The Lonely Island Release Surprise Bash Brothers Album & Netflix Special
It’s been more than 13 years since “Lazy Sunday,” the SNL Digital Short that introduced the masses to the rap style of the Lonely Island — two SNL writers (Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer) and one cast member (Andy Samberg) who were posting their own parodic raps online before they even joined SNL. And it’s been more than a decade since the Lonely Island released Incredibad, their debut album. Since then, there have been movies, albums, and the announcement of a tour that’ll kick off next month. And now there’s something else: A surprise half-hour Netflix special and album called The Bash Brothers Experience.
The concept behind this whole ridiculous project is pretty inspired. In the late ’80s, the monster home-run hitters Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire conquered the baseball world, leading the Oakland A’s to a World Series victory in 1989 and generally capturing the public imagination. They were both on tons of steroids, of course, and that’s now their main legacy. But all three members of the Lonely Island come from the Bay Area, so they remember what it was like to look at these sketchy guys as childhood idols. And with The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience, which the Lonely Island are calling a “visual poem,” they’ve imagined what would’ve happened of Canseco and McGwire, at the height of their fame, had recorded a rap album.
The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience is a half-hour run of fake music videos, with Andy Samberg as Canseco and Akiva Schaffer as McGwire. The special also features a ton of guest stars, including HAIM, Jenny Slate, Maya Rudolph, Sterling K. Brown, Hannah Simone, Stephanie Beatriz, and the voice of Sia. There are a whole lot of songs about being rich ’80s douchebags, injecting tons of steroids, dating Madonna, “bench pressing bikini babes,” and running naked through a room full of life-sized Kathy Ireland cutouts. They’ve turned this whole thing into an actual album, on the streaming services and everything. Below, you can stream the album and check out the Lonely Island’s videos for “Oakland Nights” (with Sterling K. Brown doing Sia’s parts) and “Uniform On.”
And if you’re signed into Netflix, you can watch the special here.