Yes, we instantly fell in love with Andy Samberg’s latest viral digi short “Iran So Far” while watching it in our hotel rooms after Brandon’s wedding a few weekends ago (congrats, B!). Our love so blinding (deafining?) that we missed what eagle-eared commenter gl0tch immediately identified: “Iran So Far Away” was built upon a sample of Aphex Twin’s “Avril 14th.”
Since then the track’s usage and the legal consequences for NBC have been everywhere, but we reached out to Andy that week to find out just who was the Aphex Twin fan in the Lonely Island crew. Took a little while, but today he got back to us with the backstory and subsequent fallout. And we won’t argue with his reason for being late…
Sorry it took me so long to respond, the show keeps us
very busy. To answer your question the piano loop in the beat we made
is a direct sample from
Aphex Twin’s “Avril 14th”, we are fans of his and love that song in particular.Since SNL is a live show we’re allowed to use anything for one-time
airing and only require permission for all other airings. Since it all
comes together so quickly we will often air something and then suss
out clearances in the weeks following (this was the case
with a short we made that used an Imogen Heap song, which she later
cleared ). The NBC lawyers are currently trying to make a deal with
Aphex Twin’s people about clearing it for future use, so hopefully
they’ll come to an agreement.Hope that answers your question, love stereogum – see you in the rad zone!
andy
Love you too, Andy. But “the rad zone”? More like the Super-Awesomely Retarded Awesome Zone!
You Might Also Like
 |
 |
Someone explain to me how he’s viewed as funny. There are much funny viral videos out there and his comedy boils down to his one idiotic facial expression. I hate to say it, but I long for the days of Jimmy Fallon…ugh…
funniest short he did? Lettuce.
this guy blows.
whatever, fuck you guys
the pre-snl sketches they have are nothing short of genious. tell me that ‘my pants’ or ‘just 2 guyz’ aren’t the funniest things you’ve ever seen in your lives.
genius, even
hello…dick in a box?!
Remember the Steve Bushemi and Horatio Sanz short about the guys who run a pawn shop that sells food? that was the best
I can’t stand watching anyone diss Samberg because it shows me that some people are just miserable douchebags. The guy is just beyond cool/nice/down-to-earth and really funny. He and his cohorts are geniuses and even SNL can’t do them justice. In summary, Samberg rules! See you in the rad zone as well, Andy.
andy is just an awesome funny guy and i agree w/what sambergerocks said.he’s sweetie.
see u in the rad zone slamberg!
he brought back the Albert Brooks style short to SNL. that alone is enough for me. i really missed those.
Anybody who prefers Jimmy Fallon over Andy Samberg clearly wouldn’t know comedy if it bit them in the ass.
I think Andy’s problem is that he’s just a bit of an adorable awkward dork with no place in a live setting.
Like when i see him on SNL in a live sketch or talking with Conan o’Brian, i cringe at how awkward he is. But the digital shorts and everything done on the lonely island is amazing, so he deserves any fame he lands upon.
Been watching SNL for 20 years and Samberg’s bits are by far the funniest segments on the show these days. His stuff and Target lady are the only recurring segments I look forward to anymore.
Just want to add my name to the “Andy’s (and Akiva’s and Jorm’s) shorts are the funniest sketches on SNL these days” tally.
Anyone have a good quality rip of it? I found one on another blog and it sounds terrible.
andy and co are single handedly keeping saturday night live relevant, exciting and worthy of aniticpation in tuning in. cool that he opened himself up this way too.
Enh, I’ve never really expected too much from SNL anyway. Not a bad video. Not amazing, either.
i have two words for anyone who doubts samberg’s talents: “roy rules”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZGs1V_5Pmo
http://www.thelonelyisland.com/
If you don’t know… now you know.
If anyone’s looking for “Avril 14th” Mp3:
http://fuelfriends.blogspot.com/2007/10/monday-music-roundup_15.html
Anybody who prefers Jimmy Fallon over Andy Samberg, was obviously born in the 80s. Move on, little dweeb. SNL had a long and rich history – one you’re obviously clueless about – if the ‘golden age’ for you was Fallon.
Please.
Hell yeah! lettuce made me piss my pants … twice … then barf, worth it though
Andy, Akiva and Jorma are great! They’re extremely funny! They make worth watching SNL. Jimmy Fallon is boring when compared with The Lonely Island.