Episodes › Ep. 39 2024-12-23 · 54:37
The Criterion Episode
Seth Meyers is joined by Jake Tapper and Mike Schur to judge which of the Digital Shorts deserve a place in the Criterion Collection, debating categories like "syllabus," "additional reading," and "Kim's videos." The guests share SNL memories, including Schur's early sketches like Hot Air Mystery Balloon Theater, and Lazy Sunday's cultural impact. Their standout takeaway is that Natalie's Rap is Criterion-worthy because a host finally exploded out of a short, and the Lonely Island's ethical standards kept them from letting every host rap. Alan Sepinwall joins the panel to keep ranking, debating Harpoon Man, Dick in a Box, Dear Sister, Andy's Dad, Laser Cats, The Mirror, Roy Rules and others. The panel settles on five no-brainer inclusions: Lazy Sunday, Natalie's Rap, Dick in a Box, Dear Sister, and I Ran So Far. Several maybes are left to listener voting, and the episode closes with a final sign-off recap. The one thing to remember is Laser Cats' split verdict and the tiebreaker question.
Shorts discussed: Lazy Sunday, Natalie's Rap, Laser Cats, Close Talkers, Hot Air Mystery Balloon Theater, Harpoon Man, Dick in the Box, Lazy Sunday, Natalie's Rap, Dear Sister, I Ran So Far, The Mirror, Laser Cats, Andy's Dad, Roy Rules, Hero Song, The Best Look in the World, Japanese Office, United Way ad, Brian Diaries, Body Fusion, Talking Dog, The Tangent, Syllabus, Flenderson's Giant Car Bows
Guests: Mike Schur (Former SNL writer, The Office and Parks and Rec creator,…), Jake Tapper (News anchor and co-judge of Criterion picks; reached out…), Alan Sepinwall (Listed in show notes as a guest but not heard in this part…), Jake Tapper (Panelist on the Criterion picks, appears throughout part 2), Mike Schur (Panelist and Criterion judge; Parks and Rec/The Office…), Alan Sepinwall (Television critic for Rolling Stone, joins as final guest…)
← Ep. 38 Japanese Office · Ep. 40 Listener Q&A Episode 2 →
Pop-ups (21 · 5 fan picks from YouTube comments)
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Schur and Tapper join as Criterion judges
0:28Seth introduces Mike Schur and Jake Tapper as the official judges choosing which of the first 34 shorts earn Criterion status. Both have ties to SNL or Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
I am joined by two luminaries who are going to help us select the criterion collection of the first 34 shorts
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Additional reading category born
13:34Tapper says he suggested additional reading as a category for shorts that are essential but not top-tier, a rung below Criterion.
I suggested a second category, and my name for it was additional reading.
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Schur recalls Lazy Sunday's arrival
15:20Schur remembers watching Lazy Sunday air while Will Arnett praised it. He describes it as a landmark that helped spark YouTube and College Humor's rise.
I remember it so clearly because of how obviously important it was in the history of comedy.
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Schur's SNL exit alongside Paula Pell and Tracy Morgan
17:14Schur recalls leaving SNL the same day as Paula Pell and Tracy Morgan, and fans held signs for Pell.
The same day I left, Paula Pell and Tracy Morgan, two other beloved figures of the show, also left.
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Fans point here
23:171 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 14 likes.
Young Chuck Norris. No. No, but I do like it a lot. But no. You took your time. That was really intense. I thought your internet had gone out. I would also say not necessarily syllabus either.
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Kim's Videos defined
23:35The hosts define Kim's Videos as a New York video store cinephiles loved, which the show uses for a second-tier ranking of shorts.
Kim's videos. Ooh, like cool underground.
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Seth on Kim's Videos
23:37Seth frames Kim's Videos as a store where cinephiles went, with staff like Jack Black's character in High Fidelity.
Like all Tim's videos was a video store in New York that like the cine files would go to.
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Schur's lake house boat ritual
26:22Schur says his lake house boat ride blasts Lonely Island songs, and his son memorized the Finest Girl lyrics.
one of my proudest moments as a father was when my son learned all the lyrics to Finest Girl.
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Natalie's Rap as a turning point
27:16The guests argue Natalie's Rap is Criterion because it was the first time a host exploded out of a digital short, inspiring later hosts to ask for similar raps.
That was the first one of those where it was like, oh my God, that's the host.
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Lonely Island's ethical standards on raps
30:05Seth jokes that the Lonely Island refused to let every host rap, which would have been an affront to their comedy morality.
They have incredible, for real, like the most incredibly high ethical standards.
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Harpoon: the Criterion's top tier
31:24Harpoon Man was placed in Kim's Videos, prompting the question of a tier above Criterion. Seth jokes the Criterion Collection named its better tier 'Harpoon' after the sketch, with Citizen Kane as an example.
Criterion Collection named their better one Harpoon after Harpoon Man. So Citizen Kane is Harpoon.
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Dick in the Box: most yes votes
31:43Dick in the Box held the most yes votes in the listener poll, 3,072 in total. Jake Tapper compares it to Lazy Sunday with Mozart in place of Pardell.
One detail here is not in the transcript.
Dick in the Box holds, based on the 3,072 votes we had, the most yeses.
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Flenderson's giant car bows
33:26Mike Schur explains how a sketch he wrote about Flenderson's giant car bows, parodying Lexus ads, became his favorite sketch that actually aired, and how it spawned the Toby Flenderson name from The Office.
One detail here is not in the transcript.
Toby Flenderson on The Office. Flenderson. Which is a great one. Yeah, which came from an SNL sketch I wrote.
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Athlete acting: Peyton Manning's United Way spot
35:45Jake Tapper argues Peyton Manning's football-teaching performance is the best athlete acting ever, comparing it to Tom Brady's sexual harassment video and Jeter's bit.
I think this is the best performance in a sketch ever given by an athlete that I can think of.
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Fans point here
36:051 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 23 likes.
Jeter in the Derek Jeter sucks. No, I don't. Thank you. Back and forth that you wrote. You, I believe. I think we wrote together. Yeah. But I think this is the best athlete acting ever. Payton uses football to teach…
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Fans point here
39:082 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 3 likes.
Add Pay Later and turn holiday shoppers into regulars. 96% of Pay Later shoppers are repeat users. PayPal is built for all business. Get started at paypal.com slash business. PayPal pay later data, eight markets, March…
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Fans point here
40:171 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 14 likes.
When I think of favorite lyrics of mine that make me smile every time I think about him, it's just like, . It's just the best. So much crime and evil Everywhere deceit and lies
— Seth -
Andy's Dad: the Jonah Hill kiss
42:40Jake and Mike split on whether Andy's Dad qualifies; Mike argues the big laugh comes from Jonah kissing Downey, which edges toward gay panic reaction without quite being it.
I think the reaction to it is like a little bit over the top based on the premise of the video.
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The Best Look in the World's knee pits line
43:36Mike Schur singles out the line about a cool breeze tickling your knee pits as one of the best lines the Lonely Island ever wrote, a Kim's Videos standout.
Cool breeze tickling your knee pits is as good a line as they've ever written.
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Steve Carell hosts and The Japanese Office
45:10The panel discusses Steve Carell's second time hosting SNL and his Japanese Office sketch, which Mike thinks didn't land as well as Rainn Wilson's earlier Office homage.
When he did the Japanese office, I remember being a little bit rankled.
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Dear Sister and The OC
49:45Alan Sepinwall recalls the Dear Sister parody of The OC, and how his wife JJ Philbin worked on the show when that episode aired.
Yes, I remember watching that and realizing what they were doing and saying, wait, they're doing a parody of that?
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The Tangent: the Lonely Island's early pencil sketch
51:54Alan Sepinwall points to The Tangent as an overlooked early sketch that shows the Lonely Island's future genius before it fully formed.
The tangent. And that's one I think I discovered through the pod because it was so hard to find for so long.
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Jake's ballot: Harpoon Man is Criterion
53:05The guests keep returning to their final ballot: Harpoon Man is Criterion, while United Way and Seth's own sketch are not.
Harpoon Man is. Harpoon Man is, to be clear.
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Fans point here
54:231 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 7 likes.
And just real quick, and I do appreciate your time, before we go, Jake, if you could just help me do the ad read for, we're doing MSNBC is the sponsor, and I would love to get you to join in for that. Hired of the…
— Seth -
Five locks for Criterion
56:38After the 34-short ballot, five shorts were unanimous in the panel's Criterion picks: Lazy Sunday, Natalie's Rap, Dick in a Box, Dear Sister and I Ran So Far.
Lazy Sunday is in. Natalie's Rap is in. Dick in a Box is in. Dear Sister is in. I Ran So Far is in.
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Laser Cats: split vote and tiebreaker
57:23Laser Cats was the most divided pick, with yes from Jake and Alan, no from Mike, and over 75% listener approval, leaving the guests to break the tie.
Laser Cats received over 75% of the vote. It got a yes from Jake. It got a no from Mike. It got a yes from Alan.
People and sketches mentioned (29)
Ian McKellen Will Arnett Franco Harris Greg Daniels Natalie Portman Chris Dodd Toby Flenderson Peyton Manning Tom Brady Derek Jeter Robert Downey Jr. Jonah Hill Steve Carell Rainn Wilson JJ Philbin Matt Zoller Seitz Natalie Portman Rihanna Citizen Kane
Hot Air Mystery Balloon Theater The Office Seinfeld Brooklyn Nine-Nine Lazy Sunday The OC The Office Parks and Rec Laser Cats 3D Captain Jack Sparrow
Source: whisperx-v2+speakers transcript, read by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5 on 2026-10-24; audio timestamps mapped to the YouTube cut by word alignment. Timestamps shown are YouTube time. Report a bad pop-up.