The Lonely Island podcast reflects on their early "Just Two Guys" videos from 2004, a series created as a lighthearted, self-deprecating exploration of their teenage insecurities and awkwardness. Filmed with minimal equipment and no professional crew, the videos capture raw, unpolished performances that emphasize physical and emotional awkwardness—like nervous hand gestures, broken continuity, and improvised dialogue—mirroring the social dynamics of adolescence. The group intentionally avoided perfection, using rudimentary tools like a four-track recorder to maintain authenticity. These videos were not just comedic sketches but emotional artifacts, reflecting genuine feelings of self-doubt and social anxiety during middle school years. Over time, they became a nostalgic touchstone for fans, with many recalling them as a pure representation of their own formative years. The humor stems from the contrast between the characters’ awkwardness and the real-world situations they parody, like a high school graduation or a party. The videos also inspired real-life connections, such as fans relating to the characters or using lines like "spike the punch and take a sip" as playful parenting interactions. Despite their simplicity, the videos remain deeply resonant, symbolizing a time of authenticity and friendship, and showcasing how early creative work can evolve into lasting cultural memory. The podcast also highlights fan engagement, including questions about character details, historical context, and the legacy of the videos, reinforcing their enduring appeal.
It's the Lonely Island Enselmire's podcast! Keeve! Woo! Here we are! Okay, now I'm recording your mic. Oh yeah! Oh Keeve! Hey, there you are! Thanks for the energy, your mic. No problem. Hey, guess what I'm eating, Keeve. A burrito from the same place or a different one. Don't have to be burrito-brained. You don't have to give them the promotion this time, but is it the same place or a new place? It's the same place. Well, I'll give it up to Buddy's burritos, Brooklyn. It's the perfect name, Buddy's burrito. If you want to get that burrito-brained brain, go to Buddy's burrito. We're here for you. Subscribe now for 10% off your Buddy burrito brain. You just go in and yell "Island." Would that work? Yeah, I think so. Say, chicken burrito slash "Island" when you go into Buddy's burrito and you want a burrito brain. I'm sticking right in my head. That's pretty good at. Yeah, exactly. All right, hi. So it's me and your, only. And Andy is working on his movie. I don't know what Seth's doing. What Seth's excuse do we know? I think he's on vacation or something. Oh, must be nice. Yeah, those old February vacations, I get it. He's taking like a ski week or something. Yeah, I think we should post some pictures of him skiing, even if he's not on vacation. That sounds good. Yeah, but this is finally the two of us. Yeah, and we're going to talk about just you guys, right? Yeah, it was suggested to us to do a just two guys episode. We've already talked about it a teeny bit. You know, am I thinking our early, in our early stuff, like the early episodes of this, but I don't know what we said. So we're just going to repeat ourselves. I think we just make a disclaimer that if we say something we already said, it's just, is what it is. It's not old age, guys. This is, yeah, it is. Well, it's been a couple of years since we recorded that. So we don't even know what's going on. I mean, we're going to do some watchbacks, though, which we did not do last time. I don't think. Got you. No, we certainly wouldn't know. So just two guys is a video we made for of itself. What's a trilogy? That's a quadrilogy? Quadrilogy, that's correct. Isn't it? That doesn't, that doesn't. All right, and the first one was in 2004. Wait, what did they say for Fast and the Furious? Like, when you're up to like 10? Yeah, when it goes to Diamond. Like, there's gotta be names for every single. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. They're good. They're working out a lot. That's so sick that Fast and Furious went Diamond. Certified Diamond. That's fucking dope. All right, just two guys we made in 2004. And this was just for fun. It's something we just made around the house. And we were channeling our like 13 year old selves. And we were cooler than this at 13, so thing. But the feeling we had inside, I guess. Yeah. For me, but I can only speak for me personally. For me personally, you know, at 13's a little too old too, 'cause I'm thinking of like seventh grade, which was 11 and 12. Yes. I'm going to my 11, 12, and honestly, let's just say 13. Your old self and the feelings, how I felt like I was and how I kind of vaguely feel if I see a video, a home video of myself at that age, or the pictures. I feel like you were always more judgmental of how you were in old home videos, 'cause we were friends at the time and we definitely have old like skate videos of the two of us hanging out. And granted, we weren't the coolest guys in the world. No, no, but I feel like you're cooler than you're giving yourself credit for it. Well, that's very nice. But again, no, it's like a manifestation of the insecurities I felt at the time and even thinking of myself now, back at it, I can like bring back those feelings of just, I felt like I was, if I acted like the just two guys, guys, it would have been a more honest representation, I think of myself, but I was always at least self-aware enough to try to like put on a good face, put on a face. These were, like, it feels like the manifestation of like how you felt when you talked to someone you liked. That's like how I felt at 11 or 12. Like, Freaks and Geeks was like an exact replication of like how I felt in those particular years of junior high and like whenever like a dance would come up, I would be like, this is a nightmare. Like I'm supposed to go to this thing, but people are gonna be freaking and slow dancing and just you guys was basically like, yes, how I felt inside, and thinking about trying to do something cool when I felt very, very uncool inside. - This is fast forwarding many years later, but one of the reasons we really related to and liked the idea of Penn 15 when they came to us with it was because it just seemed like a version of this. - Here's the awkwardness. Yeah, and when we've talked about this before, but I'm sorry, I got weird on my mouth. - No, no, this is fine, there are different rules when it's just me and you, you can just go nuts. - Thank you, thank you, I don't know if Andy's judgment, well, okay, so one of the fuck were you just talking about? - Oh guys, the burrito brain's already kicked in for fucks. We're like two minutes in and this guy's fully brained. - What do we, what do you want to talk about, keep, we got nothing. - He just, he just, because he's pounding it, the burrito's half done, the burrito brain, this fool came in. - I am housing it. - I'm like really shabbin' in there. - He came in half cocked here, God damn it, we're fucked guys, it's just the two of us and half is already brained. He was like one and a half fully bebeed. Yeah, anyway. - It looks so good, honestly, the burrito, I really wish I had one here. - Yeah, I'll send one to you. No, like, we were talking about this before, but whenever we would do just you guys, maybe we should just start with the first one. - Yeah, we would have to get into character and we would like, you know, whenever we were recording, we were like playing with our pockets because these guys are so terrified to be on the mic. - They're fidgety, yeah, they're scared. It took us a while, always like get into character. Like, is that awkward enough, like fully saying a line and stepping away from the mic as we do it? Just because we're so nervous. - We would be, it is funny, there was no cameras on us. You're talking about when we were recording the song. - Yeah, we're acting now. - You watched us do it, we would be in fully in character. - You had to be. - And then, all right, so I've done the disclaimer, then I'm gonna talk about this, so I'm gonna stop with the disclaimer, but we would go off beat and then it would sound intentionally offbeat. And then we would go on beat and it would start to sound slightly too good if you can even believe that. And so there's just a sweet spot these guys have to live in, that is shockingly, slightly more difficult than you would think for how bad they sound. - It happened every time we did a new one. It would always be like a 30 minute period of like us being like, that's not quite right. - Yeah, they're not that awkward, but they're not that cool and it's just this little lane they have to be in. It's delightful. But it was always delightful and never stressful because I think for a few reasons, well, I mean, the first one we're doing, we know is just for us 'cause we don't even have jobs and we're doing it for fun. And then the rest of them we kinda always knew was still that. Like we knew, at worst we'll just put it on YouTube. It doesn't have to be on the album. It certainly will never be on SNL 'cause we knew they didn't want 'em. So it would be the thing we would fit in the cracks when Andy was busy and just, I don't remember a single stressful feeling around these four, which is really nice. - They're a joy and a joy to shoot the videos for as well. That feeling continued all through video shoots. - Yeah, so his name will come up a lot and we've talked about it before, but our friend, Jonah Goldstein, who was at NYU with Chester and Andy, who came out L.A. He was our go-to camera guy when we had something goofy like this 'cause he's a great guy and has good energy and was just down to come be the third just to guy in terms of if it's a shot of the two of us, he can be behind the camera. And I think maybe did somebody else ever help us? Or was it, my memory is it's the three of us, but I think Chester might have helped on one or two. - I think Chester helped out, I think on we like sports, I believe, but it was, yeah, mainly Jonah. - But these videos were shot the way they look, which is that there are three people total, me, Norman, one other person. (laughing) - Very much so. - Maybe the crew expanded to four people at some point. - And just, I mean, so the first one, we did all in and around your house that you and Andy were living off of Melrose at the time. - Yeah, this was me and Andy's apartment, pre-SNL 2004. - Do you remember the impetus for the very first one? I mean, like we just love the idea of like two guys here. - So the beats are all made by your arm, every time. - And by the way, every single time, though, I would just take the reason file that we had, swap out the instrumentation. - Oh, after the first one. The first one you're saying was a genuine piece of art and the other ones are just derivative crap. - They're derivative and I would swap out instruments and then I would change the melody slightly. And I think only one of them has a slightly either faster or slower tempo, but almost all of them, you can go back to back and they're the exact same tempo. - Yeah, it's maybe the most SNL mad libs we've ever been with ourselves in terms of being like, "Oh, let's do that sketch again." 'Cause we wanted to keep the energy the same and giving them two different of music just didn't feel like in these guys skill set. - I think we need love is the only one because it's a little bit more R&B, which is a little slower. - Hey guys, Akiva, interrupting from later in the podcast. We're gonna be really stepping through just two guys here and reminiscing me and you're, so if you are the person that listens to an audio, that's fine. But it might be more fun if you're on YouTube where you can glance up 'cause then you'll see the video as I am playing and pausing it. Okay, back to the past of us from 20 minutes ago. - Woo! - So if you go on YouTube and this is 20 years ago, which the very first comment says, seeing 20 years ago is wild on YouTube because YouTube barely existed. So when we made just two guys, it didn't exist 'cause it was 2004 and of course, Lazy Sunday's 2005. So this was just on our website when we did it and that's why it's, 'cause it's 2026. So this thing is actually 21 years old, 21 and a half years old, maybe 22. - Well, so we, and I would imagine 'cause you were so up game with no.
YouTube, but because obviously your brother was the first person to hit us to this website is up to it. And then Lazy Sunday appears on it through like the third party post. And then very quickly, I assume our back catalog-- I think we made our channel right after that, because it's 2026 now, 20 years ago, 2006, Lazy Sunday was December 2005. So we basically made our channel the next month or two months, or just somewhere right there right after Lazy Sunday. And this would have been one of the first things we would have put up on it because we were like, oh, what do we have? 13 million views. Not too shabby for-- There you go. --for what this is. Yes. What's-- you know what's funny is all the top comments right now. So the 20 years ago as wild is from a month ago. Then the next one says, the fact that music's been this high quality since the eighth day of YouTube is legendary. So somebody was also looking at how long. The third comment is 18 years ago is extremely upsetting. That was from a year ago. Then it's not being washed quite that much. The next-- these are not, you know, the most recent comments. These are just the highest ones that have come up. The next comment is, it's been 15 years and we still don't know who the hell invited Steve. No one is the answer on who invited Steve. This is not about how old it is, but I just realized they were just two guys having a good time. That's a great comment from six years ago. So this guy, it took him 14 years to realize that that's what they were. Flex, should we watch this first one? Yeah. So yeah, so it's me and Andy's apartment that we shared after the original lonely island apartment. That was the three of us plus Matt that we've talked about from radio silence who directs all the screams and ready to nods and then your moved out and Chester moved in and it was us four. And then they raised our rent and we all moved out separately and me and Andy ended up living together at this place right off Melrose. I mean, we shot so much shit at this house, like-- Yeah, it's exactly. So we're on the second floor of this little thing right across from a high school. All right, let's just hit play here. First of all, you're looking real cool off the bat. Yeah, I mean, some sort of a unibomor t-shirt with that, that's like a Marlboro ad. And this is before we actually purchased clothing for it. So this is our actual real clothes, but just us looking dopey. That was some sort of scape-brand shirt. Yeah. I don't know why I had it. Yeah. We styled ourselves. I did not wear jeans with a cuff and leather shoes. No. In terms of the beat, we had a band that was called the Party Anderson's and the premise was it was Dennis Philip and Arnold Anderson who were all three brothers from Florida. They drive around like a Subaru brat. Their brother has died, this is the backstory of it, it was like sort of like an aggro, rap, party band, but we're kind of pricks. Basically, there's not really much more to the joke. It was just alter egos so that we could try making some- It was pretty hard. Crazy or stuff. Yeah. It was pretty hard, but also a stupid shit. And then we made like a five or six song like back to back just like, they had transitions in it, but it was like a medley of crazy songs. And actually Rock Roll skate, which is in pop star. It's a style boy song. Yeah. Yeah, style boy song is a Party Anderson song, so rock, roll, skate, eat a bag of shit. It was the vibe of the Party Anderson's. So came to the party, the little sample is from the Party Anderson's. I chopped that up and like that is the first thing you hear in this song. Now, John, do you remember, did we actually buy the Party Hear Banner, that's on the front door here? Like, did we actually bother to go get something? Yeah. Because we must have gone to a party sort of by balloons. We wouldn't have owned balloons. I mean, a lot of shit was up on Melrose and maybe we just wanted the street. We didn't try every time. We put these balloons. I mean, those balloons are clearly water balloons that we blew up because that's all we had. So we're doing great so far. Hello, welcome to the party. Same balloons. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We definitely took the balloons shooting in one direction and then put them behind you in the other direction. It's great. I remember, do we, I mean, we may have talked about this before, but like early lonely videos, I remember like we, we were so keen on having like anti-continuity. Like it was like, yeah, it was a point of pride to like, I should be fucked up looking. You know what though? To do anti-continuity, you have to really understand continuity, you know, to break the islands. You must be almost a master of islands. Some people might say, to paint outside, you know, to do a Picasso, you have to be able to paint a real portrait. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's a true art. I remember that you before, you know, just you guys. Just like go back, go back, go back. It's just, I've never, I don't think I've even noticed it's this danger Andy's room. That is Andy's room right there. Yeah. Yeah. I forget why we, why someone bring that one's for him or did we buy it? Somebody must have like given that sarcastic. Yeah. By the way, 20 years ago, you really see it on both of our faces. We look much, much younger. Yeah. Would that make sense? About half our lifetimes ago, you would expect some changes. We're much closer in age to the characters we are playing. Okay. But actually, you want me to bring up a great point, which is as we continue to make these, we very quickly were making them after things that were successful and the amount of people that couldn't wrap their heads around these, like the fact that we made them on a boat and then chose to make will kill you, the amount of comments or even people we knew being like, oh, that old video, like they would believe that we had made it, that they had just come to it for the first time, but obviously it was 10 years old. Like why would they choose to look so bad and make some of that sounds so shitty when they are clearly capable of I just had sex or Jack Sparrow or, you know, I'm in a boat, they would never, why would they make themselves look this way all the way through? So in a way, it was complimentary because by the end, we're much older and people still somewhere were buying that these were videos from the past. I love to when you first brought this up because it's such a keen observation to be like, you have fucking helicopters and a giant yacht and I'm on a boat and it's like, looks slick as shit. And then like, why would you ever want your tuxedos like a badass and then to like do this to yourself? Yes. So we're on a freeze frame of Akima's face that is so wack, there's a type of fan that couldn't wrap their heads around choosing to look bad. They disassumed if you looked bad, it was an accident, no matter what. That was delightful. Anyways. Alright. Now we haven't really, I haven't really watched this video in many, many years, so I just actually am just curious to even just see our apartment here. So we cleared out a couch, but we didn't have much furniture. What we had was, you know, like taken from a parent's house or like flat furniture essentially like. We actually got a lot of, like at least all my furniture was donated from writers from Spin City, which is a TV show that both me and Andy worked on. And like all the writers were obviously much wealthier than us and when they would get rid of stuff. So it might be some Spin City writers stuff, maybe that pan. Yeah. What you can see on the left, like milk crates, that was definitely our, like what our TV was on and the shelves were all milk crates. See them over there? Yeah, totally. But they can't start taking 1200. We had our priorities straight. That's where the money went. Yeah. That's a DJ turntable. By the way, though, we did set design this. I mean, like, you know, there's a lot of balloons. We had to sit there. Yeah. Yeah. We moved stuff around and we put the sad plant and we got all these fucking taped bunch of balloons. So all. Yep. And then this is our party. We've got a picture of a lemonade and some one solo cup and a hummus dip that you brought over. There's no fucking worst. All right. Good time. Just two guys that we're having a good time. Oh, wait. My shoes changed. Great. Well, also the condo here, the balloons is not matching either, which is great, too. They're just fawn through frame. But I'm wearing pattern leather ones now. I was wearing brown ones. Good time. Happy. We'll burn the roof off. It's party going off. Dude. The orange t-shirt with the orange pullover fleece is fucking dope. Just orange on orange. Yeah. They say that does look pretty good. It's also like the move of me trying to put a hand over you when I start wrapping to be like, hey, move back. I'm about to set it. But like, I'm not moving forward at all. It's like, this is the entirety of, like, getting into character, a budget speed. Yeah. The most awkward. But you're also maybe afraid that I'm going to do it and you're somewhere looking for me to, like, hold your hand. Don't. I'm immediately jealous. It's, and it's like, it's my turn. But it's also like, oh, don't leave me. There's fear in it. Let's watch that again. Yeah. This party's going off. You think that we're soft. You get tough. And then I'm clearly, like, trying to count, like, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. And also trying to, like, so I don't miss when I come in, like, I'm revving up. Yeah. But I'm also slightly mouthing your lyrics, I think. Look. You get tough. Guy number one. I love to dance. Fancy feet moves, putting you in the tramp. It's a friend thing. Friends are everywhere in the kitchen. There's no friends. There's something so funny about your non-blinking. You're just like, really stare it down. Just zoned in. Really funny. Oh. And then you're pointing about, I mean, the whole premise, obviously, not to explain the joke, but we're just two guys who are having a good time by choice is kind of the main idea here. Oh, and then we're having a really party. Clearly they don't have a friend, and they don't have a friend in the world. This is basically, like, a video representation of the phrase, "Thou doth protest too much." It's just like, "Oh, what is the problem here?" He's got his clearly have no friends and don't know any women at all. Yeah. They didn't want to come to your party anyway. It's all right. They're having their own party. But there's nobody in any--
I think it runs her everywhere in the kitchen, the tent hanging out on the stairs, spinach dip, real hot chicks. So you're so mad, I put my hands back close to your face. But basically, I'm reaching over into Yorma's frame and it just cuts the close of Yorm when it shouldn't, with just my arms over his face. It's also really funny because then you're like, these guys edited this. Like, why did we leave it in? Yeah, that's where we stretch reality. I don't buy that you put in this shot. Spike the punch and take a sip. Guy number two here to chill with you, P-A-R-T-Y. We have to play act everything because we wouldn't spike the punch and take a sip. So it still has to just be our hands being like, spike the punch and take a sip because we don't have punch. We don't have anything to spike it with. It's all just, it's all pantomime. We've heard about alcohol at parties. So P-A-R-T-Y, because we got to, was a reference to Beverly Hills 90210, which was a TV show back in the day. And I believe Dylan or somebody says it. No, I think it was Steve. God, what was his, what Ian, you know. Yeah, yeah. I always say it's last time I'm afraid to, because we got to. I'm afraid to even pronounce it, but yes. Ian's earling, but I think it has a different one you said. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yes, Steve, he said it in an episode and we were like, "Dude, gotta give a shout out to that guy." So fine. Wait, hold on, hold on really quick. Like, we're looking at a frame of Akiva, where your body, your winter swim trunks, you're standing in a pool because that's cool. Yeah. We went to our friends house to get this shot. So we did travel. Still a different location. Look at the detail work. I'm standing crazy pigeon-toed. I do not understand like that. We did buy these shorts. I do remember that we had to go to like, came art to buy these shorts. So we did do some costume design. Yeah, so we could have matching shorts. And you are gleaming white. That didn't have to work on that. I just had that. Pretty great. It'll turn cool sunglasses though. Yeah, we were very lucky to have one friend that had a house in the hills with a pool. And would let us go up to. Yeah, we knew one wealthy person. Yeah. We got juice. I like playing games in the pool. But we're not playing games in the pool. Like, we're afraid of everything. We also games. Like, we're so on the cusp of understanding what's cool. Yeah, we had saw like, like, jocks doing chicken fights with girls on their shoulders. And we're like, we like that. Yeah, we would totally do that. We would totally. Just give us a shot. But then just like any, any nerd, aggro, nerd losers, they have to find someone slightly lower on the totem pole to fucking shit on. So here comes. You can play games in the pool. Who invited the thief? That dude's a cunt. We just, okay. Comes in with his longboard. Was it MTV? Or was it, or was it, this is GeForia? No, no, no, no. Where did we pitch this show? And I remember watching this video and waiting for it, but it was like a professional. We were like pitching it to Paramount. Look, this video, this video, this might not be the meeting you were talking about because who knows what meetings we took at the time. Yeah, but when we went to pitch awesome town and we went into Fox. That's what it was. I'm sure he was mid-level. I don't remember his name. I feel like his last name was Gold, but I don't know. Yeah, he was probably mid-level. But to us, it was like, whoa, someone higher level gave him in the meeting. Yeah, we were like, wow, he came in. That's really cool. Yeah, because we maybe knew he was the one with power to buy shows. He was probably somewhere in the middle, but at a higher status than other people that would normally be with us. Yes. And we kind of gave our, our should be ill about what awesome town would be, which is a sketch show and try to say why we're different from other sketch shows. Truly, it was probably the same pitch as the Ben Stiller show if you went back and look. But we played just two guys in the room. But I remember distinctly being like, here comes the word "cut." Yes, and we debated. Do we need to beep it? Like, we were so new, we were like, that word couldn't be on Fox, so we should take it out instead of like intelligently being like, no, just play the funniest stuff. They just want people who are funny. They know you can take out a bad word. Yeah. But it's just this, like, we were just kids. Well, we did get a laugh. I remember being like, oh, thank God. The video killed, and it's the reason we got awesome town deal. Yeah. And that was the biggest laugh in it. And it was a valuable lesson about just show them funny stuff and let the chips fall where they may. Because you just want them to know you have stuff you can do. And this shot that we're paused on right now is like a light tunnel, basically. Like, I think this is where the presenters would come down this hallway or something like that. Yeah, so we had done our first year of the MTV Movie Awards because 2004, right? So we had done the Lindsay Lowe in one. So now we were on that list of like, hey, these guys will write for award shows for funny award shows. And G4, the channel that was a cable channel that was all about video games, was this the second year of it, maybe? I think this was the second year, yeah, yeah. Was trying to make their own or did make their own award show, called G4, yeah. And we got hired as writers. And was it just us and Jerry Duggan? I feel like it was just the four of us. Yes, he was the head writer and could hire a small staff. And because the three of us were three for the price of one. Yeah, it was, it was quite a deal. So here we came. And then we worked with him. And Jerry Duggan shout out, I think he's a big comic book writer now. Oh, he's done so many Marvel things and all types of shit. He's decent. Yeah, and we had a lovely time. I believe we're wearing comedy central t-shirts here because that's how we could, like, it was what was backstage. We're wearing shitty swag, basically. Yeah, stuff they had that we could just put on. And I think the stage only gets built right at the last minute. So it must have been the day or two before the awards. And we were like during lunch, like yelled at the lighting guy, "Will you turn on the lights for us for one second?" And just ran and there and got this as fast as possible. Oh, early days, like, if anybody, like this is how we met, name dropped danger mouse. But anybody that we met who had a house or any location, we were immediately like, we're there. We're really, really, so we had a job. Anything like cool, we were like, we were shooting. If we ever do one about the boo, we can point out when we're at Danger Mouse's house, not his house anymore. But like, his first, you know, we had like four roommates. No, this is a three-grade album with his-- Yeah, like four musicians living in a house together. Anyways, so there we are. Yeah, they're really cool, and just standing still. All right, so lazy Sunday, you know, when we had to make those little Beatles-esque, you know, the interludes we talked about, that Steve Higgins was like, it's too fast, put breaks in. Yeah, they almost stopped motion. And we were like, what do we do? We definitely lifted from this, which is obviously, we didn't invent doing this kind of stupid thing. As I say, it's in like, help or one of those Beatles movies. But we knew it was something we had done before when we decided to do it with Parnell and anything. Well, you'll notice all through just you guys. Like, like, there's very little movement from us, because we're obviously too terrified to be able to like, you know, like, we have gestures, but all the gestures are wrong. And then there's a lot of static shots, and why shots just showing how few people are with us, like, this shot is so wack. Having a good time. Now everyone in the house say guy number one. Oh, yes. Guy number one. No, everyone. I can't believe everyone did it. It's just you. You're thrilled. And also, I'm impressed that we actually put a bunch of me saying guy number one. Like, there's well again, just to take it to Yorm's technical corner for a second. We didn't make this song on a computer. We made this song on a digital four track recorder, a physical piece of equipment. What was that thing called? Well, I made the beat though in reason on a computer. In reason. And then that got kicked over to the BR8. It was a BR8. It was Matt Benelli opens our buddy. Yeah. Then we borrowed it to record stuff. So it was at our house a lot. But that means there were only four tracks of audio even available to us. And there's no audio editing. We could punch in. I don't mean we did this in a one take. But it's not like you could go in really precisely to fix things. It's a much more rudimentary way. Yeah, because the reason you couldn't add, I mean, I think you could add it in a really roundabout kind of way. But it's strictly more of a beat making program. Like the things that were sample based that were like, you know, came to the pu-pu-pu-pu-party. Like, you could do that kind of thing in it. Yeah. We'd have to kick it out to like a different recording. But then all our vocals were the BR8. #1, now everyone in the house say guy #2. #2, dude quit tripping, you're rooting my high. I'm holding the champagne like it might attack me like a snake. I can't believe I have alcohol. I hate it. I loved this particular line though. I'm so worried. Look at how worried I am. But I love this particular line because it's just for no reason. You get pretty hard. #2, guy #2, dude quit tripping, you're rooting my high. 'cause you don't just wanna be derivative. - Really? - And we definitely decided that the symbol for pot was are making a circle with our hands for no reason, and realized these guys always have done light choreography. That makes no sense. - That's true. It's like they'd have no clue what pot is. (laughs) - No, no, no. - But smoke pot. I feel like that was your gesture. I can't remember it, but I'm like, "Oh, God." - I mean, all of this was like on the day. It was basically like, "Well, we're standing there." I'm like, "What are we doing?" - I also, our outfits are decidedly like 90s, and it's interesting 'cause it's 2004. So in 2004, of course, stuff you'd have worn in the 90s seemed out of fashion to us. - Yeah. - So like that polo jacket, you know, I owned it, and it was not bad, but it was something that I just knew had already kind of peaked its popularity and wearing big Patagonia-style fleeces that pull over. Like, it's interesting, and you know, just, you know, the bagginess and oversized shirts and stuff. It's all stuff we would have worn, but not in 2004, which is funny 'cause the outfits are less awkward now than they were when we made this. - It's also interesting in subsequent videos that we did so much shopping, usually a cameart for like random sarcastic t-shirts, and with this one being just like a few outfits, also totally works. Like, these guys only have a couple. - Yes. - Couple fits, they thought we're cool. - Oh, this mural was this the one that was literally on our corner? - Yeah, we did not - We did not really let go very many places for this video, we just walked up the street. - I think there was a smart and final, which was like a grocery store-type place, and it was on our corner, and this was the mural on it. I admire us. I think this entire video is within a hundred feet, except for the pool. The pool is the only thing we travel for. - Well, Angie for you. - Yeah. - No jock, no jerk, just fun with girls, having fun got one the most fun in the world. - On the same raft is lovely. - Having fun, having fun with girls, and then being us being so close together on that raft. - Yeah, on one raft. - It's just so. - The most fun in the world just said with the least amount of fun you can say, no acting skill. Can't get up any excitement to act out what that might sound like to have fun. - Just so good. - All right, so again, within a hundred feet for the people just listening, it's cut to the shot. Of course, you know this video by heart, anyone. - Yeah, of course. - It's like a football field with a cheap stage setup and a bunch of white fold-out chairs, and it's set up for a high school graduation. And you can see Fairfax Avenue in the background where there's buildings. So we, again, like you're I'm saying, where we just used whatever was available. We had shot a lot of the video already and new, but we shot this video over weeks too, because we had no production or crew. So if we were like, we need balloons, that's half the day. And then we would be like, all right, let's set up the balloon shot. That's half the day. You do the balloon shot. You're like, all right, we got to set up today. But I guess the joy of literally just looking out the window. I mean, like, oh shit. Yes, is that you can, when you're willing to shoot over days, weeks, months, things will just show up, and we looked out on a Sunday morning, and saw that they had set up for a high school graduation. And we're like, oh, sick. Nobody's out there, though. There was no security. There was nothing. So we threw on outfits and ran out there as fast as we could and just shot these shots. Yeah. I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out of it. We enjoyed the giant winter coat with no pants. We definitely were like, this is the finale. These guys have chosen their fancy looks. I mean, like a blazer now, all of a sudden. And like a kangle hat. I didn't like skinny jeans. And this guy, we're like, like a boot cut skinny jeans. And this guy's got just a shot. I look like a flash. I look like a flash. This is so wack. You look borderline too cool with the sunglasses on for that one shot. Also the one, the one where it's just me for as like it's like having a, like you didn't even say it with me. It's just so, it's so sad. It's great. I like that you see people running around the track. Yeah. Because like morning joggers. We're just two guys who are having a good time. Having a good time. Having a good time. That having to reset ourselves out of breath. Who are having a good time. Having a good time. Having a good time. Or just two guys. Like you can feel like swallowing the spit to get to get to the next round. Oh yeah. Yeah. The end always ended in the pacing. I will say another joy about recording this though was always that when you would get those things that keeps talking about like the breaths and the like resets and then like we were very consciously being like, oh God. That was, how did you mean it was horrible? We'd be like, that was great. Like listening to anything back was such a joy. Having a good time. Having a good time. Just two guys who are having a good time. Oh yeah. The cutaway of our, so we had been doing those hands the whole time. The one you're talking about. And then we were like, we have to get it in here somewhere because it was our whole character. Just like sweaty palms because we're so nervous. The sweaty palms. Just like, why would they ever put that shot in? Get our hands, dude. I mean, you can imagine how mad these guys are. It's an art their friend who's filming. All right. So proud. It's over and we made it. Oh my God. It got to the end. All right. Well, that was a pleasure. You're a little trip down memory lane. Oh my God. And hey, party over here is the name of our company, production company. And I would say that this is this video and these particular characters are maybe both of our wives favorite characters, which I think says a lot. And I don't know if it's Liz's favorite. I'd have to ask her, but here's what's really telling. When Joanna, I think Andy already mentioned this, but when Joanna met Andy, she went, oh my God, Steve the con. So it's her favorite. Love it for a site. Yeah. Yeah. There's no quicker way for you to be like, I love this lady. She saw the video went, this is my favorite, but those guys are too cool. I want the guy that's one rung lower on the social ladder. That's my guy. Steve the con. Oh my God. Well, speaking of Liz, because Liz was, well, we shouldn't have got a voice. No, from Joanna. Well, Liz was around for the side of meeting for you. Um, Liz was around. No, he didn't. No, never apologize for that. Liz was around for this video. I remember her on the couch when balloons were falling. I think she was actually throwing some of the balloons. Mari was around as well. Wait, she was on set. Yes. Oh my God. Right. So we met, so me and Liz and the guys met Liz. I think we talked about this in the beginning, but we met her at the 2004 movie awards. The Lindsay Lohan won when the SNL writers showed up. And I believe Matt Murray and Eric Kenward were two of the others that year. And then the next year, of course, with Jimmy Fallon and them plus a bunch more showed up eventually getting us SNL. And that was the reason I got SNL. But this first year, there was only a handful from SNL that showed up. And Liz was one. So we were, I don't even know if she might have come and helped us with this. She came and I remember, I don't remember her distinctly on that like muted orange couch that you guys had or whatever, but I remember her throwing balloons as well. So she helped out. Mari was making food for us as well, like catering. Do you think me and Liz had even had a smooch yet at that point? I feel like it was on the verge of that. And I will say this. A pretty smooch, Liz. Joanna, Joanna, liking Steve the cut. So then like, you cannot be more right or die to be like looking at you doing this video. I mean, like, yeah, that's my guy. Well, it takes a certain kind of comedy brain to want that. I forgot she was there. I feel like I should have roped her into this pod to get her perspective. Let me just call down and just see if she tell what her perspective was on that. Okay. I've roped Liz into this real quick. She immediately was like, yeah, I was in the room throwing balloons for you guys. That's how those balloons are falling. Yeah, Liz. So you were just remembering like that Liz was sitting there looking at me and you performing this and was like, that's the guy for me falling in love. I think we hadn't even kissed. We'd either like kissed already or it was just like crush time. I don't know. I think you guys had made out. Okay, but what were you thinking watching us make this video? It reminded me of like what I did growing up. Like, it was really joyful because like, I don't know, just reminded me of me and my best friends like having a camera and being like, let's shoot something. Like I, but I guess we were older than. Yeah. Yeah. You were like, this is so cute. Look at these. It's like when you're 10 years old. Yes. But it didn't feel like that. Like I was like, this is so cute that there's somebody else out there that likes doing this. Yeah. Not that you're like 25 or 24 and why are you guys acting like you're 13 doing? Yeah. Like I wasn't thinking, oh, this is a path to success. No, wait, I told you guys that when we got SNL, both of my parents like told me that they were like, Oh, thank God. Like, they were like, we just, they just thought this was going zero places. I couldn't believe that anything could came out of what we were doing. That's really funny. It's nice that they kept it themselves. I think that's like real parenting. Okay, so Liz, we've, we've went through all of just two guys, but you were just there that day throwing balloons. Marry, Marry was there at your thinks. Yeah, she was, she was cooking food. She was archaedering. Okay. All right. Well, if you think of something downstairs, we're gonna come on right back up. Okay, have fun. You too. It's so fun that you have this fun little podcast now. It's so cute. Look at this. Thank you. Just always coming up with creative ideas and just spending time together making each other laugh. No, I'll come.
Some throw some balloons at you while you do your podcast. It's so cute. - 20 years later. - Still. - Wow. - Still. - It's kind of my job, take a minute. - Sort of supportive. - Thank you, Liz. Wait, she's got another thing that's, she's coming in hot for her. - Okay, great, great. - This is nothing to do with just you guys, but it's because the Olympics are on right now, that was reminding me of the summer Olympics, and just to add to my list of types, Pommel Horse Guy. - I think you did say him. - Oh, I did. Okay, if I said him, fine, just delete this, but it's fine that it's back on your brain. - Or just remind people again. - There's another bespeckled skinny little white guy. - Yeah. - I think you mentioned him in your list with Edward Snowden. - Yeah. - I think it'd be such a good Halloween costume for you, not that you ever dress up, but if you were Pommel Horse Guy. - Where does Eddie Vetter fit into that Venn diagram? - There's a few that go on the outside of that. - Okay, yeah, it doesn't have to be one type. I mean, well, maybe we can show this image now since Kevin just looked it up. - Which one is it? - Yeah, there's Pommel Horse Guy. - Yeah, we're just a little side by side. - All right, thanks, listen. - I don't know, him holding up that award makes him seem more appealing than you, Keith. - Well, yeah, he's a winner. - He's also much younger now. - Okay, so we got a voice note from Andy. - Let's see what he said. Andy, you're on the air. - I mean, what to say, not every day you get gifted a cherry roll like Steve, the Cunt, but sometimes in life, the cards just fall in your favor. And this was one of those times two dear, dear friends. Without me even being there, we're like, you know who should play this part? - Our good buddy, Andy. The Cunt, Steve. And you know what, truth be told, I'm grateful. Big laugh in the video, a recurring character. I mean, how often does that happen? And you know, in the story of my life, was the first thing that my wife brought up to me when I met her. So in a lot of ways, it is the thing that brought me the most joy in all of my entire life. So I guess I have quadruple thanks to give to my two dear, dear friends for writing a great song and thinking we should have our good, dear, sweet bud. Come on in on this part where we call them the C word. So just yeah, just sending so much love and feeling the love retroactively. I hope this is a really good episode of The Pod. I got spelling be clean today. - Oh, it's not that good. - I'll put that at the end. - Equipied. So actually really stoked that I'm able to send in this voice note. In your fucking face, Seth, you piece of dog shit. - All right, love you guys, in your fucking face. By the way, any reminder, like the fact that he said C word because I was just still told, did you hear? The Jeff was saying that we've said the word Kant so many times that we're gonna get flagged by YouTube. So now we can just say C word. So people know what we're talking about. - Yeah, but we're British and so it's fun. - That's true. - All right, so now we have some just you guys questions and answers from the internet that we asked for. - Give a game of questions as well. - Yeah, they give some answers. - Great, all right, great. I love internet answers. - I guess if we're gonna be more traditional, we're responsible for the answers, but we can play pretty fast and loose here. - Sure. - Okay, so a common question was, are they still having a good time? - Hard to say. - Yeah, I mean, I pictured both of these guys working at different Quiznos. - Also, were they really having a good time back then? It seemed pretty nervous and scared. - The kind of gets the better question. - Is Steve still a Kant? Again, you know, I feel like things are probably mellowed. - All right, Kristen has a question. Hi, hi. I actually do have some questions about just two guys. What's your favorite tiny detail and that short people might not notice? I feel like we kinda just covered that. If just two guys had a sequel, what would the next chapter of the friendship look like? - I mean, I have great news for you, Kristen. It's got three more sequels. Who really invited Steve? That's a mystery that maybe we'll solve the mystery. - Hold on, do you think that last question was actually about like what happens after the fourth one? Like, no, I don't know. My boyfriend and I listened to the podcast all the time and we bonded over our love of SNL and specifically digital shorts. When we started dating, we love you all. PS, I used to leave your podcast on for my parrot and he used to laugh along with you all. It's actually quite funny. I'm attaching a video. Do we have that? - Oh my God, that's fantastic, please. - Oh my God, we're gonna get to see a parrot laugh along to the podcast. He's laughing at mom. He's finally getting fucking hilarious. - I feel like our demographic is growing here. Like, we now have like some older ladies, nine year olds and parrot. - Dude, we're killing. - Yeah, this is doing very well. We do very well, please. - Thank you for that amazing video. Dude, that parrot might be our number one fan. - Can you, whoever wrote that, can you please tell us the name of the parrot, please? - That was Kristen and I mean, that parrot might be quite army like Lieutenant Spokesperson. - Okay, hey, this is from a Liz, not my wife, presumably. Hi, what's up? In this video, you very mainly call Andy's character a cunt. I was wondering what he ever did to the two guys. Love you all forever, Liz. I mean, I think we covered it. It's just that he didn't probably deserve it at all. He's just the only person we can pick on and we have a lot of untapped rage from getting bullied. - Well, back story too is that I think that he probably has nicer stuff at his house. So that's, and he has a snake, we'll find out later. So I think that we're probably just insanely jealous. That's my interpretation. - Yes, yeah, later. He's obviously a little actually cooler than us, but somehow we've decided we can fuck with him. All right, Melissa says, hey, Alvin, Alvin, Alvin, Adave, JK, I know it's you, Kevin. My question is for Yorm. Is this exactly what it was like hanging out with Greg Chun based on the cute little baby faces on Keevin Yorm? - I assume this was shot before the infamous Greg and Yorm's six pack boxing hang. We might need a voice note from Greg on this one. Yorm is probably too burrito brain to remember. Oh my God. - Okay, first of all. - Fight army forever. All right, so be careful, probably winner-sultering. Love you guys, Melissa. So yeah, so we had that great voice note from Greg Chun where he mentioned inviting Yorma over to like watch a big pay-per-view fight that probably got $75 that he paid for. Yorm shows up with a six pack and Greg's there alone, which is so fucking funny and weird. So Yorm, what was your, you didn't get to tell your side of that sound? - No, no, no, no, I mean, I do remember it and loved it, sort of, just the pure awkwardness of it. I would say, yeah, that's like almost exactly like the real life just you guys was me and Greg alone and I picture us just standing still watching the fight to attempting to have conversation. There was, like I didn't have an exchange with Greg speaking of my poor memory that where I was like, oh yeah, Keith, and he was like, no, no, you were the one that like really, I think I hounded him a lot like do a whole bunch of work for us in the future and I was like, that makes that makes a little bit. - You're much more the hounding guy. - Exactly. - But yes, exactly, right, that's exactly right. - That's really funny. You guys were just kept being like, this is fun. This is fine, we're still having fun watching the fight. Hey, get me another bruski, bro. This is fine that it's just us, too. - We probably said we're having a good time. - We're probably having a better time than if a bunch of friends had shown up. - Man, these is better. - This is better. - Well, I know they're cold, that's better. - Too much better because we can really hear each other talk and get to know each other. This is better. Elise says, after back Seatsman, just two guys was my first experience with all three lonely Island boys, even though Steve had come, was a short appearance but he was still there. So she, so her introduction was the back Seatsman. Fast forward to now, I have a 10 year old daughter. Sometimes I'll call out in the house, spinach dips and real hot chicks and she'll answer back, spike the punch and take a sip. I prefer this over yelling lower lie and her yelling, what? What? Is this good parenting unsure? Okay, anyways, I don't have a question. I just want to say hi, I love you. - I think that is fantastic parenting. I can't remember what comics said it, but it was that yelling what is basically the equivalent of love of what happens to all of us. I just scream what all through my ass. So I strongly agree with you, I approve. - Yeah, that's a better, a better calling response. - Very much so. Sebastian says, "Dear Seth, lonely Island and other members of Quaid Army High Command as appropriate, thank you for the opportunity to learn more about just two guys." This is very formal and nicely read. One, why was it two guys and not three guys? - Well, it was because me and your just started, it was kind of the out of the room rule applied very early with us, I guess, which is that it was your made the beat and we were home and we started doing it. I don't think Andy was there. - That is, that was absolutely, there were two things in "Lowly Island" which was democracy rules usually, like you can get outloaded if two guys understand a joke and the other one doesn't, that person can bounce until they do understand the joke. And the other one was if you fucking leave and people are gonna do shit without you. - Yeah, and if it's a song that needs three people, they can leave places for you and write for you and be kind or if it's just two guys having a good time and that's what that is. - I love the other one that we wrote for Andy was on "Perfect Saturday" and he basically plays the dude named Ned who shits his pants. (laughing) That was another one. Oh yeah, we're gonna get to that soon, I guess. Well, I get, no, that's in our third album, nevermind. All right, second one, number two, the on-screen title reads "Guys with an S" rather than "Guys with a Z." What is "Cannicle?" Oh, I think "Z" is, but that is interesting that we didn't put it in the, is that the "U" title?
- I love that comment. Did we change it for the subsequent ones? I think we did. - Oh right, the on screen title. - Yeah, so we spelled it right. - So it's just two guys on YouTube, but if you watch the video, it's guys with an S. - Yeah, yeah. - I wonder if we, you know what? - It's the kind of mistake these guys would make, and I like it. - Yeah, exactly, I'd like, I love it, it's wrong. - But I think Z is, when I type it in an email, I do it with a Z, so there you go. - Did Akiva and Jorma already have the matching swimsuits? We've covered that, we did not. - Is Steve objectively truly a cunt? - Yes, obviously, thank you for these great questions. All right, he said, thank you for your attention on any or all of these matters, and hope you're having a good time, having a good time, having a good time, Sebastian. All right, Sam writes, "Hi to you guys, Seth and Steve." I stand. The two guys, Trilogy, is my favorite repeated characters in the Lonely Island canon. And for a long time, it was my litmus test for who was an actual fan of the Lonely Island. Wait, you've never seen two guys, are we like sports? Don't make tell me you've never watched the boo. Do you even know who Richardson is? It was a slightly obnoxious gatekeeper, or I was a slightly obnoxious gatekeeper, which I hopefully have shed. I appreciate this. - Yeah, that's great. - You know what, but to be fair, also, you know how when you meet people that like your work often, they try to bring up something slightly off the beaten track to prove to you right away, that they-- - Yeah, it's a quick, deep dive to be like, "Hey, I was from jump." - Yeah, to prove like, "Hey, I really know your stuff." - Yeah, which I appreciate, obviously. - Yeah, and so it does get brought up to us in that same regard, that same-- - Yeah, the ones where we look like shit. - Here's the questions. Who's copy of the spy who came in from the cold? That's the book you're reading. You want the John McCartner? I thought he says, "Novel, was it?" And was it significant or random book? It was definitely random, right? - Random book, but the fact that it was in your house, like I have to say-- - Yeah, I have no idea. And is there an intentional nod to the cover of "Oasis" in 1997 single, "Do you know, parenthetical, what I mean?" "With the blue jacket worn by you on the graduation stage, Liam is wearing it on the cover. See attached pictures." No, we were not thoughtful enough for that at all. It was just what we'd do aside by side on that one, though. - Yeah, 'cause I know exactly what he's talking about. - Also, thank you for never putting the guys on SNL. They've always been a special treat for those of us who are early believers. Right, just kill Quaid Army, Sam. Assistant principal East Quatchita Middle School. - Oh, yes. - Look at you. All right, we got some educators. - So, first of all, we never even tried, 'cause we just knew it would be a non-starter to put it on SNL, but if they'd ever asked for it, we would've been like, "Oh, yeah, here you go." So, I can't really, it's hard to take the thanks for that. - I can't think of anything that Lauren would like less. (laughing) - Just to get exactly. (laughing) - All right, Carrie asks, "How much of the behavior acting of the guys was rehearsed or planned? When Keith points in front of your arm's face and he does a weird blink, it's a very kid in the kindergarten play who's pissed off that his scene partner overstepped him, but has to play it cool because his whole family's in the audience, and it is stunning." Well, I mean, we paused at that moment just moments ago and I mean, thank you for appreciating that detail. I think the only thing planned, anything planned was not planned before it. It was planned like we would be doing a performance, kind of come to something and go, "Oh, that's great, let's do that every time." I don't think we would really like talk about it much ahead of time, like the circle for pot, we definitely worked out, pointing over your face. We were like, "Oh, let's make sure we get that." The fact that we pace at the end on the final just two guys back and forth from each other, I know we either did it once or one of us brought it up and then we repeated it every time. - Oh, it's all on the day, shit. I mean, like, yes, but once we come to something, we end up, you know, when you do a music video, you do it over and over and over. So we end up, you know, and it becomes part of the performance. - It was also, I think that for us too, it was always nice when you were like, "Oh, I know what I'm gonna do at this part," which is make this stupid symbol. (laughing) - Yes, well, the beauty, and this goes for good music videos too, in quotes, is if you figure out a little move or choreography you're gonna do and then you do it in multiple setups, sometimes it can be a cool edit when you go from one location to another location on the same actor and they're completing a move that they started in one and finished in the other. And so it's actually useful sometimes when you're shooting a video to repeat movements. - Yeah, there you go. I mean, yeah, wait, wait, wait, wait, there's some art editing in this. - The last thing Carrie says is, "Also, I think my friend and I sang this song "every day in high school, "we spent all of chemistry class writing it "on each other's folders, "and yes, eventually I did need to get a chemistry tutor." Makes sense, thank you, Carrie. - Hannah says, "I've always wondered, "how did the just two guys meet? "They see each other for the first time "when guy number two comes to guy number one's party." So I guess my question is, who set them up, right? 'Cause we do say, "I've never met you before." And then I know. - I mean, I thought she met the backstory about, 'cause all of my body just had this reaction in hearing that, I think it was exactly how I met and he met in seventh grade. I'm just looking across the room and Spanish class and being like, "I'm gonna be friends with that guy." But yes, in terms of what we're saying in the video, "Oh, fuck, and God, I've never met you before." Well, I mean, I think all of the intros to all of just guys are the most awkward, bizarre, (laughing) setting the table in the most bizarre way possible. - But also like, why did these guys, they're at a party. Why did they have to not know each other? Why would they be done? (laughing) - It makes years. Again, we were making these things is just making ourselves laugh. I was being like, "Oh, man." - But maybe if they're strangers, they think it makes it more credible. Like, yeah, we know all kinds of people like, "Hey, look at this, we're strangers and we're partying together." As opposed to like, "We're best friends," and that's all we need. They're like, "No, we're just like random loner guys." - That's fine, everything is based on something they saw on television or what they think is normal. - Hannah also thinks, she said, "I think you rushed too quickly "through the lonely island beginnings "and I would love to hear you watch your old videos." Especially considering Seth has probably never seen them before, "Fopal Town" is an Oscar worthy picture, Hannah. Devoted quaid from Poland. - Oh, that's awesome, hi, Hannah. - It might be Hannah. - There's no H at the end. But I think it's Hannah. - I could be. - Hannah, I agree. And honestly, I wish Seth was on these ones right now because it's fun having him as an audience member see these through his eyes. As somebody that had nothing to it, it was not there. - I would love for Seth to weigh in on Thuggish Ruggish Bone. - Yes, that should take him through all those. He's definitely not seen them. That's a great idea. We could be like exposing Seth to early on the island videos as an episode. - We'll definitely do that for someone to watch things. - Okay, Kate says, please don't do another Q&A episode. This is a sorority girl who listens to every episode regardless of the content. Kate, I apologize and appreciate it. So whenever we are doing one, we are always have the debate of like, do we skip a week or just do a Q&A? This week, luckily, we thought of something else, which was, it's me and you all, man, we have these videos. But we don't know what to do when we can't do one. Like, are we supposed to just not do one? - Right in the heart. - Right in with suggestions, I love that we're responding to that particular annoyance with a question and answer period. So thank you for having us. - Exactly, but this isn't it. This is not it. - This is people who just turned this off. We gave normal one and now we're answering questions about that one. That's okay, I think. The Q&A is just because we go shit. It's when it was great day. You can't do great day without Andy. That's crazy. - Yeah, exactly. - So then. - You know what, we'll try our best. We will try our best. And if you have any other suggestions about what episodes should be, just right in. And we'll take them. - Exactly. - We don't know. - We're not. - We're not. - Here we come. - I know we seem like super professional, but this is like a really professional thing. - Yeah. - Yeah, we're killing a professional thing. - We heard people like it when you keep it loose. And there's no other option here because we show up cold. - All right, well, we answered a lot of questions on just two guys. Seth wrote something here. Let's see. - Oh, Seth got a DM. All right, the last thing before we go, this is on other business. - Yes. - I knew this was going to happen. - Yeah. - Seth got a DM from the Klondike team, guys. Big news for those who stuck to the end of the Just 2 Guys episode. The Klondike team wants to reach out and get in touch. Let us know how we can reach out. Looking forward to making some cool magic happen from Klondike break. - All right, okay. I wasn't using my Klondike. If you guys want to sponsor the pod, we got room. We got room for you. - So they reached out to the pods Instagram. That's great. - Doesn't matter. - Okay, well, I will say this. Good on fucking. I loved this part of the pod last week. It was a wonderful memory of us having Klondike. - Oh yeah, did you have anything? You weren't done last week. What did we follow? - Well, I'll just talk about Klondike for now. I will say, I requested Klondikes after we were even at SNL at one point, and they did actually send me some. So, you know, maybe it's on us that we didn't actually bring up. - Yeah, well, we had them at the SNL fridge. We didn't bring those from-- - No, no, no, no. I mean, yeah, they, they, they, but you know what? We'll take more. And again, we got room for sponsors, guys. - I'll have to, I'll have to buy a new fridge. - I'll have to buy a new fridge. - All right, well, thanks everybody. Thanks for letting us do this. I hope it was entertaining for the just two guys fans. And we thought we were gonna get it through all four, but we're not. We, just two guys filled it in. But I bet you the next ones won't take as long because we kind of covered all the basics. - You say that, but as soon as we're going through it. - You know what? It's gonna make Kate happy because it gives us something to do besides Q and A's. And when we do the next one about we like sports, you know, if people want to send in their questions, about sending questions about we like sports, sending questions about we'll kill you, sending questions about we need love, and we'll hold on to them. Jeff will organize them. We'll keep 'em. And when we touch on each one, I also want to thank Jonah Goldstein did send in a voice note, but it was about we'll kill you. So we'll have that for next time. But I want to thank Chester because he sent in one, but it was about we like sports, so we can do that one next time we do one of these. Maybe we can have some of those guys out there.
on to. Uh, the email address is the lonely island pod at Gmail.com, the lonely island pod at Gmail.com. You can also always use that to send a question and I know we don't say that often. But, um, that way, me and your, and we can rope Seth and do it can have a little backup plan when we can't do the next short as long as, as long as there's some Q&As on this, you know, like it's just a little spice. Yeah. I don't think Kate would complain about the Q&A being about the topic that you're talking. I don't know. I think it may be chosen like questions in general, you know what I mean? But then why would she ask one? That's true. Yeah. No, she really didn't. She really didn't ask a question. You want to her credit? If I go back as a more of a comment, I guess, to Kate's credit. It was just a complaint. Please don't do another Q&A episode from a sorority girl who listens to every episode regardless of content. So she was letting us know she'll listen to, she'll take the slop. If we're going to give her a slop, she'll slurp it down, but she was asking politely enough, but letting us know we did have like four rows. So that was, yeah, fucking bit much. Yeah, but it's hard. We could go on hiatus, you know, here's the key. I will do the fucking NYPD blue with you at least one episode. So yeah, I mean, we owe it to everybody. We should watch the episode that we watched the clip before Dennis Francis in the shower. We get all the context around it. Oh, it's going to be hard for me not to just rewind that part over and over again. So we should do a polymarket bet does watching the full episode make the Dennis France scene more sexy or less sexy, like when you have full contents, the shower scene. Oh. And then everyone on the pod can just take their guess. And at the end of the pod, we'll declare which way it went. We won't bet because that would be legal. That's insider trading. But every, someone that listens to this can set up the bet will the lonely island think this shower scene is more sexy in context of this is a great bet or yeah, less, you know, sexy. No insider trading allowed. We promise not to tell anybody. This is this is great because I don't even know what I'm going to think here. You know, so exactly. And so on a scale, I guess we'll have to just rate it and go like, all right, were you more titillated when you saw it and got to know the characters a bit? Or were you more titillated by the YouTube clip? I think that depends on like whether you're into foreplay or not. And I think we all should be. So fingers crossed. Well, it's his confusion about like, wait, I usually wash that part myself. Is that morning during when you know his character or like lesson? They think he's like, you're like, Oh, I understand why he's brain dead. Oh, I used to wash that myself. That's my private part. That's my body. Not yours. Exactly. But now you're watching it standing. Oh my gosh. Chicago, we don't do it that way. But I guess I'm in New York now, even though I never mentioned it. Okay. Anyways, I think lots to say about it. This is a show. I guess this is what a podcast. All right. Yeah. Let's let's wrap it up. I love you. Do you want to take it? You want to remember what to say at the end? Take it away. I love you. I mean, later on later on, later Arnold later quates.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
The podcast reflects on the Lonely Island’s early "Just Two Guys" videos from 2004, created as a fun, self-aware exploration of their teenage insecurities and awkwardness.
The videos were shot in a realistic, unpolished style with minimal production, featuring improvised dialogue, awkward physical gestures, and deliberate imperfections to capture authenticity.
The group used simple equipment like a digital four-track recorder, limiting audio quality and forcing creative spontaneity, which contributed to the raw, authentic feel of the videos.
The early videos were rooted in nostalgia, mimicking the insecurities and social awkwardness of adolescence, especially during formative years like middle school and early high school.
The "Just Two Guys" series became a cultural touchstone, with fans recalling its humor and authenticity decades later, even as the group evolved into more polished work.
The videos were intentionally low-budget and unrefined, with no professional crew, relying on friends like Jonah Goldstein and real-life settings to create a relatable, unfiltered experience.
The characters’ behavior—like nervous hand gestures, awkward silences, and nonsensical gestures—was a deliberate performance of insecurity, reflecting genuine emotional states from their youth.
The videos inspired real-life connections, such as fans recalling how the characters reminded them of their own childhood antics, and even influenced parenting habits, like using “spike the punch” as a playful response to kids.
Summary:
The Lonely Island podcast reflects on their early "Just Two Guys" videos from 2004, a series created as a lighthearted, self-deprecating exploration of their teenage insecurities and awkwardness. Filmed with minimal equipment and no professional crew, the videos capture raw, unpolished performances that emphasize physical and emotional awkwardness—like nervous hand gestures, broken continuity, and improvised dialogue—mirroring the social dynamics of adolescence. The group intentionally avoided perfection, using rudimentary tools like a four-track recorder to maintain authenticity.
These videos were not just comedic sketches but emotional artifacts, reflecting genuine feelings of self-doubt and social anxiety during middle school years. Over time, they became a nostalgic touchstone for fans, with many recalling them as a pure representation of their own formative years. The humor stems from the contrast between the characters’ awkwardness and the real-world situations they parody, like a high school graduation or a party.
The videos also inspired real-life connections, such as fans relating to the characters or using lines like "spike the punch and take a sip" as playful parenting interactions. Despite their simplicity, the videos remain deeply resonant, symbolizing a time of authenticity and friendship, and showcasing how early creative work can evolve into lasting cultural memory. The podcast also highlights fan engagement, including questions about character details, historical context, and the legacy of the videos, reinforcing their enduring appeal.
FAQs
The 'Just Two Guys' videos originated in 2004 as a fun, nostalgic project between Steve and Andy, channeling their 13-year-old selves. They were made at home, without cameras, and featured awkward, improvised performances that reflected their insecurities and early comedic style.
The 'burrito brain' is a humorous concept introduced as a playful way to describe the intense, over-the-top comedic energy Steve and Andy embody when they perform. Fans can activate it by yelling 'Island' at Buddy's Burritos in Brooklyn to get a burrito and a fun, in-character experience.
The group chose two people because of the 'out-of-the-room' rule, which ensured that only two of them could fully understand and execute a joke. It also created a more intimate, awkward dynamic that felt authentic to their early comedic style and allowed for more personal, unfiltered performance.
The videos reveal the creators' early insecurities, self-consciousness, and awkwardness—mirroring how they felt during adolescence. They reflect real emotions, like fear of social judgment, and a desire to appear cool, even when they weren’t.
The 'Party Anderson's' band is a fictional, absurd parody of a Florida-based party band, created to showcase the group's early comedic improvisation. The band's name and songs are deliberately silly and anachronistic, reflecting their playful, unpolished, and self-aware approach to humor.
Yes, Steve’s character 'the Cunt' was a recurring joke rooted in the group's early comedic dynamics. It was a way for them to express playful jealousy and tension, and it became a fan favorite, often cited as a symbol of their unfiltered, self-deprecating humor.
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