Review: The Lonely Island's Secret Netflix Special Is a Fun, Disposable Surprise
All it took was a tweet from the Lonely Island's official Twitter account last night to amp up hype for their previously unknown new project. What was this secret release—a visual poem no less—going to be?
Well, good job anyone who could have possibly predicted this: A half-hour concept album about former MLB megastars Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, a.k.a. the Bash Brothers.
For those too young (or not well-versed in the history of the Oakland A's pre-Moneyball), the Bash Brothers were a sensation during their careers at the Athletics, hitting home runs seemingly for fun. Their athletic ability and undeniable chemistry were ready-made for a marketing campaign, and, sure, it was the eighties, why not do a take on the Blues Brothers as a concept?
All this is to say, for all the expensive visual flair and aggressively funny lyrics we've come to expect from a Lonely Island project, The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience is also, on first watch, obviously a personal endeavor for the trio: Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone, who met and grew up in the Bay Area. For some bands, heading back to your roots means a stripped-down, more experimental sound; for The Lonely Island, they of "I'm On a Boat" and "I Just Had Sex" fame, it means casting Sterling K. Brown in a delightful cameo and releasing songs with such titles as "Bikini Babe Workout."
The long-form concept album style is well-suited to The Lonely Island, whose best songs are subversive stories hidden beneath an also-fun veneer of childish, aggressive comedy. Dare I say The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience is actually sensitively character-driven, and hits the occasional emotional beat alongside gags about the pair injecting steroids into their asses. Samberg as Canseco is appropriately brash, but Schaffer as the mild-mannered McGwire is simply brilliant.
This is a Lonely Island project, so of course, other celebrity cameos abound. Highlights include appearances from favorites like Maya Rudolph, HAIM, and Jenny Slate.
The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience is also destined to be rewatchable, if not as culturally penetrative or as singularly brilliant as the other Netflix delight the team had a hand in this month, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. But who's complaining? We just got a new Lonely Island album out of nowhere. Let's count ourselves lucky that, more than ten years later, these guys still like to get together and decide on the most deranged ways they can make us laugh.
Originally Appeared on GQ
