Straight Outta Narnia

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That likability, as much as the Lazy Sunday video, has made him a sudden celebrity. His name has been in the tabloids, mostly for his going on dates with Kirsten Dunst. And he has a part in a Paramount movie to be shot this summer about a guy who tries to reproduce Evel Knievel's jump over Snake River Canyon on a moped.

His SNL films have continued to bounce quickly around the Web, particularly a violent gangster rap video starring Natalie Portman. He, like South Park, has given mainstream exposure to a young, punky, reference-packed, comic book--influenced humor that has been better represented on the Web than on TV. And as with most punky projects, Samberg thinks he's getting away with it more than he is. SNL used to have contributors, such as Albert Brooks, who would submit finished videos. "They take the risk," says Michaels of the Lonely Island submissions. "For us, if it doesn't play well, it just goes away." Samberg's trick is that he thinks about things that way too.