Posted: Mon., Nov. 12, 2007, 4:06pm PT

The Lonely Island Guys

Samberg and co. take shorts to great heights

By Josef Adalian

Avika Schaffer, Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone

The writing and acting buds from Berkeley have been breathing energy into "Saturday Night Live" since they joined the show in 2005 -- the same year they helped launch YouTube into the stratosphere with "Lazy Sunday."

The seminal viral vid was a hard act to follow, but they did just that with the infectious (and Emmy-winning) "Dick in a Box."

While the trio's debut feature, "Hot Rod," was a B.O. disappointment, their Internet buzz remains the loudest in the online comedy biz.

Their latest hit, "Iran So Far," a satirical musicvideo "love song" dedicated to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, features a dead-on look-alike of the Iranian president in a red dress sprawled out on a piano.

Point of view

While each Lonely Islander appeared in "Hot Rod," Samberg is generally the public face of the troupe. "But even though my fat schnoz is out there more than theirs, we've gone through everything together," he says. "It's brought us closer together. Even if we get on each other's nerves sometimes, it's like family. Your brothers and sisters are always your brothers and sisters."