Andy Samberg Is Ready For Anything

He invented viral video (“Lazy Sunday,” anyone?), made the jump from SNL cast member to sitcom star (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), and is now starring in the indie flick Palm Springs. Is there anything the Hollywood funnyman can’t handle?

- Mickey Rapkin

Unless you’re lighting a stunt man on fire, the set of a magazine photoshoot can be a pretty tedious place. A photographer stares into a monitor, a pack of bearded bros in Carhartt pants rig lights and fiddle with those photo umbrellas, which surely have a purpose (though I couldn’t tell you what that is). Somewhere there’s a table of Trader Joe’s snacks. Mostly it’s just a lot of standing around and waiting.

But Andy Samberg—a 41-year-old man dressed in a pink cashmere sweater, pretending to shoot down toy drones with a wooden bow and arrow—is pretty psyched to be here.

For Samberg, a few hours alone is a luxury. In 2019, he hosted the Golden Globes, shot a bunch of episodes of his Emmy-winning sitcom, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, went on an eight-city tour with his comedy-rap troupe the Lonely Island (performing after Post Malone at Bonnaroo!), shot more Brooklyn Nine-Nine, co-wrote and starred in an unlikely musical parody about Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, fronted a twisted romantic comedy that debuted at Sundance in January, and changed a whole mess of diapers. Samberg and his wife, the musician Joanna Newsom—the only harpist cool enough to have Paul Thomas Anderson direct her music videos—have a 2-year-old daughter at home.

“I’ve been working so much,” he says. “Parenting is a fuck ton of energy and focus.” But here, on set, it’s different. “They gave me a haircut!” Samberg says. “And no one asked me to feed them!”