Presenting Andy Samberg, Chief Shark Officer

Posted: July 29, 2011, 11:28 am ET

“Shark Week” — a.k.a. the best seven days of the summer — has given us yet another reason to watch: First-ever Chief Shark Officer, Andy Samberg.

We caught up with the “SNL” star while he was on the set of his upcoming movie, “I Hate You Dad,” to find out what it’s like to swim with sharks and what he’s got in the works with his digital-shorts cohort, Justin Timberlake. Doubles ice skating, anyone?

CNN: How does it feel to have the impressive title of Chief Shark Officer?

Andy Samberg: Well, it was a childhood dream, obviously. Even though I’m the first ever Chief Shark Officer, I assumed that someday they would invent that role and that when they did, I would be there and be completely qualified to be named it. It was one of those once in a lifetime things you get asked to do something that you never to be expected.

CNN: After working with them, would you say sharks get a bad rep?

AS: The sharks that I worked with were pretty chill. They listened to a lot of jazz; they had a lot of really nice tapestries. (Laughs) Yeah, I guess so.

CNN: What kind of stuff did you have to do with the sharks?

AS: We filmed a bunch… for some shows and some ad spots — and then some other stuff where I actually got into the water in chain mail and was floating on a surf board. Somewhere between 15 and 30 pretty sizable reef sharks were all eating around me and splashing around, and bumping into me.

CNN: That sounds terrifying! What was it like?

AS: It was like lightning … and more scary than an orgy. That’s a lot of bodies — a lot of slapping around and a lot of fish.

CNN: How does it feel to have the Lonely Island nominated for half of the slots in the Emmy category for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics?

AS: It’s an incredibly huge honor. We were obviously surprised — you’re lucky enough to get one nomination and three is just amazing. We’re really, really thrilled, happy and proud. It’s just awesome for us — we feel great about it.

CNN: You and Justin Timberlake have created some hilarious videos — anything else in the works?

AS: I’m not sure — we were talking about maybe taking up doubles ice skating and seeing how that goes. We noticed that there was a weakness in Wimbledon for mixed pairs. We felt like maybe that was a place where we could dominate.

CNN: Besides “I Hate You, Dad” with Adam Sandler, what else you do you have coming up?

AS: I shot a smaller film with my friend, Rashida Jones — a script that she wrote with her friend, Will McCormick, called “Celeste and Jesse Forever.” And I just got a small part in Bill Hader’s wife, Maggie’s, movie (“The To Do List”) with Aubrey Plaza.

CNN: You’ve been on “Saturday Night Live” since 2005 — how does the atmosphere on set evolve?

AS: It changes ever so slightly just because people have different personalities, but everyone who works there now has talked pretty consistently about how we feel like we’re there at a really lucky time. Both in the fact that there’s a lot of really funny, talented people there and also a lot of really nice, agreeable people. There’s definitely a family, supportive environment.

From CNN Blogs