The Lonely Island

If there was any one musical genre that was in genuine need of a shake-up, particularly in the form of some fresh blood, it was comedy; a landscape that had been dominated for years by an increasingly-irrelevant ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic was clearly crying out for an injection of youthful vigour. Enter, then, The Lonely Island, who built up a loyal following through numerous appearances on Saturday Night Live in America - most prominently with ‘Dick in a Box’ - before making inroads into the music business proper right around the time that YouTube was genuinely taking off - it’s hard to think of an act who were more ripe for its potential for viral videos. Since, they’ve had a string of genuine smashes on the website, with ‘I Just Had Sex’, ‘Jizz in My Pants’, ‘Jack Sparrow’ and ‘Like a Boss’ all chalking up nine-figure view counts over the past few years. Granted, those titles should be something of a giveaway to the fact that perhaps the trio aren’t for those with the most sophisticated of tastes, but their impressive list of guest appearances across three records - including Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga and even Michael Bolton - speaks to their popularity. They’ve yet to tour properly, with their live activity limited to television performances, but expect something suitably silly when they do; Andy Samberg hinted as recently at last year that future dates are now “just a matter of scheduling.”