Will Ferrell: The Funniest Man Alive
Talking comedy with the master of mirth

Making em laugh
Total Film has held court with Will Ferrell on a number of occasions over the years. Here, weāve compiled the comedy kingās pearls of wisdom on making āem laugh. Enjoyā¦
In person, Ferrell is less pushy, not at all frantic; disappointingly sane. But he soon revs up to performance level, dropping in bizarre vocal tics, imaginary side-characters and, most satisfyingly, making extensive use of really stupid noises to illustrate his pointsā¦
Youāve done some supporting roles recently, but this [Talladega Nights] is where you live, right: writing for yourself?
"Definitely. Itās easily the most fun and the clearest way to get my voice out there."
How does it work, co-writing with Adam McKay?
"We start by structuring ā crafting something to hold it all up. Then, we just start blurting out random thoughts and ideas ā without any rules or fear of judgement.
"So, you might say, āWouldnāt it be funny if Bobbyās dad tried to help him conquer his fear of driving by putting a live cougar in the car?ā
Yeah! And one of us will go, āOh, thatās funny⦠get it down!ā And the script evolves from there. Weāll just list bullet points ā everything from a joke idea to a character idea to a dramatic arc. We donāt bounce a script back and forth. We just sit there together with the typewriter and write it all out⦠Oh yeah, thatās our big secret! We use a typewriter, not a computer."
Really? You use a typewriter?
"Nah. I just said that ācos I noticed I said ātypewriterā instead of ācomputerā. Of course we use a computer!"
Ah. Youāre not going to talk about how typewriters help you to physically connect with the words, or something...
"Yeah! [ Spiritual voice⦠] āThe typewriter speaks to us! It is our conduit!ā Nah, man. We use a computer likš¦e everyone else. Weāre not idiots!"

Wheres my script?
And youāre both from an improv background...
"Yeah. So we improvise what the exchanges might be. Then itās like, āQuick! Write it down!ā"
On a computer. You donāt use a quill or anything...
"Absolutely not. Always a computer."
When youāre improvising in an acting sense, are there any individual cues you always find yourself dipping into? Little tricks that always seem to work?
"Are you asking me to tell you how to be funny?"
Pretty much, yeah.
"Thatās a trade secret! Well, the only rule that we have is, oddly enough, to not worry about being funny, to just sort of stay in the context of the scene. Improvisation is intimidating to actors whoāre not used to it. So weāll say, 'Okay, in the next take weāre all just gonna⦠see what happens!ā And theyāre like, āIām sorry?'"
āWhereās my script!?ā
"Yeah! Yāknow ā āUh? My agent says Iām not allowed to speak without a script!ā But we just say, āItās fine, donāt worry about being funny...ā
āDonāt worry about being really unfunny. No pressure...ā"
"Ha ha. Yeah. But with most aź¦ctors, it does sort of take the pressure off. Generally, though, there isnāt really anything scientific or intellectual aboutā improvising. The way my brain works, Iām always thinking a little bit ahead and specific lines will pop into my head and Iāll be getting ready to say āem at the right moment.
"The two kids who played Bobbyās sons in the movie ā Walker and Texas Ranger ā Adam and I just kept feeding them lines we thought it would be funny ā and a little bit wrong ā to hear kids say. My favourite is, š āIām gonna come at you like a spider monkey!ā"

Freestyling
Is it a big kick to completely ruin a take because someone laughs at an improv they didnāt expect?
"Oh, yeah! Hugely! Working with Sacha Baron Cohen was terrific, becausše heās a reallāy hardened improviser ā so it was even more satisfying to nail himā¦
"The scene where I go to visit him at his chateau before our final confrontation and weāre talking in the garden⦠Thereās a second half to that where some guy is training the dogs in the distance and I accidentally say tš¤Ŗhe secret attack word ā āfire-hydrantā ā and the dogs run towards us.
In one take, I just⦠started doing this noise . It was like⦠[ Does a REALLY loud impersonation of what a police siren might sound like if the mechanism was swapped for that of a foghorn ]. Sacha just completely cracked up and said, āWill, what the fuck are you doing?ā"
Do you remember any improv that could have never made it into the movie, whatever the rating?
"Thereās one bit in the section where Ricky is down on his luck... Iām lying on the couch, asleep, surrounded by beer cans and burrāitos, and my mom gives me the āWhat are you doing with your life?ā speech.
"I say, āLook, Iāve been working on something and itās kind of a secret and if I show you, you canāt judge it because itās a work-in-progress.ā And sheās like, āOf course!ā And, basically⦠Iām able to fart and form words with it. You know, like⦠āPhhrrrwwwILOVEYOUpffffft!ā"
Why on Earth did you not leave that in?
"It was just getting too long in that section. It ꦫwas a tough one to lose, bšelieve me. A bitter debate."

The cult of celebrity
Talladega Nights is about the cult of celebrity, though, isnāt it? Yāknow ā sports icons as rock stars...
"Yeah. Iām endlessly fascinated with it. That whole thing about pursuing autographs ā as trophies. It seems really creepy. Iāve never done anything like that in my life."
Have you had any run-ins with gossip mags? Do they camp by your house looking for that killer pic of you in your robe?
"No, they donāt care about me. Not in America, at least. But a weird thing happened in London, last year. I was strolling around with my wife and child. We werš¦©e curious to see if anyš·one would notice or even care that I was there.
"Suddenly, this photographer just kind of⦠materialised and went... [ Does a camera-clicky ]. Then he ran away!"
And you shouted, āCome back!ā
"Yeah! āHey! Itās okay! Make me more famoāus!ā It was just one guy. I was appalled and insulted. I wanted to know where the others were hiding."

Bear essentials
We've mentioned the scene where Rickyās dad tries to get him to overcome his fear by driving with a live cougar in the car. Did you work with an animal trainer to become at one with the cougar?
"No. We used CGI. Ha ha. Do you really believe Iām stupid enough to get into a car with a live cougar? I suppose you think that I really fought those bears in Anchorman , tooā¦"
Weāve all seen Grizzly Man...
"Actually, we were there. Those bears were real ā not CGI. We were definitely right there, a few feet away from real, live bears."
Jesus.
"Exactly. There was a moment where one of them charged Christina Applegate and I remember saying to Adam, āIf we ever work with animals again, letās not risk our lives.ā Iād love to lie to you, but the cougar thing was a camera trick."
The spellās broken now. We imaged you as a kind of fearless, Siegfried and Roy-type figure...
"Ha ha. &lsšquo;The Big-Game Cat Whispererāā¦"

Popping the tension
The scene where Amy Adams basically seduces you with her increasingly hysterical enthusiasm... The blokes in the Total Film office found that scene quite... erotic.
"Ha ha ha! So does everyone! Whatās so great about that scene is that there wasnāt really that much on the page to start with. Amy shocked everyone by really going for it.
"She made it into this intense confrontation/seduction, so I could react off it. It was Adamās idea to play a Journey song, to emphasise the emotion a little more. And my pay-off line ā which was improvised ā really pops the tension."
Weāre doing a feature on the funniest film stars of all-time. Who would top your list?
"[ Incredibly long pause ]. Bill Murray... Peter Sellers... Steve Martin."
That wasnāt a test but, yeah, theyāre all in the list. What is it about those guys?
"I just think they have a wonderful combination of both absolute commitment and a unique sense of the absurd. Doesnāt matter how funny you are ā commitment is important."
Being funny is a serious business...
"Yeah! Youāve been dying to get that line inš, the š
whole interview."

Taking it seriously
When we caught up with Ferrell more recently, the talk initially turned to dramaā¦
Everything Must Go is low-budget indie by a first time director and a very different character for you. What inspired you to get on board?
"The script came my way and Iš§ just loved thš
e writing. I wasnāt really familiar with Raymond Carverās writings but when I read his short stories I liked the script even more.
"I thought Dan Rush [ writer/director ] had really captured the kind of stark, austere quality and the melancholy feeling. Itās such a departure from all the stuff Iāve done I just thought this would be a great chance to do something different and mix it up a little bit."
It felt like perfect casting because the audience expects you to be funny but the film is really sad.
"Right out of the gate. The few times Iāve watched it with an audience is interesting. Theyāre giggling at first but within the first four orā five minutes theyāź§re like, āOhhh, OK. This is differentā.
"There are moments of levity in it. I lovź§e the fact that itās very grey, itās not neat and tidy. In this age of cookie-cutter endings where audiences are force-fed what theyāre supposed to think, this leaves a lot open to the imagination."

Optimistic outlook
Youāve said youāre quite an optimistic person. How did you find it playing such a troubled character?
"Iām an optimistic person by nature but Iāve definitely had some sadness in my life; you know, everyone has, so there was stuff to draw upon there. But it was challenging to summon up something thatās very different from who I am."
Did you consciously want to be seen as more of a heavyweight, dramatic actor?
"I think for anyone who does anything creative, itās human nature to want to do something a bit different. If I donāt get offered any more dramatic roles Iāll be fine, but I think enough people have seen this movie and there have been two or three other projects that have come to me recently."
Anything you can tell us about?
"Thereās a project called African Safari Papers and weārš¬e in talks to hopefully do that. It would be myself š¼and Helena Bonham Carter and maybe Daniel Radcliffe and itās about an eccentric family from Wisconsin who take a trip to Africa on a safari. Itās another great little character thing."

Stand-up and be counted
Does it frustrate you that comedy roles arenāt given as much critical attention as serious roles?
ā"It doesnāt bug me in the sense that I make it a point to talk about, itās just itās never consiź¦dered for awards.
"Last year Comedy Central had the first ever Comedy Awards, and theyāre trying to make a legit comedy awards but I just donāt have high hopes for it. To get a group of comedians to accept awards voted on by other comedians... itās just such a sarcastic bunch that it was kind of an awkward eą± vening.
"Having said that, The Other Guys won for Best Movie."
Thereās a real craft to making people laugh. Stand-up is said to be the purest form of theatre.
"I tried it for a little while when I was starting out, but Iām not suited for it. I did OK, I got some laughs, but I wasnāt a joke teller necessarily. I was more &šlsquo;tell a story and do a character.ā
"Everyone whoās interested in performing should have to try it because it is so exhilaratinšg and so humbling. Some of those humbling moments I learnt more from than from any of the laughs."

Quote king
Your characters are extremely quotableā¦
"Itās weird, we donāt set out ever to be quotable. The strangest thing anyoneās ever shouted at me was something from Anchorman . Someone yelled, āHey Will! I wanna be on you!ā In no way did I ever think someone would quote that back to me!"
Thereās often a certain softness to the characters you play...
"No matter how āmeanā some of the characters could be construed on the surface, thereās always a sweetness to them."
Elf is a prime example.
"That was really the manifestation of being in the mindset of a child. Thereās a prime example of how I wasnāt trying to beš
° funny, I was really just imagining I was someone who was raised in the North Pole, which is a place of hope and happiness, walking throušgh a place like New York.
"You would only discover the joy in it. He wouldnāt be scared or afraid or cynical. Thatās how we cź¦ame up with a lot of the jokes. He would find the revolving door of an office building such a fun thing. Or when he ate the gum off the ground itās like, āOh wow candy, itāš§øs free!ā"

Fully committed
Buddy the elf doesnāt get embarrassed...
"And that was a real test to maintain not being embarrassed. Iām not really embarrassed very easily but all the New York stuff was shot in two weeks and I remember thinking āOh my gosh, Iām running around New York in an elf suit, it could be over. This is either gonna really work or people will be like āāWhy did he do that movie?ā"
Has there been anything youāve ever had to do that youāve found was too embarrassing?
"It wasnāt so much embarrassing, thereās just some things ā like I recently saw Bewitched ź¦and thereās some moments where Iām kissing Nicole Kidman and Iām just like, āOh, I donāt buy it for a secondā.
"Which is all on me, I just donāt know if itās believable. But no, in terms of embarrassing things or committing fully, once šIāve thought it out Iām usually good to go."

Comedy heroes
Obviously you had that scene in Old School with the streaking. Was that OK? Not as bad as kissing Nicole Kidman?
"Well, kissing Nicole Kidman obviously wasnāt a bad thing⦠Iām fine with doing the streaking because it totally makes sense in the sź§tory.
"Itās a natural pā¤rogression of a buttoned down guy at a fraternity party: āI probably shouldnāt drink, oh OK, maybe a couple,ā and then he unleashes this Frank-the-Tank guy and next thing you know heās streaking down the centre of toš§wn.
"Itās always funny that when you read something on the page, you forget you have to actually do it later. After three takes you can do anything."
Who were your comedy heroes?
"Iām noź§t the guy who had the so and so album that I listened što over and over again. My heroes were kind of everyone. Growing up in the ā70s and early ā80s, before cable, there were very few outlets for comedy.
"There was Saturday Night Live , so I loved that original cast, people like Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, John Belushi ašnd Chevy Chase. And I loved whenever Steve Martin would host. I loved that his stuff was so random, he š purposely didnāt have a point.
"Then I would watch The Tonight Show because thatās where they would have stand-ups. I remember seeing everyšone from Garry Shandling to Jerry Seinfeld to Bill Maher.
"The other comedian I always loved was Peter Sellers. I loved how he was able to do everything from The Pink Panther to Being There ; he really was what embodies a comedic actor as šÆopposź¦ed to just a comedian."

Saturday Night Live Fever
How was it becoming such a big part of Saturday Night Live yourself?
"It was very surreal. The whole time I was there I couldnāt believe it was happening. Itās something I dreamt about and it actually happened."
Any favourite memories?
"Iāll never forget the first show that I was on. We had 11 new cast members, a brand new writing staff and I was the first actor to say something on the first show for our new group."
What did you say?
"I was playing a news person and š
it was back when the O.J. Simpson trial was goinšg on and we had some show called āO.J. Todayā that just covered the trial incessantly.
"I said āComing up next: the rebuttal to the rebuttal on O.J. Today.&ārdquo; And getting to play the President ā that whole experience was great. Commenting on the whole Gore/Bush recount. People were really tuniš¬ng in every week to see what sketch we were going to do, to comment on what had just happened."

The Frat Pack
You were part of what was dubbed the āfrat packā, along with Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Steve Carell. Do you all hang out?
"Everyone knows each other and there was a period of time where everyone was jumping in and out of everyoneās movies but it was definitely kind of a media fabrication. We donāt all take a summer trip together. Although we all want that!"
What about the newcomers on the comedy scene? Whoās the next big thing?
"Thereās a ton of them. I am a big fan of Danny McBride. Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen are hilarious and really creative and have such a strong voice. Kristen Wiig too. Bridesmaids I thought was sꦫuch a gšreat triumph for women in comedy."

Creating characters
The Megamind costume you wore to Comic-Con was hilarious. Was that your idea?
"I have to give credit to the DreamWorks publicity people. ā±Well, half credit. They proposed that I come out in costume because Comic-Con is so famous for all the people walking around dresseš°d up, so they made this really slick looking costume.
"And I was like, āNo, the point should be that I make my own costume because peoź¦ ple make their own.ā And they were like, āOK⦠so you want to look bad?ā and I was like, āYeah, it should loošk homemade and my make-up should be bad.ā
"I had to force them to make it bad."
Do you have a favourite among the characters that youāve created?
"Well, Iāll alwayź¦s be partial to Ron Burgundy. Only because it was written on such a lark, we werenāt paid to write that script, we just wrote it on spec.
"It was such a struggle to get it made, it took two, almost three years to get anyone to make it, so to see where itās gone and the fact that it has this cult status just makes us laugh."
Will we see him again?
Not unless Paramount Pictures say so.
Itās a finance thing?
"Yeah, you know itās tougher now. All the studios are scrutinizing every decision that they make much more heavily unless itās one of these tentpole type movieās. We keep trying to tell them that weāre asked by literally every journalist and sšøo many fans āplease do a sequel.ā We want to!
"And weāre not really interested in doišng sequels but itās strange that we were asked and asked and asked for years and finally we were like, āOK! Weāll do a sequel!ā And then they were like āāą½§Mmmm.ā So who knows, maybe theyāll change their tune."

Dying of laughter
You also launched sketch website Funny Or Die . Howās that going?
"Yeah, I think weāre in our third or fourth year of the site and itās the most watched comedy website on the web, so itās doing really well."
Is there anything we can look forward to on the site, sketch-wise?
"Probably, but I wouldnāt know! It kind of runs itself now. We have a whole team of people. Adam [ McKay ] and I check in on it š¼occasionally but weāre not really doing the day to day on it.
"The website is one thing but now Funny Or Die is starting to produce its own television shows and we helped produce the Tim and Eric movie. Thatāll be the first release for Funny Or Die . Itās this crazy off-the-wall comedy.
"Itās this growing empire we hope. Itās great to have a platform for the next generation of writers and directors and actors who are doing comedy."
These interviews originally appeared in Total Film magazine. To subscribe, .
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