SNL Digital Short
An SNL Digital Short is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for NBC's Saturday Night Live. The origin of the Digital Shorts brand is credited to staff writer Adam McKay, who created content for the show in collaboration with SNL hosts, writers, and cast members. The popularity of these segments exploded following the addition of The Lonely Island to the show, and it is to them that credit is given for ushering SNL "into the age of digital online content in a time when it needed to tap into that relevance more than ever." The Lonely Island's digital shorts were originally recorded with consumer grade digital video cameras and edited on personal computers. It is typical for the show's hosts and musical guests to take part in that week's Digital Short, and several shorts have included appearances by celebrities who were not scheduled to appear in any of that episode's live sketches.
The shorts generally took fewer than five days to complete. Schaffer has directed a majority of them, with Taccone as occasional director or co-director. Taccone also has produced music for the shorts as necessary, along with his brother, Asa.
Following the departure of Samberg from SNL in 2012, it was speculated that the era of videos branded "An SNL Digital Short" had come to an end. A total of six new Digital Shorts from The Lonely Island have aired since then: Two that featured the episode's respective hosts ; two that aired when Samberg hosted the Season 39 finale in 2014; one created for the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special in February 2015 ; and one that aired during the Season 41 finale in May 2016 to promote The Lonely Island's feature film, .
List of shorts
2005–2006: Season 31
A total of 11 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2005–2006 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
| Lettuce | Will Forte | Akiva Schaffer | December 3, 2005 | In what is revealed to be a commercial for the vegetable, two friends discuss the death of an unnamed friend while taking large bites out of heads of lettuce. Written and filmed in November 2005 and originally cut after airing during the dress rehearsal of the Eva Longoria episode. |
| Lazy Sunday | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Chris Parnell | Akiva Schaffer | December 17, 2005 | Parnell and Samberg rhyme about , cupcakes, Mr. Pibb, Red Vines, Matthew Perry, and a host of other products. The short became a viral video online. Music produced by Jorma Taccone. |
| Young Chuck Norris | Andrew Steele | Akiva Schaffer | January 21, 2006 | A Chuck Norris fan sings a rock ballad about the action star before he became famous. There are cameos by Fred Armisen as a criminal mugging a woman, played by Amy Poehler, and Taccone as a man being robbed by Bill Hader. |
| The Tangent | Bill Hader | Akiva Schaffer | February 4, 2006 | Joel rambles endlessly about a restaurant he visited to his friend Liz at first, and becomes so involved in the story that he fails to notice that he is discovered by talent scouts, stars in a movie with Scarlett Johansson, becomes a national phenomenon, and then loses it all when his movie flops at the box office. Brian Williams, MTV correspondent Gideon Yago, and Conan O'Brien also make cameo appearances. This short was filmed the week of the Johansson episode, but was cut after dress rehearsal from both that episode and the Peter Sarsgaard episode before finally airing on the Steve Martin/Prince episode. |
| Close Talkers | Will Forte | Akiva Schaffer | February 4, 2006 | Two old friends from school meet up after years apart, greeting each other loudly while standing with their faces only an inch apart. |
| Natalie's Rap | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Asa Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | March 4, 2006 | Natalie Portman is interviewed about her life and responds with a rap proving she is a "badass bitch", poking fun at her clean and intellectual image. She slaps Seth Meyers and throws a chair at Parnell. Samberg appears as Carl, a character dressed as Flavor Flav. Music produced by Jorma Taccone and Asa Taccone, and mixed by Ben Lovett. |
| Doppleganger | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | March 11, 2006 | Meyers, Forte, and Samberg are on a lunch break and start to notice that each one has a doppelgänger nearby. After Meyers and Forte say that a large bum is Samberg's doppelgänger, they kill the real Samberg in an evil twin scenario. |
| Laser Cats! | Andy Samberg Lorne Michaels Bill Hader | Akiva Schaffer | April 15, 2006 | In a frame story, Hader and Samberg pitch their new ultra low-budget Digital Short, Laser Cats! to SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels. In the Laser Cats! short itself, Hader and Samberg play the heroes Nitro and Admiral Spaceship in a post-nuclear war world in which cats can shoot lasers from their mouths and are used as weapons. They are saving the princess from the evil Robotron. Rachel Dratch makes an appearance, disguising herself as the princess/Lohan. Jorma Taccone appears in the opening credits for Laser Cats!. Fred Armisen also makes a cameo. Laser Cats! is shot in the SNL offices with gleeful haphazardness because, according to Samberg in the special Saturday Night Live in the 2000s, “it’s supposed to suck.” |
| My Testicles | Unknown | Akiva Schaffer | May 6, 2006 | Friends in the early 1990s discuss the music video by pop stars Ariel and Efrim, where we see the lyrics consist of constantly begging for their testicles not to be harmed, in a parody of Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" and C+C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat". Armisen plays the guitar player, Taccone appears as a backup dancer, and Poehler and Maya Rudolph are women in the video. |
| Peyote | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Will Forte | Akiva Schaffer | May 13, 2006 | A distraught man, pressed against the side of a building, threatens to jump to his death. A second man, using a bullhorn, tries to talk him out of it. After a bit of dialogue, it is revealed that the distraught man is safely on the ground and his friend is kneeling mere inches away from him. The short ends after it is revealed to be a commercial for peyote. Peyote was written and filmed after Lettuce had aired, making it the second SNL Digital Short made by The Lonely Island. It was deemed "too similar" to Lettuce to be aired right away, however, so the group produced Lazy Sunday to showcase other aspects of their comedic range. |
| Andy Walking | Andy Samberg | Akiva Schaffer | May 20, 2006 | Samberg asks factual questions of passers-by outside NBC Studios in the style of the Jay Leno bit Jaywalking, instead laughing off correct answers as false. John Lutz makes a cameo as a man walking that Andy ridicules. |
2006–2007: Season 32
A total of 12 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2006–2007 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
| Cubicle Fight | Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | September 30, 2006 | New office employee Gary gets into a fight to the death with incumbent cubicle holder Steve. Jason Sudeikis appears as the boss and Andy Samberg, Will Forte, Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson, Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig are other employees cheering on the fight. |
| Harpoon Man | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | October 21, 2006 | Harpoon Man, a suave action hero and parody of Shaft, tracks down an insulting announcer dressed as a whale, who is narrating his life in a theme song. There are appearances by Jorma Taccone, who plays a man getting robbed, and Bill Hader, who plays the man robbing Taccone. |
| Pep Talk | Fred Armisen John Lutz | Akiva Schaffer | December 9, 2006 | A fast food boss gives his employees a pep talk and has trouble controlling his anger until one of his employees comes in late. It originally was scheduled to air on the episode hosted by Matthew Fox, but ended up airing on the following episode hosted by Annette Bening. |
| Dick in a Box | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | December 16, 2006 | A Christmas song about two men giving their lovers a box with their genitalia inside as presents, in a style reminiscent of early 1990s R&B sex ballads made popular by acts such as Bell Biv Devoe, Color Me Badd, and R. Kelly. Won a 2007 Creative Arts Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics. Music created in part by Asa Taccone, Jorma Taccone and Katreese Barnes. It was the first official single from The Lonely Island's debut album, Incredibad. |
| Laser Cats! 2 | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Bill Hader | Akiva Schaffer | January 13, 2007 | In the same frame-story format, Hader and Samberg apologize to Lorne Michaels for the original Laser Cats! claiming to understand where they went wrong: not enough politics. They then introduce Laser Cats! 2, based on the same premise, now set in the Iraq War which has gone nuclear and caused the feline mutations. This time, Dr. Scientist has stolen the cure that turns Laser Cats back into regular cats. Jorma Taccone appears in the opening credits for Laser Cats! 2, and Fred Armisen and Amy Poehler are the scientists who created the cure. |
| Nurse Nancy | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | January 20, 2007 | Scott Garbaciak is the multi-role star in a commercial for the fictional film Nurse Nancy, in parody of Eddie Murphy films such as Norbit and The Nutty Professor. |
| Body Fuzion | Amy Poehler Maya Rudolph Kristen Wiig | Akiva Schaffer | February 3, 2007 | Drew Barrymore is Desiree, host of a 1986 sexually suggestive, low-impact, high-result exercise video Body Fuzion, with "her friends" Donna, Michelle, and Donna M.. |
| Andy Popping Into Frame | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | February 10, 2007 | Samberg quietly pops into view as the camera cuts to different locations and landmarks. Forte begins doing the same, before being forced out by Samberg at gunpoint. Samberg wears his "Andy" shirt from the failed sketch show Awesometown created by The Lonely Island. |
| Business Meeting | Jorma Taccone Seth Meyers | Jorma Taccone | February 24, 2007 | A corporate executive leads a meeting to brainstorm ideas on how to save his failing company, fielding suggestions from an increasingly bizarre set of employees, including a gigantic turkey sub and musical guest Arcade Fire. Upon reaching the end of the meeting, Wilson receives a phone call, seemingly informing him that the office building is about to be blown up. The office building explodes, presumably killing all of the people inside. Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Kristen Wiig, Will Forte, Darrell Hammond, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg all play employees of Wilson's, and Kenan Thompson plays a water delivery guy. |
| The Shooting | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | April 14, 2007 | In a spoof of The O.C. episode "The Dearly Beloved", a man writes a letter to his sister, he is shot by his friend, leading to a series of overly dramatic, slow-motion shootings set to "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap, including their roommate, the sister, and two police officers. |
| Roy Rules! | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone | Jorma Taccone | April 21, 2007 | Samberg performs a rhyme about how much he likes his brother in-law named Roy. |
| Talking Dog | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | May 19, 2007 | While meeting the owner of an apartment that is available for sublet, a potential candidate is shocked to find out that the owner's dog not only can talk, but has fallen in love with him. He finds out later that the dog was using him to get a plate of ham. The owner implies that this happens regularly, but the dog convinces the man that it's still something more, and the man ends up French kissing the dog. |
2007–2008: Season 33
A total of 11 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2007–2008 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
| Iran So Far | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | September 29, 2007 | Samberg sings a love song for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along with Adam Levine from Maroon 5, sampling "Avril 14th" by Aphex Twin, with a chorus based on the 1982 A Flock of Seagulls hit "I Ran ". Jake Gyllenhaal has a cameo, owing to the observation that Ahmadinejad looks like "a very hairy Jake Gyllenhaal". |
| People Getting Punched Just Before Eating | Andy Samberg | Akiva Schaffer | October 13, 2007 | In a style similar to the Season 32 Digital Short Andy Popping Into Frame, Samberg sneaks up on people and punches them just as they area about to start eating their respective foods, then gleefully dances afterwards. His victims include Forte, Armisen, Sudeikis, Taccone, episode host Jon Bon Jovi, and Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. The victims, who have turned into zombies, show up en masse and chase Samberg around the world before breaking out into the Zombie Dance. The shorts ends with a close-up shot of Samberg's face above a graphic that reads, "Believe in Your Dreams". |
| Brian Diaries | Akiva Schaffer Brian Williams | Akiva Schaffer | November 3, 2007 | Brian Williams describes his daily routine, which includes watching footage of himself, meditating while the disembodied head of Bono praises him, and dropping pennies out a window onto Al Roker and Matt Lauer during The Today Show. |
| Grandkids in the Movies | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Bill Hader | Akiva Schaffer | February 23, 2008 | An old man presents a series of DVDs that are designed to help old people feel more at ease while watching today's films by having his grandsons digitally inserted in the films. Featuring clips from No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton, Juno, Transformers, and There Will Be Blood. |
| The Mirror | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | March 1, 2008 | A girl wakes up from a nightmare and begins seeing a zombie in her bathroom mirror, which turns out to be the nightmare of the zombie, a wolf man, and a woman named Debbie who is married to Dracula. After several nightmares, the camera returns to Page waking up from a nightmare, and as the short ends, the zombie pops up at her bedside. |
| Hero Song | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | March 8, 2008 | An apparently wealthy man sings about crime infecting the city, then turns into a superhero and tries to save a woman from being mugged, only to have the mugger beat him to death. |
| Andy's Dad | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jonah Hill | Akiva Schaffer | March 15, 2008 | Episode host Jonah Hill confesses to Samberg that he has fallen in love with his father, Ben Samberg. Hader also confesses the same thing. |
| Laser Cats! 3D | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | April 5, 2008 | Samberg and Hader interrupt Lorne Michaels' dinner with Christopher Dodd to attempt to pitch Laser Cats! again, this time with a scene enhanced by 3D glasses. The plot revolves around a ban on all laser cats and a battle against the corrupt Mayor Top-Hat. Christopher Walken appears as a general. |
| Daiquiri Girl | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | April 12, 2008 | Samberg appears in an amateur, early-90s music video about a girl who loves to drink daiquiris. Meanwhile, text scrolls up the screen explaining that the producers apologize for airing the video because a certain musical guest failed to appear for the shooting of a digital short, despite an agreement to do otherwise. |
| Best Look in the World | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | May 10, 2008 | Samberg and host Shia LaBeouf sing a high-energy country song for an infomercial about Samberg's new dress shirt, black socks, no pants look. Armisen, Forte, Thompson, Sudeikis, and Hader all appear as people following the trend. |
| The Japanese Office | John Lutz Marika Sawyer | Akiva Schaffer | May 17, 2008 | Ricky Gervais presents a clip from a Japanese show that was his inspiration for The Office, featuring Japanese versions of Michael, Dwight, Jim, Pam, and Stanley. Additionally, Darrell Hammond plays Regis Philbin in a tampon commercial. At the end of the episode, Gervais comments "It's funny 'cause it's racist." |
2008–2009: Season 34
A total of 17 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2008–2009 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
| Space Olympics | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | September 13, 2008 | Samberg, dressed in a white pompadour wig and spangled jumpsuit, sings a song promoting a low-budget, ill-planned, ultimately doomed athletic competition held in space in the year 3022. Athletes are portrayed by Sudeikis, Casey Wilson, Hader, and episode host Michael Phelps. |
| Hey! | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Jorma Taccone | September 20, 2008 | In this spoof of teen dramas, a young man is talked to by a girl. Some small talk is made, until the subject of his small "ding-dong" comes up. Then another girl comes up to him and tells him she has a small "ding-dong", too. |
| Extreme Activities Challenge | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | October 4, 2008 | Samberg and Wiig compete in nonsensical activities, from arm wrestling to human ATM. Forte is the pathetic referee, Thompson is an ATM customer, and Anne Hathaway appears when Samberg wins the "become Jane" challenge. |
| Jam the Vote | Unknown | Akiva Schaffer | October 23, 2008 | Samberg walks around New York City asking people if they're registered to vote, which Wiig's character points out had ended two weeks prior. Meanwhile, Samberg also fights back vomiting a spicy hot dog he stole. |
| Ras Trent | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | October 25, 2008 | Samberg plays a college student legalist who has converted to Rastafarianism, who sings boastfully about the culture, while being aware that he's not fit for it when he walks by a group of actual Rastas. Wiig and Wilson appear in the short as backup singers; the actual backup vocals were recorded by Joanna Newsom and Maya Rudolph. Music produced by Sly & Robbie. |
| Everyone's A Critic | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | November 15, 2008 | In a clip from Paul Rudd's new movie, Samberg romantically paints him nude and then Rudd returns the favor. While selling the painting at an auction, it is shown to be so graphic that everyone who sees it begins convulsing violently, vomiting, bleeding from the eyes, and committing violent acts of suicide. Fred Armisen appears as the auctioneer, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood respectively, and Casey Wilson as the interviewer. |
| Virgania Horsen's Pony Express | Kristen Wiig | Akiva Schaffer | December 6, 2008 | Kristen Wiig reprises her role as Virgania Horsen in a crudely made commercial for her new business, which consists of mail delivery by horse. |
| Jizz in My Pants | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | December 6, 2008 | Samberg and Taccone rap about their personal experiences with premature ejaculation, often at the slightest provocation. Schaffer plays the role of a DJ who mixes beats for the other two as they perform. Molly Sims, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and Justin Timberlake make cameo appearances. The third single from The Lonely Island's debut album, Incredibad, and the first music video featuring all three members. |
| Cookies | James Anderson Fred Armisen | Akiva Schaffer | December 13, 2008 | A corporate executive announces to the department heads that things are not going well and drastic steps may need to be taken. As the others ask questions and fret about their futures, Marcus becomes increasingly distracting as he stretches himself out to reach a plate of cookies on the table. At the end of the skit, another executive reveals that the "cookies" are really laxatives. Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, Bobby Moynihan, and Abby Elliott appear as the other department heads. |
| Doogie Howser Theme | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | January 10, 2009 | Neil Patrick Harris and the entire SNL cast perform the theme to Doogie Howser, M.D.. Harris wears a tuxedo while everyone else is dressed as Doogie Howser in blonde wigs, lab coats with a picture ID of Doogie on them, dress shirts, colorful ties, acid washed jeans, and Nike hi-tops. Harris plays keyboard; Wilson, Elliott, and Michaela Watkins play violin; Moynihan plays tuba; Thompson plays harp; Hader plays saxophone; Hammond plays trumpet; Wiig plays electric guitar; Sudeikis plays double bass; Forte plays drum kit; Armisen plays synthesizer; and Samberg plays an Akai MPC 2000XL drum machine. At the end of the performance, Harris sheds a single tear. |
| A Couple of Homies | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Will Forte | Akiva Schaffer | January 17, 2009 | Samberg and Fred Armisen casually talk in a break room while Forte sings about every little thing that they're doing. At the end, it's revealed to actually be a commercial for the D.A.R.E. program. It was originally cut from the Ben Affleck dress rehearsal. |
| Laser Cats! 4 Ever | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | January 31, 2009 | Episode host Steve Martin walks into the office of Lorne Michaels and asks if he could air a short video that he and "some film people" made, which turns out to be yet another installment of Laser Cats!. It becomes evident that Samberg and Bill Hader have put Martin up to the task of presenting the short, crediting him as Executive Producer as well. A "half human, half Laser Cat, half RoboCop" named Cyber-Face is presented to a group of scientists by their colleague but quickly goes haywire. Admiral Spaceship and Nitro intervene to put an end to its killing spree, and are shocked to find out that Cyber-Face is Admiral Spaceship's estranged father right before he is gunned down by police officers. Cyeber-Face apologizes for being a deadbeat dad and reveals that Spaceship and Nitro are brothers before self-destructing. Michaels kicks everyone out of his office in disgust. |
| I'm on a Boat | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | February 7, 2009 | Samberg wins a prize from a cereal box for a boat trip for three people and selects Schaffer and, to Taccone's surprise and dismay, T-Pain to join him. The short then cuts to the lucky trio performing an "aggressive" and expletive-laden rap about their boat ride, with occasional shots of Taccone having a miserable time back on land. The fourth single from The Lonely Island's debut album, Incredibad. |
| Property of the Queen | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | February 14, 2009 | Samberg blackmails the Jonas Brothers with a videotape of them as an '80s band called Property of the Queen. Samberg ultimately wants to know how they stayed young for 25 years and it is revealed that the wizard featured in one of their music videos kept them young. Kenan Thompson, Will Forte, and Bobby Moynihan appear as band members. |
| Party Guys | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Bill Hader | Akiva Schaffer | March 14, 2009 | Samberg and Hader are at a party where everyone and everything is a literal representation of a slang term is shown having sex with a box of cereal, a group of "motherfuckers" are men with their mothers, a group of "sons of bitches" are a litter of puppies, a "numbnuts" is a man. When Samberg and Hader discover "two douchebags", however, it's revealed that they're looking at themselves in a mirror. |
| Like a Boss | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | April 4, 2009 | During a performance review conducted by episode host Seth Rogen, Samberg raps about his typical day as the boss of a large company. The first few activities he names are what one might expect, such as approving memos and micromanaging his staff. His actions become increasingly erratic, however, after a subordinate rejects his advances and he is consequently denied a promotion. The boss's description ends with him turning into a jet, crashing into the sun, and dying. Rogen leaves the performance review in apparent disgust as Samberg repeatedly reminds him, "I'm the boss." The fifth single from The Lonely Island's debut album, Incredibad, Rogen's voice replaces Schaffer's as the company evaluator, though Schaffer does appear in the short as a hooded gun dealer. Taccone also makes a cameo appearance as the man who hands Samberg a notice about a harassment lawsuit filed by Wiig. Additional cameos from Bobby Moynihan, Casey Wilson, SNL writer Paula Pell, Jason Sudeikis, and Bill Hader. |
| Motherlover | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | May 9, 2009 | Five months after the events of "Dick in a Box," Samberg and Timberlake's characters sing about special gifts for Mother's Day, with Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson appearing as their mothers. They decide the best present for them would be for them to have sex with the other's mother. They proclaim it is the second best idea they have ever had. The song was originally omitted from sessions for the album Incredibad, as produced by Asa Taccone and Drew Campbell. The fourth single from The Lonely Island's second album, Turtleneck & Chain. |
2009–2010: Season 35
A total of 19 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2009–2010 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
| The Date | Will Forte John Solomon | Akiva Schaffer John Solomon | September 26, 2009 | A man with a strained voice discusses his life commanding a SWAT team and raising lambs for slaughter with an increasingly fascinated date. |
| Megan's Roommate | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | September 26, 2009 | Andy Samberg is brought home by Megan Fox, and meets her hostile roommate "Optimus Prime", a man wearing a bathing robe and a mask of the Transformers character. Cameo by Brian Austin Green as "Bumblebee". |
| Threw It On The Ground | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | October 3, 2009 | A beatnik performs slam poetry about how he fights "the system" by throwing objects on the ground. His actions quickly become bizarre as he throws a child's birthday cake, his girlfriend's cellphone, and a fish bowl on the ground for no apparent reason. Things take a turn for the worse when the beatnik attacks Ryan Reynolds' and Elijah Wood during their dinner by flipping their table. An incensed Wood and Reynolds chase down the beatnik and taser him "in the butthole." The 15th track on The Lonely Island's second album, Turtleneck & Chain. |
| Brenda & Shaun | Akiva Schaffer Fred Armisen | Akiva Schaffer | October 10, 2009 | A 1990s commercial for two amateur laser magicians. They announce they are suitable for any occasion such as birthday parties, but disrupt events such as graduations, engagements, and people meeting their biological parents. As the video progresses, the two fall on hard times and are arrested for harassing people on the street. |
| Firelight | Akiva Schaffer Seth Meyers | Akiva Schaffer | November 7, 2009 | In this parody of the movie adaptation of Twilight, a high school girl falls for Frankenstein's monster. |
| Get Out! | Andy Samberg Fred Armisen | Akiva Schaffer | November 14, 2009 | A man keeps barging in on his roommate sitting on the toilet – even when Armisen is at the gym, on an elevator, and walking outside of Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Center. |
| Reba | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | November 21, 2009 | Andy Samberg sings a very raunchy techno/hip-hop ballad about his love, Reba McEntire. Samberg seems completely unaware that "Reba" is actually just a homeless man who found a red wig in a dumpster and is masquerading as the country superstar despite looking and sounding nothing like her. Bonus track on Lonely Island's new album, Turtleneck and Chain. |
| Shy Ronnie | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | December 5, 2009 | Rihanna and a redheaded nerd named Shy Ronnie perform an uplifting song for a classroom full of children, but the song is ruined by Shy Ronnie's weak singing. Rihanna eventually leaves, at which point Ronnie mouths off to the kids. This short was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding music. |
| The Tizzle Wizzle Show | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | December 19, 2009 | James Franco guest stars on a children's show about wearing "jammies," and performs the "jammy shuffle." The background singers then announce that it is time for the cast to take pills and attack each other in the dark with knives. When the lights come back on, only a horrified, blood-covered Franco is left alive; the singers dub him the "king" as he screams for help. |
| Booty Call | Andy Samberg | Jonathan Krisel | January 9, 2010 | Alicia Keys makes a late-night phone call to a flamboyant, yet socially awkward man, who is talking to her during an intervention for his heroin-addicted friend. |
| James Cameron's Laser Cats 5 | Andy Samberg Bill Hader Jonathan Krisel | Akiva Schaffer | January 16, 2010 | Samberg and Hader once again try to persuade Lorne Michaels with another Laser Cats! movie with some "help" from James Cameron. The short includes many references to James Cameron's films, including Aliens, The Terminator, Titanic, and Avatar. |
| The Curse | Andy Samberg | Jonathan Krisel | January 30, 2010 | In a loose parody of Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell, a young businessman is cursed by a homeless shaman to be haunted by a sexy, shirtless saxophonist named Sergio after stepping on the shaman's dreamcatcher and not paying for it. The saxophonist is loosely based on a scene from the 1987 film The Lost Boys featuring musician Timmy Cappello. |
| Flags of the World | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jonathan Krisel | Jonathan Krisel | February 27, 2010 | Samberg raps about the many different flags of the world, including the American flag, "Spain-ish" flag, "We Love Betty White" flag, "No You Didn't" flag, and a "Black Flag" based on the band of the same name. Episode host Jennifer Lopez makes a cameo. |
| Zach Drops By the Set | Zach Galifianakis | Jonathon Krisel | March 6, 2010 | Zach Galifianakis shows up on the sets of various NBC shows either talking to the actors, or just standing in the background, finishing with a clip from a 1984 SNL episode hosted by Robin Williams showing a bearded child and the words: "Zack Galifinakis: on TV for over 30 years." The NBC Website has posted this as a Digital Short, despite that it didn't have the "SNL Digital Short" title screen on the televised version. |
| Boombox | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Asa Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | March 13, 2010 | A music video for the song "Boombox" featuring Samberg and Julian Casablancas. The second verse from the album version of the song was not included in the video. Cameos by Schaffer, Fred Armisen, and Bobby Moynihan. The eighth track on The Lonely Island's first album, Incredibad. |
| The Other Man | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone John Mulaney | Akiva Schaffer | April 17, 2010 | A man named Kyle keeps knocking on his loved ones' doors to find that they are romantically involved with a man with a bizarre European accent. Eventually, the European man shows up at Kyle's house, wanting to have sex with him. But Kyle reveals that he's already having sex with the European's twin brother. |
| Cherry Battle | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | April 24, 2010 | Gabourey Sidibe and Andy Samberg spit cherries at each other in rapid succession, catching the ones the other throws. At the end, Samberg spits one last cherry at Sidibe. The cherry sings dramatic music in midair before Sidibe just misses catching it in her mouth. They bow. |
| Golden Girls' Theme | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel | May 8, 2010 | Samberg shows Betty White how grateful the entire SNL cast is to have her host by having the cast and guest stars sing the theme song from The Golden Girls. White likes it but then shows her own version to the cast: a death metal trash rock version, with the cast members being attacked by leather-clad mosh pit dancers. |
| Great Day | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Jorma Taccone Akiva Schaffer | May 15, 2010 | An unemployed cocaine addict named Dennis goes on drug binge while singing an elaborately choreographed Disneyesque musical-theater number about how it is going to be a great day. The more cocaine he snorts, the faster he sings, and the more disjointed and surreal the song becomes. Eventually the whole experience is revealed to be a vivid, cocaine-induced hallucination. Cameos by Bobby Moynihan as Mailman Fred, Taccone as Dennis's friend who asks about his pledge to run with the bulls in Spain, episode host Alec Baldwin and musical guest Tom Petty as themselves, and Bill Hader and Nasim Pedrad as a neighborhood couple walking by a hallucinating Dennis. Fred Armisen also appears briefly as Dennis's boss. Featured on the DVD accompanying The Lonely Island's second album, Turtleneck & Chain. |
2010–2011: Season 36
A total of 17 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2010–2011 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
| Boogerman | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel | Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel | September 26, 2010 | Katy Perry sings at an Academy Awards-like ceremony the theme song from the fictional superhero film Boogerman. Features most of the cast including episode host Amy Poehler. |
| Rescue Dogs 3D App | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel | Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel | October 2, 2010 | A man tries to call 911 to report a home invasion on his iPhone using the app "911 Emergency," but is bombarded with ads for the movie Rescue Dogs 3D. At the end, Samberg is caught by the burglars, only to be saved by Rescue Dog. Helen Mirren appears as the police chief in the trailer for Rescue Dogs 3D. |
| Relaxation Therapy | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel | Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel | October 9, 2010 | A man is the subject of a bizarre therapy session conducted by his psychiatrist who inserts herself in his self-conscious images of peace and tranquility. |
| I Broke My Arm | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jonathon Krisel | Akiva Schaffer | October 23, 2010 | A girl sings in her school's cafeteria about breaking her arm by slipping on grape jelly. Her situation only worsens as each verse ends with her falling again, breaking a new appendage until she ends up paralyzed, confined in a wheelchair, and only able to talk through a computer program a la Stephen Hawking. The grape jelly comes to life and claims not to be the cause of the girl's broken appendages. |
| Shy Ronnie 2: Ronnie and Clyde | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | October 30, 2010 | Shy Ronnie and Clyde team up for a second time to rob a bank. Unfortunately, Ronnie's social awkwardness puts the heist in jeopardy and forces Clyde to do most of the work. He raps aggressively when Clyde leaves. Cameo by episode host Jon Hamm as a bank customer-turned-hostage. The ninth track on the Lonely Island's second album, Turtleneck & Chain. |
| What Was That? | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer | November 13, 2010 | Having won a competition, a Model United Nations team present their thoughts on world history to the General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York. The presentation is a rap that chastises the diplomats for past and present atrocities, such as the Holocaust and Darfur. Musical guest Arcade Fire appear as themselves. |
| Party at Mr. Bernard's | Andy Samberg John Mulaney John Solomon | Akiva Schaffer | December 4, 2010 | A parody of the movie Weekend at Bernie's, in which two men find the corpse of their boss and attempt to make him look alive during a party at his beach house. They are arrested and put on trial, and proven innocent by Mr. Bernard's video will asking for the exact actions that the two had taken. |
| Stumblin | Andy Samberg Mike O'Brien John Solomon | John Solomon | December 11, 2010 | A parody of the Dolly Parton song 9 to 5, throughout which Andy Samberg and episode host Paul Rudd stumble throughout the city. Musical guest Paul McCartney and celebrity chef Mario Batali appear in the short as well. |
| I Just Had Sex | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Jerrod Bettis Justin Franks | Akiva Schaffer | December 18, 2010 | Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and rapper Akon celebrate just having had sex with women, despite the fact that the women found the sex to be mediocre. Lonely Island's Akiva Schaffer shows up at various points during the video congratulating them on having sex, he also mouths the chorus at the end of the song. There is a brief cameo by John McEnroe. The first single off the Lonely Island's second album, Turtleneck and Chain. |
| Andy and Pee-Wee's Night Out | Andy Samberg John Solomon | Jorma Taccone John Solomon | January 15, 2011 | Samberg has some shots with none other than Pee Wee Herman. After beating Anderson Cooper over the head with a chair, Samberg and Pee-Wee are caught by the police, to which they escape by hitting the officer with a chair. When they return to Samberg's apartment, they come to an intervention with Cooper, Samberg's friends, and Pee Wee's Playhouse friends Chairry, Pterri, and Conky, who plead with Andy and Pee-Wee never to be friends again. Andy and Pee-Wee reluctantly agree, and everybody celebrates the breakup with more shots. |
| The Creep | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Nicki Minaj Scott Jung | Akiva Schaffer | January 29, 2011 | The Lonely Island and Nicki Minaj pose as middle aged stalkers and rap about the latest dance craze. John Waters also appears in the short. The second single from The Lonely Island's second album, Turtleneck & Chain. |
| The Roommate | Unknown | Unknown | February 5, 2011 | A movie trailer parodying its namesake, in which a college student believes his increasingly bizarre and obsessive roommate is planning to kill him. |
| Zach Looks for a New Assistant | Unknown | John Solomon | March 12, 2011 | Zach Galifianakis interviews young children as possible candidates for being his assistant. |
| Laser Cats 6: The Musical! | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | April 2, 2011 | Hader and Samberg again use a celebrity to pitch a new Laser Cats film to Lorne Michaels; this time, a musical version which includes parodies of Cats and '. It is revealed that Hader and Samberg have stolen Wilson the volleyball to blackmail Hanks. Episode host and musical guest Elton John portrays the villain and Carmelo Anthony plays a security guard. |
| Helen Mirren's Magic Bosom | Nasim Pedrad, Sarah Schnedier, one other writer ; Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone | Unknown | April 9, 2011 | Nasim wants to be inspired, so she finds Helen Mirren in her dressing room, where Pedrad dreams she is in "Helen Mirren's Titties", a place beyond space and time, and a sequence of shots involving happy things like two leaders shaking hands, flowers, etc. |
| Jack Sparrow | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Michael Woods | Unknown | May 7, 2011 | A music video for the song of the same name from The Lonely Island's Turtleneck and Chain album featuring Michael Bolton, who writes and performs a "big, sexy hook" for a new hip-hop track that The Lonely Island are recording. The hook's lyrics reveal Bolton's love for the Pirates of the Caribbean films, as well as Forrest Gump, Erin Brockovich, and Scarface. |
| 3-Way | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Justin Timberlake | Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | May 21, 2011 | The "Dick in a Box" and "Motherlover" characters return in a song about how any sexual contact between them does not count as a homosexual act, as long as there is also a female involved. Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson have cameos in the opening scene. Released as a standalone single in 2011 and featured on The Wack Album''. |
2011–2012: Season 37
A total of 14 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2011–2012 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
| Stomp | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone | Jorma Taccone | October 1, 2011 | Two cops bored at work find music in everyday life. The entire precinct gets involved, but things turn aggressive when The Blue Man Group show up to play along until they get shot by everyone. |
| V-Necks | Andy Samberg John Solomon | John Solomon | October 8, 2011 | At a clothing store, a man is unconvinced that the V-neck shirt he is trying on is for him, despite his girlfriend's assurances. But when the store owner, wearing a deeper V enters, Samberg attempts to one-up him and asks a clerk for "something deeper" starting an impromptu V-neck battle, ending with the store clerk getting arrested for indecent exposure. |
| Drake Interview | Andy Samberg John Solomon | John Solomon | October 15, 2011 | Andy conducts several short and increasingly bizarre interviews with actor-singer Drake. Each segment follows a very literal theme as described by a title card that appears onscreen before each interview. Some of the interviews included are: An Extremely Sarcastic Interview, A Racist Interview, A Wordless Seduction, A Matching Sweaters Interview, and a Dark Interview. |
| Wish It Would Rain | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Jorma Taccone | November 12, 2011 | A depressed singer sings about how his girlfriend left him for another man. Samberg gestures towards the sky, hoping it will rain, but it doesn't. Samberg begins complaining to the crew that he can't do the music video without rain, making insulting remarks about the producer and his big-butted assistant |
| Seducing Women Through Chess | Andy Samberg John Solomon | John Solomon | November 19, 2011 | In an early '80s-style instructional video, a nerdy man dressed like Carl Sagan shows viewers how to seduce women by playing chess, but the first two women beat him. The instructor then changes the game to checkers and still gets beaten by a woman. He tries Jenga, but ends up knocking the tower over. He tries eating glass, but ends up scaring the woman he's trying to seduce. The instructor gives up and lectures on how to hire a prostitute. The prostitute offers sex to him for $5000, but the instructor only has $60. The instructor is stabbed and robbed of his money. Before dying, the prostitute comes back and beats him at chess. |
| Batman | Andy Samberg John Solomon | John Solomon | December 3, 2011 | Commissioner Gordon keeps getting stalked by Batman. Paul Brittain and Kristen Wiig appears as Aquaman and the Riddler respectively. |
| Best Friends | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone | Jorma Taccone | December 10, 2011 | Katy Perry and Samberg become best friends, then meet up with a "handsome drug addict" and "brilliant lunatic" who want to be best friends too. Perry and Samberg become more and more frightened until Perry abandons the three when the drug addict shoots himself during a game of Russian roulette. The lunatic then builds a time machine, retrieving two cavemen, Marilyn Monroe, Amelia Earhart, Abraham Lincoln, and Julius Caesar from the past, who, along with Samberg, the lunatic, and the lunatic's "failed bird-man experiment" wish the audience a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. |
| Convoluted Jerry | Unknown | Unknown | January 7, 2012 | A fake commercial for a CD collection featuring Convoluted Jerry, a singer whose lyrics are wordy and confusing, with songs including "Quit not Being My Lover," "Backwards Day" and "Jerry Explains the Movie Inception". Host Charles Barkley guest stars as Marvin "Gay" Jackson, who sings a duet with Convoluted Jerry. |
| Afros | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone John Solomon | Jorma Taccone John Solomon | March 3, 2012 | A man and woman dressed in '70s-style clothing declare their love for each other in song. As the camera pulls back we can see that they are connected by their shared enormous afro. An unexplained man in janitor's clothing appears in between every verse and plays one riff on a strange instrument such as conch shell or didgeridoo. When the camera has pulled all the way back, revealing the full, massive afro, the couple invites the viewer to come to their wedding, whereupon the video is revealed to be a Save the Date. RSVP options "Yes" and "No" appear. "No" is clicked. |
| Tennis Balls | Andy Samberg | Jake Szymanski | March 10, 2012 | To test the effects of stress on the human heart, a man is hit repeatedly in the testicles by tennis balls fired from a tennis ball machine. Things get more bizarre as he continues to get hit even though the machine is turned off. A ghost hunter reveals to the host of Science Finders that a ghost is the one hurling balls at the man. The man flatlines and a doctor uses hits to the groin to revive the man. |
| Laser Cats 7 | Andy Samberg Jorma Taccone | Jorma Taccone | April 14, 2012 | Despite Lorne Michaels' objections, Hader and Samberg show him the latest Laser Cats short – this time directed by Steven Spielberg, which contains many references to his films, including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Host Josh Brolin appears as a "Space Nazi." |
| Gotye Backstage | Andy Samberg Taran Killam | Jake Szymanski | April 14, 2012 | Samberg and Taran Killam visit Gotye in his dressing room, then stalk him by appearing in nothing but body paint and black wigs. |
| 100th Digital Short | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone | Jorma Taccone | May 12, 2012 | The Lonely Island celebrate their 100th Digital Short by revisiting many digital short favorite characters, clips from previous Digital Shorts, and fresh footage from numerous celebrities, including: Justin Bieber, Julian Casablancas, Natalie Portman, Michael Bolton as Captain Jack Sparrow, Jon Hamm as Sergio, Justin Timberlake, Lorne Michaels, Usher, and Will Ferrell. |
| Lazy Sunday 2 | Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone Chris Parnell | Jorma Taccone | May 19, 2012 | Samberg and Parnell do another "Lazy Sunday" rap for Sister Act: The Musical. |
2012–2013: Season 38
One SNL Digital Short was created for the 2012–2013 season. It aired during the episode hosted by Adam Levine, which also featured a live cameo appearance by Andy Samberg.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Music produced by | Original airdate | Description |
| YOLO | The Lonely Island, Rhiannon Bryan, Rhydian Davies, Khari Cain | The Lonely Island | Needlz | January 26, 2013 | The Lonely Island, Adam Levine, and Kendrick Lamar sing about the virtues of staying safe in daily life, and become increasingly paranoid of everything. Danny McBride cameos as a man attempting to do cocaine in a nightclub. The second single from The Lonely Island's third album, The Wack Album. |
2013–2014: Season 39
Two SNL Digital Shorts were created during the 2013–14 season. Both aired during the Season 39 finale, which was hosted by Andy Samberg.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Music produced by | Original airdate | Description |
| When Will The Bass Drop? | Matt & Oz | SAM F | May 17, 2014 | In a parody of stereotypical electronic dance music performers, the DJ Davvincii performs a number of unrelated activities rather than actually mixing music. Lil Jon and the entire Season 39 cast also appear. | |
| Hugs | The Lonely Island, Pharrell Williams, Nathan Payton | The Lonely Island | Tommy Hittz | May 17, 2014 | Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Pharrell sing about how their hugs are the best but they won't lead to any kind of romantic commitment. Tatiana Maslany and Maya Rudolph make cameo appearances, as does Akiva Schaffer. This video was included on the DVD accompanying The Lonely Island's third album, The Wack Album. |
2014–2015: Season 40
One short was created for the 2014–15 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Music produced by | Original airdate | Description |
| That's When You Break | February 15, 2015 | Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler sing about times when people broke character on the show. Chris Parnell and Bill Hader also appear. This short was written and produced for the SNL 40th Anniversary Special. |
2015–2016: Season 41
One short was aired during the 2015–16 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Music produced by | Original airdate | Description |
| Finest Girl | The Lonely Island | May 21, 2016 | Conner4real sings about hooking up with a girl who used the assassination of Osama bin Laden as an example of the kind of sex she wanted to have. Cast member Jay Pharoah also makes a cameo appearance as Barack Obama. From the soundtrack for The Lonely Island's feature film, . |
2017–2018: Season 43
One short was aired during the 2017-18 season.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Music produced by | Original airdate | Description |
| Natalie's Rap 2 | The Lonely Island | The Lonely Island | February 3, 2018 | A sequel to the original Natalie's Rap from Season 31, Natalie Portman is interviewed by Beck Bennett, to which she responds with a rap about motherhood and the Star Wars prequels. At the end, she impales Bennett's head with a Time's Up pin and throws him out of the window. Andy Samberg appears as his character from the first installment, Carl, with his scenes filmed in Los Angeles outside the ArcLight Hollywood. The day after the episode aired, The Lonely Island confirmed that they wrote the sketch. |
Dress rehearsal shorts
These shorts were filmed and shown to the studio audience during the weekly SNL dress rehearsal, but were not included in the live show and have yet to appear on air.| Title | Date Intended to Air | Description |
| Lobster Claw and Handlebar | April 8, 2006 | A police officer with lobster claws struggles to eat his meal in a diner. A ninja provides the officer with a straw. First shown during the Antonio Banderas dress rehearsal. It was shown again during the remaining rehearsals of the 2005–2006 season. |
| Gawker Hopefuls | October 28, 2006 | Samberg and Armisen attempt to get noticed by Gawker.com, paparazzi, and Us Weekly. They even go to the Us Weekly and Gawker offices. It was only shown during the Hugh Laurie Dress Rehearsal. |
| The Sun's Day Off | September 27, 2008 | Samberg plays a sun who tries to brighten up Anna Faris, Bill Hader, and Will Forte's days. Only shown in the Faris Dress Rehearsal. |
| Guys In Sunglasses Lookin' Dope | April 11, 2009 | Short features close-ups of male castmembers, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Kenan Thompson and Zac Efron posing in their designer shades. They keep proclaiming they're lookin dope, camera cuts to Andy who is posing in some cheap shades. Shown to audiences only during the Efron dress rehearsal. |
| Will's Secret Weapon | May 16, 2009 | Will Ferrell has a puppet that looks like a dog and keeps attacking cast members like Bobby Moynihan, Kenan Thompson and Andy Samberg. Shown only during the Ferrell dress rehearsal. |
| Traveling With PJ | October 17, 2009 | Kristen Wiig visits New York City. At first, she's impressed but in the end realizes that she misses her hometown. Shown during the Gerard Butler and James Franco dress rehearsal. |
Other Lonely Island shorts on ''SNL''
Produced by The Lonely Island, and/or labeled Digital Shorts on official YouTube postings, these shorts aired on an SNL episode but not with the official "An SNL Digital Short" title card. As with the Digital Shorts, these are directed by Akiva Schaffer. However, according to The Lonely Island's official website, the majority of the MacGruber shorts are directed by Jorma Taccone.| Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | Description |
| An SNL Movie Trailer Re-Cut: Apocalypto | Matt Murray | Akiva Schaffer | December 9, 2006 | The trailer for Mel Gibson's film Apocalypto is newly subtitled, implying that the Jews destroyed the Maya civilization, in reference to Gibson's anti-semitic remarks in 2006. |
| MacGruber | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | Jorma Taccone | January 20, 2007 | In three parodies of MacGyver, the titular hero demands odd objects of his disgusted sidekicks in his attempts to stop catastrophic events that are mere seconds away. The episodes invariably end with his failure to stop the event. |
| Sloths! | Unknown | Jorma Taccone | February 10, 2007 | A Staten Island Zoo worker introduces Staten Island Tech High School student's crude and vile documentary on sloths before previewing it herself. |
| United Way | Seth Meyers Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer | March 24, 2007 | Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning takes time out to be a mentor to kids, but ends up being physically, mentally, and verbally abusive to them. |
| MacGruber 2 | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | Jorma Taccone | May 12, 2007 | In three more segments, the titular hero, after 15 years of sobriety, begins drinking just as his sidekicks need his bomb-defusing skills most. MacGruber's behavior evolves into a parody of David Hasselhoff's hangover video. |
| MacGruber 3 | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | Jorma Taccone | October 6, 2007 | In three more segments, the titular hero becomes obsessed with his recent plastic surgeries just as his sidekicks need his bomb-defusing skills most. |
| Virgania Horsen's Hot Air Balloon Rides | Unknown | Akiva Schaffer | February 23, 2008; February 14, 2009 | A fake commercial about a woman offering free hot air balloon rides to combat the long lines and intrusive searches at airports. There was a 2nd part to this commercial, in which Horsen flies over New York and Montreal, that was cut for time from the original airing. Both parts aired during Alec Baldwin's 2008–2009 appearance. |
| MacGruber 4 | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | John Solomon | March 15, 2008 | MacGruber feels insecure when his assistant says that he cannot do his job when he and Vicky need his bomb-defusing skills the most. Only two segments aired. In the third segment, Hader appears as MacGruber's life coach. |
| MacGruber 5 | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | John Solomon | May 10, 2008 | MacGruber and his son, Merrill, team up together. However, in the process of escaping, Merrill inadvertently confesses that he's gay leaving MacGruber to make him straight again by reciting Bible verses and forcing him to kiss Vicky. |
| MacGruber 6 | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | Jorma Taccone | October 18, 2008 | MacGruber discovers he lost all his money in the stock market and seeks desperate ways for cash just as his sidekicks need his bomb-defusing skills most. |
| Giraffes!! | Unknown | Jorma Taccone | November 1, 2008 | A sequel to the "Sloths" video, only with Jason Sudeikis as the head of the Staten Island Zoo instead of Kristen Wiig. The same students create a video that proclaims giraffes are from outer space and will destroy mankind. |
| MacGruber | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | Jorma Taccone | January 31, 2009 | MacGruber is helped by MacGyver and keeps trying to promote Pepsi, changing his name to "Pepsuber" and eventually replaces every word in his sentences with the word "Pepsi". These shorts were paid for by Pepsi as advertisements; as a result they aired during commercial breaks, not as part of the show itself, and did not air at all on the Canadian simsub on Global. The second of the three shorts was replayed as an ad during Super Bowl XLIII the next day. |
| MacGruber 7 | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | Jorma Taccone | March 7, 2009 | MacGruber is once again joined by MacGyver, who reveals that he's MacGruber's long-lost father, who left MacGruber's mother for a stripper. |
| An SNL Movie Trailer Re-Cut: Palin 2012 | Unknown | John Solomon & Colin Jost | November 21, 2009 | In another installment of An SNL Movie Trailer Re-Cut, the trailer for the disaster film 2012 is changed into a political horror about Sarah Palin's possible election as U.S. President that year. |
| MacGruber 8 | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | Jorma Taccone | January 9, 2010 | When MacGruber gets an African-American sidekick, he inadvertently reveals that he is a racist. |
| MacGruber 9 | Will Forte Jorma Taccone John Solomon | Jorma Taccone | May 8, 2010 | MacGruber works with his grandma, who embarrasses him by telling Vicki stories about his past. |
| Beastly | Unknown | Unknown | March 5, 2011 | A handsome high school student obsessed with his good looks is cursed by a witch, who transforms him into the same nerd that Samberg played in the previous Digital Short The Roommate. Having been informed by the witch that he has one year to find someone to love him "or stay like this forever", he falls in love with a girl who seemingly attempts to find his inner beauty, albeit unsuccessfully. The second consecutive Digital Short to parody a then-recent Hollywood release, it appears to be the origin story for The Roommate character, implying that he was unable to break the witch's curse. |
Reception
The short "Lazy Sunday", which aired on December 17, 2005, was viewed more than five million times on YouTube alone before it was removed due to copyright infringement. In late 2006, however, NBC began uploading SNL shorts on YouTube themselves. As of September 25, 2019, the has received over two million views.The short "Dick in a Box", which aired on December 16, 2006, was viewed more than 28 million times on YouTube. The uncensored version was available on YouTube with a special warning, stating that the sketch contained explicit language that was censored from the television version. The song also won a Creative Arts Emmy Award in 2007 for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. Songs from five other Digital Shorts received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics: "Motherlover" in 2009; "Shy Ronnie" in 2010; and "I Just Had Sex", "Jack Sparrow", and "3-Way " in 2011.
''The Shooting''
The Shooting, also known as Dear Sister, was broadcast during an episode aired April 14, 2007. The short satirizes the final scene of The O.C.'s second-season finale. The Lonely Island had the idea for the short before even being hired by Saturday Night Live and had previously recorded their own version of the short. The NBC network, which usually uploads Saturday Night Live digital shorts to its official site and YouTube channel immediately following broadcast, did not do so for Dear Sister due to music clearance issues. It nevertheless became immensely popular on YouTube with artists making parodies, re-enactments and other references.Plot
Keith writes a letter to his sister, as Dave asks what he is doing. As Keith responds, explaining he hasn't seen his sister in a long time, Dave suddenly and inexplicably shoots him. In the following overly dramatic, slow-motion death overdubbed by a cue of "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap, Dave is seen visibly shaken as Keith, in shock, collapses. As Dave gathers his bearings, Keith suddenly shoots him in return, having recovered from his injury long enough to exact his revenge to the same music cue.After both men have fallen to the ground from their separate shootings, another man, Eric, enters looking for them. Dave comes back to life to shoot Eric in the stomach, who collapses, once again to the same music. The sister herself enters the scene, and begins to read the letter until she too is shot in the gut several times by each of the three men on the ground, with the music cue restarting with every shot, until she collapses too.
The short ends as two police officers are observing the crime scene. One finds the letter, left on the table near the brother's body, and begins to read. The letter is revealed to be a prediction of each shooting, in detail, and ends claiming that two police officers will come across the letter and then shoot each other after reading it. While the reading officer laughs it off, his partner turns and shoots him as the reading officer shoots him as well to overlapping "Hide & Seek" cues.