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 Short 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 (Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, and Andy Samberg) 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 (the latter on rarer occasions), 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 directed a majority of them, with Taccone as occasional director or co-director. Taccone also produced music for the shorts as necessary, along with his brother, Asa.
Following Samberg's departure 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 eight new Digital Shorts from The Lonely Island have aired since then: two that featured the episode's respective hosts (Adam Levine in Season 38 and Natalie Portman in Season 43); 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 (featuring Samberg & Adam Sandler); one that aired during the Season 41 finale in May 2016 to promote The Lonely Island's feature film, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping; and three that aired in Season 50, with one being in the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special.
In 2024, Samberg, Schaffer, and Taccone, alongside Seth Meyers, began The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, a rewatch podcast covering the production of every digital short.
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 (Forte, Andy Samberg) 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. Currently banned on YouTube in many regions including the US. Lazy Sunday Andy SambergAkiva SchafferJorma TacconeChris Parnell Akiva Schaffer December 17, 2005 Parnell and Samberg perform rap about going out to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on a typical Sunday, while also getting themselves food and acing the pre-film trivia questions. The short became a viral video online. Music produced by Jorma Taccone. Young Chuck Norris Harper Steele Akiva Schaffer January 21, 2006 A Chuck Norris fan (Jason Sudeikis) sings a rock ballad about the action star (Samberg) 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 TangentBill Haderhttps://thelonelyisland.blogspot.com/2006/02/tangent-snl-digital-short.html The Tangent Akiva Schaffer February 4, 2006 Joel (Armisen) rambles endlessly about a restaurant he visited to his friend Liz (Kristen Wiig) at first, and becomes so involved in the story that he fails to notice that he is discovered by talent scouts (Hader, Parnell), 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 Two old friends from school (Forte, Steve Martin) meet up after years apart, greeting each other loudly while standing with their faces only an inch apart. Natalie's RapFeatured as an Easter egg on the two-disc DVD of V for Vendetta. Andy SambergAkiva SchafferJorma TacconeAsa 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 SambergAkiva SchafferJorma 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 (Horatio Sanz) is Samberg's doppelgänger, they kill the real Samberg in an evil twin scenario. Laser Cats! Andy SambergLorne MichaelsBill 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 (a short within a short), 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 (Lindsay Lohan) from the evil Robotron (Will Forte). 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 (Kenan Thompson, Forte, and Parnell) discuss the music video by pop stars Ariel (Samberg) and Efrim (Tom Hanks), 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 SambergAkiva SchafferJorma TacconeWill Forte May 13, 2006 A distraught man (Samberg), pressed against the side of a building, threatens to jump to his death. A second man (Forte), 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 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 (a then-writer for SNL) 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.