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The Lonely Island and Alanis Mash Up ‘Semicolon’ and ‘Ironic’ on ‘Kimmel’

The Lonely Island Semicolon Alanis Morissette Ironic Kimmel Video

If you tuned in a few Wack Wednesdays ago, then you already know the gag in the Lonely Island’s joke-rap, “Semicolon” — they’re using that wicked piece of punctuation wrong throughout the entire song. If you’ve been around long enough to remember Alanis Morissette’s massive 1996 single “Ironic,” then you know the unintentional gag therein — that she, too, was misusing her titular device.

But to the Canadian singer-songwriter’s credit she’s always had a sense of humor about that fact, and that was the crux of her cameo on Jimmy Kimmel Live! during the Lonely Island’s performance of their grammatically inclined The Wack Album track. Thursday night (June 6), Andy Samberg’s possee was joined by Morissette (sitting in for Solange’s in-studio schoolmarm), leading to a conflict over the old dot-and-comma. Obviously the only way to resolve the situation was with a live mashup of “Semicolon” and “Ironic.” 

The Wack Album arrives June 11 via Universal Republic and features collaborations with Justin Timberlake, Robyn, T-Pain, Pharrell, Lady Gaga, Billie Joe Armstrong, Too $hort, and Kendrick Lamar with Adam Levine, among others.