The Lonely Island (TLI) is an American comedy troupe composed of Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg, best known for its musical parodies. The group is from Berkeley, California, and is currently based in New York City. The group began creating live comedy skits in junior high school and continued to do so, expanding its repertoire to comedic shorts, music parody (both songs and videos), and one full-length television pilot, before coming to the attention of Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Once on the show, they wrote \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Lazy Sunday,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" a better-produced music parody video much like the group\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s previous work. It became an instant Internet success, and led to the creation of similar digital shorts that also aired on Saturday Night Live. The Emmy-winning \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Dick in a Box\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Jizz in My Pants\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Like a Boss\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and the Grammy-nominated \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m on a Boat\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" have subsequently had huge success both on the show and on the Internet and prompted the recording and release of an album, Incredibad, in which the group moves in a more musical direction. In August 2007, the group premiered its first feature film, Hot Rod. The Lonely Island Also known as Incredibad, the Dudes Origin Berkeley, California Genres Comedy hip hop, Comedy rock, nerdcore Years active 2001–present Labels Universal Republic Records Associated acts T-Pain, Justin Timberlake, Natalie Portman, Jack Black, E-40, Julian Casablancas, Seth Rogen, Norah Jones, Tenacious D, Rihanna Members Andy Samberg Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m on a Boat\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" is a single from The Lonely Island\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s debut album Incredibad, which was also featured as a Saturday Night Live Digital Short. The song features R&B singer T-Pain. The song, produced by Wyshmaster, is a parody of many rap video cliches. The music video reached number one on YouTube in February 2009 and was number one on the U.S. iTunes music video chart. The song was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 52nd Grammy Awards. The Lonely Island has also performed the song live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with The Roots filling in for T-Pain. The song is now confirmed to have gone gold. Music and lyrics The song features an aggressive delivery of the lyrics which are peppered with strong profanity throughout while making simple proclamations, ranging from the insane (\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m gonna fly this boat to the moon somehow\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\") to the mundane (\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve got a nautical-themed pashmina afghan\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\") to the inane (\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"This boat engine make noise\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"). The song makes allusions to various events, people and other elements from pop culture. It quotes Kevin Garnett as saying \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Anything is possible!\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" — an exclamation he made after the 2008 NBA Finals. Samberg visually and lyrically references Leonardo DiCaprio\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s scene in the 1997 film Titanic, where on the bow of the ship, DiCaprio\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s character shouts, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m the king of the world.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" In the video, Samberg holds a press conference with a blue \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m on a Boat\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" banner in the background while wearing a flight suit, a sight gag reminiscent of President George W. Bush\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s 2003 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Mission Accomplished\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" press conference. Rapper E-40 (who appears elsewhere on the album) often mentions liquors in his rap, which corresponds to the mention of Santana champagne (the actual topic of E-40\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s featured appearance). Music video The video opens with Andy Samberg — who is sitting at the kitchen table with bandmates Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone — pouring cereal into a bowl. To his delight, a coupon for a free boat ride for three falls out of the box. After pondering who will go with him, Samberg picks Schaffer but skips over Taccone in favor of the previously unseen rapper T-Pain, who has apparently been sitting at the table directly across from the others, barely off camera, the entire time. The three men are next seen atop the yacht Never Say Never in Biscayne Bay, Florida, dressed in tuxedos as Samberg announces that they are about to set sail on a boat. The video frequently shows flashes of the left-out Taccone at comparatively mundane places, like \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"at Kinko\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s straight flippin\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' copies\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" or lifting a parking ticket from his car. The rap portion of the video places the three throughout the boat and in varying attire, including full tuxedos, a flight suit, traditional sailor costumes, white naval uniforms and typical casual and formal resort wear. Reception Critical Giving the song four stars, Rolling Stone said it is \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"one of the strongest Saturday Night Live hip-hop hits since Eddie Murphy was funny.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Stereogum called the tune \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"a 2:42 masterclass in stunting.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" The A.V. Club said the song \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"holds up well on physical media.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Popular As of January 11, 2010, the video has been viewed more than 40.7 million times and was featured by Entertainment Weekly, Stereogum, and G4\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Attack of the Show. Awards In December 2009, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m on a Boat\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" received a nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 52nd Grammy Awards, a category held for a [rhymed]/sung collaborative performance by artists who do not normally perform together, losing to Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Rihanna\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s song \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Run This Town\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Single by The Lonely Island featuring T-Pain from the album Incredibad Released February 3, 2009 Format Digital download Recorded 2008 Genre Comedy hip hop Length 2:36 Label Universal Republic Writer(s) Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, A. Cherrington T-Pain Producer Wyshmaster Certification Gold (RIAA, CRIA)