

[Seth Meyers]

Okay.

[Jorma Taccone]

He's like, what's that song make that? And me and Joram were like, okay.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

And then we did.

[Andy Samberg]

Great.

[Akiva Schaffer]

One of our bigger hits.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah, by the way. Absolutely the right instinct. Whereas that's why you don't want me in the room. I'm like, I wish it would rain. Tell me more.

[Jorma Taccone]

Well, you gotta do that.

[Seth Meyers]

You gotta do I wish it would rain.

[Jorma Taccone]

You're talking about deconstructing a trope from fringe soul songs throughout the decades. People love that with a really, really questionable singing tone.

[Seth Meyers]

More housekeeping. You know, some of our loyal listeners. I'm going to read the text we just got from Schur.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, yeah, I was going to bring that up too.

[Seth Meyers]

So we talked about Al Franken yelling at George Harrison to stop playing piano on a Tuesday night.

[Jorma Taccone]

Fucking greatest.

[Seth Meyers]

And Scher just texted, for the record, not only did Franken yell, people are trying to work. When Harrison was playing piano, he also slammed down the COVID on the piano so hard Harrison apparently had to yank his hands away so they wouldn't literally get snapped in half. This story was told to me by Al Franken, who was giggling so hard, 25 years later, it's the best guy.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Well, yeah. Fucking highlight. That's a life highlight.

[Seth Meyers]

And then also we were talking about bugs, the Mike O'Brien short bugs short film. And he reached out because we mentioned it on the pod. He said, for what it's worth and if it should come up again or for your own interest, Bugs was completely Tim's idea. That's Tim Robinson. In fact, it was his Monday pitch that week. He and Zach. Zach Cannon handed it to me on a platter. The bug handlers kept almost losing the bugs while saying that if one got away, it could mess up the ecosystem of New York.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, no.

[Seth Meyers]

Wow.

[Akiva Schaffer]

One could.

[Andy Samberg]

What kind of bugs?

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh my God.

[Seth Meyers]

Me, Tim and Zach wrote and shot a second one called Dogs. What are they so excited about. Oh, that got cut after dress and never put online. Bothers me to this day. Oh, so that's nice to know. I want to see still some funny bits. Yeah, we gotta. We'll track down dogs, maybe do a. A little mini. Why'd this get cut?

[Jorma Taccone]

Who do we lean on to do a, like, online only release?

[Seth Meyers]

I think Lauren. Lauren said post 50th, he wants to be more open to, like, small stuff. Lauren was like, you know, I've been. I've been thinking big picture for the last 10 years, and now I just want to get granular.

[Jorma Taccone]

That sounds like him.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

I mean, the voice does.

[Andy Samberg]

That's actually a nicer compliment.

[Seth Meyers]

So that's like an accurate impression. You're like, I don't think he said that, but that did sound like him.

[Andy Samberg]

That was the first time Andy's heard a Lorne impression. He's like, whoa, that sounded like him. That was neat.

[Jorma Taccone]

Fucking wild. I didn't know he was your voice. I didn't know you could do that.

[Andy Samberg]

How'd you make your voice sound like a different voice?

[Seth Meyers]

Oh, it's the first time he's heard any impression.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

All right, the next show is James Franco.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, are we going to talk about our best short ever?

[Seth Meyers]

No, we're going to talk about the James Franco Show.

[Andy Samberg]

There's three shorts that we're trying to cover today, and what they all have in common is that they're totally forgettable.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

And what's interesting about it is that they're forgettable in a way. We've had very few this forgettable. Like, we've had bad ones, but they all kind of hold a special place in my memory in different ways of the way they did or didn't work. These three actually just disappeared from my memory. And maybe it's because we had been at the show long enough that we were starting to be in a rhythm where every short wasn't so special. Or maybe there's just some special thing about these shorts that make them absolutely forgettable.

[Seth Meyers]

Say that James Franco, who is, for my money, a very fun SNL host, down for a lot of stuff. He is in a short called hey. And it sort of feels like what OC parody, Gossip Girl, tonally, is like.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Gossip Girl parody kind of thing.

[Seth Meyers]

And that is, I think, all we have to say about it because it's well acted and doesn't age well.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

And it just. I remember even at the time, I mean, I don't want to talk too much about it because it was Yourms?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, yeah. I mean, I wrote it, but it was like a very lazy. I don't even know why we did.

[Jorma Taccone]

I remember you even being like, I guess, let's just do this. Like, we were out of gas that week.

[Andy Samberg]

You were bailing us out by doing it.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes, exactly.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. But it was like, I wrote it, and it was even like, okay.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I mean, it was. I think the only thing that's interesting about it is, like, that we did a tonal thing and then we did this a lot. But there's. In almost every one of these shows or movies, there's a hey, hey scene where people come up and say, hey, and then the other person says, hey. It's in almost everything, which is the only interesting observation I'll say about it. And then the joke is just that he's talking about his baby wiener or something. Like, what is the.

[Andy Samberg]

His ding dong?

[Seth Meyers]

So weird, because that's never been a motif that you guys have explored before.

[Andy Samberg]

I mean, I'm gonna say something positive, which is that for how many things we did on the show, and we're covering almost every single one, most of them age really well, which for comedy, pretty good. You'd expect to have more things not aging well than we have so far, at least. Down with Jinx it. I don't know what's coming up. So I think we're owed this one. And. Yeah, so.

[Seth Meyers]

And I think you're both owed. And also, it is very nice to own that it is aged badly. Right?

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is the music in it from. Did we use that music on the Boo?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yes, it's a let's Go Sailing song that. My friend Shaina is the lead singer of that band, and we put that in, I think, a bunch of things, because it's lovely music. Yeah, that age is fine. Her music age is fine.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah, the music is fine. But, you know, that way he said that when Chris. I just had sex and said, oh, I want to see that. The opposite would be seeing hay on a piece of paper.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Sure.

[Andy Samberg]

What's hey?

[Seth Meyers]

Because yes, it's a trope, but it's sort of immediately the fact that the short itself becomes less interesting the longer it goes on, I think speaks to the fact that there wasn't much there to start with.

[Andy Samberg]

Well, because it didn't play with the trope of hay. It just started them.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

There's also a thing happening here, which is. And we'll talk about it a little. Although I like this one much more with extreme activities, which is we're in the flow of the show enough now. And being asked to do them every week enough now that we are doing arguably lesser versions of similar things, right? So, like, we've done Dear Sister, which is very clearly the same world. It's just like, ended up being a stronger concept. And we did all of the boo before we even worked at snl. So, like, we're playing in the same sandbox to lesser effect. And that's what happens sometimes at SNL when you're exhausted and you're out of ideas and you're told you have to do something.

[Seth Meyers]

The funny thing is, the one thing you could say is definitely true is, hey, is the best looks the best by far.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I was gonna say, like, it's such a bummer that, like. And maybe it's not a bummer. Maybe it was supposed to be this. But Dear Sister is like shot super last minute like a hotel up the street. And like no lighting. It's super shitty. And then this one is like, well, he put some effort into it looking and do a concept that doesn't deserve it.

[Jorma Taccone]

And you got wigs, full attention. And she's acting great. And you know, by the way, same, same location is the Iran so far.

[Andy Samberg]

Piano setup and mother lovers sandwiches and.

[Seth Meyers]

The forte Megan Fox date sketch, right?

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

It's just the roof deck at. What floor is that on? 12th floor. Somewhere around there.

[Akiva Schaffer]

We shot up there all the time.

[Andy Samberg]

It's just in 30 Rock.

[Jorma Taccone]

I just remember in order to get there, you have to walk through someone's desk space and out the window.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, that's right. And we shot it all the time.

[Andy Samberg]

Cause it's all manicured. It's a beautiful garden, yet there's no entrance.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's so weird. Cause it would be such a nice place to hang out. And no one is allowed there except for the person whose office it is.

[Seth Meyers]

Pretty cool office.

[Andy Samberg]

Who crawls out of their window. What the fuck?

[Akiva Schaffer]

We would do it all the time too.

[Seth Meyers]

Like, hey, Stacy, that does feel like it's like John D. Rockefeller. That's who goes there.

[Andy Samberg]

That gets to look at.

[Seth Meyers]

So look at that garden.

[Andy Samberg]

It's true.

[Jorma Taccone]

It's like, Susan, great news. We're moving you to the garden office. But also everyone at SNL will walk through your desk space day a week for promos and whatnot.

[Seth Meyers]

Support for the Lonely island and Seth Meyers podcast comes from Airbnb. Some trips are better in an Airbnb when you're traveling with a group of friends. Or maybe you're traveling with A large family or an extended family, or when you're looking for an authentic or local experience, Obviously. This podcast is about four friends hanging out, talking about old times. And we have taken trips with our SNL writer friends. It was something we would do during our time at snl. We went to Amsterdam once to hang out with my friends from Boom Chicago, which is the comedy theater I used to work at. And we went out of our way to make sure we booked an Airbnb because we knew that our evenings would end and we would want to go have a quiet hang with one another. And the bars were going to be closed and the hotel lobby was going to be closed. But with an Airbnb, we could find our way into a nice living room. We would have a kitchen where we bought the snacks we wanted to eat, maybe had a fridge full of beverages, both adult and otherwise. And those times that hang when we would all just settle in together was one of the things that made that trip extra special. And it was all thanks to Airbnb and what it provides that other places don't. So when you're looking for an authentic or local experience, book your next awesome trip [e-mail] support comes from Rocket Money. Hey, what's up, Keev?

[Andy Samberg]

Hey, what's up? What's up, Yorm?

[Seth Meyers]

Oh, hi. Jorm's here. All right. Look at that. Hey, you guys. Rocket Money's great. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. You guys made we like sports.

[Akiva Schaffer]

We did.

[Andy Samberg]

That's right.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, that's correct.

[Seth Meyers]

So you're probably like me. I sign up for all these fantasy football, like, websites during the football season, and it's like a monthly charge, and then I forget to cancel them when it's not football season. I'm preaching to the choir. You guys are big fantasy football guys, right?

[Andy Samberg]

Huge.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Absolutely. Seth, thank you for bringing it up. Fantasy football.

[Seth Meyers]

Yorma, who's your favorite current football player? Fantasy or otherwise?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Fantasy football people. It would be like, anybody who has, like a plus 20, like a druid or an elf is my favorite characters, but yeah, that's. Yeah, I would say those are my tops.

[Seth Meyers]

All right, so obviously, Brock Purdy.

[Jorma Taccone]

My name's Barvin.

[Andy Samberg]

Hey, we got Andy in here doing a Rocket Money.

[Jorma Taccone]

No, no, it's Barvin. I'm sorry I'm late. Just wanted to come plug my main man, Brock Purdy.

[Seth Meyers]

Barvin. Barvin, is it? With a B.

[Jorma Taccone]

With A B. I hope he gets a great new contract.

[Seth Meyers]

So, Barvin, the great thing about Rocket Money is you can see all your subscriptions in one place and know exactly where your money is going. For ones you don't want anymore, Rocket Money can help you cancel them. Their dashboard gives you a clear view of your expenses across all your accounts. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's premium features. Barvin, if you had $740, what would you spend it on?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I'm sorry.

[Jorma Taccone]

I was doing the spelling bee and.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I lost track of what you were saying.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, this character does the spelling bee.

[Seth Meyers]

You should meet our friend Andy Samberg. He also does that.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, he sounds great at fake raps.

[Seth Meyers]

Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com island today. That's RocketMoney.com Island. RocketMoney.com Island. So it is a nice timestamp to say was James Franco and Kings of Leon. Well, what are the two Kings of Leon songs? 100 bucks if anybody can name both.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Journey to the center and then, oh, God, Karma law.

[Seth Meyers]

If you get both wrong, like you or me, you owe me $100.

[Andy Samberg]

I should have said no, I'm not guessing.

[Seth Meyers]

Oh, I feel like they were the two. I would have said sex on fire and use somebody.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, yeah, Sex on Fire. Use somebody.

[Seth Meyers]

Nice work. I didn't say the 100 bucks was off the table if you said it after me. So well done, Andy.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, that's true.

[Seth Meyers]

Then we move on to the Anne Hathaway show.

[Jorma Taccone]

I feel irresponsible, but I haven't watched Extreme Activities Challenge.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, you should watch it. I just watched it before this. We got on because I'm responsible, and I went through the emotions of going, oh, this is way more clever and fun than I remembered. I'm enjoying this, too. Oh, this is long and more boring than I remembered. I'm not enjoying this. And it just kind of oscillated between those two emotions over and over.

[Seth Meyers]

Exact same journey, Keith. My memory of it was where I ultimately ended up after watching it, but I felt over the course of the first 45 seconds to a minute that I had been too hard on it.

[Andy Samberg]

Agreed.

[Seth Meyers]

I really like seeing Andy. I really like seeing wig. I really like seeing Forte. I like seeing the Kiva font. I like the music. And then it did feel like just a Lesser version of something we'd seen before before.

[Andy Samberg]

But there was clever twists in the beginning that are new. Like, okay, because obviously it's doing punch you before eating and Andy popping in a frame. But just like punching before eating is seeing how much juice you can squeeze out of one premise. Doing variations with the forte thing. And now that the audience knows the game of punching, what's he going to do? In the same way it was like, all right, these are extreme challenges. So then they start becoming absurd ones like holding a chair down or balancing a hat on your head. And so it's going in this direction of very cleverly, like, deconstructing the idea of these challenges. And then it kind of abandons it into other territories that are not nearly.

[Akiva Schaffer]

As good in that same audio way of it this feeling a tiny bit redundant of other things that we've done. I believe I just lifted the beat from another thing and then let's just like swapped out stuff. Like, I feel like this one was also like a. Oh, yeah. Could have been different. More different. I mean, I always like doing these beats. There's something like catchy about them. But.

[Andy Samberg]

No, but is this again, all. Because it's the lead up to the election and we know we're not the hot shit during election season and Seth's taking the front seat and so we're like in the back going like, just.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Like, go ahead, drive the car, mister.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah. Like the news is going to be all about the cold open and the other thing that stuff does. So we're filler in these episodes.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I do kind of remember having a little bit of that feeling of like, this isn't as important as what's happening.

[Andy Samberg]

I think we talked about this a few weeks ago, but it's so funny because if I think about it now, I'd be like, no, it means more people are watching the show. You should try to make something even more incredible. But it just felt to us like, eh, let them have their show for a little bit.

[Jorma Taccone]

I'm back.

[Seth Meyers]

Did you watch it?

[Jorma Taccone]

I think if you cut like 30 seconds out of it, it would be delightful.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, I just think it's too long.

[Jorma Taccone]

But there's certain moves in it. The pinning the chair down, I love.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah, you guys are very fun.

[Jorma Taccone]

All of wig's, you know, dancing and movement is great.

[Seth Meyers]

It's a very good forte part.

[Jorma Taccone]

It is, but I feel like it hits it too many times.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

And it's a little sad. I wish it didn't end sad with the referee crying in a corner.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, you know what I would have done different on Extreme Activities events.

[Seth Meyers]

What would you have done different on Extreme Activities, Andy?

[Jorma Taccone]

I would have cut three beats and then I also would have cut three celebrations. I felt like we were committing the sin we always say not to, which is letting the music dictate the visuals instead of the other way around.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah. There was a VP debate cold open. This was Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Jason Sudeikis is Joe Biden. This was one of my favorites ever. And my favorite joke in it was Jim Downey had a thing that he sent. He called in because I was writing it, but it was a very staff written piece. And Downey called in after it was over. He goes, the only thing I have is just the way Joe Biden talks about Scranton, his hometown.

[Jorma Taccone]

I come from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and that's as hard scrabble a place as you're gonna find. I'll show you around sometime and you'll see it's a hellhole. An absolute jerk water of a town. You couldn't stand to spend a weekend there. It's just an awful, awful, sad place filled with sad, desperate people with no ambition. Nobody, and I mean nobody but me has ever come out of that place.

[Seth Meyers]

But then, one of the things this show had. I thought this was a spectacular show. Anne Hathaway returned many times. A great SNL host. First, Lawrence Welk. Obviously, we're in the Shadow of the 50th, where this is a sketch that became so iconic that it was then pulled back for the 50th. The first Lawrence Welk was like nothing else.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

The audience knew they were there for something incredibly special.

[Jorma Taccone]

I believe. Correct me if I'm wrong, wig busted out, the baby hands at the table read.

[Seth Meyers]

I believe that is correct.

[Jorma Taccone]

So everyone understood what they'd be looking at. And everyone immediately was like, yep.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Sisters always stick together, even when they fall in love. Like with my boyfriend, with my husband, with my fiance.

[Andy Samberg]

With my. By myself.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Wait, I didn't. I didn't rewatch it, though. Did it immediately pop off, though? Like, audience, like, just loved it.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, it destroyed.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Makes sense. Makes sense.

[Seth Meyers]

I remember after the table read, we all should have just gone back to our offices and called our friends from high school and been like, cancel your plans. Well, you're gonna see.

[Andy Samberg]

I don't remember any of this.

[Seth Meyers]

It was amazing, though. And there was a Mary Poppins sketch. Oh, hey.

[Jorma Taccone]

Jobs wearing off?

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, no.

[Jorma Taccone]

I hate podcasts again.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, fuck.

[Seth Meyers]

Come on, buddy. Come back. Come back to us fucking everyone.

[Jorma Taccone]

Does them. It's. Why are we even doing this? So out of job.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Out of job. I'm out of.

[Seth Meyers]

You're out of job.

[Jorma Taccone]

The J Tank is on E. The J Tank.

[Seth Meyers]

Do you have one cup a day or one cup a week? What do you do? You never understood me, dude. Hey, here's a special thing that was in this episode. You know what else is in this episode, bud?

[Jorma Taccone]

What?

[Seth Meyers]

Mark Wahlberg was talking to animals.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, for the first time.

[Seth Meyers]

First time.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Great. Great sauce.

[Jorma Taccone]

Wow.

[Andy Samberg]

That's what the title. Can we title this episode Mark Wahlberg talks to animals?

[Seth Meyers]

We might as well. So Sandberg's got a Malberg. Sandberg. What was the name of the movie? Says, say hi to your mother for me. Like four brothers or something.

[Jorma Taccone]

He doesn't actually say it.

[Andy Samberg]

It was just someone says it to Mark Wahlberg in the film Mile 22. So he's never said it in something. But then it was shocking because it's a very serious movie. And then another character kind of says it as a fuck you to Mark in the movie, and it was in the trailer.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Can we talk about the end of Four Brothers just real quick? Because it has one of my favorite endings of any fucking movie ever, where.

[Seth Meyers]

I also want to start by saying no memory of the premise, but go ahead.

[Akiva Schaffer]

They're four, like, adoptive brothers, and then they get put upon for some reason, fucked over by, like, a crime boss or something, or they have to kill so many fucking people. Is this is my vague remembrance of the movie. But at the very end of the movie, the way that they deal with the fact that they've murdered everyone and then the police come up to them, like, on a porch is my remembrance of, like, on their family home that they protected or whatever. And they're like, so what are we going to do about this? And they look up at the cop and they're like, self defense. And then they smiles real big. He goes, self defense. And then you're like, oh, that's fucking, like Chef's kiss. Like, logic cleared up. Just the best.

[Seth Meyers]

That's the best.

[Jorma Taccone]

So by the way, he did say it when he came and did snl.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, yeah. When he did the bit.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's so good.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes, exactly.

[Seth Meyers]

But we're not there.

[Jorma Taccone]

We're not there now. Can I clarify? We talked about this before. Yes. That we tried Wahlberg talks to animals once. Harper and I wrote it, and it was in Chicane Alley, and it didn't air right. So this is when we moved it to center stage and it did air.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

And did I say that I started doing the impression because Jonah Hill said I sounded like Mark Wahlberg one day? No, I was just doing a voice that I thought was more just like someone from the Bay.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I mean, you also kind of look like him.

[Seth Meyers]

You mean handsome?

[Jorma Taccone]

That's very generous.

[Seth Meyers]

You're handsome.

[Jorma Taccone]

Very generous.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Handsome, ripped abs, all that exact same bod.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah, the face. I don't see it. The bod is like a mirror. So funny. This was a hot show and one of those days, I believe. Everything kind of coalesced for good. Old Mark Wahlberg talks to animals. Because you were center stage in a hot show, and people were very psyched to see you guys do your thing.

[Jorma Taccone]

It was fun.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I gotta say, it's feeling sadder to me now that we, like pointing out that we're, like, not punting, but that we're maybe not doing our best work. Because you're right. This is a really good show. A lot of eyeballs on the show, and, you know, maybe we didn't do our job as well as we should have.

[Jorma Taccone]

I would just argue that no matter how good you've done the week before, it's just the art of survival sometimes when you're in a long run of working there, and that's sort of the sad truth, sometimes.

[Andy Samberg]

And Mark Wahlberg talks to animals more than makes up for it. The audience isn't going, like, they're just looking for whatever Andy's doing next. And so you had actually one of your biggest hits that week. So you nailed it.

[Seth Meyers]

Sure. Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

Especially for me, where impressions were hard to come by.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Andy, can you remember what animals you talked to that week?

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, I want to say chicken, goat, and one other. Is that right?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I think that's right.

[Jorma Taccone]

Dog. No, donkey. Kevin's saying donkey. I think that's right.

[Andy Samberg]

Hey, donkey.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Hey, donkey.

[Andy Samberg]

Hey, donkey.

[Jorma Taccone]

How you doing? Now I'm going to talk to a donkey.

[Andy Samberg]

Hey, donkey.

[Jorma Taccone]

What's going on? You're a donkey.

[Andy Samberg]

I like that. You eat apples, right?

[Jorma Taccone]

I produce hot sirage.

[Seth Meyers]

Okay.

[Jorma Taccone]

Talk to you later, Donkey.

[Seth Meyers]

That's a very.

[Andy Samberg]

I was in Four Brothers. You're a donkey.

[Seth Meyers]

It's very, very funny to think of you and Harper writing that sketch.

[Akiva Schaffer]

How long did it take to write?

[Jorma Taccone]

Not long.

[Seth Meyers]

Which is the best?

[Jorma Taccone]

The whole. The whole piece is, like, three pages, maybe.

[Seth Meyers]

I would be so bummed if you guys worked it. The joy of it is you almost can see the lack of effort.

[Akiva Schaffer]

For sure.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, for sure. It's loose.

[Seth Meyers]

Just like, between dress and air. It was originally. It was, hey, donkey. And then by air, we were like, we gotta beat it. And we pulled the whole table together and everybody was pitching on it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I will say there was always a thing at table reads when something was like three pages, I would be like, yes, good for you.

[Jorma Taccone]

You do get people on your side that way.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

I do remember feeling like in some strange way, it was like a companion piece to out of Breath Jogger. Cause it was like, here's the title of what you're about to see. And it's super short one note concept. And then it turned into something else.

[Seth Meyers]

Yep, there was a really fun Mulaney Bobby Moynihan sketch called News Team. And the opening VO was stay tuned for your local news on Channel 3, Sioux City's finest and America's most YouTubed news team. You know how, like, you used to see, like local News fuckups on YouTube all the time? So it was just every single person.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Was like, amazing how quickly you get that concept from just that intro.

[Seth Meyers]

It was a red hot sketch. Jason and news desk. And so City councilman Doug Parks faces.

[Andy Samberg]

Bribery charges when we return. Told you about him, didn't I?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Believe me, I have seen it.

[Andy Samberg]

What? Just on the.

[Seth Meyers]

And it's just that over and over again, here's another thing that happens. Will. In front of a key screen in the parking lot of a stadium. The Sioux City Bandits are off to a great start this year. And then Fred wanders into frame wearing tank top and short shorts and just starts pointing at his crotch. Also, just Fred in a tank top is in general.

[Jorma Taccone]

Good call.

[Andy Samberg]

I'm assuming the weatherman inadvertently drew something on the screen.

[Seth Meyers]

You know, it's meteorologist Andrea St. James, Amy and Poncho in front of key screen. Wind blowing winds have reached speeds over 80 miles per hour. And a small mailbox flies past her.

[Andy Samberg]

She screams, not what I thought.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah, not what you would have gone with. You know, sometimes it zigs when you should have zagged.

[Andy Samberg]

No, might have been good.

[Seth Meyers]

Might have been good, you know, Might have been better. You're not judging? No. We were talking about how it was political season. There was a SNL Weekend Update Thursday. And you did a digital short in that, Andy?

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes.

[Andy Samberg]

Yes. So the weekend updates, though, in general Thursdays. How many of those did you have to do, Seth?

[Seth Meyers]

I think we did two or three.

[Andy Samberg]

And they'd be during show weeks.

[Seth Meyers]

During show weeks. It was crazy.

[Jorma Taccone]

It was crazy. This was the gauntlet, right?

[Seth Meyers]

This was the gauntlet. There's a famous T shirt I used to make T Shirts at snl, that was kind of my thing. And I made a T shirt called the Gauntlet. And the Gauntlet was, I think. What was it? Eight shows in 10 weeks?

[Akiva Schaffer]

It was 10 shows.

[Andy Samberg]

Eight shows in eight weeks.

[Seth Meyers]

Oh, yeah. Ten shows in eight weeks.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Wait, so how was it for you, Seth? Like, how stressful was that for you on those days?

[Seth Meyers]

It was so stressful. It was also, though, so fun. This was SNL being shot out of a rocket. Everybody was back in on snl. We were riding the pale and wave, and the show was getting really good, and we would come out of election season, and it was a very fine time to be working on the show. So I look back on it very fondly.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, that's true.

[Jorma Taccone]

And has that ever happened again? It hasn't. Right. That was unprecedented.

[Seth Meyers]

I think it was unprecedented. They've done a lot. I feel like they've done a long run of shows, this new group, but I don't think they've done Thursdays in the way that we did.

[Andy Samberg]

It was a vote of confidence to be like, we want more snl. Even not on a Saturday.

[Seth Meyers]

We want. Yeah. Prime time, 9:30 shows.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah. On Thursday nights, which is historically. That's NBC's big night.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It was almost like the players were ready for primetime.

[Jorma Taccone]

You could say, oh, good one.

[Andy Samberg]

Used to have Cheers.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

That was when Cheers was a taxi.

[Andy Samberg]

Family Ties, the Cosby Show, Friends. Ever heard of any of them, Andy?

[Jorma Taccone]

No, not familiar.

[Seth Meyers]

So the Weekend Update, Thursday. Oh, we. I just do want to say, before the Anne Hathaway show, there was the Anna Farah show. And you guys had a digital short that was cut at dress.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

The sun's day off. It's nuts.

[Jorma Taccone]

Is it online?

[Andy Samberg]

No, no, no. We didn't really finish it. It was kind of like we were attempting something and then we never quite got to figure out what it was.

[Akiva Schaffer]

No, but this was like sort of animation, and it was the first time that I was doing a lot of animation, and I was only bummed that it didn't air because it was so fucking weird and different than anything we'd done, but it wasn't. I don't remember it being good necessarily.

[Seth Meyers]

It was not. I rewatched it. Not only is it not online, Andy, it is password protected. Oh, but it is interesting. Your face is on the sun and the sun's trying to find a place to take a nap. The thing that starts, that I liked a lot is Hayter has a fantastic look as a guy who's introducing the fable. Sort of a Public television type thing, but he's sort of getting progressively drunker as it goes, and that's not working. And the sun's not working. The sun is trying to find a place to rest. And Forte's heads on a cloud.

[Andy Samberg]

I love it here.

[Seth Meyers]

Dum dee dum dee dum dee dum dee dum. Oh, hey, man.

[Akiva Schaffer]

How's it going?

[Seth Meyers]

Peter, how's the weather?

[Andy Samberg]

Just kidding.

[Jorma Taccone]

It's sunny.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You're the sun.

[Jorma Taccone]

Good one.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

So have you seen Randy lately? Nope.

[Seth Meyers]

Well, he has gained weight.

[Jorma Taccone]

I feel bad for him.

[Seth Meyers]

He's just such a great guy.

[Jorma Taccone]

But, you know, I've noticed that he has been porking up recently.

[Seth Meyers]

And, you know, it's.

[Andy Samberg]

The cloud was a real bummer, so.

[Seth Meyers]

The sun made a break for it. Then you see Anna Ferris's head on a cow and you guys had broken up and you're. And you tell her it's the biggest mistake you've ever made, and then a cow comes up behind her and mounts her.

[Andy Samberg]

Okay, okay.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I mean, it sounds.

[Andy Samberg]

You're. You're selling me pretty hard. I'm in.

[Seth Meyers]

But I do want to bring up Anna Faris because she was a super fun show.

[Akiva Schaffer]

She was great.

[Jorma Taccone]

She was a great host.

[Akiva Schaffer]

She's very funny lady.

[Andy Samberg]

And now a word from our sponsors at Betterment. When investing your money starts to feel like a second job, Betterment steps in with a little work life balance. They're an automated investing and savings app, which means they do the work while they build and manage your portfolio. You build and manage your weekend plans while they make it easy to invest for what matters. You just get to enjoy what matters. Their automated tools simplify the complex and put your money to work optimizing day after day and again and again. So go ahead, take your time to rest and recharge. Because while your money doesn't need a work life balance, you do make your money hustle with Betterment. Get [e-mail] that's B E t t e r M e n t. Investing involves risk performance, not guaranteed support for the Lonely Island.

[Seth Meyers]

Seth Meyers podcast comes from Thrive Market. Keev Yoram. You guys love to shop.

[Jorma Taccone]

Ooh, yes.

[Seth Meyers]

Yes.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I'm so glad you brought this up.

[Andy Samberg]

Shopaholics.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You talked about rocket money and now this. This is great.

[Andy Samberg]

You.

[Seth Meyers]

And you also love shopping for healthy options for your families.

[Andy Samberg]

But it's hard. It's difficult.

[Seth Meyers]

It is hard. It is difficult. But guess what? Thrive Market makes it simple to find trusted, family friendly brands without spending hours in the grocery Store from snacks and school L to pantry staples, everything they offer is 100% non GMO. And with their on site filters, you can shop based on what matters most to your family. Low sugar, gluten free, organic or high protein options. All just a click away. Guys, it's time for a personal endorsement. Do you mind if I make it personal?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I wish you would land the plane.

[Seth Meyers]

Every two weeks we get a big old Thrive box full of snacks that the kids like. And let me tell you what they're doing with mangoes today. The drying process, the packaging process. With mangoes, I can't say enough.

[Andy Samberg]

I wish Andy was on here right now because he eats dried mangoes every morning. For reals? Barvin, do you like dried mangoes?

[Jorma Taccone]

Well, Barvin wanted to ask Seth, so it sounds to me like you like a Domingo.

[Seth Meyers]

Oh wow.

[Andy Samberg]

But it sounds like with Thrive Market you can have a Domingo.

[Seth Meyers]

Plus Thrive Markets. In case you forgot, that's what this is an ad for. Plus Thrive Market smart card features take the guesswork out of healthy shopping. When you create an account, they ask you your family's needs and automatically build a cart full of cleaner versions of your favorite brands. You can tweak it before checking out, but it's a great way to get started, especially if you're trying trying to phase out junk food. Joram, where are you standing on junk food these days?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I dislike it. Seth, thank you for like and anybody out there who's trying to feed my kids junk food. You can talk to Thrive market because they don't do that. And thank you so much, Seth for bringing that up. I think I tied it back in really nicely.

[Andy Samberg]

Beautifully put.

[Seth Meyers]

It was really maybe the highest bar you've hit so far. Thank you on a tie back. Ready for a junk free start to 2025. Head to thrivemarket.com island and get 30% off your first order plus a free $60 gift. That's T-H R I V E market.com island thrivemarket.com island and just tell him Barvin sent you.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

Can you Seth's Corner me real quick?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Seth's corner. You're all invited.

[Jorma Taccone]

Seth's Corner.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's happening right now. Take it away, Seth.

[Seth Meyers]

I wrote a scene where her and Kenan were in rowboat and it was like a romantic night out. And then she kept having a sort of interior monologue songs about what she hoped would happen. And it was very clear that Kenan was a hitman who was.

[Akiva Schaffer]

How did I meet this guy? How did I get so lucky? He Came at the perfect time. I swear he's my knight in shining armor he makes me smile, he makes me laugh his arms are so strong.

[Andy Samberg]

He could break me in half.

[Akiva Schaffer]

How did I meet this guy? How did I get so lucky?

[Jorma Taccone]

I gotta kill this lady. Ideally within the next half hour. I feel like I remember this. And it was kind of top of show, right?

[Seth Meyers]

It was pretty high. Yeah. Yeah, it was after a debate sketch.

[Akiva Schaffer]

That's a pretty weird top of show one.

[Seth Meyers]

It was weird. Kuric Palin. We've talked a lot about the Palins, but that was again, that was Amy and Tina together again. Fantastic.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

Maybe the first Judy Grimes, which for my money, is still as good an update feature as I've ever seen. The first Goo gui Renee.

[Jorma Taccone]

Goo goo Renee.

[Seth Meyers]

Goo GE Renee.

[Andy Samberg]

Remind me who gooey Renee is.

[Seth Meyers]

Googie Renee is budget bridal gowns. Maybe not the first, maybe the second. But if we haven't talked about googie Renee, we should talk about googie Renee more.

[Jorma Taccone]

This is a classic. James Anderson, Kenan team up. Right?

[Seth Meyers]

James Anderson. Ken Sublette. Kenan Thompson. Hey, how you doing? Are you ready to get married? Do you want to design a wedding dress, but you don't want to pay designer prices? She. Well, then you need to get to googie Renee's slightly stained wedding dress basement. It's some of the greatest four line exchanges I've ever. Googie Renee was this is about savings. He would scream, this is about savings. And then he would wave the camera close to him and cross his own eyes. He also would definitely get away with cursing because they would write it in the script as his saying. Son of a beeah. Or pho.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, pho.

[Seth Meyers]

Fully said pho a bunch of times. And I think it just, like, got past the standards because it was just spelled f U h. Googie Renee again, was selling sort of damaged, slightly stained. In fact, it's the googie Renee slightly stained wedding dress basement. Meet my assistant, Ruby, who's been a.

[Andy Samberg]

Bridesmaid over 14 times.

[Seth Meyers]

Ain't that sad? What you got there, Ruby? Googie.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I bet you can't guess what kind of stain this is.

[Seth Meyers]

I don't have the time to guess. You need to tell me.

[Jorma Taccone]

She a shia.

[Seth Meyers]

And this has my favorite. This is my favorite exchange. And maybe this is one of those where I remember how hard everybody laughed. I have to admit, I had mixed feelings over wearing a dress that I heard had been covered in macaw feces. Hey, what's a macaw?

[Andy Samberg]

It's like a parrot.

[Seth Meyers]

Oh, a smart Bird. James Anderson calling a parrot a smart bird. I wrote a sketch called Champagne Room that I have no idea what it's about and still don't, but it was a. It was a great show with a forgettable short. So you guys were on a weird run right now.

[Andy Samberg]

Definitely.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Wait, can I talk about this, though? So how many shorts have not aired? Is it only 4 or 5 that have ever not aired? Right. Sunday out.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah, five. We think five according to Kevin.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Okay.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, so it was rare and we are in a weird run. But we did Jam the Vote during the Thursday one as well. And it's also serviceable.

[Seth Meyers]

Let's talk about Jam the Vote. Okay, here's a moment I remember Andy. Okay, so I'm at the update desk with Amy. We haven't seen Jam the Vote. So Jam the Vote starts playing during a live Weekend Update Thursday.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh.

[Seth Meyers]

And it's the first time we've seen it.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, wow.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah. That's so weird.

[Seth Meyers]

And it begins with you saying, I'm gonna talk to people about voting. And you go up to Fred and you're like, are you gonna vote? He's like, no, I don't think I'm gonna vote. And then you grab the hot dog and you're like, I decided for you. And then you take a bite of the hot dog.

[Jorma Taccone]

Excuse me, sir, Are you registered to vote?

[Akiva Schaffer]

No.

[Jorma Taccone]

May I ask why not?

[Andy Samberg]

I just don't see the point. Fair enough.

[Jorma Taccone]

But what if I told you for the next four years you could eat only that hot dog or only those French fries? Oh, probably too late.

[Seth Meyers]

The decision's been made for you.

[Jorma Taccone]

And now you're stuck with French fries for the next four years. Wow. Never thought of it that way.

[Andy Samberg]

Thinking, I think I will vote.

[Jorma Taccone]

That's what I thought.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, careful.

[Jorma Taccone]

Spicy hot link. I think I can handle it.

[Seth Meyers]

Jam the vote immediately. I hated that because I just. I feel like I've never heard someone say that.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, God.

[Andy Samberg]

Whoa.

[Seth Meyers]

A spicy hot link is the most. It's such a deep cut. I hated it. So anyway, that's not my memory, though. Then you move on to Sudeikis, and you're like, would you rather have that basketball or that car? And then you start having acid reflex about the spice. It turns out that when Fred said, be careful.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

There was a good warning.

[Jorma Taccone]

He was a guy just by chance that likes really spicy hot links.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

And in me trying to show him that he needs to register to vote, I made a mistake.

[Seth Meyers]

And my memory is that when Polar realized that's what this was about she said, oh, brother.

[Akiva Schaffer]

That'S high class. Not praise from two people I respect.

[Seth Meyers]

So anyway, that's how I went into rewatching it today. The first time you threw up, Andy, I laughed really hard. I laughed really hard. The first and the second time you threw up. Okay, then you keep throwing up. And I mean, you know how I feel about throw up comedy. That's maybe where we diverge. But the first two got me super hard.

[Andy Samberg]

He's trying so hard to do something smart, finally political. And he's got this whole premise that he's gonna teach people to not be indifferent. Because when the decision's made for you, maybe you're not happy with how it works out. So he's got it all worked out. Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

There's a thesis statement once again playing in a trope. The, like, rock the vote. The whole attitude of that. The very, like, self righteous.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah. Every. It was jam the vote. That keeps smashing every time you throw up.

[Jorma Taccone]

And the, like, MTV tone of like, it's actually rock and roll to vote.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

Which was a thing during our childhood and teen years a lot.

[Seth Meyers]

Yes.

[Jorma Taccone]

Which, you know. You understand why people were doing that. Cause they're like, we want the president. We like to be president.

[Andy Samberg]

I like when it expanded to Yoram as the boom operator.

[Seth Meyers]

Yep. Yoram has a nice. You puke on Yoram the sound operator, and then he throws up. Now I'm super bummed because it's just throwing up.

[Andy Samberg]

I agree. That part of the throwing up that bummed me out more than I thought it would is that it feels real.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

Usually when we do throw. When Andy does throw up. No, I don't want to say we. It's an Andy thing. The fun is the rig and how fake it is and like the silliness of everything. And this because we were on the street and he would just put some gross shit in his mouth. It felt real.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

So it was way grosser.

[Seth Meyers]

It was so gross.

[Jorma Taccone]

I feel like it played well, though, right?

[Seth Meyers]

It does play well. You are sitting there and you're like, oh, I just need something to drink or put some food in my belly. And then you have your head down and someone hands you another spicy hot link. It's just such a bummer. It's like somebody's having French fries and a spicy hot not link.

[Andy Samberg]

I don't know why that part bums.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

There's so many other things.

[Seth Meyers]

I swear to God, since that day, I've had my ears open to hear or even see on a menu. Spicy Hot link.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, God. Seth, the way that you and Neil Brennan don't like things is my favorite. It's like you, Emily Spivey, Neil Brennan are like my favorite when you don't like something, but when you in particular don't like something that we've done, it's my favorite thing. I'm like, weirdly proud. I'm like. I'm so giddy. Like, O really didn't appreciate this.

[Andy Samberg]

Also, you're gonna talk about the very end the wig line. That might also be my favorite.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah. Although I will say I have one note about wig. You're chasing wig and she's walking too slow. Yeah, if she's actually trying to get away, she should be walking faster. But you're walking.

[Jorma Taccone]

Are you registered to vote?

[Akiva Schaffer]

You smell like puke.

[Jorma Taccone]

Please just talk to me. I'm trying to help registered voters before the election.

[Andy Samberg]

The deadline for that was like two weeks ago.

[Jorma Taccone]

It was.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

That the whole thing was pointless.

[Akiva Schaffer]

That's great.

[Jorma Taccone]

Fuck. I agree, Keev, that it was way too real looking. It was very disgusting. But at the same time, rewatching it just now, I was laughing.

[Akiva Schaffer]

So who's the same?

[Jorma Taccone]

I don't know what the answer is. I do like that we did that on the very serious political Thursday thing.

[Seth Meyers]

I am happy it exists, but I have some thoughts. Oh, I wanted you mentioned Spivey. I heard Mulaney saying to Spivey, there was one time, time someone. Someone said they saw somebody fall asleep on a couch at snl and next to them, they like walked in and saw them asleep on the couch, and next to him they just had a Dwayne Reed bag. Like a white plastic Dwayne Reed bag. And when they told Spivey, she was like, oh, y'all know that was just full of Milky Way dark Minis. Most perfect Spivey observation.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, Milky Way dark Minis. Ugh. You know what was in there?

[Jorma Taccone]

Is that the universal Dwayne Reed Minis.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, classic purchase.

[Andy Samberg]

There were six shorts never aired, and the ones we've already covered are Lobster Claw and Handlebar. Just to remind us of these things that happened. Gawker hopefuls and then the sun's day off and you know the rest will come up when they come up.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes.

[Seth Meyers]

Although Tudor's not on that list.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, yeah. Well, it went straight to the. It was the first ever online only release.

[Seth Meyers]

Oh, so maybe that. Right. These are six that have never seen the light of day.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Well, we'll talk about it later.

[Seth Meyers]

We'll get there. I Feel like, did we maybe just do it? Did we maybe cover everything we were trying to cover?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I think we did. I had a great time. I want to toast you guys. I want to toast women of snl and I think this is a very important month that we're celebrating.

[Andy Samberg]

He's just bringing it back to that.

[Jorma Taccone]

This is wild.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And I want to thank you guys for being both my friends, but also like my partners in this podcast. So thank you so much.

[Jorma Taccone]

That ruled.

[Akiva Schaffer]

A toast.

[Andy Samberg]

All the great spirited women, like Beetlejuice's wife Juice is back. Who to me, is the most spirited woman. So is what I was expecting Andy to say every time I left a gap for it.

[Jorma Taccone]

She's a bit of a hellcat.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Without jobs. Even that J tank on empty.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

I love we to we tops and bottomed the podcast of Beetlejuice.

[Jorma Taccone]

Wait, before we go.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah, please.

[Jorma Taccone]

Just because Keev couldn't make it for the 50th one, I just wanted Keev to, like, have a chance to talk about the 50th.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah. So what is give us your takes?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I mean, that's an outside perspective. Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

I mean, I really enjoyed watching, watching it. I had to watch it, you know, in a few different goes at it, but I watched some live and then made up for it. And I've seen every. Every ounce the musical show at Radio City. Much like Questlove's musical doc, there was something about the music show that felt very magical. Even at home when you have pairings like Robin and David Byrne, that in that moment, I felt the, like, feeling. I hope it was like in the room of like. Like when you heard the opening synth line of Dancing On My Own, that you're like, oh, my God, I didn't think I'd ever see this song live.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It feels subversively cool.

[Andy Samberg]

But also that song's a super smash hit, but it's also somewhere a sleeper hit because it never was a mainstream hit. Even though I bet you if you rack up the amount of views and the amount of listens or whatever, I bet you it's up there with big, big hits, but it's not something that ever had a single moment.

[Seth Meyers]

Right. Right.

[Andy Samberg]

So I think everybody. Nobody got a chance to get sick of it because it was never a radio hit, never outwore its welcome, and it's just amazing forever. So I don't know. I thought that was special. Did it feel special there?

[Seth Meyers]

Yes, it did. And I, you know, I liked the mashup so much at that night, and even though I understand why it could not be the entirety of the 50th, because I do think it would have worn out its welcome. Those moments as well, like Bronx Beat and Linda Richmond kind of felt the same way.

[Andy Samberg]

Yes. For the music side, they do that on the Grammys a lot. Right. Where they pair, like, an older act with a younger act, but usually then they do a different version of the song or something, or maybe they've just done it too much. I don't know. These felt more organic in the mashups to me in a way that felt musically satisfying in a way that sometimes those don't.

[Jorma Taccone]

Agreed.

[Andy Samberg]

And then. Yeah. And then the 50th show, I was really glad I had been at the 40th so I could picture it. You know what I mean? Like, I. I felt like a lot of times watching it, like, I was there because I was like, I know exactly how it feels right now to be there.

[Seth Meyers]

Right.

[Andy Samberg]

And so the FOMO wasn't as bad as I worried it would be because of that. And it's a blend of. It's the most incredible thing ever. But then every moment is a little bit overwhelming, and you're kind of unsure where to put yourself. Like, oh, I'm talking to my friends, but I see my friends all the time. Should I be talking to somebody that I don't see all the time?

[Seth Meyers]

Yes.

[Andy Samberg]

And then, like, oh, it's so much noise. I just want to go away into, like, how you guys said you went to a. Over to your dressing room next door and just had a nice drink, and that's a drink you could have next week. But it felt special in that moment because you had gone somewhere quiet when all the noises outside.

[Seth Meyers]

Yes.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. It was like a choice to just tune out and be with the gang.

[Andy Samberg]

And I kind of. I understood from afar, I'm like, yep. But I. Yeah. Anyways, I enjoyed watching it. I told Andy the spade line during the musical. You know, the I got a feel for it was just clearly jumped out at me as, like, that was it. That's the moment.

[Jorma Taccone]

So good. Yeah. It was so fucking funny.

[Andy Samberg]

There were other ones I texted Andy, but I'm blanking on what they were.

[Seth Meyers]

What a thing for a line to just pop like that.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

And a night where everything's popping.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Seth Meyers]

It summed up the whole show, and it's just surprising.

[Andy Samberg]

Everything else is really good and expertly made by people that are professional, but they're also servicing what they're supposed to be servicing. And this was a moment that you haven't seen before. And that isn't servicing anything but. But it was an inspired moment.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yep. Josty.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah. Josty. Josty. Keeping it toasty. The perfect person who you would just. 50 years of the show, you would believe that halfway through a sketch would just go back to their seat.

[Andy Samberg]

Just go back like, I'm not needed here. And I got a feel for. It's perfectly.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's such a well written line.

[Seth Meyers]

So the next episode, we're gonna talk about Josh Brolin briefly, and then we're gonna move on to the final show before the election. The next short we're going to talk about is Ross Trent, which, you know, I'll save for next week. I think we're all going to have a lot to say about that.

[Andy Samberg]

Rihanna liked it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. Not to ruin, like, you know, surprise, surprise, Spoiler.

[Seth Meyers]

Yeah. I'm excited to hear about this.

[Jorma Taccone]

So if anyone out there doesn't like it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. Talk to Rihanna.

[Jorma Taccone]

She hates your guts.

[Andy Samberg]

Pick it up with her and Rocky.

[Seth Meyers]

All right, guys, I love you.

[Andy Samberg]

Love you.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Love you.

[Andy Samberg]

Love you, too.

[Jorma Taccone]

Love you guys.

[Andy Samberg]

Laters.