In the early 2000s, Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer were among the first to bridge the gap from late night sketch comedy to internet virality. POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING is kind of a culmination of that journey and the jewel in that crown.
POPSTAR is both powered by the “SNL Digital Shorts”ification of comedy and chained to it. Its ratatat jokes, absurd gags, and 2016-ness have earned POPSTAR certified cult classic status.
It’s also a product of pre-Trump American cinema (Harry calls it “the last Obama movie”), so there’s a foreign, almost naïve optimism to it. The largely unburdened storytelling we used to take for granted just a decade ago.
The kind of playful, surprisingly genuine sentiment that feels like an exception now, in a world where every day is dominated by some new world-shaking terror.
In this episode, we’re looking at POPSTAR as a defining cultural document of the 2010s, a product of the optimistic internet age, as a star-studded showcase, and as a collection of some really fucking funny gags.
Thanks to our good friend Kyle for joking that we should cover this movie.
References:
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Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)” by The Lonely Island from the POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING soundtrack.
Timestamps
0:00 - Episode 405: POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING (2016)
3:44 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.)
5:58 - POPSTAR as a legitimate cultural document of 2016
17:09 - The impact of SNL Digital Shorts
38:35 - NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE (2025) and the sweetness of the third act
48:15 - The structure of the movie
58:26 - Our favorite bits
1:07:05 - The Junk Drawer
1:11:26 - Cody’s Noteys: Pop or Star? (guessing whether a name belongs to a soda or an celestial object)
