Released in 2005, the film ‘The Lonely Island’ sees Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell rapping about their relaxing day off that includes cupcakes and going to see ‘The Chronicles Of Narnia’, ‘The Witch’, and ‘The Wardrobe’ at the movies together.
A similar skit was featured in ‘The Office‘s season three. The version was a little different than the original, clearly made as a parody. But after watching it, Andy Samberg was confused about whether he should take it as an offense or just laugh it off. Here’s what he thought about it.
Andy Samberg Got Confused While Watching ‘The Office’ Parody
Andy Samberg recently revealed during a conversation that he initially wasn’t sure if he should be flattered or offended by ‘The Office‘ Scranton-themed ‘The Lonely Island’s legendary ‘Lazy Sunday‘ sketch.
The actor was asked during Monday’s fan Q&A on ‘The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers‘ podcast if he knew that ‘The Office‘ would be channeling their Saturday Night Live skit with their ‘Lazy Scranton‘ spoof before the episode airing in 2006.
“I very distinctly remember it, and I remember having to go through the feelings of, like, ‘Are they making fun of it? Or are they making fun of people doing their version of it?'” Andy Samberg recalled. “And slowly coming to realize that Mike [Schur] was our friend and liked what we were making and stuff and being like, ‘Oh, I see,'” he added. Mike Schur, who was a writer and producer on ‘The Office‘, previously served as an SNL writer from 1997 until 2004.
Co-Host Seth Meyers Insists ‘The Office’ Cast Meant No Offense
The parody of Andy Smberg’s film was featured in ‘The Office’, featuring Michael (Steve Carell) and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) welcoming their new Stamford colleagues to Scranton after their branches were combined. In their version, the pair rap about how their “public parks and libraries are truly the best” and how there’s “plenty of space in the parking lot” at work.
Co-host Seth Meyers noted that he believed the parody wasn’t intended to be a slight against ‘The Lonely Island‘, noting that the homage just seemed like “a thing that Michael Scott would do” in his spare time.
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Samberg agreed that people putting their own spin on their sketches was very commonplace at the time. “It was the phenomenon of people dressing up as the stuff and doing their own, like, ‘Our thing in our office and in our town,’ and the fan vid version of it,” he said.
