Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccome make up The Lonely Island, a comedy troupe best known for their Saturday Night Live shorts and hits like “D*ck in a Box” and “I’m on a Boat.” The trio came to Florida State on Wednesday as part of a promotional tour for their new movie, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. The movie was written by all three of the guys, produced by Judd Apatow (The 40-Year Old Virgin, Stepbrothers), and stars Andy Samberg.
Popstar follows young superstar conner4real (played by Samberg), whose failed album leaves him with no choice but to re-form his old boy band. The movie will be released June 3 along with another full-length album (title TBA). I sat down with The Lonely Island boys to talk about their time on Saturday Night Live and their new movie.
Courtesy: Final Reel
Her Campus (HC): I was a huge fan of Saturday Night Live in high school and one of my favorite parts was watching your Digital Shorts. How did those come about?
Akiva Schaffer: They have always existed on the show, even on the first episode – one, to make the show cool because it’s a variety show, and two, you need it sometimes if you can’t go into commercial; it gives the actors some time to change their wardrobe and so the sets can change. They need a little break.
Andy Samberg: Preferably they’re around a minute and a half.
HC: How did you guys meet?
Jorma Taccome (JT): Akiva and I met in junior high and then we met Andy a year later.
Akiva Schaffer: By the time we were 15 or 16 is when we started to hang out everyday.
HC: Do you guys have a favorite video that you’ve filmed?
JT: “Great Day” I love, which is the one where Andy’s on coke. Have you seen that one? It’s like a musical.
Andy Samberg: I don’t really have a favorite. I like them all.
HC: Another one I love is “Laser Cats.” Watching you [Andy] and Bill Hader do sketches together was always so hilarious – you guys were my favorites. And for your new movie, did you guys watch other “Popstar” documentaries for inspiration?
JT: Yeah we watched them all, the ‘popumentaries’ as they call them. And there are moments in the movie that show things or parts we got inspired by from other movies.
Akiva Schaffer: Andy does a costume change, like a wardrobe trick he does on stage that Katy Perry does in her movie where a tube goes up and then it comes down and then she’s in a new outfit. No spoilers though.
Andy Samberg: There are also new songs coming out. There’s a soundtrack we have for it, which will be our new album.
HC: When is the album going to be released?
Andy Samberg: Same day as the movie, June 3.
HC: Would you guys ever do a tour for your album?
JT: We’d love to.
Andy Samberg: This is kind of the tour.
HC: Have you guys toured before?
Andy Samberg: We’ve almost toured three times but then we couldn’t do it because of all our different jobs and we’ve been so busy.
JT: The only time we’ve ever performed live is when it’s a TV appearance that’s too good to pass up. Like on Fallon, or like we did the Oscars which was super cool but super nerve-racking.
HC: Do you have any advice for anyone who’s not sure what they want to do in their life? Or for anyone who wants to be in comedy?
Akiva Schaffer: There’s no one way to do it. Like when we were trying to figure out how we were going to fit into it, we moved to L.A. but people told us that the three of us couldn’t be hired on SNL because they have never hired three people at the same time.
Andy Samberg: The advice we always try to give is if there is something you’re excited about, just do it because if it’s inspiring to you, odds are it will be inspiring to others. It also goes with other things that are not related to being on camera. If you want to be writer just write as much as you can and get it out there. If you want to be an agent, go intern for an agency.
Akiva Schaffer: People always wait for permission to do something but in reality, you can start working on what you want at any time. When you stay and wait for the right time to come, you’ll never have anything done.
Andy Samberg: You learn something from everything you do whether you realize it or not.
JT: Most people don’t try I guess is the point. They get stopped before they even try.
Akiva Schaffer: So if I had to boil it down, I guess I would say to believe in your dreams. Did I just make that up?
JT: Oh my god, we’re going to make so much money on the marketing of that.
Andy Samberg: I have to say Akiva, I’m really inspired by you right now.
Akiva Schaffer: I’m inspired by it. I don’t know where it came from, it really came through me [laughs].