Samberg, Taccone And Schaffer: Three’s Not A Lonely Island

This interview was originally broadcast on June 18, 2013.

With digital shorts like “D— in a Box,” “Mother Lover” and “Three-Way,” the parody trio The Lonely Island is responsible for some of Saturday Night Live‘s funniest bits in recent memory, as well as funny collaborations with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar. When Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone’s SNL video debut, “Lazy Sunday,” first went viral, it seemed like the three came out of nowhere.

Not so: They’d been working together for years, having met as adolescents obsessed with hip-hop and shows like Yo! MTV Raps in Berkeley, Calif. Oakland and its vibrant hip-hop culture was just down the road, and their proximity to the city fed their fascination with its music — as well as their desire to make comedy that responds to it.