Popstar 10th Anniversary Q&A

Seth Meyers and Andy Samberg are Hollywood elites. King of New York, Brunson or Meyers. Yorma Taconi is an ultra-right-wing nut job. Very, right-wing and I don't like the card poster. They'll share a nice meal at a restaurant. They'll not tell you what the restaurant is to keep it all to themselves. A Keva Shaffer is salt of the earth. He wears normal clothes, drives a normal car, and doesn't gatekeep straws. For podcast host, the choice is clear. A Keva Shaffer, he's normal. I'm a Keva Shaffer, and I prove this message. Hello, Quaid Army. It's a Keva high. So today, we have a live recording from an April 17th, 2026 screening of pop star. Never stop, never stopping. It was at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood. It was organized by American cinema tech who do cool screenings all over Los Angeles a year round. The Q&A that you're going to hear was hosted by Daniel Scheiner of the Daniels who are a directing team, who made Swiss Army man and everything everywhere all at once as well as some of my favorite music videos. And he actually just randomly texted me a few weeks before the screening being like, I'm so excited to see it at this screening. And I was like, well, if you're going to be there, maybe I put you to work. So big thank you to him. The screening was honoring the 10 year anniversary of pop star's release, which just happened on June 3rd. So we just passed that. And the audio you're about to hear is from after the screening. So we're in a room of about 500 people who just saw the movie. I apologize if it's a little sloppy or what I have you because obviously I could use a shorthand since we had all just seen it. But I know you guys haven't memorized anyways. I hope you enjoy. Hey, here's a voice memo from me, Daniel Shiner. The moderator for this Q&A that became a podcast, I guess. I'm so flattered that this is getting released. And grateful that I got to listen back to it before it got released. And my main takeaway listening back to it was that I sound nervous. And I guess that's because I was so excited to get to do this and was kind of giddy. I think meeting a comedian you love is always kind of nerve-wracking because you've heard their voice a lot, but especially if you're part of Quaid Army, I've just listened to a lot of these guys talk lately. But it was such a treat and I hope you all enjoy it. And I'm sorry, I just keep interrupting a Kiva and saying, right, right, throughout the whole interview. So hopefully that's not too distracting. Roll the tape. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] Hey, everybody. Hey, Redjust Kill. You beat me to it, Quaid Army. All right. Redjust Kill. Do I have to say, at least try? I don't know. Yeah. Hi, I'm Daniel. I did not make this movie at all. I'm just a huge fan. I've seen it many times, but it's really fun to see it with a crowd again. I think this was my first time since the premiere, but I'm not sure. Yeah. I've seen it since then at home a few times, but with an audience, how was it? It was good. The first half, I'll give you my honest take, was that the first 30 minutes I was like, whoa, we were really brought this together. Like it's cooking. And then that kind of intensity cannot sustain. And so then I was just watching and going like, oh, I hope it doesn't dip too much because this-- which is true, I think of this genre for all of this genre. Like, the best ones, the Christopher Guest ones. There's a moment where you have to settle into a different pace because it's just impossible to do that first 30 minutes the whole time. It's so dense. Yeah, it's so high energy. And there's so many shots in it where I'm picturing that there was a different scene we had done. And by the end, we had edited it down to a shot. And that is what makes it feel kind of real. It's like there's a shot I was watching, and I had forgot about it where it's like MTV movie-- or not movie, or it's Spring Break. And you're just like, man, that was a whole set up. And it's just in their face for a split second. There's extras. Was there a whole MTV scene? It was just longer. It wasn't like a big scene. But just there's so many little things like that. Yeah, that was-- was the script enormous or was it kind of ever evolving? Because it does feel like you shot a five-hour movie. And it was just a lot of bullet points a lot of the time. So as anyone that makes-- well, your movies have a lot of montage, too, especially everything everywhere. All at once. [LAUGHTER] Now, this is about him. But whenever you write a montage in something you're going to shoot, it's the worst part of shooting. Because you have to-- it's 30 setups or something. And you realize you look at your schedule on such a big part, for some part of me, for so little movie. And this was an entire movie of that. So it was very inefficient. But it was like 27 days. We just-- 27 days. We just did it very, very. We shot it efficient, even though it was inefficient. I remember our costume woman, Sophie, who does huge movies, but usually you have six costume changes in a whole movie, maybe 10. And this was like, I forget if it was 90 or 130. Because it was just for Andy. It was every day-- every moment had to be like, it's a different day. Yeah. So he just had to keep putting on-- It feels like you traveled the country, went to 10 different-- it's just one stadium day, like one stadium week. They had just renovated the forum. And so it wasn't booked all the time yet. And we got it for 11 days. So half our shooting schedule, we were just in the forum. And we would use every nook and cranny and just kind of decorate it a little bit. So any backstage, anything that looks like a concert, all the alleyways or dressing rooms or whatever, it's all the forum. That little bit the long beach arena, don't you know that one? We did like a day there. Yeah. Wild. With like-- yeah, it just-- it feels enormous. Yeah, you said your family is here. Yeah, there's the first time for my kids seeing it. Yeah. They're not that young. Do you just don't force it down there? If they were enjoying it or not, or do you get any reviews during the closing credits? No reviews during the closing credits. But I think they seem like they were enjoying it. I don't know. Yeah, I'll quiz them on the way home. Did they know that you and mom make out? They did know that. I think they've seen that scene out of context. Yeah. That's the origin story. That's like the origin story. Oh, you know what I mean? I was remembering something literally like three times a minute being like, oh, that's something we could talk about. And then the moment the next joke comes, I forgot everything. But the one that got a huge laugh that I remembered immediately was the Taylor Swift joke. I forgot about that. It's on the phone. And I had kind of forgot about it because it's just ADR. Because you can say anything. It's just on Andy's face with Sarah's voice. And it was not that in the script. And it was one of those ones where it was a dud in every test screening, not that joke, a different joke every time. And it's a real lesson about like never giving up when you're cutting something. And just going, well, that didn't work. So she didn't settle because we just kept trying. And then it was the very last time we were like, uh, how about this? And then it's one of them. She committed murder. Yeah. It wasn't even about Taylor before. It was just something else. It was just different jokes every time. And then that was just one more of many. And then it was like, maybe this. And then it's one of the better jokes. Are there any jokes that like you miss? There's so much on the album. I don't know if like if folks haven't listened to the Spotify full album, there's like, it's a whole universe of stuff y'all made that like, it's in the background of scenes. And yeah, I mean, because we just didn't know. We just we just recorded a ton of stuff before we were doing the movie. Did you shoot a lot of it? Yeah. So when we were on the stage, we did, you know, then they're on the DVD or on the internet, some of them. But like, like Mona Lisa, we have the whole song performed. And it's out there. But it's, and then you just do the movie. And it's all about momentum. Yeah. And did you shoot fuck off? Yeah, there's, then that's out there as well. There's like a, there's a song for kids. Come on, fuck off. It is so dark. When it's playing that last song over the credits that legalize it one, it's fine. And in me and Andy, specifically, me and him were like, this is a gray one. And then in hindsight, I like fuck off so much more. Yeah. And it should be on the end credits. But at that moment, we were convinced that that-- It feels good as a credit song, like legalized crack. It just feels-- I like that it feels-- It's like relaxing, but like, it's just so insane. If it's well. Yeah, it feels like a good, like-- But fuck off didn't make it anywhere in there. And we filmed the whole thing. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. You could watch a full-- We edited it together. It's out there. It's on the DVD and stuff for YouTube. It's like a full concert performance of fuck off. Well, check it out. I also get a little tinges of guilt towards some of our guests that are barely just knowing that they came and sat and were interviewed. And then they're on there for like a split second. And I'm like, I like feel a little guilty sometimes. They're incredible. The most egregious one of those is another song that we shot. But I don't know if it's on the soundtrack, but I don't know if it's on the thing. It's the one with ACON. It's called Should I Move? And it's kind of like contemplating if he should-- It's another good one. if he should move houses. as if that's a relatable topic. And we really liked it, so we got Akon to sing on the chorus. And then Akon comes in. He's only in the opening credits for a second. Like, when he's singing, I'm so humble, and it's kind of showing different stuff from his life. Yeah. It cuts to Andy and Akon, like kind of on stage, like looking at each other. Yeah. And he came all the way over and like recorded and did the performance, and it kind of just went as good. Is he mad at you? I don't think so. I think he's fine. But I feel guilty. Also, we also recorded a talking head with Ed Sharon, and we recorded a talking head with Nora Jones, and those just straight up, the reason we couldn't use them is because between us, we stole a lot of the stuff in the movie when we were in post and we were out of money. And so some of those Andy talking heads that are on iPhone and stuff would literally just be on the floor of the editing suite, because you can do anything, because it's a doc. And your mom was in New York and went and got talking heads with Ed Sharon and Nora Jones separately, and didn't do all the proper paperwork for, but like for universal. Like they were cool with it, but like, this is really inside baseball, but you know how when you're dealing with an actor who's from England, and they have a work permit in America, but the work permit was got from Sony or something, and you're making something for Paramount, and they won't accept the Sony work permit. Those sort of things. Totally. So it's nothing. Did you move? Yeah, but that was it. So we literally wasted their time completely. That's so sad. Yeah. And then we weren't allowed. Universal lawyers wouldn't let us put it in. Yeah, but sometimes asking for forgiveness instead of permission is how you-- Yes, there's a lot that's in there that they have no idea where the footage came from. Yeah, it's a lot in our office. There's a lot of just random stuff. I got a few questions from other people. Please. This is one. A few years ago, you famously switched from Martini's with olives to Martini's with a twist. Do you think you'll ever go back, for example, on a cozy winter night with a close friend? Sorry, I should have said-- the setup is Deer Akiva. It's your friend, Andy. Hold for applause, Sandberg. So sorry I couldn't be there tonight, especially because I actually played the character Conor in the movie. And then you had the Martini question, and then I have one more. Yeah, I knew it was from him just from the question. Sometimes I do go back. Yeah, go back. I even now sometimes do, but I'm mainly on the twist. Yeah, yeah. If you have good Jen or vodka, then you want to appreciate it. It's nice, and it feels cleaner. OK, great. Andy's shooting-- by the way, Andy, just so you guys know why they're not here-- Andy is shooting a movie, and it's nowhere near here. I don't want to blow up his spot. But with Jason Momoa, it's like an action two-hander comedy. Get out. And Yorma has a new movie over your dead body, which has-- I mean, talk about a funny moment when he's talking to Jason Siegel as the star of his movie. Yeah, now they're buds. Exactly. Well, we also Judd Aftow produced this movie who made "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Yeah. And we all knew Jason Siegel, and we were just doing the joke, and we were like, is this OK? And Judd kept being like, I think he's going to think it's funny. And we're like, should we show it to him before he puts out-- no, he's just going to think it's funny. And we all don't know really what he thought of it ever. I never got-- never got feedback. Yeah, but he didn't hold a grudge, actually. They're on a press tour now. Yeah, you always move in. Well, yeah, they could definitely. Yeah, we got to figure this out. Yeah, to Yorma, go give him another one. But he has a press screening. I think it's in New Orleans with last night, and then another one in maybe New Jersey, either tonight or tomorrow night, but it was too tight. Anyway, they send the regards. Or perhaps they've sent you other messages. Right. Over-your-dead body, April 24th, something. That's a week from today. Rock and roll. Yeah. [APPLAUSE] You have famously taken issue with the beloved SNL digital short, Sergio, which you did not direct because of the artistic use of crossing the line. Do you feel like here tonight, in front of this fine group of people and your Scientologist, God, that you are ready to finally admit that you were wrong? Sadly, this one could be from a lot of people now. Yeah. And then I was instructed to watch the movie and look for crossing the line. And I feel like there's no line in this movie. It's-- that's just it. There's no line. There's no line. This is a very inside baseball question for people who listen to the podcast. Seth Meyers, Lonely Island podcast. If you don't-- if you love this movie and you don't know about the podcast, I feel like this is the not the audience for me to pitch. It seems like they know it for the most part. It's really genuinely interesting process discussion about making comedy. I like to listen to it as a filmmaker and learn a lot. That's very kind of. I really love how honest you all are, especially about the bad ones. Those are the more fun ones. Yeah, that's the best episodes. Who was that from? Was it from Christ or Andy? Oh, I was just-- Yeah, that was his part, too. I didn't think Christ would be quite as mean. Yeah. And so the penis scene, I just have like five questions about that. That was a reshoot. It was a reshoot. Yeah, like we shot so much stuff, but we kept a little money for talking heads knowing we're like we better edit this and then go record some of the famous people where we can know better know what we want them to say to fill gaps. Yeah. And then we were just out of money and we realized that there was like a dip in the middle and we went to Judd and we're kind of like why, what's happening. And it was his idea of like, so the set up was all the same of like we're going to get parent trapped. And even the stuff in the hallway was partially the same of Jorma saying like he's here and Andy saying this is a parent trap, but then that conversation went way longer and Andy basically said, fuck that shit, I'm not going to see him and then left. And then it was Jorma coming to meet me at a bar where I was supposed to be meeting Andy and Jorma saying, sorry, he's not going to show up and me being like double pissed. And Judd was the one that was like, I think at that moment audience just wants to see you guys together, like deal with the central relationship in this movie a little bit. And so that's why it's in a limo because that's what we could afford because that's just a parking lot. We didn't have an arena anymore. Yeah. And so it's just we were like, well, we could do an limo and like 20 extras and just crowd around it and you won't know what's going on. And yeah, so it was maybe four or five months after we shot the movie, shot that scene. And we knew at that point, this might be answering or not answering questions. But we knew from test screenings that like the crazier the movie got, the more the audience liked it, which is what gave us the courage to make it that crazy. I don't think we would have ridden that into the original script and had the guts to do it. Yeah. I love the idea of you telling the studio, we've got to, we've got a scene we just have to shoot. Well, if you want the real, the real, this is going to be some big, very honest day. We paid for it. Get out. Yeah. Cause we were out of money. Yeah. And we wanted the movie to be good. Yeah. And so us and Judd, well, chipped in and paid for it. That's even more amazing. Did you pay the dick actor well or I didn't like line produce it. We hired a line. We got to find out. But our email, I don't know if you've ever dealt with nudity, but when you're casting, your emails become just like a scary place. People audition, they are sending in their head shots and it's all, yeah. That's wild. Yeah. And it's interesting trying to choose it. Was that one of your questions? How do you choose it? I don't know. You're just on a roll. I love all these stories. Yeah, I don't, I don't. Yeah. I mean, you have to, you have to find the right comedy, you can't feel like a joke on top of the joke. Cause then you're being like, the joke isn't that it's a weird dick, the joke is just that it's a dick. Yeah. Exactly. Right. And so you, all the choices were made for that and you don't need to go into what they do in your mouth. Did you and your mom make it that the joke is little or big or did you and your mom fight about this a lot? Well, he kept being like, that's the hugeest one I've ever seen. That's not, if said, that's not normal. That's like 10 times what normal is. That was a, we're okay on time. That was one of my other questions is like, what, you guys have worked together, obviously a ton, but you and your mom sharing directing duties, did it feel different on this one? Or no, we had done so much where before SNL where you don't say what anybody's doing, you're just making something. Yeah. And then at SNL, where you're going so fast, it's just the credits, that label it. We're all just doing it all together. And this was the same, like, Andy doesn't deal with the camera stuff that much, but he could. He just doesn't have to because he has us on something like this. But all the decisions are being made by all of us all the time. So it felt very seamless and easy. And that's why we got the DGA, not to get into that, but I'm sure you did the Tribunal to get approved as a directing team and it's difficult to get approved as a team. If you didn't work together all the time to really, like, they want that to random people be like, "We're a team now." Right. It's a weird, did you have any interesting experience with that? I have so many. Yeah, we can do a whole. Yeah. For those that don't know, like, the director's guild has a lot of rules about who he can and can't direct movies together. And I did a solo movie and got in a whole bunch of trouble. Oh, we talked about that actually. Yeah, yeah. So I had to go and beg to all of my favorite filmmakers to please, please, please, let me make movies with my friend again. Yeah. And the first time they said, "No." And then I had to get a bunch of people's help and go again. Got it. Thank you, Seth Rogan, for helping me. Was that between. That was after everything everyone all once put before, whatever's coming next. No, it was before everything everywhere. So I would have been a producer on the movie. Got it. Like the. Like the Cohen brothers. That's why it always seemed like just one of them directed and one produced. But they were doing it together. Yeah. It's weird. Yeah. Yeah, I have so many directing to a questions. But we have time for a couple audience questions. And I feel so greedy. I asked so many of my own. Does anybody want to use her on the aisle here? Yeah. So I'm very curious about the process of obviously you've been doing this comedy for so long. And then there's a lot that goes into it. And I was actually very fortunate to go there very personally. I was a creative person. I was creating a movie that was all part of a radio and turned into a pop star. And being in the audience, I'd say that obviously it's just crazy. I don't know how well managed to shape it into what it is, but what I'm curious about is in sort of the discussion, is it like. Because the studio. I mean, I. The studio and my last thing that you guys asked about the whole thing. What is the process like? That's three and so on. How accessible it is to buy a studio. Yeah. Well, this one was. I mean, you kind of answered your own question almost with the amount of footage. Like, we did so many talking heads. And when you get like Nas to come sit down, you don't just. I haven't say three lines. You also don't know exactly what you're deed up for. So we would talk for 45 minutes. And Ringo, 45 minutes. And by the end, you have. Plus, we had three cameras on everything when we're shooting, because we're shooting docks style. And we would shoot all these extra scenes just being. Because there's no wrong answer. You can go over here and shoot. You can go over there and shoot. It's all real. It can all look right. So we had like the amount of footage you'd have for a real documentary. But our schedule was like it was a normal studio comedy where we would have like 35 scenes. That can pretty much only go in one order. Whereas in this, it can go in any order. You can rearrange it. I mean, editing. I would just do talking heads into. As if I was Andy into my phone, and then just air drop it in and put it in just to be like, "Okay, now it's doing that." And just. You can just write it as you go. So it was very overwhelming. And that test screening. We really fought that test screening that you were at. Because we were like, "We are not ready." Like, we have not found the shape yet. Like, this is a move. These kind of movies have to be 85 minutes at the most. And it was longer than that. And, you know, I think was equal rights even in it. Or if it was at the end, it was towards the end. Like, we really hadn't found the shape of the movie. The beginning would have been totally different. It was just very different. Yeah. And at one point, do you remember. Do you remember what was the edit really long? It wasn't. It was too long for this. It was definitely longer than this. I don't know that it. You know. I mean, like, how many months you were cutting. Oh, well, yes, so it was crazy. Similarly, we were running out of money because of the amount of weeks. And so we. I honestly, I went to Judd and I was like, "Shut us down." I hear about movies getting shut down because people are incompetent. Uh-huh. But I was like. I was like, "I know there's a way movies get shut down." And then brought back to life. And I was like, "Do that to us." Because I had all the footage. But when you have editorial, it's so much money every week. Right. And so it was like, I was like, "Just stop. Stop the flow of money." Yeah. And let me go find the movie and then bring us back once I found the movie. And so I just. He was like, I found an excuse of moving us from Universal to his office in West LA. And then it was like, "It's the holidays coming up. Why don't we just do it in January?" And we got shut down. And so we just stopped working for two months. And I went off and changed the first act of the movie completely. Like, like, seven versions of the first act. Until finally, we found one that was like, basically what you see here. And then we came back. And then we could edit more like a real movie, because we knew what our outline was. Well, yeah. Great job. Thank you. Yeah, you can tell that that's hard. It's like watching it. I'm like, "What does the screenplay look like?" And then like, yeah, it feels like you found it. The other version, the one he saw, the main difference is in the beginning was that it started. Like, it was just a straight puff piece dock on Connor. Like, as if it was the dock he wanted to make, which would have no mention of the rest of us. Yeah. And then, as things start going bad or whatever, then they start talking about the past. And all that stuff about us starts coming up, maybe 10 minutes, 15 minutes in. And I think it was Drew Goddard that saw that at one point. It was like, I think this movie is about the three of you, right? And we were like, yes. And they're like, he's like, then I think you want to tell the audience that in the very beginning. And I was like, "Ah." And then I cut this version. Totally. Yeah. It's such a sweet movie about friends making stuff. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, it resonates. But that's why the first image is the three of us. Yeah. As young, younger. Yeah, it's right out the gate. It's not funny. They're just French fry guy. It's like right out the gate. They just have fun. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. Okay. Sorry. Keep babbling. Someone in the way back, you sir. You're like one seat in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what my favorite is. But Bill is definitely up there. Like, that's tonight my favorite cameo. You're asking me, right? Yeah. I'd rather hear yours. Was the stock footage of Paul McCartney standing up? Yeah. It fits really well. It loves what he saw. Yeah, it hit me so hard. Yep. Just. Yeah. They all had to approve it. Yeah. So on the plus side, all of them or somebody in their world saw the context. I went, yeah, you can use that, which is nice. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. That makes it, you know, the two surviving beetles are both in there. So that's a pretty big. That's pretty huge endorsement. Yeah. Unreal. Okay. One more. You sir. Yeah. You don't have the luxury of time. How else do you have any other tricks that you used to maintain some semblance of projectivity? When you don't have the luxury of time. Which part of the process, I guess, is my. Oh, when you're basically like racing against a deadline and you've lost all objectivity. And then it's like, you got to lock it and you're like, just need a month where you could not watch it and then watch it again. Yeah. I think it's seeing it with people like every time you watch it with people, whether it's a big group of friends that haven't seen it, people have never seen it. But even if it's just like two people in the room that you respect, you feel in your body when you're uncomfortable and embarrassed and feel shitty and you feel when you feel pride and like, I did it. And that's a pretty good, like that's like a huge percentage of what you get out of any screening. A friends and family screening recruited a test screening is even if you never got like the feedback, the feedback you get by just sitting there and feeling embarrassed is pretty strong. And it kind of, it kind of lets you see it through their eyes fresh again, right? Yeah. Yeah, I feel that someone told me that advice years ago and it's so helpful just to watch it in the same room with someone and instantly I'm like, no, this part is boring. Just even inviting someone into the edit and just sitting next to you. Okay, that makes me think of a question. So like on SNL, you didn't have the luxury of like time. Like, would you try to do test screenings before Saturday night? I mean, generally wasn't edited before. But, you know, if we're editing all day Saturday, even just wouldn't be halfway done. Sometimes we'd be pulling in interns or, you know, other cast members or whatever, whoever was in the hall. Oh, come in and look at this. Is it working? Yeah. But it's also so fast you don't really become too lost in it. Like, you don't have that loss of objectivity as much because you shot it yesterday. You're adding it today. There's not a lot of time to be like, I've seen it so many times, I forgot what it is. Right. It can't happen. Yeah, this makes sense. Well, thank you so much for letting me do this. Oh, my God. I was so happy when you agreed to. And congratulations. And congrats to the Film Festival and everyone come see the other movies. Thanks for having me. Okay, my part two. Voice memo. Hello, it's me, Daniel Shinerd again. Just wanted to give my review of the Q&A experience. It was a dream come true. I didn't quite realize it till I was driving home afterwards, but I got so hyper and giddy driving home with my partner who saw it for the first time and loved it, which made me happy. And I just kind of realized that I got to tee up Akiva to tell a joke. Like, how, how dreamy to have a comedian you love and get to tee them up to tell a joke. So thank you again, but especially thank you for letting me tee up that joke about Yorma's penis. And thank you, Yorma for letting us make that joke. I hope you're not mad at me. Y'all are the best. Oh, I sound nervous again because I am. Okay, goodbye. So that was the Q&A. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope it wasn't too rambling. Later Arnold. Later quates.