The Lonely Island

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"This is that 'The Lonely Island' All The Tropes page."
"Oh shit, All The Tropes? That's my joint!"
"Mine too! But a lot of these busters don't know about it!"
"Well, let's tell these motherfuckers!"

A comedy troupe featuring current[when?] Saturday Night Live cast member Andy Samberg, and his long-time friends Jorma Taccone and Akiva Shaffer (who serve as SNL writers). They are as well known for their humorous tongue-in-cheek songs as they are for the accompanying videos, which often air on SNL. They're quite prone to Memetic Mutation, as the famous "Jizz in my Pants" single from 2009 shows, being one of the top viewed YouTube videos. They've released two albums, Incredibad and Turtleneck and Chain.

They're probably best known, post-2014, for doing the rap portions of the song "Everything is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie, along with Tegan and Sara.


Murder these tropes, feed 'em to the fishes.
  • Aeris and Bob: Their names are Jorma, Akiva and... Andy.
  • An Aesop:
    • Boombox: A boombox is NOT a toy.
    • Throw It On The Ground: You can't trust the system, MAAAAAAN.
    • Dreamgirl: Chex Mix = Number One.
    • After Party: You can't spend your whole life jerking off.
  • A Date with Rosie Palms: "Watch Me Do Me".
  • A Man Is Not a Virgin: "I Just Had Sex" mocks this.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
    • The reasons for jizzing in your pants becomes... normal toward the end.
    • Who Said We're Wack?: How could the devil turn the blue sky black? How many babies born won't ever reach their dreams? And how could a person call another person wack?
    • Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions: "Denzel [Washington] walks, Will Smith walks, Mark Wahlberg is wearing a hat."
  • Applied Phlebotinum:
    • The boombox from the eponymous song, which can make stuffy old men and women dance, erase racism and crime, and make rich people get loose. It also can cause elderly orgies.
    • Santana DVX, especially for animals.
  • Ate His Gun: THE BOSS attempts this but ultimately doesn't go through with it.
  • Ax Crazy: Dreamgirl, from her eponymous song, talks to her shoe like it's her friend, yells all the time, pretends to be... something... and has threatened to stab the narrator in his sleep.
  • Berserk Button: Depending on the song:
    • Being called wack
    • Jeans.
    • Boiled Goose.
    • "Throw It On The Ground"'s character is nothing but a series of these.
  • But You Screw One Fish!: In "Like A Boss".

"...Crash down in the sewers (Like a boss!)/ Meet a giant fish (Like a boss!)/Fuck its brains out! (Like a boss!)..."

  • Beyond the Impossible:
    • The eponymous Dreamgirl gets uglier with every verse. How ugly? Listen for yourself.

"It's music to my ears when you scream in your sleep."

    • Similarly, "Like a Boss" deals with the day of a boss. Most of the earlier stuff is fairly mundane boss stuff (workshops, birthdays, synergy), then after a failed suicide attempt, degenerates into scoring coke, crashing his car, self-fellating, eating chicken strips, self-castration, having sex with a giant fish in a sewer, turning into a jet and bombing Russia, and finally crashing into the sun and dying. On a daily basis.
  • Boastful Rap - "I'm on a Boat" and "We're Back" are mockeries of this. "Jack Sparrow" would have been this if not for Michael Bolton.
  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The actions in Like A Boss gets more ridiculous as that song progresses.
  • Brick Joke: "The following song is brought to you by Chex Mix."
  • Butt Monkey:
    • Jorma is left off of the boat ride (and taunted for it) amongst other indignities.
    • Who invited Steve?
    • He's also harassed by Ras Trent for being a "baldhead".
    • What kind of rapping name is Steve? ...Steve?!
    • "Mama", the Mom herself and her husband Dale. In a song about loving your mother.
  • Call Back: "After Party" uses this in regards to "Like A Boss" in the final verse, with "And then after that I pass out in the sewer, meet a giant fish, FUCK ITS BRAINS OUT"
  • Cargo Ship - In-universe, the crew apparently bone their turtlenecks in "Turtleneck and Chain".
  • Cloudcuckoolander - The "Normal Guy". Michael Bolton, of all people, in "Jack Sparrow".
  • Cluster F-Bomb: I'm On A Boat, among others.
  • Chekhov's Gun: "The following song was brought to you by Chex Mix."
  • Cool Boat: Take a wild guess.
  • Crack Pairing, X Meets Y:
    • In one promo for an awards night Andy was hosting, he was claimed to be the son of Michael Cera and Jack Black.
    • The entire band and an alien in the eponymous single.
    • Andy writes "freaky fanfiction where cartoons fuck" in "We're Back!", specifically, he wrote Rule34 of CGI Garfield and Marmaduke, helpfully illustrated in the music video.
    • Falcor and Atreyu in a skit.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Shy Ronnie. Shame he only gets a verse off.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: "Boombox" specifically invokes the power of this trope, and the last verse demonstrates the dangers of an overdose.
  • Did You Just Have Sex?- Yes.Yes, they did. In a song called, say it with us, "I Just Had Sex!"
  • Don't Explain the Joke: "Last week thought I saw you on the street, turned out it was a bag of trash/just a big ol' bag a'trash/(I thought you looked like a bag of trash)"
  • Dull Surprise:
    • Those Two Guys of "Just Two Guyz" and "We Like Sportz". Just two guys having a good time...
    • In "We Like Sportz" they manage to combine this with Large Ham. srsly.
  • Fingerless Gloves: In "Boombox"

"Whoa-oa-oa, everyone was wearing fingerless gloves..."

  • Flat What:
    • Andy in "Jack Sparrow", in response to Michael Bolton's non-sequitur chorus.
    • Akiva in response to the alien's request to have intercourse in Incredibad.
  • Gag Penis: Shy Ronnie, of all people, claims he hung a "giant ass noose off his giant ass dick".
  • Grievous Harm with a Body: In Rocky, the titular boxer rips off Andys and beats him with them.
  • Groin Attack: In "Like A Boss"

"Chop my balls off! (Like a boss!)"

  • Groundhog Day Loop: "After Party" plays with this, the narrator going through a cycle of living a playboy lifestyle, having an existential breakdown, masturbating in various locations, joining Alcoholics Anonymous, sleeping with a prostitute, losing his hand in a game of dice, then going back to his old ways. Then going through the same cycle the next week.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: The narrator of "Threw It On The Ground", who'll let out his rage by throwing things on the ground at the slightest provocation.
  • Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today??: The two singers in "No Homo", specifically of the "doth protest too much" variety.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The narrator in Space Olympics, against the alien hordes.
  • Hipster: The narrator of Throw it On the Ground.
  • I Love the Dead: Nicki Minaj, of all people, in "The Creep".
  • In-Joke: Motherlover references Dick in a Box twice (throwing away empty boxes with dickholes in the beginning of the video after being released from prison, and the last verse's lyric "This is the second best idea that we've ever had"), being that they both feature Justin Timberlake.
  • Intercourse with You:
    • Parodied in "Dick in a Box", which is a parody of all those sex ballads of The Nineties and Present Day.
    • "Bing Bong Brothers" just flat-out mocks this.
    • "I Just Had Sex".
  • Jerkass:
    • The trio in "Japan", who are fucking over their label company and eventually dump an old man in the river.
    • The narrator of "Threw it on the Ground".
  • Jizzed in My Pants: The Trope Namer.
  • Karmic Ass-Tasering: The narrator in "Threw It On The Ground".
  • Left Fielder: Michael Bolton in "Jack Sparrow".
  • Minor Injury Overreaction: The entirety of "Who Said We're Wack".
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Played for Laughs in Ras Trent, a song about a white college kid convert to Rastafarianism and being as stereotypical as possible.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
    • "Rocky", where Andy fights the titular boxer. Rocky breaks Andy's jaw, nose, ribs and eye socket, knocks his teeth out, fractures his shins, rips his arms out, throws acid in his face, and pees on him. The ref then declares Andy legally dead.
    • And that was the night I fought Rocky!
  • The Peeping Tom: Played for equal amounts of laughs and Squick in "Do the Creep", which features Jorm, Akiva, and Andy sitting on a tree limb to peep through a window, and Nicki Minaj hiding in a locker to watch boys change after gym.
  • Porn Stache: The Bing Bong Brothers.
  • Precision F-Strike:
    • FUCKING PLAY SOMETHING, SAX MAN!!!
    • For Michael Bolton, "This whole town's a pussy...just waitin' to get FUUUUUUUUCKED!"
  • Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Ras Trent. See Not Even Bothering with the Accent.
  • Product Placement: Chex Mix in Dream Girl.
  • Smug Snake:
    • In "Punch You in the Jeans": These days, a lotta cats is outta line.
    • The narrator of "Throw It On The Ground".
  • Schmuck Bait: The end of "Who Says We're Wack", where the boys found out who said they were wack by having first the ladies put their hands up, then the fellas, then whoever said they're wack, before telling everyone else to put their hands down. Apparently, whoever called them wack kept their hands up, because they were quickly picked out of the crowd.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Shrinking Violet: "Shy Ronnie",
  • Slasher Smile: John Waters advises you to do this for "The Creep".
  • Space Opera: Space Olympics is a deconstruction-- Turns out, sports in SPAAAACE don't work so well.
  • Space Swords:
  • Stylistic Suck:
    • 'Laser Cats', wherein Andy and Bill Hader attempt to pitch their ultra-low-budget Z-movies, each time getting them thrown out of an office at the end. Even James Cameron's approval doesn't help.
    • Any video that involves Guy #1 and Guy #2, who sing in a bored monotone.
  • Stealth Parody:
    • Oddly "I'm on a Boat". If it wasn't obvious enough...
    • "We're Back" is far more obvious, but it's a mockery of self-aggrandizing Boastful Rap.
    • "Jack Sparrow" partially mocks boastful club anthem raps. The other half just turns into Michael Bolton singing about various films.
    • "Turtleneck and Chain" is another club anthem parody.
    • "Attracted to Us" mocks contemporary power-pop music regarding girls.
  • Stealth Pun: The music video for "I Just Had Sex" includes them winning medals in the sex Olympics because they "came first".

The Best 30 seconds of my life.

  • So Bad It's Good: In-universe, the three boys wish to be the "Greatest Bad MCs on Earth" in the song "Incredibad".
  • Tempting Fate: Dreamgirl: "You say you're gonna stab me in my sleep, but you won't!"
  • The Cameo:
    • T. Pain in "I'm On a Boat"
    • Seth Rogen in "Like A Boss" (though the album version had Akiva Shaffer as Andy's boss; Rogen only appeared on the music video version that appeared on SNL as Andy's boss while Akiva played a hooded gun dealer)
    • Ryan Reynolds and Elijah Wood on "Throw It On the Ground"
    • Justin Timberlake, Molly Sims, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler in "Jizz In My Pants"
    • Jack Black in "Sax Man" - not so much as cameos as is the whole song.
    • James Cameron and Steve Martin in two separate Laser Cats sketches.
    • Will Ferrell (an SNL cast member from 1995 to 2002) and JJ Abrams (the guy who created Lost) in "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions".
    • Natalie Portman, of all people, launches the Cluster F-Bomb from hell in the aptly named "Natalie's Rap".
    • Julian Casablancas (from The Strokes) in "Boombox".
    • Justin Timberlake in Dick in a Box, Jizz In My Pants and Mother Lover.
    • Kiefer Sutherland in an episode of their eponymous "sitcom." It was unintentional.
    • E-40 as Carlos Santana in Santana DVX.
    • Blake Lively, Jessica Alba, Akon and John McEnroe in "I Just Had Sex"
    • John Waters and Nicki Minaj in "The Creep".
    • Rhianna in both Shy Ronnie skits.
    • Michael Bolton in "Jack Sparrow"
    • Alec Baldwin and Tom Petty in "Great Day", before telling Andy to get out of their dressing room.
    • Snoop Dogg on "Turtleneck and Chain".
    • Santigold in "After Party".
    • Beck in "Attracted to Us".
    • Lady Gaga in "Three Way".
  • This Is Sparta: At the memetic part of 300, I Jizzed. In. My Pants.
  • Those Two Guys:
    • "Just Two Guyz"'s, uhm, guys. Also, in "We Like Sportz". We're just two guys, hanging out, having fun. Right, Guy Number Two?
    • Yeah, Guy Number One.
  • A Threesome Is Manly: What the duo attempt to convince the other of in the song "3-Way".
  • Fucked By A Vorlon: According to "Incredibad", the source of their musical talents.
  • Trademark Favourite Food:
    • Half the world is eating boiled goose in "Boombox".
    • Chex Mix in Dreamgirl. Yes, there's a reason...
  • The Treachery of Images: Threw It On The Ground: "I'm not a part of your system! My dad's not a phone! DUH!"
  • Twist Ending: The last few verses of Dreamgirl abruptly switch to talking about Chex Mix.
  • Undead Author: The boss in "Like a Boss", who apparently survives self-castration and flying into the sun unscathed on a daily basis.
    • "The doctor came out and pronounced me dead, and that was the night I fought Rocky."
  • Unflinching Walk: "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions" mocks and pays tribute to this trope. Subverted at the end, when Will Ferrell and Andy flinch as a building explodes and start running.
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: In "Like A Boss"

"Puke on Debra's desk! (Like a boss!)