Former SNL writers Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer had a very special knack for serving super funny sequels to already hilarious sketches. How can forget such comedic feats such as “Dick in a box,” “Motherlover,” and “3-Way (The Golden Rule)". However, the writers, who don’t even work on the show anymore, may have outdone themselves with “Natalie’s Rap 2,” which they managed to turn around in three days.
The new sketch is somewhat unanticipated, given that Natalie Portman’s first rap was almost 12 years ago. Samberg told Vulture that SNL gave the trio a call on Wednesday to tell them that Portman was hosting, and the show really wanted to do another rap. Despite the fact that Samberg was shooting Brooklyn Nine-Nine all week in L.A., he and the crew decided they had to find a way to make it work.
By the good graces of technology, the team came through. As Samberg recounts, he, Taccone, and Schaffer brainstormed over the phone during his shooting breaks to kick things off. “Akiva started to record a rough demo. Then we wrote the rest late into the night. On Friday morning we FaceTimed with Natalie as she recorded her vocals. We got through about half before she had to go block sketches,” he told Vulture. He goes on to explain that SNL had to do the shoot and edit without them—a first—meanwhile, they shot Samberg’s parts of the song on a rooftop parking garage in L.A.
Somehow, the Samberg and the crew managed to pull it all together by Saturday afternoon. “I will say, I wish they had called us on Monday! There were many things we would have done differently but that’s SNL. In the end it seems like it came out pretty good. As long as the audience laughs, it’s a win,” he said.
