TVSquad

To celebrate the release of The Lonely Island's debut album "Incredibad," we've compiled this list of the top ten Saturday Night Live Digital Shorts. For almost four years, Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer have brought us these videos, and they've managed to keep us laughing and humming their tunes weeks after they've aired. We hope this countdown makes you feel just as SNL-y in your digital shorts as when you first saw the videos, and if not, that's okay too. We're glad you're here anyway.

Of course, the rule is that they must have been prefaced by the "An SNL Digital Short" card to qualify. We know how much you love "Virgania Horsen's Hot Air Balloon Rides," but it's not happening. Sorry.

(S34E15) Bradley Cooper, who are you and what are you doing on Saturday Night Live? I IMDb'd him before watching the episode and despite having seen many of his projects, I still couldn't attach him to anything. Is he best known for something? Or is He's Just Not That Into You his big break-out? Well, regardless, his performance in this episode wasn't mind-blowing, but at least it wasn't cringe-worthy either (exceptions can be considered for the Christian Bale sketch). The writers didn't give him anything terribly exciting and in the end we were left with a pretty forgettable episode. Here are some video highlights.

(S34E13) I don't have much of an opinion on Rosario Dawson. I've seen a few of her movies, like Clerks 2 and Death Proof, but instead of blowing my mind with every film, she's left me in a state of indifference. I'm sure there are plenty of gentlemen here who strongly differ. Sorry, boys.

That said, Dawson did a pretty good job hosting this episode. The writing wasn't particularly exciting, but Dawson's delivery was smooth and very professional. Just like Neil Patrick Harris from the previous week, her enthusiasm was very evident and greatly appreciated. Here are some video highlights from the night.

(S34E10) The majority of this episode was pretty good. John Malkovich didn't contain the same contagious energy as other hosts this season, like Anne Hathaway or Tim McGraw, but infused the episode with his own... Malkovich-ness. Anyone that has seen his work knows what I'm talking about. I especially liked it when he introduced the musical guest(s), because it was hilariously obvious that he's never heard of any of these guys. Speaking of the musical guests, does T.I. really have a song about waving Gucci scarves in the air instead of dancing at the club? I feel like that's more of a surefire way to get shot at a club than carrying a gun in your sweatpants.

The guys from the Lonely Island comedy troupe have been three of the most important additions to the Saturday Night Live family in a very long time. Andy Samberg is now one of the most recognizable faces on the cast, and Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer have lent their writing expertise to some of the most famous sketches of the past few seasons. For example, the "SNL Digital Shorts", like the wildly popular "Lazy Sunday", were these boys' doing.

Well, it sounds like the guys are thinking about putting their talents to LP form. Samberg recently said that they'd like to try to create an entire album of their now-famous style of hip-hop knock-offs. I'm not sure if I'd jump at the chance to buy a collection of songs like "Dick in a Box", but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't think about it.

Just like last year, when they broke down the process of making "Lazy Sunday," The New York Times is again diving into the creation of a popular SNL Digital Short. This time, of course, they're exploring "Dick in a Box", which aired last Saturday and made its way around the Interwebs soon afterwards.

This time, the article goes over the process of getting NBC to place the uncensored version on its web site and YouTube channel. Believe it or not, after Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake recorded the video, which wasn't finished until 4 PM Saturday, Lorne Michaels had to get permission from NBC late-night chief Rick Ludwin to put the uncensored version on the web site. After Ludwin saw it and liked it, he sought permission from his bosses, NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly and NBCU Television Group CEO Jeff Zucker. I can just imagine the phone conversations...

Anyway, Samberg and his buddies Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone have come a long way from the Lonely Island days, haven't they? Before, they'd do a sketch about private parts and just slap it up on the web. Now, excutives at the highest levels have to get involved. Ah, such is the price of fame, right?

Now this is just plain ol' funny. Seems that during the Scarlett Johansson & Death Cab for Cutie episode of Saturday Night Live from a few weeks ago, someone turned on a camera to catch this during a Death Cab rehearsal.

It's a bit dark, but you can clearly make out Jorma Taccone (of The Lonely Island) dancing topless while Ben Gibbard sings "Soul Meets Body." Jorma, in the middle of the picture to the right, along with Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer, all joined SNL at the same time. Jorma and Akiva are writers for the show now. The best part of the video is when it pans over to Bill Hader standing off to the side. He's just shaking his head in disapproval. It's hilarious. Not sure who our mystery cameraman is, but if you're reading this - please post more of this stuff to the net.

[Thanks to Katie for bringing this to our attention.]