Last night, The Lonely Island played a show in Pasadena, CA. Yes, that The Lonely Island: the Saturday Night Live parody bit-turned-Grammy-nominated hip-hop trio who crafted a slew of celebrity-assisted viral videos for high-brow musical masterpieces like “Jizz In My Pants“, “I’m On A Boat” ft. T-Pain, “I Just Had Sex” ft. Akon, and a number of Justin Timberlake collaborations including “Dick In A Box”.
The trio—which features Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone—has always been something of a simulation of a performing act, rather than an actual one. Millions of people have watched them pretend to be star musicians for years, and their pretending has frequently paid off in real commercial success, real albums, and real notoriety. However, before last night they’d never played a real live concert. Below, watch a clip from their 2016 parody film, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, in which the members of The Lonely Island portray the members of fictional 90’s boy band, Style Boyz:
Now, to clarify—last night was not the group’s official “first-ever live performance.” That will come this coming weekend (June 1st–3rd) when The Lonely Island headlines Comedy Central‘s second annual Clusterfest in San Francisco along with comedians like Jon Stewart, Amy Schumer, Trevor Noah, John Mulaney, Nick Kroll, Tiffany Haddish, Jim Jefferies and music from Wu-Tang Clan, T-Pain, Third Eye Blind, Salt-N-Pepa, Action Bronson, and more. However, to make sure they were in top form for their official live debut, Samberg, Schaffer, and Taccone announced a show last night, May 28th, at The Canyon at the Rose in Pasadena, CA billed as the “First Ever Warm Up Show For Our First Ever Concert.”
The “first ever warm up show” wound up selling out the ~1,300-capacity venue, and the crowd was treated to sing-along renditions of The Lonely Island’s viral hits in their (unofficial) first time ever played in concert. In addition to old favorites—complete with wardrobe changes to match the respective song’s videos—The Lonely Island debuted a new song that centers on steroid use in sports. In it, Samberg and Schaffer present themselves as notorious home run hitters/juicers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire before Taccone emerges for a Shakespearian-style rap as Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana. They also welcomed a number of celebrity cameos, including an amusing bit with singer Michael Bolton, who also had a key cameo in Popstar. You watch clips of the new song and the old favorites and take a look at some hilarious photos from The Lonely Island’s Pasadena show below:
Watch The Lonely Island in the official Clusterfest preview video below. You can get your tickets here.
Clusterfest Preview Video starring The Lonely Island
[Video: Comedy Central]