The ‘SNL’ Sketch That Caused an NBC Exec to Scream at The Lonely Island

During their time on Saturday Night Live, The Lonely Island weren’t exactly known for being terribly controversial. Sure, the musical comedy trio dropped tracks about sticking your junk inside of a Christmas present, and ejaculating in public (which were separate songs, by the way), but they also devoted a lot of time to more PG topics like Narnia, Captain Jack Sparrow and the concept of existing on a boat. 

But it turns out that the group did occasionally find themselves in hot water with the NBC brass. In the most recent episode of The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, a listener sent in a question inquiring about the “most trouble the Lonely Island got in during their tenure at SNL.” 

While they didn’t get in trouble exactly, Jorma Taccone did describe how, after they “spent a lot of money” on the Digital Short “I Wish it Would Rain,” he received “a very sarcastic response from Lorne (Michaels), and that made me feel bad about myself.”

More contentious was “Jizz in My Pants,” which Akiva Schaffer noted, forced them to “call Jeff Zucker, who ran the network, to get approval for it to air at the last minute.” And even worse was the time Schaffer got chewed out by an NBC executive, which he believes was due to the “Dick in a Box” sequel “Motherlover.” 

Despite the fact that it starred Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson and Oscar winner Susan Sarandon, apparently NBC wasn’t thrilled with airing a sketch about two dudes agreeing to bone each other’s moms on SNL’s Mother’s Day episode, back in 2009. “There was a dude on (the) West Coast that was (SNL standards executive Betzy Torres’) boss,” Schaffer explained. “I had to say, can I just talk to the boss? ‘Cause she kept saying, ‘My boss won't allow it.’ And I said, ’Can I talk to him?’ And they had to pull him out of a dinner cause it was, in West Coast time, 8 p.m. on a Saturday night.”

Apparently, the executive wasn’t too happy about having his meal interrupted to discuss the suitability of mother-loving content on late-night television. “He was so mad at me on the phone, just unbridled anger at someone he had never met while we're trying to put a show on,” Schaffer recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Hey, hi, how are you?’ ‘I'm in the middle of a dinner. It's 8:30 p.m. What is this?’”

“I never forgot,” Schaffer continued, “‘cause it’s weird to have a stranger scream at you on the phone that you’ve never met.” 

“They put that scene, even though it was apocryphal, they put it in the Reitman movie,” Meyers joked, adding a follow-up question, “What L.A. restaurant did you most want to picture him in, stepping outside to yell at you?”

“Oh, Spago,” Schaffer quickly responded. “Obviously Spago.”

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