Yesterday, The Lonely Island teased a surprise “visual poem” release on Netflix. This being The Lonely Island and all, fans could expect some impeccably produced musical parodies. But what we got was so, so much better than anyone could have imagined.
The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience is indeed a visual poem, taking inspiration from Beyoncé’s Lemonade as it imagines the musical careers of 1980s Oakland A’s baseball players Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.
“In 1988, Major League Baseball was set aflame by Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, aka The Bash Brothers,” the opening title card reads. “They were known for their towering home runs and mind-bending play, but what many don’t know… Is that they recorded an album… of raps.”
The whole half-hour special is available to watch on Netflix (or stream on the platform of your choice), but The Lonely Island also released one of the special’s best musical moments on YouTube. “Oakland Nights” features Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer trying to seduce two beautiful office workers (Jenny Slate and New Girl‘s Hannah Simone). They show off their best game with a ’90s R&B-inspired song featuring Sia, imploring the ladies to abandon their clothes and put on some “silk robes and kimonos” instead. The Lonely Island find a brilliant workaround having the notoriously private Sia appear in the video. Emmy Award winning actor Sterling K. Brown lip syncs to Sia’s segments of the song and models some killer silk robes and kimonos.
Watch the video for “Oakland Nights” above, and check out the rest of The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience on Netflix.
