In September 2000, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg were the most pitiable life-forms in the Hollywood ecosystem - struggling comedy performers.
Pals since high school, the guys moved to Hollywood together after college. They found a low-rent but large house on Olympic Boulevard and dubbed it the Lonely Island. Then they started scuffling: living off temp jobs in and out of the entertainment industry and trying to figure out if they could hack it as a comedy troupe.
Rather than endure numerous rejections, they took their act online. Using a Power Mac and some borrowed video gear, they produced short-form comedy videos and songs, and named their troupe after their home. Schaffer's kid brother Micah - a tech consultant, Internet agitpropster, and digital civil liberties activist better known in hacking circles as Macki - threw together their Web site, thelonelyisland.com, in 2001. His then-employer, gross-out portal Rotten.com, donated bandwidth.
Their first music video was a white-boy rap about things that are "ka-blamo!" ("you kissed Shannen Doherty") and things that aren't ("I majored in pottery"). The video became widely circulated on the Internet, drawing fans to their geeky deadpan humor. A Dutch DJ then mashed it up, further boosting their popularity; more videos and fan mash-ups followed. The Lonely Island musical numbers were sometimes willfully offbeat - and always hilarious.
The threesome started scoring better writing and performance gigs. But the biggest boom was taking place online - Brooke Shields even cameoed in the first episode of their "Internet prime time" series called The 'Bu. "Young, sexy people that live in Malibu call it The 'Bu," reads thelonelyisland.com, "because when you say the entire word, it takes time, and then you wouldn't be young anymore."
As the group's online popularity surged, Micah encouraged the trio to release work under a Creative Commons license, which permits anyone to copy or remix it for free, provided they credit the work's creator and don't attempt to profit. After Fox axed a TV pilot they'd written called Awesometown, which included an appearance by comedian Jack Black, they released two versions online - one edited by Fox, the other a "director's cut" - and granted reproduction rights through Creative Commons to anyone agreeing to offer derivative works created under the same open terms.
It worked. The group developed a cult following, and word of their shorts got to Saturday Night Live star Tina Fey and the show's creator, Lorne Michaels. In August, the Dudes, as they're known to fans, flew to Manhattan for auditions with the most famous team in comedy. In short order, they all were hired.
The first skit written by the Dudes aired on the first night of the season. It was a Weekend Update bit, with the lanky Samberg facing off in a celebrity impersonation contest against another SNL newcomer, Bill Hader. Samberg's attempts consisted of dryly stating: "Hey, I'm [name]. Wuzzaaaaaaappppp!" Hosts Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz laughed maniacally at Samberg, ignoring Hader, who can brilliantly imitate such actors as Al Pacino and Peter Falk. As each round passed, Hader became increasingly infuriated, while Samberg beamed.
It's the same brand of humor that won them an adoring online fan base and fueled a rags-to-riches tale full of dotcom DIY. Apparently all that separates obscurity from stardom is a used Mac, a Creative Commons license, and a little love from Rotten.com.
- Xeni Jardin
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