These days, funny videos on the internet are fairly ubiquitous, and those referencing reference science fiction or fantasy even more prevalent. However, back in 2001, three comics who called themselves The Lonely Island pioneered sketch comedy online.
Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone were rewarded for their efforts by landing jobs with Saturday Night Live in 2005. They quickly introduced the concept of the SNL Digital Short that ushered in a whole new era for the show, giving us some of the show’s funniest moments of the past several years. It’s also clear that the dudes are big SFF fans as evidenced by the plethora of nerd references in their videos. Here are just a few of The Lonely Island’s science fiction and fantasy shout-outs.
“Space Olympics”
In this one, Andy is the master of cermonies at a future sporting event gone terribly wrong. Our favorite thing in this might be “space swords.” (Spoiler: It’s totally cancelled.)
“Lazy Sunday” (“The Narnia Rap”)
Now, we know this one doesn’t actually have any actual fantasy magic in it, but these guys are on their way to see The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Not mention this one of the first SNL Digtial Shorts and really cemented the concept as being viable.
“Laser Cats”
Though there is an entire series of “Laser Cats” (and a Laser Cat reference in “Space Olympics”!) We think the first adventure of Admiral Spaceship and Nitro might be the best.
“Captain Jack Sparrow”
We would be remiss if we didn’t include this latest entry, which shows us all what a huge fan of Jack Sparrow Michael Bolton turns out to be.
There are of course, a few more, but these tend to be the office favorites.
Stubby the Rocket is the voice and mascot of Tor.com. Stubby would clean up in the Space Olympics. Space Rockets anyone?
