The opening title that appears before most shorts.

An SNL Digital Short is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for NBC's Saturday Night Live. Generally produced and written by The Lonely Island (Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer and Andy Samberg), the series was originated by Adam McKay, in collaboration with SNL hosts, writers, and cast members. The segments were originally recorded with consumer grade digital video cameras and edited on personal computers.[1] It is usual for the episode's hosts and musical guests (the latter on rarer occasions) to take part in the episode's short, and several shorts have included celebrity cameos.

The shorts generally took fewer than five days to complete.[2] Akiva Schaffer has directed a majority of them, with Taccone as occasional director or co-director. Taccone, along with his brother, Asa, have produced music for the shorts as necessary.

With 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,[3] although the episode on January 26, 2013 featured a Digital Short,[4] as well as two during the Samberg-hosted season 39 finale on May 18, 2014. Another short was aired during the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special on February 15, 2015 (featuring Andy Samberg & Adam Sandler). On May 21, 2016, another short was aired to promote The Lonely Island's new movie, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

List of shorts [ edit ]

2005–2006: Season 31 [ edit ]

11 shorts were aired during the 2005–2006 season.

2006–2007: Season 32 [ edit ]

A total of 12 shorts were created for 2006–2007.

2007–2008: Season 33 [ edit ]

A total of 11 shorts were created for 2007–2008.

2008–2009: Season 34 [ edit ]

A total of 16 shorts were created for the 2008–2009 season.

2009–2010: Season 35 [ edit ]

A total of 19 shorts were created for the 2009–2010 season.

2010–2011: Season 36 [ edit ]

A total of 17 shorts were created for the 2010–2011 season.

2011–2012: Season 37 [ edit ]

A total of 14 shorts were created for the 2011–2012 season.

2012–2013: Season 38 [ edit ]

One short was aired during the 2012–2013 season. It was during an episode hosted by Adam Levine featuring a live cameo by Andy Samberg.

Title Written by Directed by Original airdate Description YOLO Andy Samberg

Akiva Schaffer

Jorma Taccone The Lonely Island January 26, 2013 The Lonely Island, Adam Levine, and Kendrick Lamar sing about the virtues of staying safe in daily life (flipping the intended meaning of YOLO with "You Ought to Look Out"), and become increasingly paranoid of everything. Danny McBride cameos as a man attempting to do cocaine in a nightclub. Video featured on The Wack Album

2013–2014: Season 39 [ edit ]

Two shorts aired during the 2013–14 season, in the episode hosted by Andy Samberg.

2014–2015: Season 40 [ edit ]

One short was aired during 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 Show.

2015–2016: Season 41 [ edit ]

One short was aired during the 2015–16 season.

Title Written by Directed by Music produced by Original airdate Description Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song) May 21, 2016 Conner4real (Samberg) sings about having sex with a girl like the execution of Osama bin Laden. This is a song written for The Lonely Island's comedy film Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

2017–2018: Season 43 [ edit ]

One short was aired during the 2017-18 season.

Title Written by Directed by Music produced by Original airdate Description Natalie's Rap 2 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 (holding Alex Moffat at gunpoint while dressed as her character Padme Amidala). 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, Carl, from the first short (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.[38]

Dress rehearsal shorts [ edit ]

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 (Samberg) with lobster claws struggles to eat his meal in a diner. A ninja (Banderas) 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.[39] 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.[40] 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.[41] 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(host) 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.[42] 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.[43] 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 [ edit ]

Produced by The Lonely Island,[44][45] and/or labeled Digital Shorts on official YouTube postings, these shorts aired on an SNL episode but not with the official SNL Digital Short title card. As with the Digital Shorts, these are directed by Akiva Schaffer. However, according to the official LonelyIsland website, the MacGruber shorts are directed by Jorma Taccone and written by Will Forte.

Reception [ edit ]

The short "Lazy Sunday", which aired December 17, 2005, was viewed more than five million times on YouTube alone before it was removed due to copyright infringement.[citation needed] In late 2006, however, NBC began uploading SNL shorts on YouTube themselves. The short "Dick in a Box" which aired in December 2006, was viewed more than 28 million times on YouTube.[citation needed] It was available uncut on YouTube with a special warning, stating that the sketch contained explicit language that was censored from the television version. The short also won an Emmy Award.

The Shooting [ edit ]

Samberg in "The Shooting"

The Shooting, also known as Dear Sister,[53] was broadcast during an episode aired April 14, 2007. The short satirizes the final scene of The O.C.'s second-season finale.[54][55] 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.[56] 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.[57] It nevertheless became immensely popular on YouTube with artists making parodies, re-enactments and other references.[56]

Plot [ edit ]

Keith (Bill Hader) writes a letter to his sister, as Dave (Andy Samberg) 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 (Shia LaBeouf), enters looking for them (saying he's "just thought of the funniest thing"). Dave comes back to life to shoot Eric in the stomach, who collapses, once again to the same music. The sister herself (Kristen Wiig) enters the scene, and begins to read the letter ("Dear Sister, By the time you read this...") 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 (Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen) 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.

Controversy [ edit ]

On April 16, 2007, two days following the initial air date of the sketch, the Virginia Tech shooting occurred and became the deadliest school shooting in modern U.S. history.[58][59] Noam Cohen of The New York Times criticized fans of the short for insensitivity when they continued to make YouTube videos based on it.[57]