Q&A With Andy Samberg, Viral Video King

Chris Hardwick: Do you think that the trappings of traditional media make online comedy less funny?

Andy Samberg: When we do the music videos now, it’s the most we spend. Which is kind of ironic, because in the beginning it was like, look how cool we can make it for cheap. But you know, we have a record deal, so we’re trying to compete with the biggest videos. Such a huge part of our joke is having it feel like modern pop or modern rap or modern whatever genre. But a huge part of that is mimicking the style of the videos, the excitement and glossiness. We learned that on “Jizz” and “Boat” especially.

CH: We got so Charlie Rose there for a second. “When you were working on ‘Jizz’—”

AS: Oh, man, that was like the episode of Inside the Actor’s Studio with Dave Chappelle, when James Lipton plays a clip from Half Baked and says, “That was a remarkable piece of acting.” Chappelle just dies laughing. That was my favorite thing ever. There’s no way to talk about comedy seriously without sounding like a dickhead.

Q&A With Andy Samberg, Viral Video King / wired.com / April 15, 2011