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Episodes › Ep. 4 2024-04-22 · 30:48

Young Chuck Norris

Episode 4 covers the making of the digital short "Young Chuck Norris," originally a Harper Steele live sketch turned into a song-driven short. The hosts detour through Scarlett Johansson's "Chandeliers," the cut "Tangent" short, Harper Steele's office lore, and the "Wahlberg Talks to Animals" writing. The memorable takeaway is how Young Chuck Norris shows early blueprint moves, such as West Side Highway and the list structure, that later reappeared in Dick in a Box and Ras Trent. The hosts continue with production stories from the shoot, including a borrowed camera, a Hard Rock Cafe location, and wig issues, plus a tangent into Michael Phelps-era monologue memories. They then dig into the Pirate Convention sketch with Will Forte and the Peter Sarsgaard Sarsgaard sketch, and tease the Steve Martin episode with Surf Meeting.

Seth's CornerFour Shock Jocks

Heard here, not in the AlmaNick yet

  • Sarsgaard Sarsgaard “so peter sarsgaard sarsgaard hey you know what actually since we're going to talk about peter sarsgaard sarsgaard”

Shorts discussed: Young Chuck Norris, Tangent, Chandeliers, Lazy Sunday, Give Up the Ham, Wahlberg Talks to Animals, Young Chuck Norris, Pirate Convention, Peter Sarsgaard Sarsgaard, Tranquil Spaces, Surf Meeting

Guests: Harper Steele (Writer whose live sketch idea and song lyrics became the…)

← Ep. 3 Lazy Sunday  ·  Ep. 5 The Tangent and Close Talkers →

Now at 0:00. Tap or click any pop-up to jump there. Open on YouTube.

Pop-ups (16 · 3 fan picks from YouTube comments)

  1. Fans point here

    0:08

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 12 likes.

    Hey, everybody. I'm Seth Meyers, and this is the Lonely Island podcast, where I'm joined by the Lonely Island Akiva Schaffer. Hi. Jorma Tacone. Hello. And Andy Samberg. Hi. And this is a trip through SNL and the aughts. — Seth

  2. Give Up the Ham sketch reference

    7:46

    Give Up the Ham is a Queen Latifah and Chris Parnell SNL sketch the hosts consider one of the best of all time. Andy still quotes it and sings the song.

    Give up the ham! Brother, loving brother, give up the ham!

  3. Seth's Mad Men ham fight text

    8:16

    Seth texted Harper Steele after spotting a Mad Men ham-fight scene that echoed Give Up the Ham, joking that she should get some of the Mad Men money.

    I basically texted a photo with the subtitles on of her talking about a ham fight

  4. Young Chuck Norris starts as a live sketch

    8:54

    The short began as a Harper Steele live sketch that had an opening theme song. The Lonely Island liked the song so much they expanded it into a video.

    there was an opening theme song in the live sketch and we were like, that's the part that we love.

  5. Wahlberg Talks to Animals writing

    9:42

    Harper Steele suggested putting live animals in the Wahlberg Talks to Animals sketch and let things go haywire, a direction Jorma co-wrote with her.

    just put a bunch of live animals in it, and things will go haywire.

  6. Harper's vinyl music transfer

    10:36

    Jorma helped Harper Steele move her vinyl collection to a hard drive in exchange for her music. He still browses the odd, unusual tracks, including her Tom Waits bootleg-style interjection.

    if I help you do this to transfer it to a hard drive, will you give me all your music?

  7. Harper's cardboard Thurman peeping prank

    11:29

    Harper Steele reached a cardboard face on a stick out her window to scare coworkers next door, a prank Seth recounts with glee.

    my name is Thurman and I like butts and boobs.

  8. Young Chuck Norris hair and makeup

    12:52

    Unlike earlier shorts shot on their own, this one required hair and makeup because Andy had to look like young Chuck Norris.

    this one required hair and makeup because Sudeikis has to look like young Chuck Norris.

  9. Blueprint moves in Young Chuck Norris

    14:20

    Andy notes the list of Chuck Norris facts and the West Side Highway location previewed structures later used in Dick in a Box and Ras Trent.

    the list of things about Chuck Norris feels very similar to the steps in Dick in a Box

  10. West Side Highway as the new stoop

    14:39

    The West Side Highway became the Lonely Island's recurring shooting location, replacing the stoop from earlier shorts.

    the West Side Highway instantly becomes the new stoop.

  11. Best shot: looking in the garbage can

    15:36

    The hosts agree the best shot is young Chuck Norris looking into the garbage can and getting caught doing it.

    young Chuck Norris looking in the garbage can and then getting caught looking in the garbage can.

  12. Chuck Norris memes sparked hesitation

    16:23

    The team hesitated because a Chuck Norris comedy meme was already popular, and it later became the Most Interesting Man in the World campaign they felt was ripped off.

    there was a pre-existing Chuck Norris comedy thing that everyone knew about and liked.

  13. Fans point here

    18:47

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 12 likes.

    Oh, yeah. That's where we got that shot of Sudeikis on that stage. Yeah. I forgot that, that that's not even a 30 Rock stage. This is a Chuck Norris story. And again, I'm jumping ahead in time. But do you guys…

  14. Fans point here

    19:59

    2 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 13 likes.

    This is a Chuck Norris story. And again, I'm jumping ahead in time. But do you guys remember? So it must have been season premiere 2008, which is post Summer Olympics. Do you remember the host, Michael Phelps? Oh, yeah. — Seth

  15. Michael Phelps monologue cameo mix-up

    20:33

    The hosts recall the Michael Phelps monologue where Chuck Norris and Obama were written in, with William Shatner ultimately playing the Chuck Norris part. Seth notes Donald Trump and Jared from Subway also appeared, and the cameo aged poorly.

    we did get William Shatner to do the Chuck Norris part.

  16. Pirate Convention and the Arrr joke

    26:13

    Pirate Convention was a sketch with Peter Sarsgaard as a Q&A moderator where the joke was a pirate-themed convention. Seth jokes that he couldn't crack in because all he had to do was say arrr.

    All you had to be able to do was go, arrr.

  17. Seth's Corner begins

    28:30

    Seth's Corner is the podcast segment where Seth talks about the parts of an SNL episode he wrote. Here it introduces the Peter Sarsgaard Sarsgaard sketch, which he wrote with Kenward.

    Seth's Corner, you're all invited. Seth's Corner, it's happening right now.
    Seth's Corner

  18. John Higgins as a baby in a toupee

    29:51

    John Higgins, later an SNL writer, appeared as one of the babies in the Baby Toupets commercial parody.

    John Higgins, who is currently a writer on SNL, was one of the babies in a toupee.

  19. Steve Martin double-short episode tease

    30:15

    Seth teases the next episode, which pairs two shorts featuring Steve Martin, including Surf Meeting, a sketch Martin still talks about.

    The Steve Martin episode has double shorts.
People and sketches mentioned (30)

Harper Steele Queen Latifah Chris Parnell Scarlett Johansson Fred Armisen Peter Sarsgaard Colin Jost Sudeikis Tina Tom Waits Lexi Michael Phelps Chuck Norris Barack Obama Donald Trump Jared from Subway Steve Martin Fred Maggie Kenward John Higgins

Lazy Sunday Chandeliers Give Up the Ham Wahlberg Talks to Animals Mad Men Lazy Sunday Surf Meeting Baby Toupets Wedding Crashers

Source: whisperx+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.