Why Andy Samberg Decided to Stick Around ‘SNL’ After the Election
It’s no secret that Saturday Night Live has been assigning some of its most high-profile political roles to celebrity friends of the show, as opposed to its current bench of talent. In the run-up to the election, SNL brought in former cast members Maya Rudolph, Dana Carvey and Andy Samberg to play Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Doug Emhoff, respectively. Also, Jim Gaffigan was hired as Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz — a pretty good fit, considering that Walz actually did talk about Hot Pockets while on the campaign trail.
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But now that the election is over, not every guest star has stopped hanging around Studio 8H on Saturday nights. Dana Carvey has continued making regular appearances on SNL, not just as Biden, but as Elon Musk. And he will continue to do so until at least December.
More surprisingly, Andy Samberg is still there. Despite the fact that he’s moved onto the “starring in World War II dramas with Kate Winslet” phase of his career, Samberg contributed to the most recent episode of the show, belting out a new Lonely Island song in another SNL Digital Short entitled “Here I Go.”
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The song found Samberg calling the cops on his suburban neighbors for minor infractions, (while reassuring listeners that they’re all white). He’s eventually joined by his wife (played by host Charli XCX) who similarly loves cashing in on “every penny” of her taxes by “calling the pigs” (instead of having sex).
On the most recent episode of The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, Myers asked Samberg why he was still cranking out SNL sketches “post-Doug Emhoff’s relevancy.” Samberg revealed that he wasn’t really supposed to be there anymore, but he prolonged his stay when he saw who was hosting the next show. “I wasn't really scheduled to (come back), but I was so in the ‘rhythm-o’ of being there. And then they announced that Charli was gonna be there, and we’re huge fans. And we had a couple songs, frankly, that I was like, Charlie might be D-O-P-E on these.”
It turns out that the song, not unlike “Sushi Glory Hole,” has been around for a while. It was written during the recent SAG-AFTRA strike, and recorded months ago, incorporating a beat provided by Jorma Taccone’s brother Asa. In the original version, there was no wife character. “It was just the journey of this one snitch,” Samberg explained.
Samberg asked the SNL brass if he could A) stick around for another week, and B) be put in touch with Charli XCX’s people. The Lonely Island guys sent her two songs to choose from and she ultimately picked “Here I Go” because it was less of a time commitment, and also she preferred its premise. So Samberg and Akiva Schaffer penned a new “breakdown” to showcase the pop star just days before the show aired.
All of which led to a banger that can be enjoyed by everyone other than those SNL cast members whose sketches were cut that night.
