Taccone Family Stories and Q&A

Hey everybody, it is Seth, and I'm here to tell you it was one of those weeks where everybody involved with this podcast was very busy and we did not have time to get together and record. But a very cool thing happened, which is Yorma was at the premiere of his new movie at South by Southwest, and he did a panel with his brother Asa and his dad. It was called Yorma and Asa Taconi, a talk about life, sibling rivalry, and the lonely island. It was a free-flowing rollicking conversation, as you can imagine, when three Taconis uh get together. So uh that is going to be this week's episode We really hope you enjoy it and we look forward to getting back together and doing a regular episode when you next hear from us. Enjoy . Hello, hello. Uh we saw Andy Cohen backstage and I was like, why did we schedule this the same time as Andy Cohen? I want to be over there. Don't leave. Okay. Don't leave, guys. First of all, here for Over Your Dead Body. If you can go see it tomorrow, please do. Uh I'm so proud of how that movie came out. And being it's out by I'm I'm saying this all up at the top because we might use this for a podcast later and I'm just trying to hype my own movie, you guys. That's the reason that's the reason. Yeah. Uh but it was an amazing response that we had last night. I've never had the experience of anything pop off the way that Mercruber did when we did a screening here at Southby. I will always have crazy love for this festival because of that. And last night was comparable to that. It was crazy. So it was really, really fun. Thank you. Thank you. All of this is being recorded, guys . Yes. Wo o! Uh thank you. Oh, yes. I just gotta say, Yorma's movies are um extreme. And I remember at the premiere of uh McGruber I had to sit next to my eighty-five year old grandmother, and there's literally scenes where like people are fucking on a tombstone and like just repeatedly and it was it was horrifying for sure. Oh she our grandmother was so proud and the two of us worked on a uh wonderful short called Dick in a box together for which for which we both won an Emmy. Thank you very much. I didn't even know that they could put the word dick on an Emmy, but they did. Uh I'm sorry, Mike Children are here. Hi, hi Zadie. Hi. Hi, Wiley. But she had a picture of us winning the Emmy, and she would talk to people and be like, look, they won an Emmy. And then people are like, what for? And she'd be like, I wouldn't say it ever. Um this does not obviously you probably tell already this does not have a structure me and Asa have been brothers for a very long time. Uh but like but um we sort of want to just talk about like our backstory of like growing up in the bay what influences us because it is very very much what influences the lonely island musically in particular and we've worked together on so many different things throughout the years of SNL digital shorts. Uh Asa most recently was working on what was it sushi glory hole stuff that you were doing. Or no, what were you doing on the side? I did the Charlie XX song. Oh, the Charlie XXX. Yeah, yeah. So like so he's still working. Well actually like we'll get to that. So I I'll try to jump the gun here. But growing up in the Bay Area, I just wanted to like very quickly sort of go through like our our influences and with Annie and Kiev in particular, we all grew up listening to a lot of hip hop and dance hall reggae. Our years of loving stuff like it was like eighty eight to like ninety-six hip hop and so that influenced us uh greatly in addition to like all the things that the bay brings which is it's political it's pretty left leaning I would say our parents were like card carrying or uh my dad can like explain this later, but like but uh you know, communists. Uh and and uh which is super popular in America. Uh and uh but you know like dance all reggae uh uh hip hop, all that stuff is ingrained in a lot of the shorts that we have done over the years and has influenced both of us. Um and I sort of wanted to just talk about like how we got into making music. I obviously sort of fell off on making stuff, but we started at the same time, just like record d you know, digging for samples and whatever, just fucking around in our rooms. I had like Sound Edit sixteen. I was messing around with Cubase. What were the first programs that you were started in? I was a little later than you. I had like reason and logic, just these early kind of programs messing around, making terrible beats as well. But yeah, growing up in the Bay, there was a lot of reggae stuff which made it into the kind of trustafarian uh Rosh Trent vibes. Actually that's my favorite. I think that might be my favorite Lonely Island line, which is me toil part-time at Jock Coldstone Creamery. It's so crazy. We also had somebody recently write into our podcast. We have a podcast, which is called the Seth Myers Lonely Island Podcast. We've done over a hundred episodes if you guys haven't heard it. But we had somebody write in recently who from England, I think it was from England, who said we toil full time at John Coldstone Creamery and we really appreciate it. But that's kind of a real thing. Like from the Bay there was like there was just a lot of white kids that were like ultra into dance hall and reggae, but were also like kind of wealthy and you know, but they were white dreads. Oh yeah. I mean like like but like the early beats that you were making too, like all the stuff I was making was hip-hop stuff, a lot of loop baits based samples. Uh Matt Benelli Open, who uh is one half of Radio Silence. We all live together for early Lonely Island and I would make beats on this BR eight, which is like a digital eight track thing. And we actually talked about this recently on the podcast, but like we were using all of this early program stuff to like mix and a lot of your early stuff was hip hop based. Yeah, and actually if in the early days, even when you guys got on SNL, we were all still super broke and it didn't sound that good. The early stuff, Dickin'a Box, it even that it doesn't sound very good. Don't even know why you hired me for a lot of the stuff. I was terrible at music back then. But I think it's why some of it's kind of charming. It was just like truly DIY these. Well late lazy, like like that being one of the first things that we made on SNL, what I really liked and didn't even realize was such an advantage that we had was the first year that we got on SNL was the first year that they went full HD quality. And I remember actually being like annoyed with that I was like it doesn't feel as organic and really like they shouldn't HD but but because our stuff was shot on these crappier cameras it actually felt more special like when Lazy Sunday hit, which it is a rap video by going to see the Chronicles of Narnia. And this was like two it's two thousand five. Was that the first digital short that you guys did? No, it was the third. We made two. One had aired and like but we were just us like messing around like outside of Annie and Keith's apartment. But like Lazy Sunday was it was also the first time I'd ever heard of YouTube. Um and so we kind of got intrinsically tied with, but there was something about the graininess and like honestly the beat being like pretty it's pretty grimy, honestly. Yeah. And I was actually like taking drums and like crunching them to like make them even more shitty sounding. But like yeah, like it I I weirdly made it feel more special with that. Yeah, totally, totally then what okay so what was the the very first thing because I I will say this before we get into like actually the some of the things that we've done on the show together. It's a true joy to me that my wife has this with her brother who like does all the uh music for her films, that's Marielle Hiller right there. She's a much more talented filmmaker than me. Like inarguably more talented. Um but to be able to share something creatively with somebody that you're related to is like it really has been like one Lovey Boy. Love you boy. Yeah. Thank you guys. That's what we're doing for that reaction. Um I do want to say this. Asa is in a band called Electric Guest. And and early days of the Lonely Island, I met a guy named Brian and a guy named Ben. Ben Lovett and Brian Burton. Brian turned out to be Danger Mouse. Uh, and he made the gray album like while we were all living together and making stuff. I met those guys uh through my friend Anna who was was doing uh like an interview with them. She was like, You gotta meet these guys. And I met Brian and Ben and they had a house. And we didn't have a house and we were like, we're gonna shoot at your house immediately because we were making all these shorts and everything. And so I became friends with Brian and then at one point Asa was making beats. You were in were you in the house? I was in college and I used to call you and play you my terrible little music over the phone and you were just like, Oh, let me I'm gonna put my friend on the phone and you put Brian on the phone. It was kinda before he did the Gorillas and all U two and all that stuff and he was kind of I think it was before the Grey album or was it right it was it was right bef right before he did the Grey album. But you just put him on the phone and he was like, that's cool. And within five minutes we immediately got into this kind of mentor, mentee dynamic. And I ended up moving into the house that he lived in in LA when he kinda blew up and left and there was a studio in the house and I got to work with all these artists, all these M Mf Doom and all these incredible underground artists that he was working with that I just kind of inherited from living there. But he became my mentor in music and still is today and produced my first album with me and is just always he's my first phone call in life often for kind of anything. Yeah it is it is it is a vote. Uh yes. Well I mean you're welcome. No, kind of. I mean no, you put me on majorly. Majorly. Uh well so I think the very first short that we did together uh was Natalie's rap. Natalie's rap, right? Yeah. So after we made Lazy Sunday, uh just the backstory of Natalie's rap was that Natalie Portman came to SNL and loved Lazy Sunday and was like, we gotta make one of those and we were like, I don't know. Like and then we were like, it's gotta be filthy if you're gonna do this. And then she started spitting like memorized full verses of Lil Kim lyrics that were so foul. And you were like, oh, she's down. She's like she she totally gets what this is. But as as I remember our pop is a theater director and he had done a show on Broadway called Bridge and Tunnel and she was at the premiere before you guys even got on your first episode of before we knew her. Yeah, before before you guys got on SNL and she was at the after party and we ended up hanging with her and she was super cool and I think that kinda like broke the ice. Andy said like by the time that when she actually was a host or when yeah, when she was hosting it months later, you guys kinda had this rapport and it lent itself. She's like, Okay, I'll turn up and do this super raunchy. Talk about turnt up. Uh okay, do you wanna talk about the beat before we play this or you like or do you want to hear it and then um we're gonna play my first one when my son son''ss here here. My and he hasn't seen a lot of the stuff that we've done, so uh apologize in advance. This is very foul, Wiley. Okay. Uh so Chris, could we play the first and we'll probably just go through the first chorus which is a nightmare. We're sitting here today with film star Natalie Portman. Hello. So Natalie, what's a day in the life of Natalie Portman like? Do you really want to know? Please tell us. I don't sleep mother f<unk> off that yak and that turbin. Doing one twenty getting hit while I'm swerving. Damn Natalie, you a crazy chick. Yo shut the f<unk> up and suck my What you want, Natalie? To drink and fight? What you need, Natalie? J ust go away. Don't take me when I'm crazy on that air cling through Put my foot down your throat till you're s in my shoe. Leave you screaming. Pay for my dry clean ing man. It's my name that he's screaming. Okay, that's good. That's good, Chris. Thank you. So glad that's censored. So we don't we don't get we don't get super deep on like we've talked about this on the podcast before, but we don't get super deep on like how music is actually made. And th there's a reference like the format of that song is very much based on an Ice Cube song where he's being uh interview. Oh no, it's Easy. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Oh and it's called No More Questions by Easy E. But tell me about the actual beat making process. Yeah, I mean it was early days of me just messing around on my computer. So again, I was super broke. I was part of this thing. I think I was at that time paying for this service called Dynamic Producer, which was like we'll put you with real rappers in the game and each month you can submit a beat and I had done that beat for like some East Coast rapper, probably some underground dude and they didn't choose it or whatever. And so I just sent it to you guys like, Oh, maybe you'll like this and of course then it was like a month later, Natalie Portman was rapping on it. And I ended up actually going to Dynamic Producer had one of these, this kinda like symposium and all the producers came and everyone was like, bro, I can't believe that beat like really went. So it was just it was super random. I was just kind of like sending you guys whatever I was doing at that point, and you were taking a chance on me. I mean the wild thing about SNL was that you'd make these things and then you'd see them, you know, you're watching it air for the first time. Like, and the feeling that you would get as it's going out, and I I loved being connected to you in that way. Like I'm just being like, holy shit, this is like the thing that is happening on a Thursday is now airing. And I was in LA, just like sending you stuff. You're in New York. You guys would stay up all night. Sometimes you'd call me at like sometimes you guys would call me at two in the morning. I was like, oh, it's 5 a.m. New York time, and you're I'm on speakerphone with Justin Timberlake, and it's just like it's wild, and I was just some kid. But that put me on. It's just like that was the beginnings for me. Support comes from Helix. How are you preparing for springtime? Spring cleaning season. How about this? How about you upgrade your home with a Helix mattress? You know how good Helix is? It's the middle of the day, and all three members of the Lonely Island are fast asleep. I can't rouse them to help share the load of doing the ad reads. They're so enjoying their helix mattress. Helix helps you sleep better. A study they ran found that 82% of those involved saw an increase in their deep sleep cycle while sleeping on a helix mattress. I enjoy knowing that Andy, Yorm, and the other one are, you know, just cozy right now. They all wear sleep tracking devices. They all share their data with me. And uh they're crushing it. Helix is the most awarded mattress brand, tested and reviewed by experts like Forbes, Wired. You can rest easily. Also, you don't have to go down to the Helix truck the way you used to when the mattress truck would come to town. Helix offers free shipping and seamless delivery. They deliver the mattress right to your door. Free shipping in the U.S. Also, rest easy, seamless returns and exchanges. The Happy with Helix Guarantee offers a risk-free customer-first experience designed to ensure you're completely satisfied with your new mattress, go to Helix Sleep.com slash island for 20% off site wide. That's Helix Sleep.com slash island for 20% off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you Helix Sleep.com slash is land Support comes from Chime. Chime is changing the way people bank, fee-free and smarter banking built for you, not the one percent. That's you, Samberg. Chime's not for you, bud. And he gets paid every time he mentions the New York Times spelling beast, so he's like a fucking billionaire. Chime isn't just another banking app. They unlock smarter banking for everyday people with products like MyPay, giving you access to up to $500 of your paycheck anytime and getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Some old banks still uh don't uh do this. My younger self would have benefited from this a great deal. My bank treated me like garbage when I was your age. I'm assuming most of you who are listening are 18 to 21. Forget overdraft fees, minimum balance fees, and monthly fees. Chime turns everyday spending into real rewards and progress. The Chime card is a new way to build credit history with your own money and get rewarded every single day. No annual fees, no interest, and no strings attached. And when you get qualifying direct deposits, you get 1.5% cash back on eligible Chime card purchases. 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I stayed at a home on Airbnb in Stewart Island, Florida. And it was great. It was right on the beach, fifteen feet from the water. It was amazing. Stayed there with another family. There was room for all the kids. The kids loved it. We spent our days on the beach. It was super nice. The place was also super close to a bunch of fine eateries. I felt like I lived at the place, guys, and that's what's great about Airbnb over a hotel. Booking a trip on Airbnb makes for a better trip. Whether you're vacationing or you're working or you're daydreaming about a bucket list destination or with your family and you need a bit more space. Booking a trip on Airbnb makes for a better trip. You could be traveling with family or looking to discover authentic and local experiences. It does it all. We all have that dream trip we've been wishing we could go on, but too often life or usually price gets in the way. That's why Priceline is here to help you turn your dream trip into reality. With up to 60% off hotels and up to 50% off flights, you can book everything you need for your next adventure. Don't just dream about that next trip. Book it with Priceline. Download the Priceline app or visit Priceline.com and Speaking of Justin Timberlake, so let's go to uh the next thing we worked on together. Yeah, this was the second time I think we did. This is such a uh that's my daughter, she's five. Okay. Uh let's play the second one there, Chris. Uh-huh . Hey girl, I got something real important to g ive you. So just sit down and l isten Girl, you know we've been together such a long, long time . And now I'm ready to lay it on the line. W Well you know it's Christmas and my heart is open wide gonna give you something so you know what's on my mind A gift for your spe cial settee of the town Take a look inside Is my f<unk> in a box? It's a box Not gonna get you a diamond ring, that sort of gift don't mean anything Not gonna get you a fancy car Ca you gotta know you my shinest up Not gonna get you a house in your heels. A girl like you need something real. Wanna get you something from the love. Something special, girl. It's like in a box . Okay, I think that's good, Chris. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. We won an Emmy for that. Me and this guy. It's printed on the Emmy. Um shout out to uh Catrice Barnes, who is uh very sadly no longer with us, but she was an amazing, amazing music supervisor over at S Nell and she made a lot of that beat. So that's it. She she sent me those like initial just the chords. Yeah. Oh yeah. So like yeah how she just sent me this kind of skeletal thing. And I think it was kind of it was actually um was she the resident composer there at SNL? Yeah, so so the way it would work is that SNL if you had any kind of it was amazing 'cause for people that like didn't write lyrics normally to to any kind of song or whatever, there's tons of music that's being used for uh SNL and original music and things like that. So writers would be able to like just write lyrics of what they thought it should be and you know try to make it rhyme obviously and make it feel like a song, but they wouldn't have to like figure out how it's gonna fit musically or on a melody uh of the song. And then they would take it to Catrice and like she was there on Tuesday nights when people were writing and she would literally just bang out. They'd be like, ah I want this you know in the tempo of like this or like this style of music. And she was so well versed in everything that like you know like we were basically like we want this color me bad, you know, like like R and B like nineties. She was she banged out the chords and then obviously I was always promoting you. Always. Um, you know, and and not just obviously for hip hop because you were getting more and more proficient with like other types of you know constructing songs and like and and you taught yourself piano, I mean uh I you know Yeah, but you hear that's about the extent of my skills at that point. Those horn dun dun dun dun dun I mean it's it's pretty bad. Like if you actually, you know, perk your ear to the biggest way more judgmental. But yeah, she sent me those kind of rudimentary chords and then I kind of just built all the drums and all the horns around it and the bridge section and all that. And you guys are ducks like, man, make it sexy. You know, we want it to be real boys to men, Joe to see type, like white boy sexed up songs. I was like, I got you, you know. I mean, those guys are just so wildly stupid. Just even seeing like the the dance moves that they had. And honestly, like like uh it was so fun to do with Justin because like he comes from that like era of loving because we loved all that Joezy Age Town. There's a lot of like did he write the melodies? How'd you guys come up with the actual melodies for that? I wasn't there for that. Yeah, I mean that you're gonna be surprised to hear this, but Justin Timberlake is super good at writing music. And I've also never met anyone more confident in my life. Like it like like like the minute we were done with it, he was like, that's a hit. And we're like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, what? That's a hit. And he was like, and he was like the the whole time was like, oh yeah, straight to stop and I was like uh yeah it was wild you know what's crazy about that song is that I never got paid for that like d no I'm not joking and and and that and it we had no idea it was gonna blow up that much and it was around Christmas time it was I didn't even initially get the joke. I was like okay yeah dick in a box but like three and a half minutes of a whole song like how you gonna make this work whatever and of course then I saw it they're so visual a lot a lot of the times they'll tell you an idea of a joke and you'll be like, all right, okay. And then you see it visually and you're like, oh my God, this works so well. But I remember when it aired, it was like just popped off. And it was really early days of YouTube. And actually Justin Bieber's song Baby was the number one viewed song on YouTube. And this song was when it went online, it went out for like three days and it was tied for the number one song on YouTube. And then NBC because they're, wait a second, I think we need to monetize this. They pulled it for about a year and then it went back on iTunes for like a ninety-nine cent download a year later. But anyways, this man at Christmas time we had we were at Mari's house and he like took me into another room and he's like, Hey man, I know you didn't get paid for this, so check this out. I'm not joking. One $20 bill, two $20 bills, three $20 bills. My man paid me $60 for that. I was like, I'm gonna go buy a nice shirt at the mall. You know, but somebody made millions off that shit. It wasn't us, but oh, Jeff Zucker made money. Uh yeah, no. I mean I never got paid for Lazy Sundays. No, I don't like I had to join a union because I was like, oh wait a minute. I think I need to be protected. I think at the time I was like pumped on the 60 dollars. Like yes let's go. Like I'm gonna hit the mall. By the way, when you texted that, like that was the story, I was like, I gotta go to the bank and give him some more money. I was gonna give it to him here. not gonna I'm not gonna give him any more money. Um but that leads into the next one, right? It leads into Oh yeah, what are we at? Are we uh I think we might be a boom bug. Well uh just play it we'll play the next one and we'll see what it is. Because I'm not sure what that one is. Yeah, what is the ne xt one? Imagine in your mind a posh country club The stuffy old money where the poor gets stubbed The spread is bland Sour Kraut and boiled goose There's no way these people will ever cut loose But then I'll walk in the room, hold my foon box high, and what happened next will blow your mind Everything got out of control The music was so interesting Everyone got out on the floor. It was a bunch of old people dancing. A big apple where people never dance. Spirits go down while profits expand. The cops or the dealers, who's got the juice? The street vendors peddling their boy'll goose. So many types of people, they'll never get along. Till I bust out my boot box and play this song. The music washed away all the head. And society started vancing. Every demographic was represented. It was a rival coalition of dan ce Everyone was wearing greenho od I saw a Spanish guy doing the barkman. Okay, that's great, Chris. Thank you. Thank you. I just love it's so it's so specific to have a line like I saw Sp aanish guy doing the Bartman is like that's really indicative of our growing up in the bay. Um uh tell us about that one. I mean that was again like uh all this stuff, the I think the cool thing about especially those early years was it was so small. It was just like I did that with this kid, my my good friend Drew Campbell, who was just like this drum and bass kid, and he was doing a lot of trance music and we had this like this album which was like kind of like a mix between big rap beats and and trance stuff that we tried to give it to a million people like what is this music and actually Neil Brennan I remember from uh from Chappelle show when he heard this, he was like, Bro wh,y did you give them that beat? And I was like, nobody wanted this. But Andy really liked it. And yeah, that was just an early mashup of that. So so was was uh mother lover was from that same match. And shout out uh to Drew Campbell because he also did almost I think all of the music for uh Bash Brothers. We've worked with him forever. He's made through throw it on the ground too. Yeah, he's he's it like yeah, like he's he's been in the camp for a very long time. Yeah, he's the guy. Uh yeah sho,uld we go straight into uh uh mother lover then? Yeah. Yeah yeah. Oh these are these are a bummer for my kids. I uh genuinely think you should close their ears, honey. Uh okay, go Oh my god. By the way, just wait, wait, pause. Thank you. Thank you. Uh my mother hates this song. Like absolutely hates this song. Was like so disappointed. There's been a lot of disappointment in my family, but like but this is uh anyway. Let's our mother . Okay. What is a dog? I forgot it's mother's day. Didn't get a gift for her. Other plans got in the way. She'll be so disappointed. Damn, I forgot it too. This could have been avoided. What the hell are we gonna do? My mom's been so below ever since my daddy left. No wonder hold it tight, like this put it to the test. I know just what you mean, my mom's been so sad My dad can inspire her in the bedroom ever since he passed away. Hold up, you thinkin' what I'm thinking? I'm thinking I'm thinking too. Slow up. What time's it all? It's time for us, which are room. We both love a moms, women with grown given beats I say we break them off, showing how much they really mean Cause I'm a mother lover, you're a mother lover, we show each other's mothers, each other's mass I'll push in that way where you came out as a baby Ain't no doubt that it's crazy Each other's mass Cause every mother's day needs a mother's night You're doing it is wrong , I don't wanna be right. I'm calling on you because I can do it myself. Okay, great, great. Uh thank you. Thank you. Another hit. You know, to add on to what you were saying, our mother was horrified. And actually, my distinct memory of of this was we like a month later were in a hotel in Miami because you guys were shooting I'm on a boat. And we received, as I remember, a letter, an actual written letter from my our mother. And like my brother was saying, our parents came from this hyper political leftist thing. And it was just this scolding. And she was just like, you guys, Obama is gonna be elected and it's time to step up these, you know, immature jokes, penis. And I I was like, I'll just do the music, bro. This man man this is the one with the whatever. Amazing how many things or five year olds just asked what sex means. Oh. Great. Great. We'll talk about it later. Say. Just listen to the podcast. Um oh my god. Okay. This continues after this. Uh yes. Um uh what were we just talking about? Just our mother. Oh yes, yeah, yeah. No. I w it's actually really funny because like there's there's been so many things she's been like she w so wants she wants the best for us for sure. And when I like made a children's book, she was like, that's what you should be doing. Why do you have to like McGruber? Why? Why is that? And but you know, like to bring it back to this movie that I just made, the uh the over your dead body, I have not seen someone laugh at like ultraviolence like I did she loved it. It was shocking. And my mother in law as well. It was hor like like horrifying stuff. Yeah, she doesn't hold her tongue for sure. Anyway. Fucking hypocrite. Um so uh so there's been so many other things we've we've worked on, but I did want to play this before 'cause I'm paying attention to the clock here. We have a little timer here. But But the thing that actually made me want to get back into like feature film stuff because I'd been doing television for a number of years. Um and I did a uh spin-off of a Sonic the Hedgehog show called Knuckles. I did a very weird episode of of that show, uh which is eight minutes of it is like a musical. I did want to play a little bit of that because Asa made all the music for that and it was a really fun thing. And and this really prompted me to wanna get back into making a feature because it was it was a bigger episode. I had more money on this episode than I did for the feature that I just did. Uh for like an eight day shoot. And it was just really fun. And and we'll play that and hopefully that's entertaining to you guys. Let's see. Wait. I'm not in the show, am I? Prepare yourself, Way, because if you want to learn where Knuckles' true strength lies, you must see this quest through his eyes. You must become him . This is going to be awes ome W ait. I'm Knuckles? I mean, I'm Knuckles! Hey Wade, don't make this weirder than it already is. Got it! Good note on a glorious quest Hello Wade for Glory What with his hands of stone and bees that never buckles. Come and witness the tales of the warrior knuckles. Yeah . Uh what is Jackson Clair doing here? Clearly, you two have unfinished business. Ah, yeah, no fair point. He does have me locked up in a giant cage right now. A proceed. And now we begin our qu est. When a hero was only a lad, he was trained by the greatest his dad. Had the technique and also the guts. He prepared to kick multiple butts. But the giant owls, they did come. They had one mission to kill everyone. Knuckles and dad didn't know what to do. Yes, they were doom. The owls, they clawed and they kicked They hooted and flew into fits. They set fire to the town and burned it to the ground. I'm so freaking upset, I can't sing about it . Father, you can't leave me. I won't, son. I ne ver let's stop it there. Let's stop it there. I would love to play that entire thing because it builds so crazily. It gets so weird. Michael Bolton's in the end of it. It's like it's so buck wild. And it was so fun to do. And then Asa also uh sings the voice of this demon later, but I wanna be able to get to questions and things like that. So we're not gonna do that. But if you want to talk about like like uh this also relates to uh Over Your Dead Body, Bob Star, uh uh McGruber, but Ace's other half in Electric Guest is Matthew Cornbred Compton. I don't know why is his name Cornbread. I have no idea. He's he just doesn't have an interesting story for it either. He's just like he's a southern kid, so like you know. He liked cornbread, I guess. But he composes a lot of stuff and he's he's done some He did he did uh uh Palm Springs as well. He helped on on that. Like but he's worked with us forever. So he composes with you oftentimes and and you guys have done a lot of other like TV stuff and right, like like Yeah, and I remember when you came to us with this, you're like, Oh, we're gonna do this like rock opera. And we had actually some years before our pop had I not retired, but he had left his job and there was this big kind of like farewell party, and we did this song like roasting him that was kind of a rock opera. It was just all about how he was a tyrant to work under played that. And that was such a special moment for us. But uh it was basically the same thing. It was like a very similar beat. So that was kind of my like inspiration for this. That's fine. That's fine. Uh when we made this, we didn't know how this was gonna be aired with with this roasting of my dad. And it was the who's who of San Francisco elite, like like it was like an auction with like really like well to do people. And then we were like, uh, we made this fucking video, uh, roasting our dad. And I remember actually playing it for Andy and I was like, I don't feel like it's mean enough. And he was like, it's pretty mean. Yeah. Support comes from Shopify. When we started this podcast, it seemed like we had to figure it out on our own. Scripts, setups, filming locations, logos, schedule, everybody's schedule. The fact that we could maybe do it the same time every week, but no, that that was a non-starter. It was all super overwhelming and every day seemed to introduce a new decision that needed an answer. You know, when you're starting off with something new, it seems like your to-do list keeps growing every day with new tasks, and that list can easily begin to overrun your life. Shopify though. Shopify is a tool that answers all those questions, simplifies everything, it's a game changer, it's a commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the US, from household names like Aviator Nation, Untucket, to brands that are just getting started, are thriving with Shopify. You can get started with your own design studio with hundreds of ready-to-use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store that matches your brand's style. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hear ing. Sign up for your one dollar per month trial today. It's Shopify.com slash lonely island. Go to shopify.com slash lonely island that shopify dot com slash lonely is land. Support comes from Viore. I just got the Stratotech hoodie. It's so soft, it wicks moisture. And uh Jorm doesn't have it. He's soaked. The Sunday performance jogger is still one of my favorites. Great for working out, lounging in post-workout, recovery, and for exercise, I wear my favorite core short, the one short every sport. They're all stylish, comfortable enough to wear all day. We should get the we like sports guys to do a one short every sport ad, but gonna be a premium. Not gonna just be a normal ad read to get the just two guys. They're soft, lightweight, four weight, performance stretch with a breathable boxer brief liner. Look, the great thing about a Viori it's comfortable. You can wear it all day long. You can work out in it. You can hang out at home. You can wear it at work and you know people don't give you a hard time. Although it's hard to tell, you know, because I am, you know, where I work, it's uh I think I could look pretty bad without people saying anything on account of it being my show. But I could tell you that if somebody wore Viore into my office, I'd have no problem with it because I think it's a wonderful thing to wear. Viori is an investment in your happiness for our listeners. They're offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet. Viori.com slash island. That's V-U-O-R-I.com slash island. Exclusions apply. 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They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists across the US, offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends. I can tell you as someone who has benefited from therapy over the years, there's nothing quite like being with a professional and talking through how you are feeling in times of need. Whatever challenges you're facing, Growth Therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans sessions average about $21 with insurance, and some pay as little as zero depending on their plan. Visit Growth Therapy.com/slash island today to get started. That's growth therapy.com slash island. Growth therapy dot com slash island. Availability and coverage. Very by state and insurance plan. My day kicks off with a refreshing Celsius energy drink. Then straight to the gym. Pre-K pickup, back home to meal prep. Time for my fire station shift. One more Celsius, gotta keep the lights on. When the three alarm hits, I'm ready. Celsius. Live, fit, go. Grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locatenow at Celsius.com . This episode is brought to you by Peloton. Step up your sweat with the Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus. Swivel your screen 360 degrees and follow your favorite instructors on and off your tread. Track your form and reps with the movement tracking camera. Feel supported as you train on the cushioned slap belt and move to the beat with sound by Sonos. Elevate your workouts with the Cross Training Tread P lus. I do want to get our father up here real quick. We as a special guest we're gonna have Tony Taconi. Come on up Daddy. We got him a mic. So tell us about how great we are. I apologize. I do want to ask a specific question, which is we've talked about this on the pod and I know you maybe listen occasionally. I don't know. Okay. The question is is that when we got SNL, at one point you were like, oh thank God. And I was like, what? And you were like, oh I thought this was going nowhere. Like that's I never said that. That is not true. We never said that. I never said that. Oh, yeah, okay. Um what was your opinion? I mean, you know, you have kids and they're playing with Legos one day and you think what is this kid gonna end up doing? And in my case, these were not children who were particularly um no right exception al He bagged on us so hard for a speed. Okay, so so I went into Yorma's bedroom one time. He's like a sophomore in high school, and I was like, dude, your grades could be so much better. You're you're smart, you know, you have the capacity to be really an excellent student. And he said, Dad, have you seen the kids who get straight Ace? No way. Okay, and that was the end of that. And then I mean with Ace's uh high school experience The single biggest memory I have was the police coming to our house and pasting a poster, gluing a poster onto the front door which said this house is being surveilled like seriously. And like that was like, okay, what are they gonna be doing for jobs and a profession? Um but and of course looking back on it I mean they were raised in an artistic environment. My grandfather was an artist, my dad was an artist, and in our family we were sort of schooled with the idea that art is the highest aspiration of humankind. And that was an incredible gift. An incredible long term gift. And these guys were exposed to that. You never ex you know want your kids to grow up to this field. But but they kind of ended up having no choice because they were surrounded by it all the time and they're also both uh fortunately both brilliant guys. So it it worked out. There's there's a um drawing that I made in third grade that is uh Superman flying into a toilet and it says, I want to become an actor because my dad is a director. And I'm sure at the time he was like, This is hilarious. My kid's going down the toilet. But like the fact that you framed it, it's it's in our house right now Sibling rivalry. So both of these guys were born at home, and there's a picture actually of Yorma when Ace is literally coming out of the chute. And Yorma is is there going Macaulay Culkin. And so, you know, oh my God, you have a baby brother, it's so amazing, it's beautiful, and you know, love him more than anybody else in the whole world. And then a week later we go to the hospital to get the checkup and you know they're having this wonderful bonding experience in our minds. And we get out of the car, went home, and Yorma runs into the house, like ahead of us. We're like, oh, he's excited to be home. We're carrying Ace. So we come in the house and Yorma is pissing in Ace's bassinet . Like pissing in like sh h sh like this is like a rooster gone mad. This my shit. It was like okay, like okay, so they're maybe not they're gonna have some trouble um as the years go on. So that's why he got sixty dollars. Uh I remember also uh when the Lonely Allen was first uh these guys were unique 'cause they went to junior high together and they had this pact that they were gonna get together after college and work together and we were like, yeah, like that'll ever happen. Who does that? They did and they came to me and they said, listen, we don't have a computer. Can you front us on this? So I said, well, what's your business plan? And they sat there and they kind of explained to me what they're going to do. And I said, okay. And then when I r I remember us going to up Berkeley Reps Prop Department and robbing the prop department of stuff for um Awesome Town actually. We ended up doing that. Oh wow. Yeah, we ended up robbing the prop department. You guys were picking up wigs and all that stuff. We got seventy thousand dollars to make awesome town and it was supposed to be seven minutes long and I think it's like eighteen minutes long. But like that's how we did that. It was all just beg borrow steel. Right. From Burke Reb, I guess. Yeah, that's right. Oh my god. And then but with this guy, um I would say this is gonna sound odd, but of all the members in our family who have pursued a creative life, I think this guy is the only guy who had to be an artist. I think the way his brain is structured. Okay, let that soak in. Because I could have been a lawyer $60, but I'm the real born to do it. No. Well, I had no other choice. No, I I I just feel that he had a particular um just predisposition for it that felt like it was sort of in it at a preconscious age. Bombing out of school, getting you evicted, which I did. Also the the party that you got him evicted for Nate Heller was at my brother in law. So it's all pretty full circle bear. It sounds a lot more traumatic than it was. Anyway, it was a great party though. You want to take some questions from your Oh yeah, yeah. Let's stay up here though. Oh okay. Oh they're already up here. Okay. What's your favorite Lonely Island song? Uh oh I I know what it is. It's Iran so far. Um and when we talked about oh look it it goes off when you when you answer it. Um also just talking about samples and beating samples that uh we've talked about this before, but I've sampled Aphex Twin for that and I didn't tell NBC that it was a sample and then they had to pay a hundred and sixty thousand dollars for that sample and then they kept every every beat that I made after that, they were like, is there a sample? And I was like, Jesus, I learned my lesson, all right. Uh what's the process of working with Andy Sandberg look like? Kind of moody sometimes. But he's worth it. He's worth it. Uh let's see. Wait, I got a question. I have a question for you that I actually wanted to know. Because I I don't know who in the audience saw this man's movie last night. But I Yeah. It was the first time everyone in my family seen it like four times in all the edits, and I had never seen it and I was genuinely like oh damn I was I was blown away and I was wondering was there anything in the early like lonely island days that technically that you learned that that you know made its way to yes that you know when that book came out with like the whole ten thousand hours of like all early Lonely Island stuff that we did at the show, like I learned editing from Akiva, the computer that my dad helped us purchase. I learned Final Cut three and then it went up to seven before it final cut imploded. But like I learned editing from Akiva and then we edited every single one of the shorts that we did at SNL often together in different rooms and then we would join file but like we put in thousands of hours and we got our 10,000 hours doing that often at like five in the morning. Like I say this a lot, but like I had a moment at SNL where I'm editing something at I don't know if it was a McGuber or whatever it was, but I'm editing at five o'clock in the morning. I literally my body starts shaking because I'm so tired, and I fell on the floor and went to sleep. I was like, okay. But all of that goes into like there's a dedication that I got from those guys. So yes, all those 10,000 hours of like going into especially like in that movie, there's so much that goes into like jump scares and and horror and like that is so similar to comedy and how comedy is like you're always trying to stay one step ahead of I always say with So as siblings, what are some w ways you irritate each other? And also what are your ways of getting over a fight? We've had some fights. Yeah, we've had some fights. Remember when we got in a fight at that restaurant in front of everybody? That was crazy. I was there, you left me there to have to negotiate with it. That's right, yeah. That's cause we tried living together. That was the problem. Well, I okay, I have a different perception of get out of town. Different perception that's a little was this the one though that uh 'cause we had one at Smokehouse that was that was pretty yeah. That was pretty drop down. I don't think we are over it is the short answer. Yeah, exactly. Next question. Okay. Uh audience have listened to and loved your work with the legendary Michael Bolton in past songs and creation. Who is another musician that you would love to work with? Who would you love to work with? Oh my God, there's too many. Beebs? Bieber? I mean shit. It's so crazy to even say that because I'm like, oh shit, we worked with him. Yeah, you guys have worked with everybody. I was gonna say Kendrick, but you guys worked with Kendrick and Marvel, you know? Yeahah, yeah, yeah, ye. Uh song called YOLO, which was by the way, before we showed all of those videos, that was the one song I could play for my child because it doesn't have curse cursing in it, as Kendrick Lamar. Uh do you have anybody else that you like it would actually like to work with? I mean, you know, uh we occupy kind of different lanes. I think because of my association with you guys and uh that I was lucky enough to do all that early stuff. People still hit me up for comedy stuff. Like, yo, do you want to make my comedy album? And I'm like, I am not that was just a random slew of years where I was involved in that he says that but he's a very, very funny person. Oh, well thank you. Like like here, do your impression of Michael Jackson for a second. Oh my gosh. Just re do it real quick. I could I couldn't. Okay. Well No, but people still I like I mean I I think I got I was lucky enough to I got a lot of like gigs like for American Dad. I do all their kind of like musical stuff and there's been a bunch of shows. I did like, you know, Portlandia. We did the the Simpsons. The Simpsons hit me up to make a be and I was like, uh like like and Lady Gaga was gonna do it. Yeah, and I got to do it. I had just performed naked in front of Lady Gaga too, uh, at the show. You can look up Yorm dances. I I I saw the like so then uh I was like, Oh no, you should work on Hi, nice to see you again. Um anyway, that's too complicated to explain. Uh but it's crazy. Like you've worked with Gaga, you've worked with uh I like he's worked with uh uh The Weekend, like you with him all. Yeah, I did yeah, I did like the music for his HBO show, the idol, and I've gotten a lot of things kind of through you guys, but quote unquote serious music or non jokey stuff occupies like a a different lane. So and I produced a lot of bands and different acts in that stuff to Portugal the Man and I'm doing it. Quite popular. But no, I've I've been lucky, but I don't have like you I feel like you guys bec especially because of the SNL years, you guys just so many people came through that building that it was just like the who's who of of anybody for kind of the like we didn't even talk about Julian Casablanca's like we were we were so into the strokes and like to have that dude come in and like be deferential was like so weird. Oh yeah I remember I remember when you guys when did boom box like you guys rented this house in Encino and I just showed up there one day and he was like playing tennis with Danger Mouse and when he got off the court all sweaty he was like, Oh you did boom box like what's up and I was like oh my God You're in the strokes like this is crazy. Uh uh Yorma, you've said that Akiva taught you how to edit. What's the biggest editing lesson you've learned from him? Uh let me just say one thing about Akiva and I've said this on the on the podcast before, but there was a moment where he was so up in arms about a lip flap being off on a music video thing. He was so mad about it. He was like, it's way off. It's way off. Dude, and it made me go back and forth, back where it's like a five-minute back and forth, back and forth. And he's like, now it's good. And I was like, that's one frame. It's one frame out of like twenty-four in a second. But I will say that's what I learned from him is like a level of dedication and never ever letting it out of your sight of like trying to make it better, trying to make it better, trying to make it better. But having said that, psycho Let's see. Uh Yorma to this day, what's your favorite line that you wrote? Uh God, favorite line? Oh, I do like um in uh throw it on the ground. My dad's not a phone. Duh. Yeah, I like that. Uh okay. Well, what's the funniest short scene or moment you produced or written? I I think I'm always uh in the camp of like the latest thing is the thing I'm the most into. Uh this is Zadie. Wiley, do you want to come up to it's a family affair. Okay. Um this is Zadie. She's in her own short. I've been talking about this on the podcast, but she uh she and Wiley are in a uh a home movie that we've been doing.