The Lonely Island is the collective name for Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg. Originally producing material for American TV comedy titan ‘Saturday Night Live’ they have since broken out due to the enormous popularity their comedy music videos and songs such as ‘Jizz In My Pants’, ‘Dick In A Box’ (feat. Justin Timberlake) and ‘I Just Had Sex’ (feat. Akon).

What is it that made these songs gather views like Velcro covered rolling stones? On the one hand they can be seen as an affectionate parody of R&B and hip-hop; The Lonely Island clearly love the genre they are so mercilessly poking fun at. Whilst the songs themselves are funny lyrically, and usually damn catchy, their popularity can probably be attributed in no small part to their stupendously staged music videos. Although utilising the easy to copy swagger, thick sunglasses and attitude laden poses is not new in itself, the meshing together of such imitation with an abundance of self-depricating lyrics (to contrast the hyper masculine testosterone on-screen) makes for consistently excellent gags, both visual and verbal.

The Lonely Island have gotten so big that almost every new song they upload has a celebrity cameo, be it musical or comedic. Look! Seth Rogan is in ‘Like A Boss!’ Wow, is that J.J. Abrams and Will Ferrell in ‘Cool Guys Don’t Look At Explosions’? My word, I never expected to see Michael Bolton singing about Pirates Of The Caribbean in ‘Jack Sparrow’. The celebrity bombardment shows they have come a long way since ‘Jizz In My Pants’ exploded (ahem) way back in 2008. The Lonely Island have had two successful albums with ‘Incredibad’ and ‘Turtlenecks and Chain’, also releasing songs from their third effort, ‘The Wack Album’ throughout this month. With over 4.4 million subscribers to their YouTube channel and over 1.2 billion views so far, there are no signs that the high gloss juggernaut will be crashing to a halt any time soon.

It’s no surprise then that The Lonely Island are also featured on the YouTube Comedy Week and indeed they premiered a brand new song, ‘Diaper Money’ on Sunday 19^th May to coincide with the event launch. So, how does it measure up? Surprisingly, not that well. The idea seems a goldmine for great jokes: an aggressive rap song about the trials of middle age (such as buying diapers, the infrequency of marital sex, and picking out a grave plot). But, as may be becoming a theme, the song tips that fragile balance away from being foul-mouthed in a successful parody way, instead collapsing into being foul-mouthed due to a lack of being able to think of anything genuinely witty to say. The middle section shouts of ‘wife pussy!’ certainly made me cringe, and I am no prude by any means. The lyrical snappiness of songs like ‘I Just Had Sex’ is missing here; substituting in-your-face chest-beating in place of genuinely clever word fun.

Similarly, the general lack of laughs in previous effort ‘I F****d My Aunt’ may be evidence of a little laziness creeping in to the previously top-notch performances. Comedy is a difficult thing to get right all the time and with guys as talented as The Lonely Island such damp squibs may only be a blip, but it certainly isn’t the big bang that the launch of YouTube’s Comedy Week needed.