Akiva Schaffer on ‘The Naked Gun’ reboot, The Lonely Island and more

5th August 2025

There’s probably nobody better to direct and write a movie like The Naked Gun reboot than Akiva Schaffer. He has a resume full of brilliant, dumb, joke-a-minute work. Together with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone he is a member of the comedy trio The Lonely Island. Akiva wasn’t sure he wanted to direct The Naked Gun at first, he gets into why. Plus, why Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoppin’ didn’t click with audiences and his very funny work with The Lonely Island.

Episode notes

(Photo: Paramount Pictures)

The Naked Gun reboot, like its predecessors, is a very dumb movie. In the best way possible. The spoof stars Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. It’s directed by our guest this week Akiva Schaffer. 

There’s probably nobody better to direct and write a movie like The Naked Gun than Akiva. 

He has a resume full of brilliant, dumb, joke a minute work:  he directed the 2020 Chip N’ Dale Rescue Rangers movie, and the cult-comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoppin’

Together with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone he is a member of the comedy trio The Lonely Island. The group responsible for the classic SNL songs sketches “I’m On A Boat” and “Lazy Sunday.”

Akiva wasn’t sure he wanted to direct The Naked Gun at first, he gets into why. Plus, we get into why Popstar didn’t click with audiences and his very funny work with The Lonely Island.  

In this episode...

Senior Producer
Producer
Maximum Fun Producer
Video Editor
Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Guests

  • Akiva Schaffer

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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People

Senior Producer

Producer

Maximum Fun Producer

Video Editor

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

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