Comedy troupe the Lonely Island released an unused parody song they originally wrote and demoed for the 2018 Oscars. Throughout the hilarious track, the trio – Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer – portray characters from big-budget Hollywood movies and critically panned projects who vent about their lack of nominations.
“We were asked to write a song for this year’s Academy Awards,” the Lonely Island write in the song’s goofy video mock-up. “Unfortunately, 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!”
The clip opens with the titular superheroes from Thor and Wonder Woman lamenting from the sidelines. “Why not me?” Thor croons over faux-musical piano and strings. “Do I not deserve a nomination?/ The reviews were raves, to be sure: ‘Fun for the family, look no farther than Thor.'” His duet partner then pokes fun of Paul Thomas Anderson’s decorated Phantom Thread: “Why not me? I left my family to fight for what’s right/ Saved the world from the devil below/ But I’m sure it was hard for Sir Daniel Day Lewis to learn how to sew.”
The funniest bit stars Pennywise, the demented clown from It, who pegs his lack of nominations on his appearance. “Why not me?” he snarls. “In All the Money in the World, they kidnapped one kid/ And they got a nomination; I killed hundreds/ I guess that’s what you get when you’re not ‘classically handsome’/ ‘Oscars so white,’ but I guess not for me/ I need to raise my quote, so I can finally fix my teeth/ Horror movies always get the shaft.”
In 2016, the Lonely Island released a mockumentary film, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and its corresponding soundtrack. Last April, the group teased a potential film project with a plot similar to the Fyre Festival fiasco.
