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An SNL Digital Short is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for NBC's Saturday Night Live. Generally produced and written by The Lonely Island (Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer and Andy Samberg), the series was originated by Adam McKay, in collaboration with SNL hosts, writers, and cast members. The segments were originally recorded with consumer grade digital video cameras and edited on personal computers. It is usual for the episode's hosts and musical guests (the latter on rarer occasions) to take part in the episode's short, and several shorts have included celebrity cameos.
Contents
- 20052006 Season 31
- 20062007 Season 32
- 20072008 Season 33
- 20082009 Season 34
- 20092010 Season 35
- 20102011 Season 36
- 20112012 Season 37
- 20122013 Season 38
- 20132014 Season 39
- 20142015 Season 40
- 20152016 Season 41
- Dress rehearsal shorts
- Other Lonely Island shorts on SNL
- Reception
- The Shooting
- Plot
- Controversy
- References
The shorts generally took fewer than five days to complete. Akiva Schaffer has directed a majority of them, with Taccone as occasional director or co-director. In early 2010, Schaffer took a break from SNL to work on a film, and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! director Jonathon Krisel joined the show as a regular Digital Short director. Taccone, along with his brother, Asa, have produced music for the shorts as necessary.
With the departure of Samberg from SNL in 2012, it was speculated that the era of videos branded "An SNL Digital Short" had come to an end, although the episode on January 26, 2013 featured a Digital Short, as well as two during the Samberg-hosted season 39 finale on May 18, 2014. Another short was aired during the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special on February 15, 2015 (featuring Andy Samberg & Adam Sandler). On May 21st, 2016, another short was aired to promote The Lonely Island's new movie, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.
The comedic directing team of the late director Matt Villines and Osmany Rodriguez, known professionally as Matt & Oz, were hired by SNL in 2012 to create new digital shorts and pre-taped segments. Together, Villines and Rodriguez directed several memorable shorts across four seasons from 2012 to 2016, including the Emmy-nominated "(Home for the Holidays) Twin Bed" in 2014, as well as "Darrell's House," "Sad Mouse," "Monster Pals," "Back Home Ballers," "Jay Z Story, and 2015's "A Thanksgiving Miracle," which featured a family's Thanksgiving quarrels interrupted by Adele's "Hello".
2005–2006: Season 31
11 shorts were aired during the 2005–2006 season.
2006–2007: Season 32
A total of 12 shorts were created for 2006–2007.
2007–2008: Season 33
A total of 11 shorts were created for 2007–2008.
2008–2009: Season 34
A total of 16 shorts were created for the 2008–2009 season.
2009–2010: Season 35
A total of 19 shorts were created for the 2009–2010 season.
2010–2011: Season 36
A total of 17 shorts were created for the 2010–2011 season.
2011–2012: Season 37
A total of 14 shorts were created for the 2011–2012 season.
2012–2013: Season 38
One short was aired during the 2012–2013 season. It was during an episode hosted by Adam Levine featuring a live cameo by Andy Samberg.
2013–2014: Season 39
Two shorts aired during the 2013-14 season, in the episode hosted by Andy Samberg.
2014–2015: Season 40
One short was aired during the 2014-15 season.
2015–2016: Season 41
One short was aired during the 2015-16 season.
Dress rehearsal shorts
These shorts were filmed and shown to the studio audience during the weekly SNL dress rehearsal, but were not included in the live show and have yet to appear on air.
Other Lonely Island shorts on SNL
Produced by The Lonely Island, and/or labeled Digital Shorts on official YouTube postings, these shorts aired on an SNL episode but not with the official SNL Digital Short title card. As with the Digital Shorts, these are directed by Akiva Schaffer. However, according to the official LonelyIsland website, the MacGruber shorts are directed by Jorma Taccone and written by Will Forte.
Reception
The short "Lazy Sunday", which aired December 17, 2005, was viewed more than five million times on YouTube alone before it was removed due to copyright infringement. In late 2006, however, NBC began uploading SNL shorts on YouTube themselves. The short "Dick in a Box" which aired in December 2006, was viewed more than 28 million times on YouTube. It was available uncut on YouTube with a special warning, stating that the sketch contained explicit language that was censored from the television version. The short also won an Emmy Award.
The Shooting
The Shooting, also known as Dear Sister, was broadcast during an episode aired April 14, 2007. The short satirizes the final scene of The O.C.'s second-season finale. The NBC network, which usually uploads Saturday Night Live digital shorts to its official site and YouTube channel immediately following broadcast, did not do so for Dear Sister due to music clearance issues. It nevertheless became immensely popular on YouTube with artists making parodies, re-enactments and other references.
Plot
Keith (Bill Hader) writes a letter to his sister, as Dave (Andy Samberg) asks what he is doing. As Keith responds, explaining he hasn't seen his sister in a long time, Dave suddenly and inexplicably shoots him. In the following overly dramatic, slow-motion death overdubbed by a cue of "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap, Dave is seen visibly shaken as Keith, in shock, collapses. As Dave gathers his bearings, Keith suddenly shoots him in return, having recovered from his injury long enough to exact his revenge to the same music cue.
After both men have fallen to the ground from their separate shootings, another man, Eric (Shia LaBeouf), enters looking for them (saying he's "just thought of the funniest thing"). Dave comes back to life to shoot Eric in the stomach, who collapses, once again to the same music. The sister herself (Kristen Wiig) enters the scene, and begins to read the letter (Dear Sister, By the time you read this..) until she too is shot in the gut several times by each of the three men on the ground, with the music cue restarting with every shot, until she collapses too.
The short ends as two police officers (Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen) are observing the crime scene. One finds the letter, left on the table near the brother's body, and begins to read. The letter is revealed to be a prediction of each shooting, in detail, and ends claiming that two police officers will come across the letter and then shoot each other after reading it. While the reading officer laughs it off, his partner turns and shoots him as the reading officer shoots him as well to overlapping "Hide & Seek" cues.
Controversy
On April 16, 2007, two days following the initial air date of the sketch, the Virginia Tech shooting occurred and became the deadliest school shooting in modern U.S. history. Noam Cohen of the New York Times criticized fans of the short for insensitivity when they continued to make YouTube videos based on it.