An SNL Digital Short''' is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for NBC's Saturday Night Live. The origin of the Digital Short brand is credited to staff writer Adam McKay, who created content for the show in collaboration with SNL hosts, writers, and cast members. The popularity of these segments exploded following the addition of The Lonely Island (Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, and Andy Samberg) to the show, and it is to them that credit is given for ushering SNL "into the age of digital online content in a time when it needed to tap into that relevance more than ever." The Lonely Island's digital shorts were originally recorded with consumer grade digital video cameras and edited on personal computers. It is typical for the show's hosts and musical guests to take part in that week's Digital Short (the latter on rarer occasions), and several shorts have included appearances by celebrities who were not scheduled to appear in any of that episode's live sketches.
The shorts generally took fewer than five days to complete. Schaffer has directed a majority of them, with Taccone as occasional director or co-director. Taccone also has produced music for the shorts as necessary, along with his brother, Asa.
Following the departure of Samberg from SNL in 2012, it was speculated that the era of videos branded "An SNL Digital Short" had come to an end. A total of six new Digital Shorts from The Lonely Island have aired since then: Two that featured the episode's respective hosts (Adam Levine in Season 38 and Natalie Portman in Season 43); two that aired when Samberg hosted the Season 39 finale in 2014; one created for the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special in February 2015 (featuring Samberg & Adam Sandler); and one that aired during the Season 41 finale in May 2016 to promote The Lonely Island's feature film, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.
List of shorts
2005–2006: Season 31
A total of 11 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2005–2006 season.
2006–2007: Season 32
A total of 12 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2006–2007 season.
2007–2008: Season 33
A total of 11 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2007–2008 season.
2008–2009: Season 34
A total of 17 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2008–2009 season.
2009–2010: Season 35
A total of 19 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2009–2010 season.
2010–2011: Season 36
A total of 17 SNL Digital Shorts were created for the 2010–2011 season.