The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer in Berkeley, California, in 2001.

After graduating from college, they regrouped and moved to Los Angeles, where they struggled to find work and began making short films, combining absurdist comedy and occasionally music.

Their popularity at the screenings led to unsuccessful pilot deals with Fox and Comedy Central and a writing job for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards.

[5] They released their work under Creative Commons licenses, which allowed anyone to distribute their content (such as blogs and peer-to-peer networks), perhaps leading to wider audiences.

[3] In December 2001, they produced a pilot for a television series titled The Lonely Island; the first episode involved the three becoming addicted to teeth whitening products.

Unable to secure full-time positions, the trio took temporary jobs; one season, they worked at Fox Television over the holidays, tying ribbons around metal snowflakes the studio gifted to their employees.

[7] Samberg's former producer at Spin City passed along the trio's demo reel to the United Talent Agency, which would lead them to their first major television deal.

[3] Their increasing profile within Los Angeles comedy circles led to a writing job at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, hosted by then-current Saturday Night Live cast-member Jimmy Fallon.

[7][8] Fallon's praise, in addition to word of mouth spreading to others at SNL, among them Tina Fey and creator Lorne Michaels, led the trio to audition for the series in mid-2005.

Samberg and Parnell adopt the brash personas of hardcore rappers, while the song follows their quest to achieve their "ultimate goal" of attending a matinee of the fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

[10] Their success, according to New York, "forced NBC into the iPod age";[12] the short was initially available after its broadcast through the iTunes Music Store, made free for subscribers.

In the sketch, actress Natalie Portman acts as a gangsta rap star, juxtaposing her clean-cut, Harvard-educated image with profane and shocking lyrics.

[4] Multiple artists in the ensuing years would record their vocals for The Lonely Island songs on a $500 microphone in the office (which was not equipped with sound-proofing).

Club wrote that it differentiated itself from other Lorne Michaels–produced comedies: "They may be just as poorly received, but their rhythms are unpredictable and exciting, shocked to life by moments of anti-comedy and wacky deconstruction.

"In the process Saturday Night Live appears to have become the first scripted comedy on a broadcast network to use the Web to make an end-run around the prying eyes of both its internal censors and those of the Federal Communications Commission, whose jurisdiction over “Saturday Night Live” effectively ends at the Web frontier," said Jaques Steinberg of The New York Times.

[5] The group returned to Los Angeles, renting the same home and setting up a makeshift studio to record Turtleneck & Chain (2011), their follow-up to Incredibad.

[15] On January 29, 2011, the group debuted "The Creep" featuring Nicki Minaj and a cameo by filmmaker John Waters, on SNL and YouTube.

[31][32] Shortly after the release of the album, the group premiered a new song, "3-Way (The Golden Rule)", featuring Timberlake and Lady Gaga, on the season finale of SNL.

[33] The album's lead single, "YOLO" featuring Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar, with a prominent sample from the song Whirring from the Welsh band The Joy Formidable, premiered on SNL in January 2013.

[34] Among the music videos produced include "Diaper Money" (a trap song regarding adulthood, aging, and impending death), "Semicolon" (which spoofs the popularity of hashtag rap), and "Go Kindergarten".

[36] "We wanted to show just how ridiculous it is that spring break behavior is considered normal and gay marriage is insane when it's actually the opposite," said Schaffer.

[34] In early 2014, the group collaborated to write "Everything Is Awesome," a song featured in The Lego Movie, with Shawn Patterson, Joshua Bartholomew, and Lisa Harriton.

In 2014, the troupe signed a deal with Fox to develop serial comedy programming for digital platforms[37] and were listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 YouTube Channels, ranked at number 70.

[41] The trio promoted the film by airing a Digital Short for the track "Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)" during the Saturday Night Live season 41 finale.

[52] In October 2024, The Lonely Island revived their Digital Short series for SNL's 50th season, with a new music video entitled "Sushi Glory Hole", featuring Samberg and Schaffer.

[54] The comedic influences of the group include SNL forebears such as Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, the Monty Python troupe and the Marx Brothers.

[55] While the group is most strongly inspired by hip-hop and R&B, the lyrics are commonly rooted in self-deprecation as is reflected in a 2011 interview conducted shortly before the release of Turtleneck and Chain.

[56] The Lonely Island's debut Incredibad was produced with the goal in mind to make an impact on listeners just as They're All Gonna Laugh At You (1993), a musical comedy album by Adam Sandler, had heavily influenced Samberg.

"), rapping in a bombastic tone about mundane subjects ("Lazy Sunday"), or diss tracks by recording a song featuring death threats in deliberately weedy voices ("We'll Kill You").

"I Just Had Sex" features production by DJ Frank E and Akon as a special guest, while Justin Timberlake has appeared in "Dick in a Box", "Mother Lover" and "3-Way (The Golden Rule)."