The Lonely Island’s Rejected Oscar Song Asks Why ‘Thor,’ ‘It,’ and More Don’t Get Nominated — Watch
For those who thought that last night’s Oscars telecast was lacking on the comedy side of things, here’s a glimpse of what could have been, courtesy of erstwhile comedy group The Lonely Island (AKA Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer).
Monday morning, the team behind such classic films as “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” — as well as one of the best Oscar musical moments in recent memory — shared on YouTube the rough storyboards for a proposed music video they say they were asked to write for this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
“Unfortunately,” according to the video description, “It wasn’t chosen because it was ‘financially and logistically impossible,’ so for fun we thought we’d share the rough storyboards of what would have been a fully shot, star-studded music video of exorbitant cost. All vocals and visuals are temp, so please use your imagination and enjoy!”
It’s easy to see why the Oscars producers balked at the idea, given that it would have required the cooperation of every major box office star of 2017 (and Michael Fassbender). However, “Why Not Me?”, composed by Greg Chun and featuring vocals by Samberg, Taccone, Schaffer, Chun and Baraka May, is a fun send-up of that eternal question, previously asked so poignantly by Hugh Jackman during his own stint hosting the Oscars: why can’t superhero movies ever get nominated?
Check out the video below — and good luck not getting the song stuck in your head.
UPDATE: Samberg did get an official awards show musical moment during Oscars weekend, performing a “Don’t You Forget About Me”-inspired riff at the Indie Spirit Awards that addresses the flip side of this issue. Watch it below.
