photo credit: Mx. Granger
The Phoenix Theater in Petaluma

A theater in the city of Petaluma was the birthplace for a Saturday Night Live digital short. 

The Phoenix Theater in Petaluma was mentioned in a recent episode of “The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast." The podcast explores the stories behind the popular series of digital shorts that aired on Saturday Night Live beginning in 2005.

In the episode, Seth Meyers talks to Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer, two members of The Lonely Island, about the making of a 2008 digital piece called Ras Trent.

The short pokes fun at the kind of kids Samberg and Schaffer recall seeing in college: namely white, upper-class students who were so much into reggae, they wore dreadlocks and adopted a Rastafarian patois.

Samberg plays the title character in the video, Ras Trent. He explains in the podcast the original inspiration for Ras Trent came from a concert at The Phoenix:

“We went out to this city called Petaluma to see a show with this band called the Itals, who are, you know, roots reggae. Not household names in the states, but we were obsessed with them, and it was so cool that they were playing this tiny venue out in Petaluma," said Samberg. "After the show, it was in this like old theater and it had like stairs in the lobby that went up to the bathrooms, and me and all of my friends were sitting in the stairwell. And this dude who had been at the show walked out, dressed like – he was like straight out of Office Space, you know what I mean, khakis, tucked in button up, and glasses. And he just walked up to us and clearly needed to get by, and he just went, 'Excuse I!'"

Samberg went on to say that he and his friends were baffled as to why the guy spoke that way.

“That quote became like a running joke with my friend group for the next like 20 years or whatever, where we’d see each other and go, 'Excuse I!'" said Samberg with a laugh.

NOTE: The linked podcast contains adult language.