Lonely Island Dropped 'The Bash Brothers Experience' on Netflix and It's Bizarrely Brilliant

Last night, in the middle of a quiet week with the world in bed, counting down the seconds until we can get good and Memorial Day Weekend drunk, Lonely Island went full Beyonce’ on Netflix, dropping a concept album out of the clouds. With their “Lemonade” being the completely twisted and bizarrely brilliant “The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience.”

As the title card that opens it reads:

“In 1988, Major League Baseball was set aflame by Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, aka The Bash Brothers,. They were known for their towering hoe runs and mind-bending play, but what many don’t know… Is that they recorded an album… of raps.”

What follows is basically a 30-minute series of music videos, with Andy Samberg as Jose Canseco and Akiva Schaffer as Mark McGwire. And Jorma Taccone coming in toward the end.

“Music videos” isn’t the right term. Lonely Island themselves call it “visual poetry,” which is more apt. Here’s a taste:

Samberg’s Canseco: “I reside in Black Hawk in a big fucking house/ My community is gated ’cause I don’t strike out. Got a room with a chair, got a room with a couch/ Got a framed photograph of the time I met Alf”

Schaffer’s McGwire: “I’m not a hamburger but they call me Big Mac/ Got the one-ton Jimmy and the itty-bitty sack. My balls shrinky-dinky ’cause the ‘roids so strong/ But it makes the aforementioned Jimmy-jam look long.”

The rest is surreal, hilarious and genius, with cameos from Maya Rudolph, Sterling K. Brown, Sia and Jenny Slate and Jim O’Heir (aka Mona Lisa and Jerry Gergich from “Parks & Rec.”) With references to 80s workout videos, dream sequences about their daddy issues, a semi-tribute to “Baywatch Nights” called “Oakland Nights” where they’re trying to seduce two businesswomen with “silk robes and kimonos.” Fake “Hans and Frans”-style muscle suits:

And chicks who want to bang them with their “Uniform On,” in a rap by the same name.

At this point, I find myself trying to describe the indescribable. So fuck it. Watch it. Experience the Bash Brother Experience for yourself. And see if you aren’t convinced, as I am, that Lonely Island is as good as any musical act of our times, and have been for at least 10 years now. This is Certified Fresh [TM] on Jerry Tomatoes.