The Lonely Island Release ‘Roided-Out Visual Album on Netflix
Images via Netflix Comedy News The Lonely Island
The Lonely Island have finally ventured into visual album territory with their new Netflix special The Lonely Island Presents: The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience.
The “visual poem,” mysteriously teased by the trio on Wednesday, then released on Netflix at midnight, is set in a universe where baseball heavyweights and ‘80s mainstays José Canseco (Andy Samberg) and Mark McGwire (Akiva Schaffer) have decided to make a rap album documenting their careers, steroid usage and, well, everything in between.
“What do we ask of our heroes?” Samberg growls as the film opens. “Why do we build them up just to watch them fall?”
Directed by Mike Diva and Schaffer, the 27-minute special is chock-full of absurd, juiced-out songs with lines like: “Stab that needle in my ass till I am rich / Make me a god with the chemical sciences.” Samberg and Schaffer rip their bones out in ‘roided rages, spit out joint odes to both puka shell necklaces and IHOP establishments, and beg for paternal approval in a string of press conferences. There’s a floating orb somewhere in there, too.
The film is also indulgent in its ‘80s references. Within the film’s first 10 minutes, references to supermodel Kathy Ireland, chunky SkyTel pagers and (unsurprisingly) cult hero Steven Seagal are made.
Expectedly, there are cameos aplenty, including Jenny Slate, Maya Rudolph, the HAIM sisters, Hannah Simone, Jim O’Heir, and Sterling K. Brown standing in for Sia in a purple silk robe. And yes, don’t worry—Jorma Taccone, the final player in the Lonely Island trifecta, also makes an appearance.
The film is accompanied by a standalone album with music from the film, available on various streaming platforms. Listen here.
You can watch the videos for two songs from the visual album below, see the special’s key art further down and catch The Lonely Island Presents: The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience now streaming on Netflix.
