Following their success with '' The ' Bu '' , the Lonely Island secured a pitch meeting with Fox 's then-president Gail Berman . There , the trio showed executives the video for " Just 2 Guyz " , which received a positive reception . Following their deal with Fox , they produced a pilot titled '' Awesometown '' , which the network passed on . MTV and Comedy Central also passed on the series . As a result , they began to question whether their material was humorous enough for a wide audience . They subsequently released two versions of the pilot on their website , the Fox-edited version and a " director 's cut " . Their increasing profile within Los Angeles comedy circles led to a writing job at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards , hosted by former '' Saturday Night Live '' player Jimmy Fallon . His praise , in addition to word of mouth spreading to others at '' SNL '' , among them Tina Fey and creator Lorne Michaels , led the trio to audition for the series in mid-2005 . For his audition , Samberg impersonated a 1980s jogger , commenting on the recession . '' SNL '' hired the trio in late August , with Taccone and Schaffer as writers and Samberg as a featured player . Samberg was the second new cast addition that season , alongside Second City alumnus Bill Hader . Their debut episode premiered on October 1 , 2005
2005 MTV Movie Awards
2005 MTV Movie Awards
The Lonely Island