By Rob N. LeDonne
“When I first auditioned for Saturday Night Live, the night before I was so nervous I threw up,” explains current cast member Andy Samberg, who obviously passed that audition to start a run on SNL that has lasted two years and counting. Andy wasn’t the only talent hired that day, his two childhood friends – Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone – were picked up as writers. Together the trio created the concept of the “SNL Digital Short,” which has created quite a frenzy since “Lazy Sunday,” one of the first shorts produced put sites like Youtube.com and the whole idea of “viral video” on the map, at the same time reviving SNL’s stake in pop culture. Paramount Pictures came calling in January 2006 and a short five or so months later they filmed Hot Rod, their first feature length movie, due in theaters this August.
How exactly did these three guys go from amateurs goofing around with a home video camera to goofing around with cameras for the likes of NBC and Paramount? It all started in the trio’s cozy hometown of Berkeley, CA. “I met up with Akiva first, we were actually in a Spanish class together in middle school, and soon after Andy came into the picture,” explains Taccone. Starting from middle school the three formed a close bond, with similar tastes in film and television. Then high school graduation came. Samberg went off to study film at the University of California, Santa Cruz and then NYU, Shaffer attended all four years at UCSC and Jorma spent his time at UCLA, studying theater. After four years of college, the trio met up again and decided to ultimately follow their comedic dreams, moving a few hours south into Los Angeles. “When we moved to LA, our parents were very worried, even though they supported us all the way,” Samberg recalls of the risk.
Their big break came when the trio picked up a video camera and started filming shorts for a web site they set up called “The Lonely Island.” Segments ranged from a parody of The OC entitled The ‘Bu, a short film where Andy (or ‘Ardy’ as he is oddly called on the site) gets addicted to tooth whitener and random music videos (which now serve as precursors to today’s SNL digitals shorts). Taccone remembers, “We loved the freedom of doing things online.”
Success started to stream in slowly but surely. Their work online got the trio agents, managers and even a stint writing for the MTV Movie Awards in 2004. “We loved doing the Internet videos, but the writing jobs were great because they are the ones that paid the bills,” Schaffer explains. Executives at Fox television took note of the guys, and had them make a sketch pilot entitled Awesometown, which was then rejected. It wasn’t until they landed a second writing job on the Movie Awards in 2005 that they were noticed by host Jimmy Fallon, who gave SNL creator Lorne Michaels a call.
“There was a time there when we didn’t know if all three of us were going to be hired or not” explains Samberg. “If two of us were recruited and one was left out we agreed that one of the guys hired should not accept the offer. If only one of us was picked he would definitely go, and then there is still two backing each other up. We kind of let them know that we work best as a package deal.”
Thankfully, all three were picked up. After the success of “Lazy Sunday,” the three have created countless other Digital Shorts starring the likes of Peyton Manning and Tom Hanks. “When Natalie Portman was on, she wanted to do a rap, so we went ahead with it and it turned out great,” explains Samberg. Another Digital Short that also caught the country’s attention was “D*** In A Box” with Justin Timberlake, which quickly became one of the most watched video’s in YouTube’s history, viewed over 20 million times in the last four months.
With all of this attention, Paramount pictures took notice and offered Samberg a script entitled Hot Rod, a comedy originally slated to star Will Ferrell as an Evil Knievel type stuntman. Samberg agreed to sign on, but under one condition – Schaffer would direct and Jorma would be in it with him. Paramount agreed and over 42 days this past summer they filmed Hot Rod, alongside a supporting cast that includes Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers), Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Oscar winner/ veteran actress Sissy Spacek.
The only thing next for the three guys is even more exposure. They recently collaborated on another screenplay called Parental Guidance Suggested and another season of SNL lies ahead as well. Is the trio breaking up anytime soon? “I don’t see that happening,” Schaffer explains. “We are so close, we’ve been through everything and we will continue to in the days ahead.” Adds Taccone “When we first moved to LA we took a picture together in front of our apartment, as if to say ‘we did it, we made the big move.’ When we signed on to do Hot Rod, we took a picture in front of the Paramount sign, and it’s like everything came full circle.”
