The Lonely Island | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | American |
| Comedy Career | |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Medium |
|
| Genres | |
| Members | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone |
| Musical career | |
| Origin | Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Comedy hip hop |
| Labels | |
| Website | thelonelyisland |
Musical artist | |
The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio formed byAndy Samberg,Jorma Taccone, andAkiva Schaffer inBerkeley, California in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV programSaturday Night Live (SNL).
The three first met in junior high. After graduating from college, they regrouped and moved toLos Angeles, where they struggled to find work and began making short films, combining absurdist comedy and occasionally music. Among the first performers to post their material on the Internet, they involved themselves withChannel 101, a non-profit monthly short film festival. Their popularity at the screenings led to unsuccessful pilot deals withFox andComedy Central and a writing job for the2005 MTV Movie Awards. Subsequently, that show's host,Jimmy Fallon, recommended them toLorne Michaels, the creator ofSaturday Night Live.
The group was hired forSNL in 2005, with all three as writers and Samberg as a featured player. Bypassing the traditional process of pitching, they recorded their own material independently and submitted it to the program. Their second sketch to air, "Lazy Sunday", became an internet sensation, the first of many viral videos they produced while atSNL. They led their own division at the program —SNL Digital Shorts — which led to numerous viral videos, including "Jizz in My Pants", "Dick in a Box", "I'm on a Boat", "Like a Boss", "Motherlover", "I Just Had Sex", "Jack Sparrow", and "YOLO". Their musical comedic work has comprised four fullstudio albums:Incredibad (2009),Turtleneck & Chain (2011),The Wack Album (2013), andThe Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience (2019), along with a soundtrack album for their 2016 filmPopstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. The three retired fromSNL in the early 2010s, but occasionally make guest appearances.
The troupe has written, directed and starred in two feature-length films,Hot Rod, released in 2007, andPopstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, co-produced byJudd Apatow and released in 2016. The group also produced the 2020 filmPalm Springs, starring Samberg andCristin Milioti.
The Lonely Island first formed at Willard Junior High School inBerkeley, California, in the early 1990s. Schaffer and Taccone first met in seventh grade Spanish class, and the group later expanded to include Samberg, a year behind the two.[1] The trio belonged to a large group of friends interested in skateboarding.[2] Each had plans to pursue the arts following their graduation fromBerkeley High School, but they split apart, attending different colleges. Taccone attended theUniversity of California, Los Angeles to study theatre, while Schaffer and Samberg both attended theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz as film students. Samberg later transferred toNew York University'sTisch School of the Arts in his sophomore year, with the three communicating over the phone during this period.[1] Following college, the trio regrouped in Berkeley to decide their future. Their two options — either stay in Berkeley and begin making short films or move to Los Angeles, "get real jobs," and eventually begin making films —ended in a compromise.[1]
In September 2000, they moved to Los Angeles and created their website, which would host short films.[2] They named themselves The Lonely Island, after the "modest, low-rent" L.A. apartment that they shared with roommates Chester Tam andMatt Bettinelli-Olpin.[3][4] The latter was a musician, and their late nights together often led to the trio making comedic rap songs, which they began to upload online.[5] Their videos were produced via borrowed equipment and edited on a singlePowerMac,[3] and they were first uploaded to websites such as iFilm and Heavy.com. Their first "fake rap" song, "Ka-Blamo!", was uploaded in September 2001.[5] They released their work underCreative 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 titledThe Lonely Island; the first episode involved the three becoming addicted to teeth whitening products.[2] The video gained the trio agents, and it was notable for a scene in which they mug an elderly woman. During the shoot, actorKiefer Sutherland, not realizing it was a video, stopped and tried to intervene.[2] Their agents requested they convert their shorts toVHS tape because they did not have high-speed internet at the time.[6]
We would come home every night after having some drinks and challenge ourselves. Like: 'It's only midnight. By 2am, let's have this video done.' It would be the shittiest8mmcamcorder effort, and we would know it wasn't going anywhere, but we were consciously training ourselves. If one of us had got a killer assistant job to a director or something, we wouldn't have done that.
Unable to secure full-time positions, the trio took temporary jobs; one season, they worked atFox Television over the holidays, tying ribbons around metal snowflakes the studio gifted to their employees.[4] Eventually, Schaffer worked as an assistant at a movie poster company, while Taccone and Samberg became production assistants onSpin City.[1] In 2003, they produced a second pilot for aThe Lonely Island series. The film premiered at the Comedy Central Stage in Los Angeles, the cable network's proving ground for new talent.[2] The network purchased the series, but further scripts did not move forward.[2] They became involved with Super Midnight Movie Club, a club hosted by screenwritersDan Harmon andRob Schrab, which evolved intoChannel 101, a non-profit hosting monthly short film festivals. Their first submission,Ignition TV Buzz Countdown, was voted back after its premiere, but ended after two episodes. Their secondChannel 101 series,The 'Bu, is a parody of Fox'sThe O.C. and was enormously successful at the screenings, running for eight episodes.[2] It was pivotal in their early successes, demonstrating to television executives their popularity among tastemakers and a younger audience.[7] Samberg's former producer atSpin City passed along the trio's demo reel to the United Talent Agency, which would lead them to their first major television deal.[7]
Following their success withThe 'Bu, The Lonely Island secured a pitch meeting with Fox's then-presidentGail Berman. There, the trio showed executives the video for "Just 2 Guyz", which received a positive reception.[1] Following their deal with Fox, they produced a pilot titledAwesometown, over which the network passed.MTV and Comedy Central also passed on the series.[7] Consequently, they began to question whether their material was humorous enough for a wide audience.[1] They subsequently released two versions of the pilot on their website, the Fox-edited version and a "director's cut".[3] Their increasing profile within Los Angeles comedy circles led to a writing job at the2005 MTV Movie Awards, hosted by then-currentSaturday Night Live cast-memberJimmy Fallon.[7][8] Fallon's praise, in addition to word of mouth spreading to others atSNL, among themTina Fey and creatorLorne Michaels, led the trio to audition for the series in mid-2005.[3] For his audition, Samberg impersonated a 1980s jogger, commenting onthe recession.[8]SNL hired the trio in late August, with Taccone and Schaffer as writers and Samberg as a featured player.[3] Samberg was the second new cast addition that season, alongsideThe Second City alumnusBill Hader.[3] Their debut episode premiered on October 1, 2005.[3]
Schaffer and Taccone had been on the writing staff for nearly three months, yet to this point, they had only two live sketches that survived the dress rehearsal process and aired.[9] By Thanksgiving, the duo felt antsy, and decided to produce a parody of "The Whisper Song" by the Ying Yang Twins as "The Bing Bong Brothers" (the song mainly consisting of a whispered refrain, "You will like our penises").[6] The video became a viral sensation and was picked up by G4'sAttack of the Show. Encouraged by the response, the trio would incorporate that method into their next work forSNL.[6] Their next sketch onSNL, "Lettuce Heads", consists of Samberg andWill Forte holding a serious discussion while intermittently eating whole heads of lettuce bite-by-bite.[1] In creating the short, they decided to bypass the pitching process, as they were so new to the show that it would have been dismissed as too expensive.[4] Their second video was turned down as it was deemed too similar.[4]
In December, 2005, the trio, alongsideChris Parnell, wrote and recorded "Lazy Sunday", a short rap song. 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 filmThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was recorded on a laptop in their offices atSNL, while it was shot throughoutManhattan the next day.[9] 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.[9] The three comedians were very worried about how the video would be received by the studio audience.[10]
"Lazy Sunday" aired on December 17, 2005, when the comedy troupe were little known to evenSaturday Night Live's most devout fans.[11] By the following morning, it had spread online nationwide. Schaffer and Taccone also were contacted by friends who heard the track played on radio stations and in bars. "Lazy Sunday" inspired a line of T-shirts, released during the initial boom of popularity in the weeks after its release.[9] The film was one of the first viralYouTube videos,[6] and it increased the trio's recognizability, particularly Samberg's, nearly overnight.[10] Their success, according toNew York, "forced NBC into theiPod age";[12] the short was initially available after its broadcast through theiTunes Music Store, made free for subscribers.[13] The original upload was removed by NBC for copyright violation in February 2006, and the short wasn't reuploaded to YouTube until August 2013.[14]
Following his stardom onSNL, Samberg became a celebrity, being covered in tabloid publications.[8] A profile ofIsland inThe New York Times led to a record deal and their own division atSNL:SNL Digital Shorts, which the group controlled with complete autonomy.[4] In March 2006, the trio produced their second viral hit, "Natalie's Rap". In the sketch, actressNatalie Portman acts as a gangsta rap star, juxtaposing her clean-cut, Harvard-educated image with profane and shocking lyrics.[4] Portman was the host of the program that week and came to the three having seen "Lazy Sunday".[4]
Their rise to fame was highlighted by a combination of "new" and "old" media, with Schaffer later remarking:
We had two things happening at once. First, we had a national TV show broadcasting our video, but we also had that moment in technology when anyone could stream it, so it could have that second life online. It wasn't just for early adopters or college kids with fast connections. Now it was for, like, my mom.[6]
Much of their work onSaturday Night Live further explored music. Their office—described by Taccone as "the nastiest dorm room you've ever been in"—doubled as a recording studio and editing bay.[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).[4] The songs were recorded without professional audio engineers, and each video was edited by Taccone, Schaffer, and Samberg.[4]
Creator Lorne Michaels was often confused by the trio's pitches.[7] His attitude towards their work is referenced in theDigital Shorts series "Laser Cats", which consisted of Samberg and Hader brandishing cats as weapons that shoot lasers from their mouths. In each sketch, Michaels appears at the end, dismissing the visual quality and stupidity of concept.[7] As such, he decided to stop taking their pitches and allow them independence from the program, producing their efforts themselves and turning them in.[15]
In the summer of 2006, The Lonely Island filmed their first feature film,Hot Rod, inVancouver.[16] The film concerns Rod Kimble (Samberg), anEvel Knievel-type daredevil who dreams of jumping 15 school buses on a moped.[16] The role was originally conceived forWill Ferrell before Samberg signed on. Subsequently, the trio re-wrote much of the original script to match their standards: "Which is another way of saying, just dumb it down," said Schaffer.[17] The film was released in August 2007 to mediocre reviews and a tepid box office reaction.[18] Despite this, the film later attracted acult following; in 2012,The A.V. 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. Hardcore comedy devotees pick up on them like a dog whistle."[18]
The Lonely Island's next major viral success came in December 2006, when they collaborated with singerJustin Timberlake for the Digital Short "Dick in a Box", starring Samberg and Timberlake as R&B-crooning balladeers who package their genitals as Christmas gifts.[19] Taccone came up with the "dick in a box" premise after Michaels asked Samberg to write a sketch showcasing Timberlake's voice.[20][21] Timberlake recalled that the musicians were "laughing hysterically" during its production, and that the "delirium of no sleep" contributed to the humor of the song.[22] The online version of the short—which, like its predecessors, attracted millions of views onYouTube—was uncensored, creating controversy. "In the processSaturday 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 theFederal Communications Commission, whose jurisdiction over “Saturday Night Live” effectively ends at the Web frontier," said Jaques Steinberg ofThe New York Times.[21] The song won aCreative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.[23]
Timberlake also made a guest appearance in the group's subsequent track "Jizz in My Pants".
Timberlake then returned to SNL in 2009 to make the digital short “Motherlover” with The Lonely Island, a sequel to "Dick in a Box", featuring the same characters.
In the summer of 2008, the trio rented a home in Los Angeles and began recording their debut studio album,Incredibad (2009), over the course of three months.[15] The album is composed of new songs and pre-existing songs debuted and recorded forSNL. Many songs recorded for the album would later premiere as Digital Shorts in the following season ofSNL.[15] In contrast to their work atSNL, the troupe went through each song in detail, taking their time to craft the album.[24] For the first time, the group incorporated professional mixing and mastering, leading to an improved sound quality of the recordings.[24] The first song they created for the record "Jizz in My Pants", was thelead single and debuted as anSNL Digital Short in December 2008.[24] It received millions of views, and was their first single to goplatinum by theRecording Industry Association of America.[25]
Incredibad was released a dual CD/DVD set in February 2009.[24][26] Their next significant viral success was "I'm on a Boat", a collaboration withT-Pain that spoofs hip-hop excess. The trio had met T-Pain when he guested onSNL a year prior, who confirmed he was a fan ofHot Rod.[24] "I'm on a Boat" was a bigger success than its predecessor, goingdouble-platinum and earning a nomination forBest Rap/Sung Collaboration at the52nd Grammy Awards.[25][27] Although not an official single, based on digital downloads, "Like a Boss" was certifiedgold.[25] The record sold nearly 250,000 units in 2009, making it the year's eighth bestsellinghip hop album.[5]
The group returned to Los Angeles, renting the same home and setting up a makeshift studio to recordTurtleneck & Chain (2011), their follow-up toIncredibad.[15] On January 29, 2011, the group debuted "The Creep" featuringNicki Minaj and a cameo by filmmakerJohn Waters, onSNL and YouTube. On March 15, 2011, Direct Current Music reported that the album would be namedTurtleneck & Chain and would be released on May 10, 2011.[28] On April 1, 2011, the Lonely Island appeared as guests onLate Night with Jimmy Fallon, where they premiered the lead track, "We're Back!", as well as the new album cover.[29] On April 19, 2011, the group released "Motherlover" featuringJustin Timberlake as the fourth single from the album. This song was last featured on season 34 ofSNL.
The group held a fundraiser to promote their new album on April 16, 2011 atAmoeba Music in Berkeley, California.[30] There were only 250 tickets available, and the only way to obtain a ticket was to preorder their album. They hosted a Q&A session and an autograph session. Shortly after, "Motherlover" was released oniTunes. On May 7, they released a new track, "Jack Sparrow", featuringMichael Bolton singing passionately about thePirates of the Caribbean film series.Turtleneck & Chain was both Emmy nominated forOutstanding Original Music and Lyrics and Grammy nominated forBest Comedy Album.[31][32]
Shortly after the release of the album, the group premiered a new song, "3-Way (The Golden Rule)", featuring Timberlake andLady Gaga, on the season finale ofSNL.[33] Timberlake and Gaga were guests for the show, and the song re-approaches territory explored in "Dick in a Box" and "Motherlover". Much like their past work, it was recorded and shot in the week preceding the broadcast.[33] At the end of the 2011–2012 season ofSNL, Samberg's last season on the cast, a sequel to "Lazy Sunday" was released, also withChris Parnell.
By this time, each member of the group increasingly began taking time off fromSNL: Taccone for television work, Schaffer for directorial efforts (The Watch), and Samberg with leading film roles.[4] Taccone and Samberg left at the end of the program's2011–12 season, though Taccone would return for following seasons to produce Digital Shorts related to their musical work.[15] The trio found it increasingly difficult to get together and work, as they all lived in different cities.[34] In an interview withSplitsider the following year, they mentioned that different responsibilities and work in other fields strengthened their work as a unit: "I think if we just did this [the Lonely Island] all the time, then it maybe we would be in trouble, but going off and doing other things reminds us it's more fun to work with your friends," said Schaffer.[34]
Despite these obstacles, the trio regrouped in late 2012 to begin recording their third album forRepublic Records, which they titledThe Wack Album (a homage to minimalist titles such asthe Beatles'self-titled 1968 album).[34] Rather than rent the same home in Encino, they cut the album in nearby Los Feliz at a home equipped with a professional recording unit.[35] Taccone and Samberg again lived together; Schaffer, now with a family, simply drove over each day to record and write.[35] For the album's production, they solidified song premises long before receiving beats for each song, which came from both high-level and low-level producers.[33] In some cases, the trio made the beats themselves.[33]
The album's lead single, "YOLO" featuringAdam Levine andKendrick Lamar, with a prominent sample from the songWhirring from the Welsh bandThe Joy Formidable, premiered onSNL in January 2013. The song is an anthem parodying the phrase "you only live once" and a culture lacking caution and responsibility.[33] It was their first return toSNL since their respective departures; as such, the video was co-funded by the program.[33][34] To promote the album, the trio releasedmusic videos for each song each Wednesday ("Wack Wednesdays") leading up to its release.[34] Among the music videos produced include "Diaper Money" (atrap song regarding adulthood, aging, and impending death), "Semicolon" (which spoofs the popularity of hashtag rap), and "Go Kindergarten".[33][36] "Spring Break Anthem" juxtaposes raucous and irresponsible spring break behavior with descriptions ofsame-sex marriage.[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.[36] The group wanted to mount a full-scale tour behind the album, but other opportunities (Samberg's comedy seriesBrooklyn Nine-Nine was just ordered as a series by Fox at the time) made it difficult.[34]
In early 2014, the group collaborated to write "Everything Is Awesome," a song featured inThe Lego Movie, withShawn Patterson,Joshua Bartholomew, andLisa Harriton. The song, performed byTegan and Sara, also features in The Lonely Island. It was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Original Song at the87th Academy Awards.
In 2014, the troupe signed a deal with Fox to develop serial comedy programming for digital platforms[37] and were listed onNew Media Rockstars Top 100 YouTube Channels, ranked at number 70.[38] Later that year, Universal Studios acquired a pitch from the trio for a second feature film, which was co-produced byJudd Apatow. Schaffer and Taccone co-directed the film,Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which was released on June 3, 2016[39][40] along with a corresponding soundtrack album.[41] The trio promoted the film by airing a Digital Short for the track "Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)" during theSaturday Night Live season 41 finale.[42]
The day afterthe 90th Academy Awards the group premiered a song on YouTube titled "Why Not Me" which they claimed was commissioned by the academy although not used because it was "financially and logistically impossible."[43] The song features characters from various movies who did not get nominated sing about being snubbed by the Academy.[44] It was not immediately clear if the group was actually asked by the Academy to perform or if this was part of the joke.[43]
In 2018, Lonely Island held their first live performance at Clusterfest, a comedy festival in San Francisco hosted byComedy Central. Several of their featured guests appeared at the festival, includingChris Parnell andMichael Bolton.[45]
In 2020, the group produced the romantic comedy filmPalm Springs starring Samberg andCristin Milioti. The film was released atSundance Film Festival in January 2020 and released widely viaHulu on July 10, 2020. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances and concept.
In 2017, the group releasedMichael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special, aNetflix special starringMichael Bolton and featuring numerous cameos from celebrities and SNL cast members. On May 23, 2019, the group released aNetflix special, advertised as a "visual poem" to go with a new album,The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience, itself framed as a rap album written and performed by baseball playersJose Canseco andMark McGwire in the 1980s, while the pair were known as theBash Brothers while playing for theOakland Athletics.[46]
As part of the team's television production contract, several programs produced by The Lonely Island began airing.Party Over Here, a sketch comedy series, aired on Fox in 2016 but was cancelled after one season.[47][48] The next year,I'm Sorry, a sitcom starringAndrea Savage and produced by the Lonely Island along withAdam McKay andWill Ferrell, began airing onTruTV[49] In 2018, the group created and producedAlone Together, which had 2 seasons onFreeform.[50] The next year saw the release ofPEN15, comedy web television series focusing on middle school, and airing onHulu.[51]
In April 2024, the group returned to their YouTube channel to release a weekly podcast co-hosted with Seth Meyers, head writer during their time at Saturday Night Live, calledThe Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast. The podcast follows the members revisiting their Digital Shorts, reminiscing on their time working at SNL together.[52] The group refers to the fans of this podcast as “Quaids”. This is in reference to the 1990 science fiction filmTotal Recall and a digital short the group made referencing this movie in their time at SNL[53].
In October 2024, The Lonely Island revived their Digital Short series forSNL's 50th season, with a new music video entitled "Sushi Glory Hole", featuring Samberg and Schaffer. This marked the group's first music project since 2019.[54] The group would release another Digital Short music video titled "Here I Go", featuring the host of the episode,Charli XCX.[55] In February 2025, the group performed a medley of their greatest hits at theSNL50: The Homecoming Concert, featuringLady Gaga,Chris Parnell,Bad Bunny,T-Pain, andEddie Vedder.[56] As a part of theSaturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special, the group released the Digital Short "Anxiety".[57]
While the comedic influences of the group includeSNL forebears such asAdam Sandler,Chris Farley,Mike Myers,Steve Martin,Mel Brooks, theMonty Python troupe and theMarx Brothers.[58] The group's musical styles are most strongly inspired by hip-hop and R&B, the lyrics are commonly rooted in the assumptions of the hip hop community being contorted while applying the same level of rhyme and syllabic coordination. It is then supplanted by then applying self-deprecation, which is reflected in a 2011 interview conducted shortly before the release ofTurtleneck and Chain.[59] The Lonely Island's debutIncredibad was produced with the goal in mind to make an impact on listeners just asThey're All Gonna Laugh At You (1993), a musical comedy album by Adam Sandler, had heavily influenced Samberg.[60] Songs by the Lonely Island rarely exceed three minutes, as brevity is very important to the troupe, who believe that is "about as much as the audience can stand."[61]
The group parody a variety of aspects of hip hop/rap music, by inverting themachismo of much rap music by rapping with enthusiasm about theirerectile dysfunction problems ("We're Back!"), rapping in a bombastic tone about mundane subjects ("Lazy Sunday"), ordiss tracks by recording a song featuring death threats in deliberately weedy voices ("We'll Kill You"). Much rap music tends to feature inventiveboasting about the speaker's wealth, power or sex appeal, and the group have regularly inverted this by creating deliberately repetitive tracks that make similar statements in an extremely literal way ("I Just Had Sex", "I'm on a Boat"). "I'm on a Boat", created to parody the style of many rap music videos, avoids making any comment about the group's wealth besides the fact that they are, indeed, standing on a boat in the music video. Many of their songs, both during and after their tenure on SNL, are produced with accompanying videos.
The group's popularity through television has allowed them to access much higher-end production and special guests than most comedy music acts.Nicki Minaj was in "The Creep," andRihanna was in "Shy Ronnie". "I Just Had Sex" features production byDJ Frank E andAkon as a special guest, whileJustin Timberlake has appeared in "Dick in a Box", "Mother Lover" and "3-Way (The Golden Rule)."
| Year | Film | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | ||
| 2007 | Hot Rod | Yes | No | Uncredited | Yes |
| 2010 | MacGruber | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2012 | The Watch | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 2013 | Grown Ups 2 | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2014 | Neighbors | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2016 | Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2017 | Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Brigsby Bear | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2019 | The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2020 | Palm Springs | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| I Used to Go Here | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2022 | Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 2023 | Self Reliance | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Year | Film | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | ||
| 2005 | Awesometown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2005 MTV Movie Awards | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2005–2012, 2024 | Saturday Night Live | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2009 | Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2013–2021 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2014, 2016 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2016 | Party Over Here | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2017 | I'm Sorry | No | Yes | No | No |
| 2018 | Alone Together | No | Yes | No | No |
| 2019 | PEN15 | No | Yes | No | No |
| I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2023–present | Digman! | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Year | Awards | Category | Recipient | Artist(s) | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Creative Arts Emmy Award | Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics | "Dick in a Box" | The Lonely Island Justin Timberlake | Won | [23] |
| 2009 | “Motherlover” | Nominated | [62] | |||
| 2010 | Grammy Award | Best Rap/Sung Collaboration | “I’m On A Boat” | The Lonely Island Faheem Najm | Nominated | [63] |
| Creative Arts Emmy Award | Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics | “Shy Ronnie” | The Lonely Island | Nominated | [64] | |
| 2011 | “I Just Had Sex” | The Lonely Island | Nominated | [65] | ||
| “Jack Sparrow” | Nominated | |||||
| “3-Way (The Golden Rule)” | The Lonely Island Justin Timberlake Stefani Germanotta | Nominated | ||||
| 2012 | Grammy Award | Best Comedy Album | Turtleneck & Chain | The Lonely Island | Nominated | [63] |
| Discography |
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