More like Incredigreat!

Dude.

If you haven't grabbed up The Lonely Island album Incredibad, you should do so. Or at the very least, come see me and I will burn you a copy.

It's good.

Like, "come and see me so I can burn you a copy" good.

In case you haven't heard of this pop culture phenomenon, allow me the privilege of giving you the skinny on The Lonely Island.

Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg are the major players in this group of funnymen. They honed their comedy skills together back in the day when they were friends in junior high. Now, as "adults", they make their living on a little show called Saturday Night Live where Kiv and Jorm are both writers, and Samberg is an actor/writer. These are the guys behind the SNL Digital Shorts that have gained popularity for the show and on the Interwebs.

Unless you've been under a rock, or hate comedy, you've probably seen or heard their song "Dick in a Box", featuring Justin Timberlake. And maybe "Natalie's Rap" with Natalie Portman and Chris Parnell. And probably even "Jizzed In My Pants". And, most recently, "I'm On A Boat", featuring T-Pain (which is one of my personal faves right now).

These are all hilarious, but their first break-out hit was "Lazy Sunday", in which Parnell and Samberg are two wicked-white dudes who are gangsta-rapping about making plans to go see The Chronic--(what?)--cles of Narnia movie.

All of these songs are sprinkled in throughout TLI's first album, titled Incredibad. I had seen and loved these songs before getting the album, thanks to SNL, but hearing them again, over and over in my car has made me even more of a fan. The comedy still holds up, even after multiple listens, and even without the accompanying videos they've produced. I started listening to the album in my car three weeks ago and I still laugh at the jokes, even as I'm singing along with the punchlines. And that takes talent. (To write something like that, not to sing while laughing [although that is a challenge, too].)

The album's gut-busting humor isn't the only thing that makes this a good album. Nay! The music that is so imperative to the presentation of said comedy gold is also genuinely good. Their music doesn't just deliver laughs, it also delivers beats, rhymes and rhythms that actually pump me up.

I'm serious! When I get outta work and I'm on my way out for the weekend, I put on "I'm On A Boat" and all of a sudden I'm all crazy-excited! This is good shit, people! I find myself passionately delivering the line "Fuck trees, I climb buoys, motherfucker!" to the poor, unsuspecting family in the minivan next to me at the stoplight on the way home. And that makes me feel great!

And that line brings up another thing I love about Incredibad! They use the word "motherfucker" so well. Granted, they use it a lot, but it's not too much. It's only used when it's necessary to kick the listener in their ear-balls and make 'em laugh about something. It's like that extra twist of pepper on your meal that makes it go from good to great. They even transcend normal comedy by using the term. Sometimes, it's just the fact that they used the word motherfucker in a completely unnecessary instance, but it's brilliant because now the use of such a strong word in such an instance is the joke. Genius, I tell you!

And holy shit, the motherfucking guest performers! There's a laundry list of them that's as diverse as your mom's client list on a Friday night. From the aforementioned JT, Portman, Parnell, and -Pain, they also recruited E-40, Julian Casablancas, Jack Black, and Norah Jones.

Now, I must admit that I've never heard of E-40. And I couldn't pick Mr. Casablancas out of a pop-culture lineup. And even ol' Jables was not an unexpected pick for a project such as this.

But the crown fuckin' jewel in the experience that is Incredibad HAS TO BE the daring, heartfelt performance rendered by Miss Jones. For such a soulful singer to rock out so hard with these goofballs and summon the charisma to pull off singing a line like "Last week/I thought I saw you on the street/Turns out it was a bag of trash/Just a big ol' bag of trash/I thought you looked like a bag of trash!" in her song "Dreamgirl" is amazing.

I was informed that Norah is notorious for being a bit of a trickster, so it probably wasn't much of a surprise to anyone who knew that, but still. Norah Jones. Great get, TLI.

For me, this is just a great feel-good listen, all around. Even though I had seen the Digital Shorts of "Natalie's Rap" and "Lazy Sunday" back in their heyday, I didn't love them as much then as I do now. Getting to laugh again at these "older" songs and memorizing them has been a great time. And as for the "New Shit!!", the stand-out tracks, for me are "Boombox", "Dreamgirl", "Like a Boss", and the titular jam, which gives the "meanest fake M.C.s on earth" their interstellar back-story.

I'd like to close with some of the lines I find myself singing to myself or coworkers or cohabitators of my apartment, randomly throughout my day:

"You're like a hot bowl of grits, only way more gritty..."

"A horse drunk a bottle and fucked a cow!"

"Shit on Debra's desk!"

"Last week, I sawr a film. As I recall it was a horror film."

"...a DVD of Cool Runnings!"

"We see eye-to-eye in this jean-punch game."

"A boombox is not a toy!"

So, The Tauz applauds The Lonely Island for Incredibad, and I highly suggest you give it a listen (and a look, if you get the opportunity to see any of the videos).

I guarantee it'll touch you...



...like that.