Following their success with "The 'Bu", the Lonely Island secured a pitch meeting with Fox's then-president Gail Berman. There, the trio showed executives the video for "Just 2 Guyz", which received a positive reception. Following their deal with Fox, they produced a pilot titled "Awesometown", which the network passed on. MTV and Comedy Central also passed on the series. As a result, they began to question whether their material was humorous enough for a wide audience. They subsequently released two versions of the pilot on their website, the Fox-edited version and a "director's cut". Their increasing profile within Los Angeles comedy circles led to a writing job at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, hosted by former "Saturday Night Live" player Jimmy Fallon. His praise, in addition to word of mouth spreading to others at "SNL", among them Tina Fey and creator Lorne Michaels, led the trio to audition for the series in mid-2005. For his audition, Samberg impersonated a 1980s jogger, commenting on the recession. "SNL" hired the trio in late August, with Taccone and Schaffer as writers and Samberg as a featured player. Samberg was the second new cast addition that season, alongside Second City alumnus Bill Hader. Their debut episode premiered on October 1, 2005.