The Naked Gun: A Preview

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Naked Gun: A Preview" The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast – Release Date: July 30, 2025

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Introduction and Context

In this special episode of The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, hosts Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone delve into the much-anticipated release of Seth Meyers' latest movie, while reminiscing about their collaborative history on Saturday Night Live (SNL). The conversation primarily revolves around the upcoming remake of the classic comedy film, "The Naked Gun," exploring its creation, reception, and enduring impact.

Promotion of Seth Meyers' Movie

The podcast kicks off with a heartfelt commendation of Seth Meyers' new movie. Andy Samberg opens the session with enthusiasm:

Andy Samberg [00:00]: "It's the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast. Hey, Keev, do you mind if we start off this sesh with, like, just a little bit of gushing? ... It's so funny. It looks amazing."

While Akiva Schaffer shares in the praise:

Akiva Schaffer [00:37]: "That's very heartwarming."

Jorma Taccone, however, playfully counters the sentiment:

Jorma Taccone [00:38]: "I didn't care for the film."

The banter underscores the trio's camaraderie and sets a lighthearted tone for the episode.

Discussion of "The Naked Gun" Remake

The hosts transition to discussing the specifics of "The Naked Gun: A Preview." Akiva Schaffer elaborates on the challenges and inspirations behind the remake:

Akiva Schaffer [04:47]: "I mean, here's what I really learned that we all already knew. ... The original 'Naked Gun' has no room for improvement. It's perfect. So it's a fool's errand to try to do it again."

Andy Samberg echoes this sentiment, emphasizing the delicate balance of honoring the original while infusing fresh comedic elements:

Andy Samberg [05:55]: "... when you're making a movie that's all jokes. Yeah. It's why we were so happy to have Judd on 'Pop Star.' Right. Because we were like, and he can make sure that we're making sure the story works and the emotional story works."

Visual Style and Color Correction

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the film's visual aesthetics. Drawing parallels to Tony Scott's work, Akiva Schaffer explains their approach to color correction:

Akiva Schaffer [06:16]: "And so I... I feel like a fraud here in my normal press. ... That's why it's important to promote to the Quaid's a little bit right now."

The team aimed to blend nostalgic elements with modern visual techniques to recreate the iconic look of the original:

Akiva Schaffer [10:11]: "The way you look at John Wick or Taken, they look really good. Like, John Wick is specifically incredibly shot, but it's so shadowy and dark, I don't think it would help a comedy."

Learning from Past Projects

Reflecting on their previous successes, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer draw lessons from projects like "Popstar" and "MacGruber," emphasizing the importance of concise storytelling and maintaining comedic momentum:

Jorma Taccone [05:55]: "Yeah, but almost everything from 'Popstar' applied to this in terms of. And then 'MacGruber.'"

Interaction with Writers and Voice Notes

The podcast features voice notes from fellow writers and comedians, including Paul Rust and Scott Aukerman, who share behind-the-scenes anecdotes from their time at SNL and the MTV Movie Awards. These snippets add depth to the discussion, highlighting the collaborative spirit and humorous mishaps that shaped their careers.

For instance, Paul Rust recounts:

Paul Rust [44:01]: "And then there was that bit with Sasha and Eminem where they pretended to get in a big fight ... They were like, we were really mad at the puppet."

Meanwhile, Scott Aukerman shares his experience with an Eminem-related incident:

Scott Aukerman [58:04]: "And it was really a great lesson in how the Internet is not going to protect you on this. ... it became a huge news story, and I got into so much trouble about it."

Anecdotes from Award Shows

The hosts delve into memorable moments from award shows, discussing instances where jokes caused unexpected reactions. Jorma Taccone humorously recalls a moment involving Megan Fox:

Jorma Taccone [43:52]: "It was the most liked scene in the movie. And also some people, their least favorite scene in the movie."

These stories highlight the unpredictable nature of live performances and the fine line comedians walk between humor and offense.

Closing Remarks

As the episode winds down, the hosts encourage listeners to watch the new "Naked Gun" movie, sharing their favorite comedic moments from past projects to build anticipation. They also engage in playful teasing about future episodes and potential spoilers, maintaining the episode's engaging and entertaining vibe.

Andy Samberg [76:58]: "Hey, you know what? Go see 'Naked Gun' and loved talking to you, gu. Really nice to see you."

Notable Quotes

• Andy Samberg [00:42]: "This is why people tune in. Cuz controversy."
• Akiva Schaffer [06:16]: "And so I feel like a fraud here in my normal press."
• Jorma Taccone [43:12]: "Yes. Well, famously of comedy testing, whatever scene is your most liked usually is also the most disliked."
• Paul Rust [44:01]: "And there was that bit with Sasha and Eminem where they pretended to get in a big fight."
• Scott Aukerman [58:04]: "It's a great lesson in how the Internet is not going to protect you on this."

Conclusion

"The Naked Gun: A Preview" offers listeners an insightful and humorous exploration of The Lonely Island's journey in reviving a beloved classic. Through candid discussions, shared stories, and engaging anecdotes, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone provide a comprehensive look into the making of the film, its roots in SNL's legacy, and the enduring impact of their comedic endeavors. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to their work, this episode delivers rich content that captures the essence of their creative process and the joy behind their collaborative successes.

Transcript

[Andy Samberg]

It's the Lonely island and Seth Meyers podcast. Hey, Keev, do you mind if we start off this sesh with, like, just a little bit of gushing? Because both me and Andy have seen your movie and not blowing smoke here. It's fucking great. It's so funny. It looks amazing. It's kind of an action movie in parts and also just a hilarious comedy. I just want to compliment you, and I just want to say that I think I speak for both me and Andy when we say. When I say we're both really proud of you, man.

[Akiva Schaffer]

That's very heartwarming.

[Jorma Taccone]

I didn't care for the film.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, wow. Well, you know what?

[Jorma Taccone]

Good.

[Andy Samberg]

This is why people tune in. Cuz controversy.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Thank you. Y.

[Jorma Taccone]

That's very nice. No, of course it's very good. We're all excited.

[Andy Samberg]

Very excited. And this is kind of a special episode because we finally got rid of the dead weight. Seth, we all know. And the three of us just kind of chatting about your movie and asking you some questions.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. And Seth, to be fair to him, he wanted to join, and his flight was just late, so he's not at a computer.

[Andy Samberg]

How dare you defend him?

[Akiva Schaffer]

That's fair.

[Jorma Taccone]

He was flying to meet up with the Bezos on their honeymoon, right?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He loved the wedding so much. He's like, I'll give you guys a couple weeks, and then I got to see you again. We got to run this back.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah. Seth right now is helping Jeff Bezos figure out what color he wants his cup holders to be on his spaceship. And so it's really important that he's not here now.

[Jorma Taccone]

Is plural of bezos. Bezos. Or is it bei.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, Anyway, ke, tell them when the movie's coming out.

[Akiva Schaffer]

The movie's coming out this Friday, I guess. Thursday night. Right. There'll be some Thursday night screenings. And it was funny. Me and Yor, we were texting just before this, and I called him real quick because I was like, the movie's about to come out. This is the podcast episode that would promote it. But on our podcast, it feels weird to just do actual promotion. So that's why Yoram was starting by being so generous. But I have been doing press all week. I have genuine answers for people that would be interested in seeing the movie. But it's also a little odd to be that. I don't know. Genuine.

[Andy Samberg]

Genuine. And. And forward with promoting a movie. Well, here's the thing. It is well said.

[Akiva Schaffer]

This, because I consider the Quaid army my family.

[Jorma Taccone]

Honestly, it is disgusting which leads me to don't forget Digman's still airing on Comedy Central, which is a network on cable television. And if you miss it on Comedy Central, don't worry because you'll be able to check it out on Paramount.

[Andy Samberg]

And I don't have anything to promote, but I am going to do a Walmart commercial soon to be sure to check that out. Guys.

[Jorma Taccone]

Keith, you shouldn't be, you shouldn't be shy about promoting your big ass IP studio comedy in theaters. That's the thing. You have to get the word out.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

And the other thing is that I'm genuinely interested in some of your answers to some of these questions and I'm sure we'll ask you a couple more because it's fun to actually find out about the movie making process and Andy and I will jump in and then anything you feel uncomfort about because these are gonna be some fucking hard hitting questions we can cut out.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Well, thank you. I appreciate the hard hitters. I mean what we all can speak to and have on this podcast is the feeling of when a movie's gonna be in theaters in five days and it isn't, you know, a Marvel Fantastic Four where they're, you know, there's a certain built in amount of people that are gonna see it no matter what. But you know, like how do you get the momentum? I don't know. So that's why it was important to promote to the Quaid's a little bit right now. Be to be like, go see it that first weekend so that it gets a little momentum potentially.

[Andy Samberg]

And I will also say I've talked to many comedy people who are incredibly excited about it just based on all of the materials you've been releasing, but also in an extremely self serving way. Everyone's really excited that it does well so that comedies do well in general. So no pressure though. Yeah, no pressure. So just. But get out there, guys.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I mean. Yeah, that's right. Well, what do you want to ask me about it? Because you already know. Do you want me to tell you what the junket asks me over and over and then tell you my answer that I've given 20 times?

[Andy Samberg]

No, no. The big first question that I do want to ask and I think I was feeling when you were first starting to write it and just decided to do it was just like we love the originals all like all three of the originals, but really like we love them so much and it is such an undertaking to jump in and do something like that. What was the process like of wanting to make this in 2025.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Okay. That's a genuine. A genuine good journalist question.

[Andy Samberg]

Thanks. You wrote it. I actually paraphrased it poorly. Tell us the answer, Keith.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I mean, here's what I really learned that we all already knew. But in going back as super fans of Naked Gun. Right. But then going back and trying to be super analytical, going back and watching and going, why do I think this one works when other ones don't? Right. That was actually way more about the story of Naked Gun and how they broke down. Like the screenwriting of telling a detective story that has to be so easy to follow that you can put all the jokes on it and you're never confused, but at the same time, not be boring, because then you'd be bored. You know what I mean? Because we know when you're making a movie that's all jokes. Yeah. It's why we were so happy to have Judd on Pop Star. Right. Because we were like. And he can make sure that we're making sure the story works and the emotional story works. And at the end of the day, you're just like, you only care about Pop Star if you're laughing the whole way through, but you're never going to be laughing if you're confused or bored.

[Andy Samberg]

Well, and that is truly how we had to think about McGruber, too. Because, like, when you're, quote, unquote, spoofing something, you kind of. You still need an original story to follow. And I assume you probably learned a lot from doing Chip and Dale as well.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. But almost everything from Popstar applied to this in terms of. And then MacGruber. Only I wasn't writing MacGruber with you guys, but the. Remember on Pop Star how we knew the run times of every movie in the genre and how they were all under 90 minutes? And so on this, I relooked at all them. The first naked gun is 85 minutes, and the second naked gun is 85 minutes.

[Jorma Taccone]

Wow.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And so I.

[Jorma Taccone]

How long is yours?

[Akiva Schaffer]

85 minutes. All right.

[Andy Samberg]

Is that the perfect comedy length?

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, it might be. And I mean, we, as we all of our favorites, whether it's Borat or Airplane or whatever, they're all under 90 minutes, and it really is part of it. But also it was like when I described to you, like, remind you what the first plot of Naked Gun is. It's extremely complicated, yet it feels so simple when you watch it. Cause it's about, like, a real estate tycoon, pillar of the community, who is super rich, but also on the side is available to terrorists to come to him and pay him $10 million to assassinate the Queen of England. He's doing both. Then it's because he has sleeper cells that like Manchurian Candidate telephon from Charles Bronson. But you watch it and go, ah. The story was so, you know, whatever. It's just the jokes, but you're like, oh, my God, they have all these complex ideas being told so simply. Anyway, so in terms of your great question about taking something from the past, the main thing I was taking was figuring out how they pulled off, like, the magic trick of making it the way it is. And then the other thing was just, you know, the spirit of who we all love. Right. Zaz. What was your first Zaz thing? You saw Zaz's Zucker, Abraham Zucker, and they were David and Jerry Zucker, their brothers.

[Jorma Taccone]

I think, for me, would have. It was probably the first Naked Gun film.

[Andy Samberg]

Was it really? It wasn't Top Secret. Top Secret is mine.

[Jorma Taccone]

No Naked Gun. And then realizing that you could also watch Police Squad and going back and being like, oh, my God, there's more. And then, yeah, you guys were more up on Top Secret before me.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Top Secret was my introduction to it as well. Yeah, just an introduction. I didn't even know they. You know, there was no Internet, so it was just the VHS my parents brought home that, like, changed the synapses in my brain.

[Andy Samberg]

Top Secret was the first time that I found out that adults were allowed to be as funny as they are.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's exactly one of the ways I've been putting it all week when people ask me, Yoram. Yeah, yeah, you watched it at home because we weren't old enough, right? It was a vhs.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, I got it. Was it a vh? It must have been a vhs. I feel like I saw it at, like, a camp thing. Like, they would, like, throw a video on at the end of, like, a camp thing. And I remember being, like, almost scared for how funny it was. Like, just, like, giggling, being like, oh, this can't continue to be this funny. Like, the fucking Pinto joke sticks out. The fucking. The guy falling off of the castle and then breaking into a thousand pieces.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Because he was actually made of glass shattering like glass. The one I always think about was the. When they're on their, like, prone. Like, they're sneaking into the castle and they're in the grass and they're on their elbows and knees and really trying to stay really low. And then it does that shot where it's tracking back. So as they Track. All of a sudden, a pair of boots is there, and you're like, oh, he's fucked. And then he looks up and it pans until the camera tilts up and it's just a random pair of boots.

[Andy Samberg]

It's a camera movement joke.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's a camera joke. Yeah. So, yeah, and then it was just. I mean, the thing I keep saying all week is, like, then it was just trying to take the spirit of the originals and honor it and bring that forward into today while also trying to just make a new movie. Because no offense to all the reboots and sequels and everything, but the ones. Well, there's two reasons to not do this. One, like, fan service. It's a fan service movie where it's just. All nostalgia hits is one. I've enjoyed every one of those, and I can't remember any of them. I don't even know all the ones I've watched because they just go in one ear, out the other. They're not movies. They just are like weird fan fiction celebrations of the past. A lot of them. The way that they've been treated.

[Andy Samberg]

How early. How early in the process did you actually think about updating the style of the film? Because it is more of a. I guess. What were your references? And when did you decide to sort of do a more updated visual version of it?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I mean, right away, before I even. I mean, that's part of what excited me was to do it. I mean, it's MacGruber style, right?

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I mean, just to say the things I've been saying all week, it's because of Liam, right? Like, when they asked if I wanted to do a Naked Gun, immediately I was like, no. Because when you're going to reboot a remake or do a Legacy sequel, you're supposed to be finding something that you felt had room for improvement, something that was a little broken or that was just in such a different genre, like 21 Jump street to a drama teen TV show. And then you go, ooh, what if we made it into a movie? Comedy, version, that's just a whole other thing. But otherwise, you're supposed to be looking for things that were made, had a good idea, but they didn't nail it, where you're like, ooh, now I can nail it. And the original Naked Gun has no room for improvement. It's perfect. So it's a fool's errand to try to do it again. And Leslie Nielsen is one of one irreplaceable. So somebody chasing him would be set up for failure. As well.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Again, things I've been saying all week. So I feel like a fraud here in my normal press. I just say it again. That's the secret with press guys. Why do we think Lady Gaga got so made fun of for repeating her press on the Star Is Born for the. There can be 1 million people in a room or whatever who say no. You just need one to say yes. Andy, you remember the quote I'm talking about?

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. We did a joke about it at the Globes.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Right. But what's funny is everybody does press junkets. Gets asked the same five questions, and if they gave you a different answer for every journalist, they'd be lying. And if they're going to be an honest person, when you get asked the same question, you have the same answer, so. And is it because it was too clever of a thought and she did it. It was too sticky. She was too good at it.

[Andy Samberg]

I think that everyone just is able to, like, immediately assemble a bunch of quotes and just show that someone said something over and over again. But if I'm being honest, I. I haven't checked out your press stuff, so this is all new to me.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Most of it hasn't run. It'll be next week.

[Andy Samberg]

Okay, gotcha.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And nothing I'm saying is a lie. It's just you end up realizing you're saying the same stuff over and over because you're going to ask the same question and you're having the same answer. But I don't mind saying it again because I think it's. I want the Quaid army to know the actual truth and hear from me and hopefully go support the movie. Because at this moment, just like with Pop Star or with Hot Rod, I'm afraid it'll be a movie that people discover two years from now and go, oh, you know what? That thing was actually really good.

[Andy Samberg]

Well, we've certainly had that experience.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And I'm like, maybe this one has a shot to be the first one for us where people can learn that the week it comes out. Wouldn't that be neat? Instead of learning it later?

[Jorma Taccone]

I feel like it's going to be a similar thing with Digman, but mostly because it won't be available for streaming for two years.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Digman, you're going to have this amazing library, and one day it will go on. Maybe Paramount plus will get really popular. Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

Skydance plus Yellowstone would argue it already is.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yes. But with the audience that you're looking for. And, you know, because even the south park audience, which is a perfect audience, I think they're watching it on hbo.

[Jorma Taccone]

You know what, though? If you watch Digman and Yellowstone, hit us in the Titus. Let us know.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, let us know if there's any crossover things that you think would work that we haven't hit for promo. Like, what would it be like for Dutton to be on the farm, but then next to him is Digman, and they're talking about, like, horses and stuff.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, my God. Yeah. That would be sick as hell.

[Andy Samberg]

When I've watched comedies before, and I don't know how, like, everyone watches comedy, but to me, if there's one joke in a movie that I remember and I laughed out loud at, it was kind of worth seeing that movie. This movie has so many of those moments and moments that I think are incredibly memorable. And I do want you to shout out your writers, obviously, because they're very funny guys and they wrote and Dale with you, but, man, Dan Greger, very funny dudes. Dan. Yeah, they're the best, and they're killers. But there are moments in this movie that I'm not going to ruin because. Or maybe this has already come out. Maybe you've already seen it, but there are moments that are so funny and memorable, and you will take away that. That I feel like it's.

[Akiva Schaffer]

We can just beep it if it's one.

[Andy Samberg]

Well, the moment montage is one of the funniest things I've seen in a really long time. And it is like, if it was just that moment, but there's, like, 10 other moments that. That I was, like, dying, laughing at. So thank you. Like, more than worth it to see this. This joint. But will you go back to, like, who shot this movie?

[Akiva Schaffer]

And back to it? So I wouldn't think it would be a good idea to naked. And I remember even texting you guys, or at least Andy being like, oh, my God, I just got asked about a naked gun. And I remember we all. We all have the same reaction. I think a lot of fans would have, which is like, oh, how are they gonna ruin this thing? On one hand, but then also morbid curiosity. I was like, well, I need to see what they did, you know, or what's gonna happen. But it was Liam Neeson, right? They said, Liam Neeson's interested. And that's the whole other thing. So this is my long winded way of saying you were talking about the visual references, and it's all the moment. It's him. I go, oh, last 10 years, he's been doing Taken style movies where he's made this iconic action Persona. And there's that clip of him from the cameo he did in the Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Warwick Davis show where he is playing Liam Neeson in quotes. But the version of Liam is nothing like the real Liam. It is a version of every one of those action stars where he's like a humorless, you know, badass. And he comes in and goes, I want to do some improv or whatever it is. It's the funniest clip if you haven't seen it. And that was all you need to see to know he could do this because he's clearly doing it in character and he's playing so dumb without letting you know that he knows he's dumb or knows that he's telling a joke. It's all right there. And so as fans, as we all are, of the genre of noir and action and spy movies and detective procedurals like Naked Gun came out in 88. They were doing 1950s TV like M Squad. They were doing a little bit of Dirty Harry, a little bit of Charles Bronson with telephonic and then a little. And then things like Double Indemnity and stuff. There's been 30 years of movies that we have been all watching whenever we can of Jason Statham or Jack Reacher or, you know, throw any others in here, but all the latest Bonds, all the Mission Impossibles, CSI Miami, whatever you want to say. You know, there's been so much. And so if it was any other actor, they would be maybe trying to go towards what Leslie did. But Liam already had a thing, so it was already gonna be different. And we can make him his son to even further separate from Leslie. But anyway, so the visual things are just the shit that me and you like though, right? It's just 80s Tony Scott. Right. It's Top Gun and True Romance and Beverly Hills Cop 2. Those are the Tony Scotts.

[Andy Samberg]

Were those ones that you and Brandon were kind of roughing. And this is Brandon Trost, who shot the movie, who has shot Pop Star and he shot McGruber. And he. He's been a friend of ours for a very long time.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You know what movie I kind of not discovered, but that I realized was like the perfect sweet spot was Tomorrow Never Dies, the Pierce Bronson, like, middle of his run.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, really?

[Akiva Schaffer]

And it's because. Remember how over the Lockdown. COVID Lockdown. Do you remember how me and Matt.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

This is Matt Bennelli Olpin, who originally lived as our fourth roommate with the three of us and is from Berkeley.

[Andy Samberg]

And it was kind of Original Lonely Island. It was certainly in, like, original Lonely island videos with us.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And just to remind the audience directed the last two screams and Ready or not, with his buddy Tyler.

[Jorma Taccone]

Radio silence.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, that's their director. Team name. Me and him started watching every James Bond movie in order from starting at the first one. Do you remember we were doing that?

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

And was that to make me and Andy jealous that you were, like, better friends with him now or, like, why.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Did you live in New York?

[Andy Samberg]

Okay, well, yeah, Never availing simultaneously. Okay.

[Jorma Taccone]

I was jealous for sure.

[Akiva Schaffer]

He did join us for one, but it wasn't a Bond. What did you join us for, Andy?

[Jorma Taccone]

I couldn't tell you, but I do remember.

[Andy Samberg]

Okay, well, anyway, you made us jealous.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And then I think it was a Dirty Harry. Was it the first Dirty Harry? Yeah, it was Dirty Dirty Harry.

[Jorma Taccone]

It was so fucking good.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Was it the first one?

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, the first one.

[Akiva Schaffer]

So me and Matt watched every James Bond movie in order, and when it got to Tomorrow Never Dies, it was like when the old way jumped forward, it became a modern movie. Like, even the surround sound on my TV came alive. And all those movies were shot on 35 millimeter, but before you could color time them in a computer and, like, crush all the blacks so the atmosphere is still there. But they're gorgeously shot. They look amazing by today's standards, but they also give you a hint of nostalgia. They make you feel good in the way that's what those Tony Scott movies do. And that's what Tomorrow Never Dies, which is kind of right there. And then the more modern ones that are obviously incredible in terms of how they look and are is Casino Royale and, like, Mission Impossible, Fallout. So we would look at those, but they were slicker than we knew we could accomplish with our time and our budget. And they were even just a teeny bit slicker than we need to do because we were talking about how, like, you look at John Wick or Taken, they look really good. Like, John Wick is specifically incredibly shot, but it's so shadowy and dark, I don't think it would help a comedy.

[Andy Samberg]

Is that what you mean by the. By the lightness. Like. Like, when you compare it to Tony Scott, is it just. You can see more of the frame in Tony Scott stuff that, like, that kind of relates to. Gotcha.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Tomorrow Never Dies, you can see everything all the time, yet it still is very clearly a big blockbuster action adventure movie.

[Andy Samberg]

Right.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Whereas when you get into, like, John Wick, you can barely see things half the time in a really artistic, cool way. That would not. That would feel suffocating in a comedy.

[Andy Samberg]

I think that's. That's funny because I was just doing color on our. It was the exact same thing of uncrushing the blacks just a little bit. That just means the compression and how deep the actual blacks.

[Akiva Schaffer]

The contrast.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, yeah, it's just a way of saying contrast, I guess. But like. But doing the same thing where I just wanted to see some detail in the shadows, basically.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. I went the opposite way. The way actually, Andy always wants us to go more of like whenever we're in color correction on anything we've ever done. Andy's like, it's too dark. You're making it too much. Andy would have loved color correcting this. It's the first one where I was you in there and we were just like, no, no, no. Lift it, lift it a little bit. Lift it. Allow. Allow more smoke in the air. Allow me to see everything a little more. I want like the creases in his jacket. Because I was just trying to give you that nostalgic feeling while being super modern so that it just feels good in a way.

[Andy Samberg]

I think that actually relates to your writing process of like, you being able to see everything actually helps the audience just sort of like feel comfortable.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Exactly. But we don't want it to look like just some shitty, overlit comedy that has no point of view. Yeah, we want it to be a noir, you know, spy, thriller, whatever you want to call it thing. But me and Matt also, we watched like, we started with Death Wish.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, you did something else together with him.

[Akiva Schaffer]

This is how many movies we watched all five death wishes. And then we watched like 25 other Charles Bronson movies from the 70s and 80s.

[Andy Samberg]

That sounds like a lot of time that you guys spent together. It's great.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. Be more available. Yorm.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, I'll move.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And then we did all the Dirty Harry's after Andy watched the first one. Did not make it to two through five, I guess.

[Andy Samberg]

Jesus.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, I didn't.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You missed out. At one point, there's a close up of a dog and he farts. I wonder if we can find that on YouTube.

[Jorma Taccone]

You sent me a clip though, on your phone, and I did get to enjoy it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Whenever something amazing would happen in one of these movies, I would take a video of the tv. It's like by the fourth one, he's like meeting a girl he likes or something. She has a dog. And then all of a sudden to like get out of the scene. It just cuts to the bulldog and it Farts. And then it cuts to Clint, and he gives, like, a classic Clint snarl that used to be reserved for, like, bureaucracy and pencil pushers, but now could just be applied to a dog farting. There's one of the Charles Bronson ones that I'm blanking. It might be Tendo Midnight, where he's, like, got a dildo in his hand and he keeps flopping it around, but he's seriously trying to reprimand. Like, what is this? What are you doing? But it's just a dildo. But it's legit.

[Andy Samberg]

I do love that in comedies. You couldn't do that. Well, you probably could maybe get away with that in Naked Gun, but those are the kinds of things that I feel like you could have done in movies in the past. And we, like. I always referenced Tango and Cash because there's a giant trailer truck, like an oil tanker trailer truck, like, filled with cocaine. And I'm like, you couldn't do that now because it would seem like a fucking joke. But that was a serious movie. Like, we couldn't do that. MacGruber, certainly just, like, fucking the cocaine tanker.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Like, it's the best because he also shoots at it, and everyone thinks it'll explode, but he's so confident that they didn't, like, hide it in a. Like, the reality is there'd be, like, a tank within the tank, and there'd be gasoline. So if they get pulled over, gas comes out, and then there'd be cocaine in the center. And if you shot it, it would still explode.

[Andy Samberg]

Also, that you would have that much cocaine. It's like, that means it's like, 50 tons worth of cocaine.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's like, it's all the cocaine that's ever been made in the history of mankind.

[Andy Samberg]

Okay, here's another question. And then I've. I will have made it through all of the questions that you floated me. And I'm actually surprised by this question. It says, how do you feel about the marketing?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I'm trying to remember how someone phrased that to me. They would be like, you know what it would be? It would be. They would talk about the trailer, the teaser. And the teaser is the one that I really love that they did, which is the first thing that came out that was just the simple one at the bank. They would talk about how they felt watching the teaser trailer and the OJ Joke in the teaser trailer. And then I would talk about. And I can just paraphrase now about how I was really happy with that teaser because it was basically all the stuff we wrote in the first week of writing the movie because it answered all the big questions, which is one, what is. You know, is Liam Frank Drebin? Are we erasing your childhood legacy? Or what is our. What's the movie's relation to the past? And it was right away, like, nope, there's a moment that I will spoil. So in the trailer, you see Frank, he's at the, like, shrine to Leslie Nielsen saying, you know, hi, Dad, I love you. In the movie, he says, I want to be just like you, but at the same time, completely different and original. So he just says, like, the whole thesis for the entire movie there. And that's one of the very first scenes we wrote. And the second thing is, what will it look like and feel like? Is it gonna feel like it's some movie from the 80s, or are we doing a modern version? And the bank and the way I shot the bank and Trust shot the bank and the music let you know, no, no, no, we have a new take. And then the third thing is, everybody that I would be like, hey, I'm thinking we're thinking about writing a new Naked Gun. They'd say, what are you gonna do about oj? And then that's the answer to that question is at the end of that. And that's really what people have asked about.

[Andy Samberg]

Support for the Lonely island. And Seth Meyers podcast comes from Airbnb. You know, guys, we talk a lot about Finland on this podcast, which never thought would happen, but as my name is Jorma Taconen, almost it makes sense. And one thing that you guys may not have realized is that I stayed at an Airbnb when I was in Finland, in Tampere. And one of the great things about that is that I felt like a native. So when I said things like muy, muy or moi to people, they were like, that guy's definitely Finnish. Also, his name's Jorma. Anyway, it was great. There was a sauna in my place. Killer. So I could feel the. And it's great when a place that is a workplace or a vacation place feels like home. And so if you're daydreaming about going to Finland or, you know, somewhere in Norway or anywhere in the world, really. I mean, most places you can get an Airbnb. It's great for family traditions. Vacations are how you bring people together, guys. And also, when I go back to Finland, I'll be probably staying at an Airbnb in Helsinki. And when I do that, I'll probably think to myself, what am I doing, man, I'm out here. What's my house doing? Just. Just sitting there. It could have people in it right now. And it's also great to be able to, like, create spaces for people, create that home environment for people to feel so they don't feel like a bunch of tourists in a city, wherever you live anyway, it's extra income that can support more travel or life goals. Whatever you want to do. Your home could be worth a lot more than you think. Find out how much [e-mail] Host support.

[Seth Meyers]

Comes from Wonderful Pistachios. Wonderful Pistachios is the don't hold back snack. They're healthy and they're tasty, so you can snack without holding back. Wonderful Pistachios is the craveable snack that tastes too good to be good for you. Irresistible flavors. Honey roasted Jalapeno lime Chili roasted. Bring the heat, the sweet or the kick to keep you coming back for more. With 6 grams of protein per serving and 0 grams of regret, Wonderful Pistachios are one of the highest protein snack nuts. If you don't believe me, ask Akiva. You didn't send anything in.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Great.

[Seth Meyers]

No shells, no limits. Don't hold back on flavors or convenience. I'll tell you what I like is just eating a ton of pistachios. And I'll tell you what I don't like. When I forget to hide the shells and then my wife comes home and says, did you eat all of the wonderful pistachios? And I say, no, I didn't. And then she'll say, well, where are all these shells from? And I'll say, your guess is as good as mine. Visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, I texted you you on the soundtrack because you haven't heard the real music yet. You haven't seen the final cut of the movie.

[Andy Samberg]

I did not have a chance.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You don't have to listen to it. It's just movie music. But this guy, Lauren Balf, did the soundtrack and he did the last three Mission Impossible movies and he killed it. So me and Jorm, when we were texting earlier about a screening he's gonna go to or the premiere rather than I was like, oh, the thing I'm excited for you to see. Besides just everything finished, is the color correction looking correct? Because as director to director.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And now it having a real orchestra and the real score in there, it just elevated the whole thing.

[Andy Samberg]

I do want to talk about the score for a second because Keev was sending Us all of these videos. Like, as we talked about in the pod, while his dog was humping his leg, he's checking out the score, being composed, recomposed. Because that's how you do it. You do it in the box. Right. So to speak. It's all on computers. It's all digital. Then once that's all done and it's approved, and then Kee has gotten to. On several movies now, I think.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Right.

[Andy Samberg]

Is it three movies now that you've gotten to do this?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, we did on Hot Rod, I did on Neighborhood Watch, and we did it on this. We did not do it on Pop Star because we didn't have an orchestra. An orchestra, because the. The music in that was all, you know, pop.

[Andy Samberg]

But just describe what that process is, cuz.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, Rescue Rangers. I got to.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, yeah. So you've done it four times.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Like, I mean, I feel like everybody's seen those little videos, but it's hard for a video to capture what it's like. And it's. But it's incredible getting a private orchestra thing that is bespoke to your movie. But you really do have these 50 string players in there. And the moment they all start playing, it's emotional. No matter what the movie, it's doing it for. You're in a room with, and you can't believe how incredible. You know, an entire string section starting to play sounds. It just blows your mind every time.

[Andy Samberg]

And they're going exactly to the score, right? Like, they're playing exactly to what was done in computer, basically. Like, I don't even know how they do the timing.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Well, no, it gets. It all gets broken down. I wish I had the images, but maybe we can pull some. But it all gets, you know, once it's all been approved, then they have weeks of working with these orchestrators who are taking all the music and creating all the sheet music for every. Because every section needs its own sheet music, right? Like, the violinist needs to be looking at a different one from the cello. They need to have same parts for some, but different for others because the cello is not playing what the violin's playing. So it's this huge. It looks like an SNL table. Read the amount of papers. It's just stacks and stacks and stacks. Because everyone needs these giant sheet music for every cue in the movie separately.

[Andy Samberg]

How long does it take to, like, to record an entire score for a.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Movie like this that's a short movie but has a lot of score? It's two days, and I think we did two days on Hot rod. Two days on rescue rangers. I think it's pretty standard for one of these. You know, for a Chris Nolan 2 hours and 30 minutes. I would have to ask, but I'd imagine it. It would need to be more than that.

[Andy Samberg]

Follow up question. Can we show the video of Virginia, your dog humping your leg while you check out the score?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I'll have to revisit. So that one was. They did this in LA at the Eastwood stage. Speaking of Clint again, I think he actually donated a bunch of money to Warner Brothers to save a sound a giant. Cause these stages are getting torn down. Cause they're such. They take so much real estate that they get changed into office buildings. And this is one of the few remaining classic LA one where you know, thousands of your favorite movies music have been recorded in. And I was there a lot while we were recording. But then sometimes I'd go home cause it's not far from my house. And then I had a live feed on my computer and Andy came over and I'm listening to the brass recording classic like Naked Gun themes and I have a live feed where I give a note or do anything back. And yes, the dog came up and started humping my ankle to Andy's delight.

[Jorma Taccone]

Probably turned on by the theme.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, the jazz got her going. That's understandable.

[Andy Samberg]

So you're kind of saying that the theme to Naked Gun is like sex music for dogs.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's burlesque for dogs. Yeah. Don't put it on your house you want unless you're ready for things to get very weird.

[Jorma Taccone]

The theme song for Naked Gun is Burlesque for dogs. I feel like it could be the title of the episode.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Right. All right, well, thank you guys for talking about Nake again this much. But I do feel like after Seth sees it, maybe we could do an episode that is just all spoilers where we can actually talk about the movie itself. And I feel like I've made my case to the Quaids. To the Quaids about trying to get some momentum.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, Quids see that shit Quaid.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Or you know, or it'll just be another one. Another hot rod pop star in our caps. But it's up to the Quaids. As everyone knows, they're a lot like the Swifties. They can move the election. Oh, man. Anyways, I've done my due diligence. I did text Liam and Pam to send me a voice note and they didn't do it yet. So mainly I've just been stalling the whole time.

[Jorma Taccone]

Hoping you're gonna get one in real time.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, but it didn't. Didn't happen.

[Andy Samberg]

We'll see if that happens by the end of this episode.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Okay.

[Jorma Taccone]

Because by the way, I can probably just. I could just riff you one out real quick. Ready?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

Do it in Liam's voice.

[Jorma Taccone]

It's Liam. I wanted to just say you're the best director I've ever worked with, including Steven Spielberg. In my opinion. Compared to you, he's a piece of crap. Okay, I gotta go.

[Andy Samberg]

I can't wait till some clickbait thing.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Is like, Liam calls Spielberg a piece of crap.

[Andy Samberg]

She just takes that as real.

[Jorma Taccone]

I mean, they might as well write it up because it happened. It just happened. Irl.

[Akiva Schaffer]

They say crap a lot over in Belfast. And so. Yeah, you chose words that sounded very, very Belfastian. Yeah, exactly.

[Jorma Taccone]

Let's go to the pub and.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Crap.

[Andy Samberg]

That guy's from Belfast. What a cool dude.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Okay. Anyways, they have their marching orders. They know what they're doing. Don't. Well, let's just not worry about and buy your tickets ahead on Fandango. So other people saying, go, oh, I better buy my ticket now because the seats are filling in.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, yeah, do that.

[Jorma Taccone]

This guy loves Fandango.

[Andy Samberg]

Do that.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Listen, the guy from Fandango who is like their head guy. Not a reviewer or something, but somebody really saw it early and wrote to the studio, like, about how much he loved it. So. I'm a Fandango now, man. I'm a Fandango now, man. I'm a man who loves Fandango now.

[Jorma Taccone]

Do you think every time somebody uses the website Fandango, the band Queen gets a residual?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yes.

[Andy Samberg]

God, that's such a tough question.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yorm.

[Jorma Taccone]

That was a big, like, exhausted exasperated sigh because you were thinking about it so hard.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

His brain couldn't take it.

[Jorma Taccone]

You were like, ugh, no, man.

[Andy Samberg]

No.

[Jorma Taccone]

You were like, oh, what a good question. How to answer.

[Andy Samberg]

Hey, we said there were going to be a lot of hard hitting questions. And there were from Andy about Fandango and Queen.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Andy, you went to Comic Con. Did you see the Naked Gun? Big installation. What do they call it? Activation.

[Jorma Taccone]

I didn't see the activation. I saw some posters and billboard action that looked pretty rad. I definitely got some Quaid armies out there. So respect to everybody. Also, P.S. last night at a restaurant, someone just.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yelled quaid army in the restaurant. Like a quiet restaurant.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

Like, almost like yelling fire.

[Jorma Taccone]

We were out on a patio. It was like as they were leaving, and I was like, what was that? Somebody Just said, quiet, Quaid Army. And I was like, oh. Oh, sorry. That's me.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Righteous, girl. Oh, Jesus.

[Jorma Taccone]

And they went.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Almost missed it.

[Jorma Taccone]

Everyone at my table was like, what the. Was that just special code.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, God.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, sorry, Sorry.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, my God. That was my cue. I am so sorry.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You were like, you don't. I went up on my. There.

[Jorma Taccone]

Felt great. NGL NGL Felt great.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, that's fantastic.

[Jorma Taccone]

But, yeah, Comic Con, you know, was. Was Liddy. I was on a panel with Matt and Trey and Mike Judge.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, shit.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Four legends of animation together.

[Jorma Taccone]

Finally, if you're out there and you heard this was happening and you wondered why I was on there, the answer is, same network. And that's where it ends.

[Andy Samberg]

Wow.

[Jorma Taccone]

But it was really fun and everyone was nice.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I saw an article today that had a picture of Matt Groening at a panel. Like, yesterday, he would have made more.

[Jorma Taccone]

Sense on the panel, but unfortunately, his show is not on the cable channel Comedy Central.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Right.

[Jorma Taccone]

So I got his slot.

[Akiva Schaffer]

So you're saying this is like a corporate thing?

[Jorma Taccone]

I got his legend slot.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

Legends only Simpsons is approaching 800 episodes. Right. I think that they're close, guys. That's pretty incredible. I'm just full of compliments today.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Andy, were you like Chris Farley on the. Up on the panel just going, the gun.

[Jorma Taccone]

Remember?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Remember Mr. Hankey?

[Jorma Taccone]

So awesome.

[Akiva Schaffer]

He was a poop.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

What about that blanket tally? He was like, on weed.

[Jorma Taccone]

I would. I would say that the others on the panel knew the deal and were incredibly gracious considering, but it was cool just to be up there and like.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Like.

[Jorma Taccone]

Like they've done so much incredible work. It was good to just be up there and, like, kind of draft on their fan base and feel the. The energy of that, of being like, right, right. South Park's been on forever. Beavis and Butthead's been forever. Like, these dudes have made some shit.

[Akiva Schaffer]

We should just say, in case there's any question, we are big fans, big time.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, yeah. You know, I even, you'll be shocked to know, mentioned it during the panel.

[Andy Samberg]

That's nice of you.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Now, did you talk about the Mexican restaurant in Colorado at all?

[Jorma Taccone]

I didn't talk about it on the panel, but I did talk to Trey about it because our friend Jake Symanski actually went, and I told him that Jake told me that it was, like, one of the greatest experiences of his life. He went with his family.

[Andy Samberg]

I mean, Keith, you were gonna change your flights to fly in there for, like, six hours and go there, right?

[Jorma Taccone]

I am Dying to check it out.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I had a layover last summer. I was with my family and we were leaving having seen Yorm on the east coast and because of the airport we had to fly out of. Cause we flew out of the one near you. It doesn't have nonstop to la and it already was stopping in Denver.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And I was like, oh my God, it can happen. This can be it. And I did. You know, we are not close with Mat or Trey, but they are always very nice and we are just such huge fans. And I just reached out to Matt Kold and was like, dude, how do I get in? Because it was when it was really hard to get in, or maybe it still is. And he was so nice, Hooked me up with the manager, got it all set up for me and then I convinced my family. Like, I know it's weird, but we're just gonna move our flight a little because it was like a two hour layover and then we had to make it four hours. I'm like, I think if we leave right when we get there, spend two hours at a restaurant and then you have to do the gate check back in, back through security. We get all our bags. It would have been a big pain in the ass. And then our flight was late and it just wiped it right off.

[Andy Samberg]

Dammit.

[Jorma Taccone]

By the way, I get it. I really do get it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

Like for anyone out there wondering, the whole of the Lonely island fucks with a themed restaurant.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I mean, I've looked at the like YouTube videos of people going there. Casa Bonita.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes.

[Akiva Schaffer]

If we haven't said the name yet.

[Jorma Taccone]

Straight up cliff diving inside the restaurant.

[Andy Samberg]

Incredible.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I'm not gonna. I won't say who it is. So it's not name droppy on here, but we have another friend for their birthday. Just took the entire family from LA to Denver, Caught a Dodgers Rockies game, went to Casa Bonita, stayed at a hotel and then came back to la. And that was the full birthday party agenda. And I quizzed about after, like, well. And they were like five stars. One of the best vacations we like truly was like, no regrets. It was the best. They loved it.

[Andy Samberg]

To shout out Matt Stone for a second, he gave me one of the best cuts in an early version of MacGruber. And I will always remember how quickly he was like, no, go from here to here. And I was like, wow.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yep.

[Andy Samberg]

That was fucking smart. That was the end of my story.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's a good person to be able to show things to and get advice from.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, we didn't get into it. But I will say I've maybe learned more about editing and brevity from the south park dudes than even comedy, which is saying a lot because they're easily some of the funniest to ever do it. But when we like started looking at song length for pop star and even shorts and stuff, and we'd be like, what about like, what are the song lengths in the south park movie? And they're all like under two minutes. And I remember realizing they were so short and having our minds blown because they pack so much in. They're like jokes, story, and it sounds good and flies and you're like, fuck. They're not wasting a second. Their efficiency is maybe all time best.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, yeah. And by learn from them, you mean.

[Jorma Taccone]

Learn just from their work, Just from watching it. Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, 100%.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I wonder what the runtime on that one is. Going back to our conversation about the pop star and about us knowing that these kinds of movies are the best when they're so tight. Dude, 81 with credits.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, that shit flies. That's amazing.

[Jorma Taccone]

It's so good.

[Akiva Schaffer]

But there you go. And that's why those songs, it's like, it's like you're getting a two hour movie in 81 minutes. So everything has compressed. So everything's so fast and entertaining. So those songs are a minute 45 instead of three minutes because everything's going at that clip, dude.

[Andy Samberg]

The Team America sex scene and the vomit scene. I was doubled over in the theater and I just remember it so well because my mother in law was sitting next to me and being like, ah, I don't know if I can laugh this hard. Like I was like almost gonna, like it felt like I was gonna cough up a lung. I was like, I don't think I should laugh this hard.

[Jorma Taccone]

Scene in the alley. Did I see. I think I saw that with you, Keev. Is that possible?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, for sure. You gave up on life, didn't you? Or whatever it is?

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, yeah. It's the only time I can remember being in a movie theater where I was laughing so hard that I. I actually took a knee. Like I was out of my chair. Yeah, I was like leaning forward, laughing so hard that I was like, oh, I have to like brace myself. And I put a knee down. Like I was about to give a pep talk in a football game. You gave him a life, did you? And the way that they like, the music comes down and then when he starts throwing up again, the music comes up full blast again. Incredible.

[Akiva Schaffer]

What I remember though, And I don't remember who this was, but meeting with crew members, like, for. We'd have to look at the timing, but for whatever project we were doing that was like a year after that project. Tell me if either you were in the room. And it was like, you know, so we're just meeting with like, random grizzled old crew guys to see who you're hiring for your project. And one of them, we were like, yo, you worked on Team America. That's so amazing. He's like, oh, yeah, it was such a good movie. And then they did this reshoot and they added this terrible puking scene. Just ruined the whole movie. And I remember, like two things in my mind at the same time. One, it was, oh, my God, that was our favorite scene in the whole movie. I don't remember if we told him or not. Obviously, we're not hiring this person who thinks that that's the worst scene in the movie. And then it was also just reminding me how subjective it is. Right. Like, if that guy had wrote the first tweet about the movie about how there's this horrible scene and that was what Matt and Trey read first. They'd get so sad, not realize, you know what I mean?

[Andy Samberg]

Like, it's all for.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You can do something that we thought was just like, that's obviously the funniest thing in the whole movie. And they did it as a reshoot. Which makes sense to me because. Or additional photography. Yes, because it makes sense. Because you'd be like, let's just go crazy right here.

[Jorma Taccone]

I mean, it's not dissimilar from on Pop Star. One of our reshoots was the limo scene.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. We went back and put the craziest or most edgy thing in or whatever.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes. But I mean, it was for story purpose. But when we did our test screening, it was the most liked scene in the movie. And also some people, their least favorite scene in the movie.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yes. Well, famously of comedy testing, whatever scene is your most liked usually is also the most disliked.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Because it's also just a part of it being the most memorable.

[Jorma Taccone]

Right.

[Akiva Schaffer]

But it's also probably cause it's the part that goes for it the most. Like In Bridesmaids, I'm 90% sure that Judd said it was the throw up diarrhea scene. But the trick is for it to be, you know, 10 times more liked than disliked.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes. Which was the case on ours. It was way more people liked the scene that didn't. But it was also a lot of people's Least liked scene.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yes.

[Jorma Taccone]

And I feel like at that moment, we were like, oh, we did it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

No, but, like, Cool Beans was the same, too.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Right?

[Andy Samberg]

Like, most liked, most disliked.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Paul Rust]

It's just across the board.

[Jorma Taccone]

Definitely.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Okay. The only other, like, Housekeeping we had is that we didn't quite get through Movie Awards.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, right. You know, movie awards. We talked about it a great deal, but there was a lot left. We have more voice notes.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It feels only fair if we bothered someone to record one, that we listened to it and it will spark a memory.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. And you know what? Sorry to those people for not doing it on the Movie Awards episode.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Agreed. But, yeah, let's. Let's get into it.

[Jorma Taccone]

Should we just pop a couple off?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. Intro. Intro. One.

[Jorma Taccone]

All right, let's see. First up, we got Paul Rust, who, you know, from the world of comedy, both as a writer and a performer. He was a writer on the MTV Movie Awards. Let's hear what he has to say.

[Matt Murray]

Hey, everybody, I have many, many, many, many fond memories of writing on the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. I'll just share a couple here. Like any writer's room, we would order food for lunch or for dinner.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I can vouch for that. That is true.

[Matt Murray]

And I remember after everybody would put their orders in, every time Andy and Akiva would ask the staff, hey, is there any food we want to order for everybody to share? You know, for the table?

[Akiva Schaffer]

This really stuck with people.

[Matt Murray]

And by the end of the first day for the table got abbreviated down to for the taste, him and Neil.

[Akiva Schaffer]

This is a big takeaway for the table.

[Matt Murray]

Ever since anytime I'm with a group of people and we order food for everyone to share, I think for the Tades, my second memory. And gosh, I don't know if it's going to be able to top that first memory, because that one's really good, and I'm sure you're gonna love it. My second memory is the writer's room was actually in the dressing room of whoever performed at the Universal Amphitheater. And it was a really cool dressing room. It was, like, all decked out, and it had this massive bathroom, you know, with, like, a shower and, of course, toilet, sink, but it also had this big, glittery red Jacuzzi. And I remember we all went in there, we're checking it out, and Andy said, gosh, just. Just imagine all of the stars who have been in this bathroom. And he pointed at the Jacuzzi, and he said, to think Ben Folds got blown there. Okay, bye.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I Have no memory of saying that. Dude, we went to some. The Universal Amphitheater alone brings back so many memories. That was one of the premier venues to see cool music in la. Yeah, it was such a cool venue. And I believe it's where Hogwarts is now.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, really? That's what they took down.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I think that that's the real estate. Somebody's gonna know. Oh, wow. Hold on. We're getting it in the. I'm getting it live in the chat in the feed.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, bingo.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Inserting. The Universal Amphitheater closed September 6th of 2013 and was demolished for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

[Jorma Taccone]

My man Keith was right, man. We got hit in the Titus immediately.

[Akiva Schaffer]

So that means that Ben Folds presumably got blown right in Ollivander's maybe. We don't know.

[Andy Samberg]

Right in Ollivander's Wand Shop.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

I wonder why I conjured that name. Maybe there was pictures of who had performed on the wand.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I think he was probably on the wall, because if any of those venues happen, have on the walls when you're walking in all the photos of people that have performed there.

[Jorma Taccone]

That's so funny. All right, should we listen to another one?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, let's roll them in. Thank you, Paul. Rust.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, thank Rusty. Nice of you to send.

[Andy Samberg]

We love you, Paul.

[Jorma Taccone]

All right, should we go to Matt Murray? Panther.

[Andy Samberg]

Panther. Fuck, yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yes. He's been on here before. He wrote with us for a couple years at SNL and then came to LA and on the Movie Awards, obviously.

[Jorma Taccone]

That's right.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Let's see.

[Paul Rust]

Hey, what's up, guys? Matt Murray here. We're talking Movie Awards. This is actually sort of near and dear to my heart because this is where I met you guys. We all were writers for the 2004 Movie Awards hosted by. That's right, Lindsay Lohan. And I remember thinking, like, oh, who are these dudes? They're my age. And we all listen to the same music and we all skateboarded. And I was like, these guys are awesome. They make these awesome shorts. And you guys were my friends from day one. And then we all came back the next year, 2005 movie awards, when Jimmy hosted. And that's where you met Higgins and Jimmy and Shoemaker and all those dudes. And that's when you got hired at snl, despite my. I guess I would say strenuous objections, but that's okay. So, yeah, flash forward to 2009. They asked Annie to host again over my objections. But you know what? It's okay. And I don't Remember two much from the show. I remember you guys had already done so much by the time I got there. I think you already had the idea for Cool Guys don't look at Explosions, which to me would rank pretty high on the. On the SNL digital shortlist. I think that could have easily just been on SNL and been one of. One of the all time classics. I helped out on the opening film, which I remember that was the year of Slumdog Millionaire, which had a scene where a guy jumps in a big old pile of poop. So that really wrote itself once we had that in our pocket. The only other thing I remember from that show was there was that bit with Sasha and Eminem where they pretended to get in a big fight, which was itself a reference to something that I witnessed when Jimmy hosted the VMAs in 2000. 2002, Triumph the insult Comic Dog sort of accosted Eminem. Not planned. And Eminem did not take it well. And I remember because all the writers were in a sort of a green room. And after it happened, Eminem and his entourage just sort of stormed in and, like, we were. They were like, you guys gotta get out of here. And he was like, freaking out and melting down. And I remember it being very funny because Smigel was there, who we all worked with at snl. Voice of Triumph.

[Andy Samberg]

Triumph.

[Paul Rust]

And I remember when it was happening, Eminem and all of his friends, like, got up and stood up and got in Triumph's face, and they were like, hey, knock it off. But they. They only talked to the puppet. Like, Smiggle was there with the puppet on his hand, like, saying all the words. But, like, they were. They were really mad at the puppet.

[Andy Samberg]

They were like, stop. Stop it.

[Paul Rust]

That wasn't your show. That was a different show. Anyway, that's it. I love you guys. Bye.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[Akiva Schaffer]

All right, good.

[Jorma Taccone]

That's one man's account. You know, we don't know nothing about it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, we weren't there. We were. We were just in our apartment. We had no clue. But this is a spicy take that's definitely going to make some headlines now in 2025.

[Andy Samberg]

We didn't. Yeah, we didn't say it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

23 years later. They're like, remember when it looked like he was really mad about that?

[Andy Samberg]

I do remember that Eminem was, because I remember what he was saying. And I was trying to lean forward, and it was him saying, I did my TV time. I did my TV time. And I was like, that was an interesting way to phrase that.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, God. You remember watching the 2002 Movie Awards as a fan back in LA?

[Andy Samberg]

There's a lot I don't remember, C.

[Akiva Schaffer]

But I remember that that's, I mean, surprising.

[Andy Samberg]

It is. There's so much. You know what's so great is we've known each other for so many years, but it's just like peeling a layer of an onion. You know what I mean? It just keeps going.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You never know what's going to stick with any of us.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. And the coolest thing about peeling back an onion is underneath. Same thing.

[Akiva Schaffer]

More onion, more onion.

[Andy Samberg]

Still smelly, still smelly. Still smelling onion.

[Jorma Taccone]

All right, we do have two more.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, let's rock them.

[Andy Samberg]

Crank them.

[Jorma Taccone]

Okay.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yo.

[Tim Kalpakis]

Hey, guys, it's Tim Kalpakis, writer. That was my first job ever. So I was really shy in the room. And one day Fred Armisen popped in and he was going around to all of us like, hey, guys, how the bits?

[Akiva Schaffer]

How the bits? We got good bits.

[Tim Kalpakis]

And in front of all of you, I answered him earnestly and I was like, yeah, Fred.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, we got great bits, Fred.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, it's gonna be a great show.

[Tim Kalpakis]

And I realized Fred Armson doesn't give a about the bits. He's just being Fred. And I'm kind of sweating right now even just recalling that moment. I also remember watching the Kings of Leon sound check. And then I felt somebody take my hand and I. I looked down and it was Andy. And then we just sat there holding hands.

[Andy Samberg]

Know that I could use some butter.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Beautiful.

[Tim Kalpakis]

And also lastly, there was a joke we kept repeating around the room. It didn't get in, but Paul Rust pitched that Andy would be standing on stage confused, looking into his hand and say, huh, that's weird. It says that my next presenters are here. Oh, never mind. Sorry. I thought that the L's were H's. From Land of the Lost, please welcome Will ferrell and Danny McBride.

[Jorma Taccone]

Land of the hosts.

[Tim Kalpakis]

So just giving the audience the credit to do the math with no explanation that if Ls are Hs, land of the Lost is hand of the host. And the presenters are teeny little shrunken guys in Andy's hand. And I'll pitch that. And Andy was like, yeah, pretty good. Put it on the board.

[Andy Samberg]

Does it good.

[Akiva Schaffer]

The math is so difficult. I was trying to do it the whole time he's talking.

[Andy Samberg]

But both of those stor you, Andy, make me like you as a person. One that you would hold. You just go to the, like, guy's hand. Just hold a guy's hand while kings of Leon are singing this song and then two that you'd be like, yeah, put it on the board. Let's do that joke. It's like the most complicated.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh my God. Hand of the host.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Now Calpakus writes on a show called Digman Now. I believe that's right.

[Jorma Taccone]

Amongst many other things.

[Akiva Schaffer]

That's interesting. I love that show.

[Andy Samberg]

Funny Man.

[Jorma Taccone]

We love Kacis. One of the funniest dudes.

[Andy Samberg]

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[Akiva Schaffer]

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[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, we've got Aukerman's snippets cause he.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Sent us a 17 minute, we can say the length. 17 minutes.

[Jorma Taccone]

It was a 17 minute voice note and to his credit he was like, hey, sorry if this is too long. Take what you want.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, but it's a fourth of the bigger, longer uncut movie, South Park's movie.

[Jorma Taccone]

All right, let's check out some of it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

We've got Scott's down to three snippets, so let's roll.

[Scott Aukerman]

Snippet 1 First of all, we had to do a lot of research about what was happening in movies at the time. Just looking at like what was a box office hit. And then Jason Manzukis, I believe, found a list of every movie that was released and how much money they made. And down there at the bottom was this movie called Delgo, which was an animated fantasy movie and it made something like $500 when it was released. It was just a huge disaster and I think it cost a lot of money and Jason just would not let Delgo go and he tried inserting Delgo into every punchline, which made us all laugh in the room so much. And you know, Andy never asked us to stop doing the Delgo jokes. He liked them himself. And in fact I don't think we used any of them. Maybe we used one. But a month after we did the show I rented a movie theater and we all watched Delgo, all of the people who worked on the show and surprisingly was not, not incredibly fun. It's not one of those Movies. That's so bad. It's fun. It was just kind of bad. So Delgo was a huge thing guaranteed to make us all crack up in the room.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. So I do remember this. I believe it was. Mantzoukas wrote a huge musical opening number all about Delgo. And it made us laugh so much that we actually, for, like, 10 minutes, were like, could we do that? Like, what would the response be? Like, we went through the motions of how it would land. We were like, obviously no one would know what we're talking about. But the tale of this. How would it play out after the show? Would it be something actually really memorable by doing a huge opening number about an independent animated film that bombed and.

[Akiva Schaffer]

No one knew what it was.

[Andy Samberg]

That is one of my favorite fucking things about writers rooms. Of just like, that joke is so funny, but is for no one, but is so funny that it might make it on. And again, you as a host, Andy, and being a real writer yourself and a very funny guy like you, just being like, yeah, maybe the idea that you would fucking entertain. That is insane.

[Jorma Taccone]

I mean, it's. It's textbook writers room stuff, though. I mean, the funniest things in context in the writer's room never make it out.

[Andy Samberg]

No.

[Jorma Taccone]

That's just kind of.

[Andy Samberg]

And probably shouldn't.

[Jorma Taccone]

No. Because it's confusing to people. But I will say it was very appreciated.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It's also just a great name, Delgo. So we were just having so much fun saying it in the room.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. And I do remember going to that screening, I believe it was at the silent theater on Fairfax and us all being, like, drinking. Like, we had done those. I think we talked about on this before how he had done, like, Beowulf screenings and From Paris With Love and things like that, where we'd have a bunch of drinks. Whoopee Boys.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Certainly just movies we enjoyed that we wanted to share with our friends and family.

[Jorma Taccone]

And we thought Delgo might be one of those. And I think. Yeah, about halfway through, everyone was like, this doesn't happen. Have quite the right energy for what?

[Akiva Schaffer]

No, it was a.

[Andy Samberg]

For a bunch of drunk writers.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Andy, quiz. Do you remember where you lived during the summer and do you remember where I lived during the summer? Oh, no, but you didn't. Did you stay in LA all summer after the Movie Awards?

[Jorma Taccone]

I think I was staying at the Sunset Tower Hotel.

[Akiva Schaffer]

But then after. After. Did you go back to New York? I don't know where you were all summer, because I know where I was because of McGruber.

[Jorma Taccone]

I don't know where I went after.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Do you remember where I lived?

[Jorma Taccone]

Was it in Justin Long's house?

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. And I just wanted to give a shout out because I don't really know Justin Long almost at all.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, I loved going over that house though. They had a cool pool.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Exactly. And he. I had met him with Jonah Hill because they were longtime friends. And we had had a couple nights where we had gone out and had drinks and stuff. And he was always super nice. And at some point something came up where I was like, oh, I'm going to try to live in LA somewhere, I don't know where. And he's like, I have a house that I just emptied because I'm about to put it on the market. But the real estate agent told me to put it on the market in September. So it's just sitting there for two months. And he just let me go use this empty house.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And it was a beautiful house in the hills. It was very small. It was like a two bedroom little house. I had to rent furniture from like a business rental furniture place. And so I just rented a few things, but had a pool in the Hollywood Hills for two months, courtesy of Justin Long. No rent paid. And I don't know that I've seen him since in 2009.

[Andy Samberg]

Anyway, shout out Justin Long for the hooks.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, I mean, I thanked him afterwards through text messages, but again, super fond memories of that house and of staying there. And so if this gets to him, thank you to Justin Long again. Because I was just. I was looking at the photos of the summer to remind myself of what we did.

[Jorma Taccone]

I mean, Keith, you thanking him for that is shameless. Clickbait. But I'm here for it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh my God. Gonna be right that house. House.

[Jorma Taccone]

Having a barbecue and swimming at that house. Also, I recall the first time I ever remember hearing Drake was on on the Jambox.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It had a great outdoor speakers outside and I figured out how to rig my iPad to it.

[Jorma Taccone]

And it was also the first time I'd been in a house where you were like, this place has sonos. It's this new system.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Exactly. Oh yeah, I totally play stuff and had a little outdoor tv. Yeah, he had really done it up nice. And then he was selling it.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. And to be clear, Eve or whoever was in charge of the music chose Drake. It didn't come with the house.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah. And you kept shouting, nothing will ever take him down. You kept shout that.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Right?

[Andy Samberg]

Nothing will ever take this guy out.

[Jorma Taccone]

He's never going to be in a feud.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Don't wade into that. We've already given Perez and just Jared enough juicy goss with you thanking Justin. They're already going to have their hands full with the fact that yor remembers watching the 2002 Movie Awards and that he was in fact not just pretending to be annoyed, but was really annoyed, per usual.

[Andy Samberg]

So many good stories here.

[Jorma Taccone]

Speaking of, should we hit another Aukerman?

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, do another. Awkward man.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Let's roll. Awkward man number two.

[Scott Aukerman]

Let's see what else. The night of the show, a couple of the stars who were presenting together, their publicist snuck a look at the script. I guess no one is supposed to read these scripts because that just opens up this can of worms where it's if the stars get to approve any joke you make about them, nothing will ever get on. But this particular publicist, like, snuck backstage, read the intro for the stars that he was representing and then came to us writers and said, hey, guys, I've talked to my clients and they hate their intro. They just hate their intro. So, you know, please just change it. They're saying they're not going to do the show. And I really liked Andy went, no, we're not going to change it. And then we actually saw those stars at the wrap party afterwards and they talked about how funny they thought the joke was. So the publicist had obviously just never even talked to them about it. He was just trying to sort of COVID his or her ass. I think I said it was a his already.

[Akiva Schaffer]

That kind of stuff happens on those things all the time. And that's when you know the angry keeve that you guys were making fun of about balcony songs. Yeah, he really comes out at award shows when Andy's hosting and somebody tries to break and someone breaks the rules.

[Andy Samberg]

The Social contract like a Vika came out.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I understand how it happens because a publicist can go back to check prompter or a person that is going to present to make sure, like, the stuff they're going to say is in there correctly. And they could be Snoopy and kind of look around. But the idea that you get to approve what other people say about you. Like imagine everyone at the Golden Globes going to Ricky Gervais beforehand and approving the jokes he's about to say about the people in the crowd. The whole system of comedy will collapse if people are shown jokes making fun of them before you say them. Like, that is not how it works. But there's a lot of people who attempt it every time at these shows.

[Jorma Taccone]

I would also say there is a thing that goes on at a lot of award shows where if a joke is particularly harsh, sometimes the host or the writers will directly reach out if they know the person. You know what I mean? Yeah, like I've definitely reached out to people directly to be like, hey, just FYI, we're doing this joke. And they'll be like, oh, okay, got it. Like, it's nice to get a heads up. Certain times it makes more sense than other times.

[Andy Samberg]

Well, you certainly don't want to get like blindsided and then be standing out there trying to read lines angry. Like if it's a joke that's going to make you angry.

[Akiva Schaffer]

But I think you just reminded me because we reached out not for like little funny little witticisms that you were going to do, but if the camera was ever going to cut to somebody because you had said something, we went and tipped them off. Because we are not mean people that are trying to catch them.

[Jorma Taccone]

Well, we also want them to have a funny reaction ready.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Exactly. We want them ready and not get caught. But I do remember one and I think it was Megan Fox, where whatever the joke was, was small. And we were like, just look at Andy. Like he's a fucking idiot. Like, to us, that was the joke. Like, Andy's gonna say something fucking dumb, so look at him like an idiot. And she's good. So she did. And then I remember a few people being like, ugh, Megan can't take a joke. And me going, like, fuck, oh, that's a bummer. And me going, damn, did we sell her out? Like we should have let her laugh at it.

[Andy Samberg]

I remember that cause she did it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

So well because they don't know that anyone's ever tipped off, so they assume it's real.

[Jorma Taccone]

Right.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And to us it was, was funny and she was doing her part as the straight man in a two part joke. But it's better to just let them laugh and show that they're a good sport.

[Jorma Taccone]

Was it at this award show or was it after?

[Akiva Schaffer]

I think it was at it.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah, it was.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I don't remember what the joke was, but I remember that moment and learning a lesson in my head of like, right, don't do that. We still could have tipped her off and let her choose her reaction, but giving her the direction to play it.

[Jorma Taccone]

But she came to snl like right after that to host the next season. So fun.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I think that's our next episode.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah, I'm sure we got to apologize, but yeah, sorry, Megan.

[Akiva Schaffer]

It wasn't like terrible or anything and.

[Jorma Taccone]

No, no, no, But y. Yeah, there's so much judgment on every single second of those shows. It's crazy.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, it was fine. And we did two shorts with her. That'll be the next episode, I think. But that did just bring back that memory. All right, roll our last Aukerman clip, please.

[Scott Aukerman]

We all saw that Eminem Bruno thing, and we all thought, like, oh, funny bit. And we didn't know anyone was trying to pretend it was real. And I think, Andy, you said afterwards, after this whole thing blew up, you said, yeah, if anyone had asked me on camera after the show about it, I would have said, yeah, it was a really funny bit. We saw it at rehearsal. So a friend of mine called me the next day saying, was that staged? And I was like, yeah, of course it was. And I wrote on my blog. Blog about the experience of working on the show, and I put up some jokes that we had cut and all sorts of stuff. And I was like, yeah, that thing was staged. We watched it in rehearsal, which blew up in my face. And it was really. It was a great lesson in how the Internet is not going to protect you on this. You. You may think you. There's only a couple of hundred people who are your fans, but if they send it around to people, it suddenly became a huge news story, and I got into so much trouble about it. Nandy, you were very kind about it and never held it against me, which I really appreciated, but I just felt like such a dipshit. And I remember I went to see with the human giant guys the day this all blew up. I went to go see Drag Me To Hell, and those guys saw me and my face was ashen because it had all just blown up, like, two hours earlier. And all those guys were like, hey, man, it's going to be okay. Don't worry. It was, like, one of the worst things to happen in my career where it just got spread. It spread like wildfire throughout the Internet and got on major news sites. And so it was a terrible experience. And it is one that keeps kind of being repeated in a way. Like, you'll think your podcast is just some sort of niche comedy podcast that only fans listen to, and you offhandedly say something, and then it becomes, like, a news headline. It happened a few times on Comedy Bang Bang. And it's one of those huge lessons you have to learn of, like, oh, yeah, don't ever talk about any project you're involved in with that much detail without it getting cleared by anyone first.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, fuck.

[Akiva Schaffer]

There you go. Yeah, we're gonna learn about this. Justin Longhouse stay.

[Jorma Taccone]

He beat me to it. Gonna be. What is his response gonna be? Keev? That's what I wanna know. But, yeah, no, I do remember that all happening. And I remember Scott being, like, mortified and being like, I didn't think anyone was gonna read that. And all of us being like, yeah, I never would have expected. But it became like a global news story, or at least country man.

[Andy Samberg]

Andy, I think you came off as kind of a hero in your hosting duties. You protected your writers from patterns, held.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Their hands through a spooky Kings of.

[Andy Samberg]

Leon, and fucking were nice about an Internet blow up.

[Jorma Taccone]

Well, they're all very nice for the.

[Akiva Schaffer]

People who don't even know what he's talking about. So they were kind of recreating the triumph moment, only now they were in on it. I think we're safe to say 20 years later, maybe not. Maybe this will be a huge headline, that it's still not real. But it was Bruno kind of dangling from the ceiling, dressed as an angel with wings. And then it's like the. You know, the wiring is almost malfunctioning, lowering him too much, and he ends up upside down, like in a 69 with his crotch right in Eminem's face. And Eminem gets really, really pissed. And it was awesome.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

But I agree that for people that know how bits go, you got. I mean, it didn't look like it was an accident. What it looked like was that Bruno was pranking Eminem.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And that it would have been a surprise to Eminem. And then Scott's slip was letting the world know that, oh, no, Eminem knew it was gonna happen, which is a slip.

[Jorma Taccone]

And they did a great job of it, too. They, like, threw Sasha and he was, like, swinging around, dangling on the wires, and he had, like, funny zingers to say. And it all worked really well and went crazy. And it was a red hot news story after.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, it's also funny, which happens now. We know, at every award show. But we are so new is like, we worked so hard on your thing and all your bits, and we're so proud of the show we had put together. And then Sasha correctly goes, oh, I'm gonna go, ooh, I have a place to try to make. I'm gonna try to get the biggest story of the night. And did.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes.

[Akiva Schaffer]

But it was also a little like, you see the next day, and you're like, oh, right. That's how you win one of these things. You don't do all the work you work really hard at one thing and come in and to try to steal the show. Like, that's. If you want to make a splash, that's how to use this as a thing.

[Jorma Taccone]

Well, Sasha always has been really good at doing that when he's on a press tour for his projects. All right, well, those were some wonderful voice notes. Thank you to every one of those writers and friends who sent them in.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, wait, I had one movie award related correction.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, dear.

[Akiva Schaffer]

One correction. So we talked a ton about the promos that Jason. Carly. I incorrectly said directed. He was the writer. There was a guy, and as soon as he said his name, I was like, right, Aaron Stoller. Oh, yeah, let's give credit. We were all complimenting how they looked, how they were directed, how pro and awesome they were. And Aaron Stoller was the director. I hope he's doing great out there. We haven't seen him since or before he was a person we met for that. But a lot of times you go do these things and you meet the person of that day and leave unimpressed. So props again to him for us to show up somewhere and be super.

[Jorma Taccone]

Impressed and doing such a great job. Yeah, thanks.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And then there was also one that Seth sent us. This was a comment on last week's episode that I'll read. This is from PatrickClanton. It's a YouTube comment. It looks like this is kind of random and unrelated to this particular episode, but I'm in Moulin Rouge on Broadway, and Wayne Brady joins our cast tonight. The other day during rehearsal, I passed by his dressing room while he was on stage, and like, a boss, boss was blaring from the room. Turns out it's his ringtone. Just thought you Quaids would enjoy knowing that. And, Wayne, if you ever read this, I hope you don't mind me sharing. Crying, laughing emoji.

[Jorma Taccone]

Wow.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, my God. Yeah, Wayne Brady. Fuck yeah, Wayne Brady.

[Jorma Taccone]

Love that.

[Akiva Schaffer]

That's awesome. Congrats on being on Broadway to who wrote this to us, too.

[Jorma Taccone]

Wayne Brady, who was in Self Reliance.

[Andy Samberg]

That's right. And was fucking killer.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yes. Yes. I was not there on set that day at all.

[Jorma Taccone]

Hooked it up, though. Came through, and it's an awesome moment.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Did awesome things. Yeah, yeah.

[Jorma Taccone]

It's a really special moment in the movie, so thanks twice, Wayne.

[Akiva Schaffer]

That's rad.

[Jorma Taccone]

Jeff, you have one comment. We got a lot of about the movie words.

[Andy Samberg]

All right, why don't we end with this last question about the movie awards.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Oh, this is. This is another correction from I Guess Multiple Quaid army weighed in with this. Jeff is telling us what Andy is doing in pommel. The Bobby Brooks story is technically vaulting, not pommel.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, yeah, obviously, because pommel is what.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Pommel horse guy does. It's with the two handles.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Where you're going in circles and stuff. This is a vault.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, how embarrassing.

[Akiva Schaffer]

But that's why I wondered what the actual block that you kiss is called, because we were like, you kissed the pommel? But I was like, I don't think that's.

[Jorma Taccone]

Well, he's vaulting off a pommel, but he's not performing pommel.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You think that's called a pommel? I bet you that also has a different name.

[Andy Samberg]

Well, what if he's in love with a character named Pommel who's a pommel horse? That's my only pushback.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. We don't see the whole movie. We see a clip.

[Andy Samberg]

Yeah.

[Akiva Schaffer]

So.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, right. Yoram has a hell of interesting question.

[Akiva Schaffer]

This guy also might be really good at pommel horse. And now he was doing the vault, and he kisses.

[Andy Samberg]

The vault could easily be that it's a romantic comedy about a man who's in love with a pommel horse and whose name is pommel.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Right.

[Andy Samberg]

That was how I interpreted it.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah. This is really judging a book by its cover kind of situation. Like, you saw 30 seconds. Seconds. You don't know what the movie's saying. It is or isn't. You have no clue.

[Andy Samberg]

Exactly.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. I mean, I'm looking at, like, a still from the Olympics, and it's definitely not a pommel horse that you bolt off of. No, we just used a pommel for the vault.

[Akiva Schaffer]

No, I bet you we used a vault for the vault.

[Jorma Taccone]

No, but doesn't it have handles on it?

[Andy Samberg]

No, no. A vault is a different thing, I think.

[Jorma Taccone]

No. So we just got the event wrong, straight up.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Yeah, that's it. Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

You guys were definitely wrong. I wasn't involved, so I wasn't wrong.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Well, not us. Aaron Stoller, the guy I just gave all the credit to.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah. Aaron Stoller, who we immediately shouted out. Yeah, we're throwing him under the bus. You blew it, buddy.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You're gonna get the credit. You're gonna get the blame.

[Jorma Taccone]

Should have been called vault. The Bobby Brooks story Vault.

[Andy Samberg]

Sometimes you show up and the guy just blows.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I remember getting pissed on the day.

[Jorma Taccone]

God damn it. Our legacy is ruined, and it's all thanks to Aaron Story on the day.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I remember coming and going. That's what you think a problem is, my man One day we're gonna talk.

[Jorma Taccone]

About this on a pcast.

[Akiva Schaffer]

You're getting ripped. 16 years later, we're gonna sit on it till then.

[Jorma Taccone]

We're gonna just passive aggressively stew about it, and then we're gonna just rip you.

[Akiva Schaffer]

All right, we've gotten to the end of the show where we always talk about what's on your gyndel, Andy.

[Jorma Taccone]

What's on your gyndel, Yorm.

[Andy Samberg]

You guys go first.

[Jorma Taccone]

We go first.

[Akiva Schaffer]

I've got the book by. By Andy Weir, I believe that Phil and Chris just made into a movie that they're still editing that I'm blanking the title of, but I do have it. But I have it in my physical Kindle, which is just one book at a time printed out on paper. Project Hail Mary. Project Hail Mary.

[Jorma Taccone]

Well, I'm a populist, so I'm just reading the Let them theory sunrise on the reaping Onyx Storm. The deluxe edition, obviously.

[Andy Samberg]

Oh, my God.

[Jorma Taccone]

And Big Jim begins.

[Akiva Schaffer]

This is top five New York Times bestsellers. Top five.

[Andy Samberg]

We gave him enough time to do some googling.

[Jorma Taccone]

What's up, dude?

[Andy Samberg]

Nothing.

[Akiva Schaffer]

After Andy's done quibbing, he's on the NYT website. He clocks on over to the bestseller list. Make sure he's got all the toppies in there.

[Jorma Taccone]

Oh, Keeb, thanks for bringing it up. I did get queen bee clean today. Everyone thought they were going to get out of this without me talking about it.

[Andy Samberg]

We've definitely made it to the end of the show then.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yes. Well, we didn't want everyone to just sign off after hearing about it, but yeah, I got it today.

[Paul Rust]

Clean.

[Jorma Taccone]

Seth didn't. It felt great. I was happy. I. I let out a little yelp when I got the last word.

[Andy Samberg]

I was all, oh, my God. I can just picture Seth in his little space pod with Jeff Bezos right now, just like, kicking himself.

[Jorma Taccone]

Just like, God damn it, there's four pangrams. All right, gentlemen, this was how you say so.

[Akiva Schaffer]

So.

[Andy Samberg]

Hey, you know what? Go see Naked Gun and loved talking to you, gu. Really nice to see you.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Bring your. Your sons, bring your daughters. Bring your. Or you know what? Bring your parents.

[Jorma Taccone]

Yeah.

[Andy Samberg]

Four quad. That's what you call four quad.

[Jorma Taccone]

All right, homies. Love you.

[Andy Samberg]

Love you guys.

[Akiva Schaffer]

Ler. Quaid. Right?

[Andy Samberg]

Well, or it's going to be Arnold.

[Akiva Schaffer]

And he'll also say it.

[Jorma Taccone]

He'll say it. Yeah. Later, Arnold.

[Scott Aukerman]

Later, Quaid.