Saturday Night Live has officially started its 50th season. The beloved American sketch comedy show is set for another season of “laughs, surprises and standout performances,” according to its broadcaster, NBC. So far, these surprises have included surprise cold open celebrity guests and the understated return of SNL legends, the Lonely Island.
The Lonely Island, the comedy trio consisting of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, are responsible for the famous series of “SNL Digital Shorts” that ran throughout the late 2000s. These included the iconic music video “Dick in a Box” with Justin Timberlake as well as other musical and nonmusical sketches such as “Like A Boss,” “I’m On A Boat” which features T-Pain, and “The Shooting (AKA Dear Sister).”
They also released three full length studio albums, featuring songs originally released with videos on SNL, as well as bespoke music for the albums. Their distinctive explicit and out-of-pocket comedic style made their sketches extremely successful and popular. Taccone left SNL in 2010, Schaffer in 2011, and Samberg in 2012. Since then, only a handful of digital shorts have been aired. It had been six years since the release of one when, on October 5, “Sushi Glory Hole” aired.
“Sushi Glory Hole” is a new musical SNL digital short that depicts Schaffer and Samberg as two businessmen pitching the idea of “sushi being fed through a hole in the wall.” The sound of the song and style of jokes are Lonely Island through and through, but there is something slightly different about the core joke; rather than an instantly funny joke like those at the core of Dick in a Box or Jizz in my Pants, it is centered around a more complex joke that could either be extremely funny and unique, or get in its own way and flop.
However, the Lonely Island knows how to tell a joke. The complexity works and adds to the sketch. Maxwell Eagle, a sophomore at IBW who is a fan of the Lonely Island says of the sketch, “I think Andy Samberg has started to have to get more creative. ‘Cause with things like Dick in a Box it’s just funny ‘cause it’s a dick in a box. But I think we as a society have moved to more sophisticated comedy… I think [the earlier shorts] are creative, this is just more creative.”
This slight shift in style might come from how Sushi Glory Hole was written, compared to the other shorts. On the recently started podcast, “The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast,” it was revealed that the song “Sushi Glory Hole” was written and produced by the Lonely Island independently over the course of at least ten months. The previous songs aired with SNL were written, produced, and shot in less than one week; as is the standard timeline for SNL. Having more time and freedom in making their new work could potentially let the Lonely Island explore more elaborate jokes.
So far, “Sushi Glory Hole” has been the only new digital short. However, on their Podcast, Taccone hinted at more in the future: “You made our first music video off of whatever this is going to be. Who knows? Maybe it’s an album, maybe it’s not.” This definitely implies more digital shorts to come, but so far nothing is certain.
Every week, before the credits, SNL starts the show with a cold open. These cold opens are longer form and usually about a topical, relevant subject. Every SNL cold open so far has been about the upcoming presidential election. They have also had high profile celebrity guests such as Maya Rhudolf as Vice President Kamala Harris, Jim Gaffigan as Harris’s running mate Tim Walz, Andy Samberg as Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and Dana Carvey in the role of President Joe Biden. In the fourth episode an additional star entered the mix: Alec Baldwin, playing fox news anchor Bret Baier.
Rudolf was an SNL cast member from 2000 to 2007. She is widely regarded as a very funny cast member. Her recurring role as Harris was announced the summer to widespread excitement. Her impression is spot on; it is difficult to distinguish between her and the true Harris without looking at the speaker. She has also appeared in non cold open sketches such as “Castrati” with Samberg and that week’s host Ariana Grande.
Baldwin has quite the history with SNL. He has hosted the show 17 times, the most of any person. He also frequently impersonated former president Donald Trump, his impression winning an Emmy in 2017. However, since 2021, Baldwin has not appeared on SNL, and current cast member James Austin Johnson has taken over the Trump impersonations. The reason for this may be Baldwin’s involvement in a manslaughter case which was recently thrown out.
Before his role as Tim Walz, Gaffigan had never hosted or been a cast member on SNL. He has guested on other NBC programming such as “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” He is an acclaimed stand up comedian with a long list of awards including Emmy wins, Grammy nominations, and is a New York Times bestselling author.
Carvey, on the other hand, is an SNL alumnus who was on the show from 1986 to 1993. Over his 7 year run, he was nominated for eight Emmys, winning one in 1993. He played his fan favorite character “Wayne” from the “Wayne and Garth” series of sketches in the Wayne’s World movies, which were inspired by the sketches. Both movies were well received at the box office; Wayne’s World grossing a worldwide total of $183,097,323 against a $20,000,000 budget.
Samberg’s impression of Emhoff was complemented by Emhoff himself. Samberg appeared, in addition to the digital short, in the cut-for-time sketch “blond dragon people,” as well as in Micheal Keaton’s monologue and the castrati sketch.
In addition to these surprises, SNL has added a “50” to the thumbnails of their YouTube videos, similarly to what they did for their 40th season.
Overall, SNL is drawing on its high profile celebrity friends to celebrate its 50th. It is bringing in well known, funny celebrities to boost its comedic coverage of an important election and the Lonely Island to create more of the legendary digital shorts.
