The Lonely Island is a group of filmmakers founded in 2001 by Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg (aka The Dudes). The group was originally from Los Angeles, California but now resides in New York. The Lonely Island has created numerous comedic films, shorts, parody songs, and music videos. They have written shorts for the popular television show Saturday Night Live, most notably "Lazy Sunday" and "Dick in a Box". They have made three full-length television pilots, all of which were rejected. The group operates a web site under the same name that showcases their collaborations. The site also includes a blog from second-tier member Chester Tam, often referred to as Chez (pronounced CHAY). The blog, titled Chez Chat, gives humorous summaries of the site's updates.
The three core members currently work together as writers on Saturday Night Live. Recently, the group premiered their first feature film, Hot Rod.http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=filmNews&storyID=2006-04-03T034528Z_01_N02215689_RTRIDST_0_FILM-SAMBERG-DC.XML
Some sketches from this unsold pilot were reused when the cast joined the writing staff of "Saturday Night Live" (1975).
After FOX passed on the pilot, another pilot was produced for MTV. This version was more to the cast's liking with raunchy, absurd skits and no studio audience. But MTV passed on the new pilot also.
