Following the rise, fall, and rebound of a character that’s a little bit Bieber, a little bit Timberlake, a little bit Macklemore, and a whole lotta idiocy, the mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, released June 3, 2016, is the first feature film from the Lonely Island — the holy trinity of SNL writers and lifelong comedy collaborators Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer. An affectionate ribbing of the then-growing trend of artist-sanctioned profiles known as “popumentaries,” it does for 21st-century chart-toppers what This Is Spinal Tap did for middle-aged metal bands. And while it isn’t the Lonely Island’s biggest hit, a decade later it’s a bona fide cult classic. Sing a few bars of “Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)” or say “Thirty Seconds to Mars is the name of a band, it is not a fact!” in a crowded room, and chances are half the folks there will crack up. (The ones worth talking to, in any case.)
In honor of the film’s 10th anniversary, we reached out to the Lonely Island and several of their collaborators on the movie to talk about the experience of making it, their favorite songs and jokes, and why a film about pop idols in the mid-2010s still holds up today. (We’ve also included a few choices quotes from our 2016 interview with the trio right before the film’s release.) This is the oral history of Popstar. Conner4Real 4Eva.
My first time viewing Popstar is among the hardest, and most, I’ve laughed at a comedy, full stop. I rewatched it recently, and it holds up. I can’t wait to dig more into this article.