FILM · 2016 · USA
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
21 archived facts 2 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
21 Interesting Facts About Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Interesting Facts (20)
- #001
Most of the footage of the large crowd was taken from One Direction concerts.
- #002
The real-life rappers who talked about their love for the Style Boyz (50 Cent, Diddy, Nas, etc.) were not scripted. Their answers were based on questions The Lonely Island asked as if they were about the real-life rap group the Beastie Boys.
- #003
The Poppies producer who kisses Akiva Schaffer is his real-life wife.
- #004
All three of the Lonely Island members' wives appear in the film: Joanna Newsom as the purple-haired defibrillator operator, Marielle Heller as a member of Conner's documentary crew, and Liz Cackowski as the stage manager Lawrence has sex with. Jorma's son (the baby playing drums) and his brother Asa Taccone (the artist who preceded the Style Boyz at Poppies) also appear.
- #005
The character Hungry Hunter is believed to be a loose parody of the rapper Tyler, the Creator.
- #006
The film gives cameos to many musicians who had previously released songs with The Lonely Island, including Michael Bolton, Justin Timberlake, Akon, Adam Levine, Pharrell Williams and Snoop Dogg.
- #007
Greg Kurstin is credited as a writer and/or producer on many of the songs, including "Finest Girl," "Mona Lisa," "Owen's Beat" and "Incredible Thoughts." In 2017, Kurstin won the Grammy for Producer of the Year as well as Song of the Year and Record of the Year for co-writing "Hello" with Adele.
- #008
Judd Apatow played the male fan who presses himself against the window of Conner's limousine with his genitals exposed. He said, "Why did I do it? I felt like I've asked so many people to get naked for comedy (for example, Jason Segel's full-frontal scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)), that in this case I felt I had to give back and show that I could walk the walk."
- #009
The Style Boyz's sudden on-stage breakup resembles a real-life incident in 1980 involving Glenn Frey and Don Felder of the Eagles, which led to the band breaking up a few days later.
- #010
The song "Ashley Wednesday" that Seal performs at the proposal ceremony has the same melody as "Mona Lisa."
- #011
A brief clip from an old Lonely Island video, "Kablamo," can be seen in the film.
- #012
DJ Khaled, appearing as himself being "interviewed" for the "documentary," references the viral "congratulations, you just played yourself" meme.
- #013
Employees of the gossip site TMZ liked the film's CMZ parody.
- #014
When Conner disguises himself, he is said to look like Jason Segel. Segel has appeared in many Judd Apatow productions. The characters also joke about Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), which Apatow produced.
- #015
This is the second time Tim Meadows has appeared in a comedy film about a fictional singer. He previously appeared in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) as one of fictional country singer Dewey Cox's bandmates.
- #016
Andy Samberg announced this film's title and poster on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003) on 29 February 2016.
- #017
The cartoon briefly seen playing at Connor's house in Sacramento is the anime Naruto (2002).
- #018
This is the second time Judd Apatow has made a film about a fictional singer, after Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007).
- #019
This film is the third of 2016 to feature both Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph. The other two are The Angry Birds Movie (2016) and Maggie's Plan (2015).
- #020
This is Carrie Underwood's first cameo in an R-rated film.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #021
Conner putting his album on people's devices caused public backlash. This is a reference to U2 adding their album to iTunes accounts without permission.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work