Incredibad - Background

Background

The comedy group was formed by the three friends while in junior high school in the mid-1990s in Berkeley, California. By the turn of the millennium, the three struggling comedy writers graduated from college and created a website, the Lonely Island, to house their self-produced skits and video experiments. Short movies including everything from cartoons assembled from clips of old Nintendo games to satirical rap videos in the styles of their favorite hip-hop artists. "Honestly, almost every single one of the films was done at like 4 in the morning, kind of drunk," recalled Taccone. The Internet allowed the three to develop their comic voices without the pressure of having to deliver professionally polished work. The videos provided the team with new opportunities: they landed an agent and pilot deals with Comedy Central and Fox, after which the group relocated to New York City. The three soon landed writing jobs for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. Hosted by Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon, Fallon was impressed by the group's material and recommended them to Lorne Michaels, creator and executive producer of Saturday Night Live. The group spent four days frantically writing in preparation for Samberg's audition as a cast member, which he "nailed". "There were about three days where we were facing the possibility that we might have to split up," said Samberg. "It was the biggest relief ever." In September 2005, Andy Samberg joined the cast of the show for its 31st season, with Schaffer and Taccone hired as writers for the series. Samberg became a rookie on the show, toiling long hours to earn a spot in a skit or two.

Along with cast member Chris Parnell, the group wrote "Lazy Sunday" on the evening of December 12, 2005. They recorded the following night in the office The Lonely Island occupied together, using a laptop Taccone bought on Craigslist. Whilst colleagues were rehearsing and rewriting that Saturday's show, the group spent the morning of December 15 shooting their video with a borrowed camera. The video was shot around Manhattan using multiple low-budget techniques. Schaffer spent the entire next night (into the morning) editing the video and working with technicians to bring it up to broadcast standards. In the moments preceding the show's live performance and broadcast, the team learned from Michaels that "Lazy Sunday" would be shown on that night's show. The three comedians were very worried about how the video would be received by the studio audience, but were relieved when the episode received a positive response. By the next morning, the video was a national cultural sensation, with congratulatory phone calls delivered from friends for "breathing fresh air" into the show. The rap began to be played on radio stations and in bars, bringing the group to superstardom overnight. When "Lazy Sunday" first aired, the group was basically unknown to even the show's most devout fans, but afterward, was given national exposure.