Andy Samberg has been a regular on the latest season of Saturday Night Live, playing Kamala Harris's husband Doug Emhoff — but with Harris losing the presidential election earlier this month, it would have been fair to assume that Samberg might disappear from the show. But that hasn't happened, as his comedy group the Lonely Island appeared on the November 14 episode. Now, Samberg has revealed his reason for sticking around, and it's entirely because of Charli XCX.
Discussing the new Digital Short, "Here I Go," on The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, Meyers said that he was surprised that Samberg returned to SNL after Harris's loss.
"I wasn't really scheduled to, but I was so in the rythmo of being there," Samberg said. "And then they announced that Charli was gonna be there, and we're huge fans. We had a couple songs, frankly, that I was like, 'Charli might be D-O-P-E on these.'"
After getting SNL's permission, Samberg contacted Charli XCX. He recalled, "I sent her the song we ended up doing, 'Here I Go,' and she was like, 'I'm wit' it.' Not those exact words, but she had clarity on it, let's just say that. And we were off and running — shot back out of the cannon across the country."
"Here I Go" is about a NIMBY guy who frequently calls the police in his neighbours, and they added a wife character for Charli to play. According to the Lonely Island, Charli's preparedness and character portrayal made her "as good as anyone we've ever worked with," Samberg said.
Akiva Schaffer noted, "From the very first take, she was better at this than almost anybody, I would say, we've ever worked with. There's other good ones — I don't want to disparage it, but I want to give her props that she was very good."
Watch Charli XCX absolutely nail it in the "Here I Go" video below.