Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell has major captain energy. Amy hangs with the 'SNL' alum and star of 'The Hawk' and talks about wanting to have a briefcase job as a kid, quitting Disneyland to try out for the Dallas Cowboys, and his favorite Swedish stereotypes. Host: Amy PoehlerGuests: Chris Parnell and Will FerrellExecutive Producers: Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-BermanFor Paper Kite Productions: Executive producer Jenna Weiss-Berman, coordinator Sam Green, and supervising producer Joel LovellFor The Ringer: Supervising producers Juliet Litman, Sean Fennessey, and Mallory Rubin; video producers Jack Wilson, Belle Roman, and Aleya Zenieris; lighting director Caroline Jannace; audio producer Kaya McMullen; social producer Bridget Geerlings; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and bookers Kat Spillane and Paige Garbarini Original Music: Amy Miles Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://Allstate.com Switch today at https://visible.com for just 25/mo. Or get premium Visible+ pro plan and save $10 on your first month with code HANG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

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• 1:05Amy Poehler?

  Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. So excited about our guest today. It is the one, the only Will Ferrell, a comedic giant on the Mount Rushmore of comedy. The captain, oh, captain, my captain, Will Ferrell. And we are going to get into so many things today. We're going to talk about SNL and all the great movies he was in. We're going to talk about how important makeup is in building a character. We're going to talk about the mutual flop that we made together and how fun it was. We're going to talk about Swedish stereotypes and how some of them are true. We're going to talk about his new show, The Hawk, coming out this week on Netflix. Before we do that, we are going to talk to somebody who is also in The Hawk with him

• 1:46Amy Poehler?

  and also knows him from SNL and who is a comedy legend, and that is Chris Parnell. Chris, who you can also catch in Stop That Train, a movie that's out. We're going to check in with Chris. Chris is going to speak well behind Will's back. Give me a question to ask. You know how this works. Okay, Parnsy, are you there?

• 2:09Amy Poehler?

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• 2:49Amy Poehler?

  Carnsey?

• 2:50Speaker 02

  Hey, Amy, how are you?

• 2:52Amy Poehler?

  Hi.

• 2:54Speaker 02

  Oh, I haven't seen you in so long.

• 2:56Amy Poehler?

  I know. I was just trying to think about the last time, and it must have been at the 50th. But even then, I feel like we didn't get some good enough hang time there.

• 3:04Speaker 02

  No, no. I saw Tina and waved at her, but that was kind of like the extent of it, too. That was the case for a lot of people.

• 3:11Amy Poehler?

  Tina has that restraining order against you, so you're not allowed to get close to her.

• 3:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, I felt like she would have let me if I had made an effort, but yeah.

• 3:19Amy Poehler?

  Let's not get into this again.

• 3:21Speaker 02

  I need to talk about it, okay?

• 3:25Amy Poehler?

  Thanks for doing this. I'm talking to Will today, and I feel like I don't think enough people know how long you and Will have been friends.

• 3:35Speaker 02

  We met at the Groundlings, um, gosh, 596. But it really, we really didn't connect until I started on SNL. And then we shared an office, he and I, and Jerry Collins.

• 3:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 3:50Speaker 02

  Had an office, the gentleman's quarters.

• 3:52Amy Poehler?

  That's right, that was the name of the office. So, you did not perform together at the Groundlings? Like, you were in different time periods there?

• 3:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, he was, he was, he was ahead of me, and I saw him perform. And I think he actually saw me perform in one of my shows, but no, he was. He was a couple of years ahead of me, I think. And then, you know, got onto SNL, I think, three years before I got on, I think.

• 4:18Amy Poehler?

  What was it like to share an office together? What do you remember of those times in the late 90s being at the show?

• 4:23Speaker 02

  It was just so cool. It was so fun, you know? And after read-throughs on Wednesday, we'd go back and we'd all have a little scotch. We kept a bottle in the office and that was a fun ritual. And sometimes we would kind of dress up a little bit in similar outfits. But it was such a great welcome to the show. Will, you know, obviously in so many ways is so impressive, but I remember feeling insecure about being on the show and trying to get material on. And I remember asking us, I was looking for comfort, assurance, and I said, do you,

• 5:05Speaker 02

  when you first started, you know, did it take you a while to get rolling and to get up to speed? He's like, no, I just started right away. And I was like, okay, all right. Well, that's cold comfort for me, but I knew it was true because I'd seen his first show, you know?

• 5:21Amy Poehler?

  I mean, SNL was like the perfect job for Will. He was really built for that show because he had the constitution, so much of it is handling the big feelings that come along with trying to get stuff on and just kind of competing with your friends in a weird way, but then also collaborating with them and all that stuff. And he just seemed to not let that get in his head.

• 5:43Speaker 02

  It's true. I know. Also, he just, you know, has always come across as pretty fearless to me and just so confident, but, you know, never arrogant about it, you know? Just like, this is all I am. I got it. I'm confident, you know? I can do this.

• 5:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. What film and television have you guys done outside of SNL together?

• 6:03Speaker 02

  Well, Anchorman was the main thing. I think The Hawk, this upcoming series.

• 6:10Amy Poehler?

  Who do you play in that show, Parnes?

• 6:11Speaker 02

  I am on the PGA Tour board. I'm a PGA Tour board member and I'm kind of... I don't care for Will's character. I don't care for the Hawk.

• 6:22Amy Poehler?

  Excellent.

• 6:23Speaker 02

  I have quite a bit of animosity towards Will's character.

• 6:28Amy Poehler?

  Is your character the kind of guy that's like upset at how Hawk doesn't take the sport seriously?

• 6:35Speaker 02

  Well, that's part of it, for sure. That is part of it. But it also has to do, without giving anything away, it has to do with personal matter that happened between us

• 6:48Speaker 02

  many years ago.

• 6:49Amy Poehler?

  Great.

• 6:50Speaker 02

  And it sort of comes back to the surface again. And yeah, so I've got a personal rudge against him. And I'm also just really an uptight asshole, you know?

• 7:00Speaker 02

  Which has come so naturally to me, you know?

• 7:03Amy Poehler?

  Before we go, I just, you know, we do this to kind of talk well behind people's backs. And I think everybody knows that Will is like a uniquely confident performer and obviously kind of like for many on the Mount Rushmore of comedy, frankly. But what is so great about him as a person? Because I find him to be a really wonderful person as well. What would you say?

• 7:27Speaker 02

  He's a good laugher. You know, I think that says a lot about a person, too. And when you can make people laugh as well as he does, but also be willing and free to laugh at other people really openly. And yeah, I just think he's a sweet guy. I just think he's a sweet guy by nature.

• 7:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Is there a question you have for me today to ask him? Anything you're thinking of?

• 7:51Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 7:51Amy Poehler?

  Oh, look at Parnes, he's so prepared.

• 7:53Speaker 02

  I.

• 7:54Amy Poehler?

  Always.

• 7:54Speaker 02

  Well, I was up for four hours thinking about this last night.

• 7:59Speaker 02

  I wrote a list of 50 questions and I narrowed it down to 25. And down to 10, and the final five.

• 8:07Speaker 02

  I guess one question would be, who were your comedy idols, your heroes, growing up? Who did you look up to comedy-wise? That would be one. And then the other one might be, have you always been so confident?

• 8:23Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I think that's a good one. I, it feels like if stuff is going down, you would kind of turn to Will, like, what are we gonna do?

• 8:30Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 8:31Amy Poehler?

  Well, the last thing I'll say, Parnes, is I'll never forget, I've had so many moments with you, like where I've been next to you, where fun, weird things have happened, and A lot of people don't know that Parnsy used to do a great sketch, probably not, probably a sketch that probably wouldn't be able to happen today. Many, like many things.

• 8:52Speaker 02

  I know what you're gonna say.

• 8:53Amy Poehler?

  Well, it was a very gentle, nice guy called Merv the Perv. And he was, I loved him. And, but Merv would just kind of show up to parties. How would you describe Merv?

• 9:05Speaker 02

  Well, you know what? The name came from Will, actually, because I was kind of doing a version of Merv at a, some, some party. And he's like, oh, Merv the Perv. And I was like coming on to him as being something weird. And, and that's where the title came, that's where the name came from.

• 9:22Amy Poehler?

  And Merv would just come up to ladies and, you know, just gently ask them if they'd like to party in his pants. And he'd have rip away, tear away pants, like a nice perv. Well, I know, Parnsy, that Will's gonna be so happy that we talked.

• 9:35Speaker 02

  I'm so happy to get to contribute a little bit, so, you know, thanks for asking.

• 9:39Amy Poehler?

  Of course. It's great to see you. Congrats on the new show and great to see you and, and I hope you're doing great. And, and I hope I see you soon. Bye.

• 9:48Speaker 02

  Okay, take care.

• 9:51Amy Poehler?

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• 10:37Speaker 03

  Hi.

• 10:38Amy Poehler?

  Hi.

• 10:41Amy Poehler?

  I was very excited about you coming today.

• 10:43Speaker 03

  I was so excited to be here, to come here.

• 10:45Amy Poehler?

  Oh, are you?

• 10:46Speaker 03

  But wait, I'm trying to remember.

• 10:48Amy Poehler?

  Is today a big press day for you? Like, do you have to go do a bunch of things now?

• 10:51Speaker 03

  We rolled this into, we're going up to Connecticut tomorrow.

• 10:55Amy Poehler?

  Nice, ESPN?

• 10:56Speaker 03

  No.

• 10:57Amy Poehler?

  What's up there?

• 10:58Speaker 03

  Traveler's Insurance Golf Tournament. Don't you know? Amy, come on.

• 11:03Amy Poehler?

  Well, we are gonna talk about your new show, The Hawk, in which you play a golfer.

• 11:08Speaker 03

  And then we've been, we've been grabbing stuff for Lonnie's Instagram in character. So Lonnie, Lonnie walks around a lot and talks to people.

• 11:19Amy Poehler?

  Well, I was wondering if I was gonna be interviewing Lonnie today.

• 11:23Speaker 03

  I love those too much.

• 11:25Amy Poehler?

  But you love to be in character.

• 11:27Speaker 03

  I do, but then sometimes, as you, as you know,

• 11:30Amy Poehler?

  Sure.

• 11:30Speaker 03

  with our comedy lives, you sometimes think of a really good idea and then it just makes you tired.

• 11:35Amy Poehler?

  But I gotta say, of all the idea, of all the people that have to do ideas, you are probably and still remain one of the least tired.

• 11:44Speaker 03

  I'm hanging in there.

• 11:45Amy Poehler?

  You are the least tired.

• 11:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:47Amy Poehler?

  Because you love to work. You love, you, well, you have worked really hard since I've known you.

• 11:54Speaker 03

  Yes, I have.

• 11:56Amy Poehler?

  You have.

• 11:56Speaker 03

  But some of it is smoke and mirrors.

• 11:59Amy Poehler?

  Sure, but like you're also out there plugging and you, you get a kind of a pleasure. We've talked about this, about doing kind of stupid stuff to promote. Like you don't mind that. You kind of like it. It kind of relaxes you.

• 12:12Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 12:14Amy Poehler?

  You like to be embarrassed.

• 12:16Speaker 03

  And I always remember what you said, like what we do is embarrassing.

• 12:20Amy Poehler?

  Yes, but you don't seem, ever seem embarrassed.

• 12:23Speaker 03

  Do you remember saying that? You're like, comedy is embarrassing.

• 12:26Amy Poehler?

  Well, I think I, I hopefully quoted Ted Danson, because that was his quote.

• 12:31Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 12:32Amy Poehler?

  I hopefully gave him that, those props.

• 12:34Speaker 03

  I think you said, I remember you said before, I'm about to say something. And this is my quote and my quote only. And I remember thinking, okay, what's the big deal?

• 12:45Speaker 03

  But I want you to know, when you hear it, remember, I came up with it. I was like, fine, tell me what it is. Comedy is embarrassing. What we do is embarrassing. I was like, okay, great.

• 12:58Amy Poehler?

  Oh, that's kind of interesting.

• 12:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 12:59Amy Poehler?

  Yep. But Ted Danson said it.

• 13:01Speaker 03

  It was Ted.

• 13:01Amy Poehler?

  He said it in terms of acting. Because we were, him and I were in a, were doing a scene one time and somebody was acting and he, in such a sweet way, he's such a nice guy. He said, oh, God, acting is embarrassing. And I said, it is. But you, you have a captain energy that I love. And, you know, for me, when I started SNL, like, you were the captain I watched. And you still are in many ways. I watch how you navigate your life and this work and everything. And you have a captain energy. I mean, I think some of it might just be because you're tall.

• 13:34Speaker 03

  I think a lot of it is. You're just like tallest guy in the room.

• 13:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And they're like, what are you gonna do, Will? They're like, I don't know.

• 13:44Speaker 03

  Why is everyone looking at me? Don't look at me.

• 13:46Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And I also think that, you know, being a good captain, like, I feel like you have this thing where, you know, I've worked with you, I've got to work with you a lot, where I watch you kind of be the number one on the set. And you, you're always professional, always working hard, but you're not taking things too seriously, or yourself too seriously, ever.

• 14:08Speaker 03

  No. No. I look back, and that was not intentional.

• 14:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 14:14Speaker 03

  But I just remember, though, what was intentional was reminding everyone, and I'm referring to working on Saturday Night Live and that environment, reminding everyone that this is supposed to be fun.

• 14:26Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 14:27Speaker 03

  This is a comedy show. We won the jackpot. It's a comedy show.

• 14:33Amy Poehler?

  That's right.

• 14:34Speaker 03

  Let's have fun while we do it.

• 14:36Amy Poehler?

  That's right.

• 14:37Speaker 03

  And let's make each other laugh.

• 14:38Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 14:39Speaker 03

  And let's have moments where, like, no one's ever gonna see.

• 14:43Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 14:43Speaker 03

  And it's just for us.

• 14:44Amy Poehler?

  Yes. It makes everybody feel so relaxed. And that was the thing that I watched when I...

• 14:50Speaker 03

  But you always seemed 100% relaxed.

• 14:53Amy Poehler?

  Well, I really did, I really did, I've told you this, but I really did watch, you know, our year overlapped. We only had one year together on the show, which is so weird, isn't it?

• 15:03Speaker 03

  It's so weird. And was it the, was it?

• 15:07Amy Poehler?

  It was 2001.

• 15:10Speaker 03

  One.

• 15:11Amy Poehler?

  A great year.

• 15:12Speaker 03

  A great year for comedy.

• 15:14Amy Poehler?

  Great year.

• 15:16Amy Poehler?

  People were ready to laugh. Great time to start a job in comedy.

• 15:20Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 15:21Amy Poehler?

  And it was like, kind of coming into, kind of coming into a school and seeing the cool senior and being like, oh, that senior is cool, not only because they're talented, but they know how to like, make people feel relaxed, keep people like, doing bits, like, reminding everybody that this is like, life is a dream and like, what are we doing, like, all that stuff, like, it was, it was really important. So, okay, I'm gonna go back in time.

• 15:45Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 15:46Amy Poehler?

  Get ready. So grab something, just in case you faint.

• 15:52Speaker 03

  A little fake hamburger.

• 15:54Amy Poehler?

  You, are you, are you, like, you were like a popular kid. Best personality you got?

• 16:01Speaker 03

  Uh, I did.

• 16:03Amy Poehler?

  Congrats.

• 16:03Speaker 03

  Yes. I got best personality.

• 16:08Amy Poehler?

  I mean, that can be a real curse. Can be a curse.

• 16:11Speaker 03

  Did not lead to dating prowess.

• 16:15Amy Poehler?

  Okay, got it. That's good.

• 16:17Speaker 03

  Or girlfriends or anything like that.

• 16:18Amy Poehler?

  Okay, girls were like, Will.

• 16:20Speaker 03

  Oh, that's so funny. But I don't like you.

• 16:22Amy Poehler?

  They were like, oh my god, Will's so funny.

• 16:24Speaker 03

  You're so funny.

• 16:25Amy Poehler?

  I've talked to him all day about my boyfriend.

• 16:27Speaker 03

  What?

• 16:28Amy Poehler?

  What a funny joke.

• 16:31Speaker 03

  No.

• 16:31Amy Poehler?

  Okay, that makes me feel better. So you were, God is fair, so you were like, crap, crushing it on the personality, not on the ladies. What sports did you play in high school?

• 16:40Speaker 03

  You name it, I played it.

• 16:42Amy Poehler?

  Shit. What was your best sport? What were you best at?

• 16:45Speaker 03

  Well, I was captain of the basketball team.

• 16:46Amy Poehler?

  Dang. Captain.

• 16:48Speaker 03

  But I averaged 1.2 points a game. Once again, not a joke.

• 16:54Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so you don't have a good shot?

• 16:56Speaker 03

  No, I just, I learned. I had a pretty good shot, but I learned I stayed in the game longer by playing defense, rebounding, setting, doing all the things that no one else wants to do.

• 17:09Amy Poehler?

  Fundamentals.

• 17:09Speaker 03

  Fundamentals.

• 17:12Speaker 03

  Team player.

• 17:13Amy Poehler?

  Very sexy.

• 17:13Speaker 03

  Captain. Very sexy.

• 17:15Amy Poehler?

  Very good at fundamentals. Yeah. Yeah. Right, captain energy.

• 17:19Speaker 03

  But I went, you know, I played baseball.

• 17:20Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 17:21Speaker 03

  I was.

• 17:21Amy Poehler?

  Football, do you play football?

• 17:22Speaker 03

  I was a kicker on the football team. Oh. Cause I played a lot of soccer, so.

• 17:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 17:26Speaker 03

  But I loved, I loved team sports.

• 17:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, and you, you know, your dad was working with the Righteous Brothers.

• 17:33Speaker 03

  Mm hmm.

• 17:34Amy Poehler?

  And I, but the best thing about SNL is I get to know, get to know everybody's parents.

• 17:39Speaker 03

  Right.

• 17:39Amy Poehler?

  I've met your parents so, so many times. They're so lovely. And, but you like kind of, I read somewhere that like you were like, I don't really know about this, this like idea of show business, cause it's just very.

• 17:51Speaker 03

  Very scary.

• 17:52Amy Poehler?

  Scary. Yeah. Why, why did it seem scary at the time?

• 17:55Speaker 03

  Because I, I just saw the, uh, there was no stability in the life of a musician.

• 18:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:03Speaker 03

  And I would watch how, um, and I would sit and watch my dad play going, this is the most talented. He was like, like my hero, like so funny and, and great piano player. And like, who could be better than that? And so I never understood when he would have a nightclub gig that would, he'd, he'd come home and be like, well, I'm not gonna be playing there. I'm like, oh, what? It's like, nothing. They just decided, gonna make a change.

• 18:34Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:35Speaker 03

  So I've gotta go out and I've gotta look for the next gig. And it was very impressionable to me that, that was, oh, that was rough.

• 18:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:44Speaker 03

  So I, I, I was, I was, I was committed to having what I thought in my little kid brain was a real job.

• 18:52Amy Poehler?

  Which, do you remember what you thought it was gonna be?

• 18:55Speaker 03

  But I knew, but this is what I knew. These are the elements. You carry a briefcase.

• 18:59Amy Poehler?

  Absolutely.

• 19:01Speaker 03

  You carry a briefcase.

• 19:03Amy Poehler?

  Of course.

• 19:04Speaker 03

  You go into a building.

• 19:06Amy Poehler?

  Yes, it has to be inside a building.

• 19:07Speaker 03

  You go into a building and you have either a. A cubicle?

• 19:11Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 19:12Speaker 03

  Or you have an office?

• 19:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 19:14Speaker 03

  And, um, and you go?

• 19:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 19:17Speaker 03

  You go for a period of time?

• 19:18Amy Poehler?

  Yep.

• 19:19Speaker 03

  You talk to people, then you walk home with your briefcase. I didn't have a car in my little kid brain.

• 19:25Amy Poehler?

  Did you have, do you remember there used to be like punch cards? That was a big, like, I used to play secretary when I was a kid.

• 19:30Speaker 03

  Clock in, clock out.

• 19:31Amy Poehler?

  And I used to go down to my dad's.

• 19:34Speaker 03

  I think I was still, I think I was executive level. In my little kid brain.

• 19:38Amy Poehler?

  Congrats. You opened up a leather binder of some sort, signed something. Yeah.

• 19:42Speaker 03

  So, yeah, so, so that was, that was the, that was the game plan, even though I don't know what that meant.

• 19:47Amy Poehler?

  So how do you then jump from, like, I'm gonna have a safe job with a briefcase? Cause you're, you are, you're playing sports, you're tall, you're a white, straight guy. Like, those guys go into briefcase jobs.

• 20:00Speaker 03

  Right, briefcase jobs, yeah.

• 20:01Amy Poehler?

  Then you're gonna, then how do you get to the groundlings? How do you decide to take classes? What do you think it was?

• 20:07Speaker 03

  It was death by a thousand cuts. I mean, it was literally just a little bit here, a little bit, because I wasn't, I didn't entertain any sort of performance.

• 20:19Amy Poehler?

  No plays in high school?

• 20:20Speaker 03

  No plays in high school. And yet I remember, remember our high school had a really good drama department?

• 20:26Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 20:27Speaker 03

  And I went with friends to go watch the show they were doing, and I forget what it was. But, but I remember watching going, this is good, and these kids are good, and that would be fun, but...

• 20:37Amy Poehler?

  Any comedy sneak out at all? Cause I think sometimes it just like squirts out and you can't help it. Like, did you get up in front of the class? Were you funny?

• 20:44Speaker 03

  I did, I did, um, what, the, the kind of thing that kind of opened,

• 20:54Speaker 03

  began the crack in the door.

• 20:55Amy Poehler?

  Open the comedy briefcase.

• 20:57Speaker 03

  Open the comedy briefcase. And you know what's inside of the comedy? One of those snakes that pops out at you.

• 21:06Speaker 03

  Right?

• 21:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:07Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 21:07Amy Poehler?

  Hilarious.

• 21:08Speaker 03

  Yes, hilarious. Were assemblies, school assemblies.

• 21:14Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 21:16Speaker 03

  And a good buddy of mine, Bart, and I would write, basically, when I look back, they were sketches.

• 21:23Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:23Speaker 03

  And we wrote these performance pieces for the assemblies.

• 21:28Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 21:29Speaker 03

  And we would, we would imitate the teachers. We would do, we performed as the Schmangy Brothers.

• 21:37Amy Poehler?

  Oh, wow.

• 21:38Speaker 03

  From SCTV.

• 21:39Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 21:39Speaker 03

  No other kids knew who the Schmangys were, but I thought, oh, I love when you guys do the schmigadug, schmigadugles. How'd you make that up? I know, we're copying it from SCTV. That was my first kind of, and we were also writing these morning announcements.

• 21:56Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 21:58Speaker 03

  To sell senior class T-shirts. That was our big fundraiser. So these were like little radio skits.

• 22:04Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:04Speaker 03

  And, and the defining moment for me, when I look back, was sitting at home. I knew we had, we'd do it like every other Tuesday or something. And one was due the next day, and I'm, I have a mountain of homework, and I'm sitting there. I spent three hours crafting this little dumb paragraph.

• 22:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:32Speaker 03

  And I, it was 11 o'clock, and I'd started at eight, and it felt like, it felt like 10 minutes.

• 22:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 22:39Speaker 03

  And even then, as like a senior in high school, I thought, hold on, hold on to this memory. Remember what this feels like. This does not feel like work.

• 22:47Amy Poehler?

  Did you have like job, like fun, dumb jobs that you were like doing while you were trying to figure out, you were at USC, right?

• 22:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:56Amy Poehler?

  Were you?

• 22:57Speaker 03

  I was, I parked cars.

• 23:01Speaker 03

  I worked one day at Disneyland.

• 23:05Amy Poehler?

  Did you get fired?

• 23:06Speaker 03

  No.

• 23:07Amy Poehler?

  Just quietly not asked back?

• 23:09Speaker 03

  I, no, no. I had, I was too afraid. I had my friend, John, call and quit on my behalf.

• 23:19Speaker 03

  Which was really funny.

• 23:20Amy Poehler?

  Pretend to be you?

• 23:21Speaker 03

  Yeah. I was, for some reason, I was so embarrassed to call. I went, so I got a job and you were paid for the orientation day.

• 23:31Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah, sure.

• 23:32Speaker 03

  To work at Disneyland. And I thought that I was going to be assigned, you know, to be one of the really fun jobs, like the jungle cruise operator.

• 23:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 23:44Speaker 03

  And I find out, oh, no, those guys work there for eight years before they get. So they assigned me one of the front kiosks for selling tickets.

• 23:54Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 23:55Speaker 03

  At the same time, I had a rival offer to work at a friend's surf shop.

• 24:00Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 24:00Speaker 03

  A friend who was managing a surf shop right down at Newport Beach. Exactly, same pay.

• 24:04Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 24:05Speaker 03

  $5.50 an hour.

• 24:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 24:07Speaker 03

  But I was too embarrassed to call up Disney, Disneyland. So my friend, John, called on my behalf and said, I will, I will be quitting after one day. And that, and they asked, okay, a reason for leaving? And he said, I, he said, I have a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys. And they went, thank you very much. So somewhere, there's a file at Disney corporate. It says Will Ferrell worked for one day. Reason for leaving. Tryout with the Dallas Cowboys football team.

• 24:39Amy Poehler?

  And they probably were like, they probably thought for a second they remembered you and they were like, huh, what position? And someone was like, he's a kicker. And I'm like, oh, that makes sense, maybe a kicker.

• 24:48Speaker 03

  Did he make the Cowboys?

• 24:51Speaker 03

  You want to hear an interesting story? We just had someone call and cancel. They're not going to work, but they're going to try out for the Dallas Cowboys. How good is that? Anyway, I wish them the best.

• 24:59Amy Poehler?

  Waiter ever?

• 25:00Speaker 03

  No.

• 25:01Amy Poehler?

  Never waiter.

• 25:01Speaker 03

  I knew I would.

• 25:02Amy Poehler?

  You knew?

• 25:02Speaker 03

  I knew.

• 25:04Amy Poehler?

  When you started Groundlings, what year was that? Do you remember what year it was?

• 25:07Speaker 03

  That was right after I'd graduated from USC and I.

• 25:11Amy Poehler?

  What was your degree?

• 25:13Speaker 03

  In sports information. So that was the, trying to bridge the gap between. Real job and entertainment.

• 25:20Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:21Speaker 03

  So as I'm, as I'm coming kind of in college, like you said, it's, it's oozing out of me.

• 25:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:28Speaker 03

  In places.

• 25:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:29Speaker 03

  And I still wasn't like, I still didn't join a college improv team.

• 25:33Amy Poehler?

  I'm surprised.

• 25:35Speaker 03

  Audition for anything. It was more, uh, it was more kind of what we were talking about.

• 25:42Speaker 03

  Getting out, doing bits.

• 25:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:45Speaker 03

  Trying to make my friends laugh.

• 25:46Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:46Speaker 03

  Pretending to be other people that I wasn't in order to make. So I would show up to a friend's class as, um, I found like some overalls. And I would interrupt this friend's class as a maintenance worker. And pretend to fix things or just come up, come in with like a lit cigarette out of my mouth and like a puke bucket. And the teacher would be like, can I help you?

• 26:19Speaker 03

  And I'd look at him and just go, no one threw up in here.

• 26:24Speaker 03

  And he would say, no, I'm sorry. They called me from physical plant and I said, this is, this is classroom B302, right? Yeah. I'm sorry about that, but like blowing smoke in his classroom. But like, but my heart is pounding in my chest.

• 26:42Amy Poehler?

  But then.

• 26:43Speaker 03

  But it's finding it, it's thrilling and I'm only making three people laugh.

• 26:46Amy Poehler?

  That to me is like free solo of comedy. It's like rock climbing where you're like doing it just kind of for yourself. No one's watching.

• 26:57Speaker 03

  Totally.

• 26:58Amy Poehler?

  It's pretty, it feels quite dangerous because everyone's like, what are you doing in here?

• 27:02Speaker 03

  And I would have, I would have, I worked, my work, study job was at the humanities audio visual department. So occasionally I may have to push an over, overhead projector across campus.

• 27:16Speaker 03

  And I would tell my buddy, like, hey, are you guys all gonna sit in the commons area? I may, I may be pushing an overhead projector at around 12:30. He's like, okay, good. And he, my friend Emo became my shill.

• 27:30Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 27:31Speaker 03

  And I would time it, I'd do a circuitous route, nowhere near where I needed to go. And I would just pull my, just enough to have my butt crack show and just slowly push. And my friend Emo would be like, look at that guy, what an idiot. And people, like, they would gang on. He would, he would get the crowd to go, yeah. And, and people who didn't know me would, would laugh in a mean way.

• 27:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 27:58Speaker 03

  Once again, I found it thrilling.

• 28:00Amy Poehler?

  Thrilling.

• 28:01Speaker 03

  That these people had no idea that it was all, it was all actually jokes on them.

• 28:07Amy Poehler?

  It makes sense to me because jokes on them.

• 28:09Speaker 03

  Jokes on them.

• 28:09Amy Poehler?

  You're the idiot.

• 28:10Speaker 03

  Oh, I walked around Scampus with my pants down.

• 28:12Amy Poehler?

  Oh, no, no, I knew my pants were down.

• 28:14Speaker 03

  I knew it.

• 28:16Amy Poehler?

  I knew it, I pulled them down myself.

• 28:17Speaker 03

  It was part of it.

• 28:20Amy Poehler?

  But it, but it makes sense because people, when people, what people love about you, Will, is it does feel like you're trying to make your friends laugh. Like, that's really what it feels like. It feels like, and they feel parasocially like your friends. Like, they're like, Will is my friend. And he makes me laugh, like, I've been with you, and people come up to you, and people, you invoke this, like, feeling in people where they're like, it's almost like, Will, I knew I was gonna see you, you're my friend. You know, they, people feel really connected, and it is.

• 28:50Speaker 03

  And then they're let down when I'm not doing the bits.

• 28:52Amy Poehler?

  Well, I mean, there's nothing but a letdown. Oh, yeah.

• 28:55Speaker 03

  You've experienced.

• 28:56Amy Poehler?

  I mean, people are like, oh, wow, you're quiet and not telling jokes.

• 29:00Speaker 03

  You're so normal. Oh. What am I gonna do with that?

• 29:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Like, oh, are you, are you sad today? It's like, no, I'm just, this is my normal, I'm not screaming, and my shirt is on.

• 29:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 29:15Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 29:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 29:17Amy Poehler?

  When you got to Groundlings, who were your peeps there? What was your class? Who were, who were, who was studying when you were there?

• 29:23Speaker 03

  Who? Let's see.

• 29:27Speaker 03

  My direct peeps, kind of coming up in the same, at the same time through the school, were Catan.

• 29:36Amy Poehler?

  Yep.

• 29:37Speaker 03

  And Sherry.

• 29:38Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 29:39Speaker 03

  And I believe a little overlap with Chris Parnell.

• 29:44Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 29:48Speaker 03

  Oh, Jennifer Coolidge.

• 29:50Amy Poehler?

  Uh-huh.

• 29:50Speaker 03

  Was kind of, she, she was actually ahead of us, but, and did some shows with us as well.

• 29:56Amy Poehler?

  And, and then so many of you started at SNL around the same time, or at the same time. You and Sherry came in together?

• 30:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:05Amy Poehler?

  And?

• 30:06Speaker 03

  And then I'd known Molly.

• 30:07Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 30:08Speaker 03

  From, Molly sweetly, I was just, I saw, I was with Molly yesterday.

• 30:17Amy Poehler?

  I just saw her.

• 30:18Speaker 03

  Cause she got her.

• 30:19Amy Poehler?

  She got the Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

• 30:20Speaker 03

  Her star in the Walk of Fame.

• 30:21Amy Poehler?

  So cool.

• 30:22Speaker 03

  And of course Molly gave the greatest speech of all time.

• 30:26Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 30:27Speaker 03

  Of just stream of consciousness, you know?

• 30:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 30:30Speaker 03

  But told the story of how, and I met Will, I was working at the Melrose Baking Company. And Will, I met, I was with my, my friend Patricia brought Will in and said, this is Will, and you said, hi, and like, what can I get you? And you said, I will have a scone. Molly delivering that story, it like thunderous lap.

• 30:53Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 30:54Speaker 03

  Like, that written down on a piece of paper is not funny, but Molly delivering it.

• 30:59Amy Poehler?

  I love what you said about her. What, what did you say about her and like how her character felt like it was the beginning of a new chapter for the show?

• 31:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, I just, I, I just remember it was, it was this moment when she first did Mary Catherine Gallagher. It was our fourth show that we'd ever done for that new cast of the 95, 96 season. And, you know, very much finding our sea legs, very much, we're all pretty brand new. It was eight new cast members and an entire new writing staff. And so the audience is very leery. And it was, it was that first moment. She starts doing the character and I'm at the beginning of the sketch, but I have to run. This is during dress rehearsal.

• 31:52Speaker 03

  I have to run to go underneath the paint cans there, which is a section of the studio where you're underneath the bleachers there. And I'm doing a quick change for the next thing. And she starts doing Mary Catherine for the first time. And I can feel the stands shake. The audience is howling and screaming with laughter to the point where it almost, it felt emotional. It felt like, wait.

• 32:24Amy Poehler?

  A somatic thing was happening, like there was a rumble in your stomach.

• 32:28Speaker 03

  100%.

• 32:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 32:30Speaker 03

  And I literally, as I thought about things, to talk about Molly in terms of knowing, I thought, oh, that, she kind of saved the show in a way. It was that first thing for this new group where people were like, oh my God, that character is very real and funny and an outsider and dark.

• 32:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yes. And super physical.

• 32:56Speaker 03

  And she throws herself into a stack of metal folding chairs with no visible padding on her at all.

• 33:02Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 33:03Speaker 03

  It was like punk rock version of Lucille Ball.

• 33:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 33:07Speaker 03

  And for a woman.

• 33:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 33:10Speaker 03

  You know, in comedy, like, like, it was like busting through the door, I think, in a way. And I just remember thinking, okay, they, they like, and it just created this momentum from that point on.

• 33:25Amy Poehler?

  You know, if anything, the show is like so cyclical. We've learned that, like, it's been said a million times, like, when somebody leaves, the show will never be the same. It's been on for 50 years. It's like, this cast is better than that cast, whatever. And I, you guys got bad reviews. Like, the show is like Saturday Night Dead.

• 33:42Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:43Amy Poehler?

  And do you remember any of the bad reviews?

• 33:46Speaker 03

  Sherry was the only one who got good reviews.

• 33:48Amy Poehler?

  Sherry got a good?

• 33:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:49Amy Poehler?

  Do you remember?

• 33:50Speaker 03

  Sherry had a great first show. Sherry was, I mean, Sherry was amazing performer as well. Yeah, I, I was. My first show, I mean, I got, you know, it was, it, once again, I think it's part of another piece that informed the way I approach all of this because it was, there was like, good news and bad news.

• 34:15Speaker 03

  You're one of the only cast members mentioned by name, Will. Oh, that's really, it's gotta be good. Here's the bad news. Most annoying newcomer, right out of the gate from the first show.

• 34:26Amy Poehler?

  You don't have to say their name, but do you remember the writer's name?

• 34:29Speaker 03

  No.

• 34:29Amy Poehler?

  Okay, that's where you and I are different. Because I would like.

• 34:34Speaker 03

  No, I don't remember that, but I remember it was one of those, one of those entertainment magazines that doesn't exist anymore.

• 34:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 34:41Speaker 03

  It was like Entertainment Weekly, but not entertain, maybe it was Entertainment Mag. Remember there used to be?

• 34:45Amy Poehler?

  Or like Premier, or like something like that.

• 34:48Speaker 03

  And they were like.

• 34:48Amy Poehler?

  They were coming for you.

• 34:49Speaker 03

  They were really not happy. And so, as we all know, we've all been hit with these moments where you're like, you're thinking, what do I, okay, do I just sit and wallow in this? And I don't know what it is about my DNA, but I just started cracking up going, you asked for it, buddy.

• 35:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 35:11Speaker 03

  So then I just, back to sports, I just made it, I literally taped it to my wall.

• 35:16Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 35:18Speaker 03

  Most annoying newcomer.

• 35:19Amy Poehler?

  But this is what a captain does.

• 35:21Speaker 03

  And then I was, and then the only thing I know how to do is, I'm like, I'm just gonna lean into it anymore, even more, like, if you think I'm annoying now, just wait. I'm gonna push that overhead projector across your face, you know?

• 35:36Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 35:36Speaker 03

  And so it just kinda fired me up.

• 35:39Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 35:40Speaker 03

  But there was no part of me that was like, what am I doing wrong? Oh, I better change things up. I don't have that move.

• 35:47Amy Poehler?

  People have very, very strong opinions about comedy.

• 35:49Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 35:49Amy Poehler?

  Same with music. They're very similar, which is like, I love that song, I hate that song, I love that singer, I hate their voice. Like, everyone feels really, like, they own their, their feelings about things.

• 36:02Speaker 03

  I'm just visioning you.

• 36:06Speaker 03

  Really poring over and circling someone's name.

• 36:09Amy Poehler?

  There is a couple of reviews. I got two reviews that I like, I think like I whispered their names in my pillow every night, like Arya Stark. Like I think about these two people and I'm just like, someday we're gonna see each other again.

• 36:24Speaker 03

  There used to be a writer for the, there used to be a writer for the LA Times. Kay Farrell would remember her name.

• 36:31Amy Poehler?

  Okay, he's got it, Kay's got it written down. Will's mom.

• 36:34Speaker 03

  She had it, she had it so out for me that I, I saw, I opened up the LA Times to see a review of Forty Year Old Virgin.

• 36:46Amy Poehler?

  Sure.

• 36:46Speaker 03

  And I remember on Anchorman, Correll talking about that premise. And we're all going, buddy, that is hilarious. He's like, yeah, I may, I may, you know, try to see if I can get this going. Anyway, I see this, I'm like, oh, I want to see what they think of Steve. The first two paragraphs are how this woman hates me. Hates, there's no, yes, goes off on Will Ferrell. Two solid paragraphs.

• 37:20Amy Poehler?

  Oh, delicious.

• 37:21Speaker 03

  Of how there's no one worse than him. He is unfunny. There's no, there's nothing redeemable about anything he does. That was, that's the top of the article. That's why when I watched Steve Carell in Forty Year Old, I was so pleasantly surprised. It's like, what do I have to do with?

• 37:45Amy Poehler?

  You're not even.

• 37:45Speaker 03

  I guess because he was in Anchorman or?

• 37:48Amy Poehler?

  Oh, sure. She was like, she was like, now, this is the kind of guy that I laugh at, not this stupid idiot.

• 37:55Speaker 03

  I, it was like a hot, it was like opening, like, it was like being in Las Vegas in your air conditioning room and you open up to a blast furnace of 110 degree heat. It's like, that serves you.

• 38:08Amy Poehler?

  For going looking.

• 38:09Speaker 03

  For going, don't even read other people's movie reviews, because they'll get you.

• 38:16Amy Poehler?

  I mean.

• 38:16Speaker 03

  But it wanted me to get. I know what it feeds you. I wanted to wear a T-shirt of her name and just be photographed walking around town.

• 38:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I love that. That is, that is, I think, something that you and I share, which is just like, if there's a little bit of a tingle of like, it must be the challenger in us, but like some kind of like where it's like, because it's kind of, it's this thrilling thing where you realize like, I'm gonna survive this. I can't explain it other than like, the worst has happened. Somebody doesn't like me and somebody, and it's like gonna be like, I don't know, there's something, there's, I, there's a mischievous quality about it. That's fun.

• 38:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 38:55Amy Poehler?

  And it's, you don't, you just can't internalize it. Like, what are you gonna do?

• 38:59Speaker 03

  It's, it's like, our most favorite review of Step Brothers was Roger Ebert, who said, "This is the end of Western civilization." And he went as far as to say, "Do not buy this on DVD when it comes out. Do not support movies like this, because it will make other people think they should make movies similar to this. So, please." It was, it was like a call to action.

• 39:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 39:28Amy Poehler?

  Incredible. Oh, God.

• 39:29Speaker 03

  McKay and I were like, "Oh, that is so delicious."

• 39:33Amy Poehler?

  Child must have loved it.

• 39:34Speaker 03

  Only because we'd gotten enough filled up on the love side that we could handle

• 39:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 39:39Speaker 03

  the hate.

• 39:39Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

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• 41:29Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking which group chat you're typing in before hitting send? Next thing you know, you sent a scalding hot take about the restaurant to the group with the person who picked it. Yikes. Yeah, checking first is a good idea, so check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. This episode is brought to you by Subaru. There's something about being on the road that has a way of leading to those unexpectedly memorable little moments.

• 42:10Amy Poehler?

  And in the all-new 2026 Subaru Hybrid, it's like the destination isn't even important, it's the drive, baby. And let me tell you, I'm in that car and I feel like a million bucks. Quiet ride, comfortable, love my Subaru, can't get enough. With up to 581 miles in the Subaru Forester Hybrid, and even more, 597 in the Crosstrek Hybrid, you can go further between stops and stay in the moment longer. Visit subaru.com/hybrid to learn more. The Subaru Forester Hybrid and Crosstrek Hybrid, love goes the extra mile.

• 42:48Amy Poehler?

  When you speak about Molly saving the show, I felt the same way about you in 2001. Like, I felt like we were... I was starting, you know, we joked about it earlier, but I was starting in a time when it was like, New York was hurting, comedy was over. People were like, "We can't joke anymore."

• 43:05Speaker 03

  Can't be ironic.

• 43:06Amy Poehler?

  We can't do, yeah. It was posed to your book. Like, you had done Bush. We couldn't do any jokes.

• 43:11Speaker 03

  No.

• 43:11Amy Poehler?

  You know, poor Forte had to play Bush during those years. And it was like, what do we do? No one could kid about anything other than maybe pop culture. And even that, everyone was like, "Not now." We're too sad.

• 43:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:24Amy Poehler?

  And so...

• 43:25Speaker 03

  Understandable.

• 43:25Amy Poehler?

  I remember when you came out in patriotic underwear. Speedo? Speedo underwear.

• 43:33Speaker 03

  Dolphin shorts. Dolphin running shorts.

• 43:35Amy Poehler?

  Okay. Tight shorts.

• 43:37Speaker 03

  Pulled way up.

• 43:38Amy Poehler?

  And you had just...

• 43:38Speaker 03

  For air, not for dress. Dress, I kept them low. Live show.

• 43:44Amy Poehler?

  "Don't peek at dress," as Tracy Morgan likes to say. "Don't peek at dress." So you hiked them for air.

• 43:50Speaker 03

  Hiked them for air.

• 43:50Amy Poehler?

  And I also remember that you would just run, because you're a runner.

• 43:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 43:54Amy Poehler?

  You would just run like a half marathon or something.

• 43:56Speaker 03

  The New York Marathon.

• 43:58Amy Poehler?

  Oh, okay. So you'd run the New York Marathon. So you also were very chafed.

• 44:02Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 44:02Amy Poehler?

  You were really chafed.

• 44:03Speaker 03

  I forgot that part.

• 44:04Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And you were like, "I'm very chafed."

• 44:08Speaker 03

  Super chafed.

• 44:09Amy Poehler?

  And you did a patriot... A guy who was trying to be patriotic in his office. And same thing, Will. I remember the audience laughing and being like, "Oh, we're gonna be okay. Okay, comedy's gonna be okay. The show's gonna survive. I'm gonna still have a job."

• 44:23Speaker 03

  I forgot about the chafing.

• 44:24Amy Poehler?

  You were chafed from running. Okay. I want to talk about some stuff that you've done. I'm so bad at transition.

• 44:34Speaker 03

  By the way...

• 44:36Amy Poehler?

  Did you see how clunky that was, Tripp?

• 44:37Speaker 03

  That was rough. I was like, "Thank God."

• 44:40Amy Poehler?

  I said, "Okay, stop."

• 44:41Speaker 03

  "Okay, stop."

• 44:45Speaker 03

  But you know what? I think that is a great transition.

• 44:49Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 44:49Speaker 03

  It's super clear.

• 44:51Amy Poehler?

  I said, okay, stop.

• 44:52Speaker 03

  Okay, stop.

• 44:52Amy Poehler?

  Okay, I want to talk about something else.

• 44:54Speaker 03

  I'm gonna turn this page.

• 44:55Amy Poehler?

  And I'm gonna turn my page. Did we turn my page?

• 44:57Speaker 03

  You know what I thought about? Amy, let me, I'm gonna help muddle this transition too.

• 45:02Amy Poehler?

  Please, please.

• 45:03Speaker 03

  I was thinking about your time and how then you were, you became such a star yourself. But I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to kiss butt. This is a scientific analysis.

• 45:17Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 45:18Speaker 03

  But then you and Tina go on to do update and to bring that like so far forward. And, and, but I was thinking, God, Amy had to run around and do sketches and then do update. Whew.

• 45:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 45:34Speaker 03

  Yikes.

• 45:34Amy Poehler?

  But you know what? It felt, it was so, I stayed very loose because I was always, you know, like nothing worse than having one line.

• 45:41Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 45:42Amy Poehler?

  Nothing worse.

• 45:43Speaker 03

  You didn't have to think about update because you're like.

• 45:45Amy Poehler?

  Totally.

• 45:45Speaker 03

  And you're like, oh, here comes this fun, this is a fun break right here in a weird way.

• 45:49Amy Poehler?

  Totally.

• 45:50Speaker 03

  Wow, okay.

• 45:50Amy Poehler?

  And I wasn't as stressed about getting sketches on because I knew, I always knew I had to update. And so I felt like very, very like getting eventually to the looseness that I wanted. Maya and I talk about it, like we, we wanted like senioritis, that feeling of like half in, half out. Like this is a dumb thing, this is a fun thing, but it's so hard to get there. And then you go, you leave SNL and then Will, you have the biggest string of comedy hits. Like hit after hit, like Suitlander, like Elf, Old School, Anchorman, Step Brothers, Talladega. And it's like, like, first of all, I can't even, I should have done the research.

• 46:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:27Amy Poehler?

  Like, how, how many years did you, like, it seems like that was all done in like 10 or 15 years. A movie a year at least.

• 46:35Speaker 03

  Right.

• 46:35Amy Poehler?

  So many hits.

• 46:37Speaker 03

  Pauses in between.

• 46:38Amy Poehler?

  Sure.

• 46:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:39Amy Poehler?

  But just, you are, you are the, for so many people, especially millennials, I would say. And maybe some Gen X, you are the face of their like five favorite comedy movies. And you've been in some good comedy movies. And we know that's hard. Movies are hard. Good movies are hard. Good comedies are hard. Way harder than a drama, which is easy.

• 47:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 47:04Amy Poehler?

  Dramas are easy. I mean, what are you gonna do?

• 47:08Speaker 03

  I'm looking at all three, all five cameras.

• 47:11Amy Poehler?

  Like, so easy, like.

• 47:13Speaker 03

  Is there one up here?

• 47:13Amy Poehler?

  Like, you yell, they cry, like, whatever. But I, I, I wanna ask you about the ending.

• 47:20Speaker 03

  I don't know. By the way, I, I don't know what your question is, and I don't know how to answer. I don't know.

• 47:27Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. It's such a, such a run.

• 47:29Speaker 03

  Because.

• 47:30Amy Poehler?

  Such a run.

• 47:31Speaker 03

  I leave the show with.

• 47:35Amy Poehler?

  No job?

• 47:36Speaker 03

  No job. The only thing.

• 47:40Amy Poehler?

  Zoolander, maybe?

• 47:41Speaker 03

  Had already come out.

• 47:42Amy Poehler?

  Oh, right. It had come out while you were there. That's right.

• 47:45Speaker 03

  And, and if you recall, it came out during.

• 47:47Amy Poehler?

  Came out during.

• 47:48Speaker 03

  Two thousand and one.

• 47:50Amy Poehler?

  Yep. Tough time for comedy.

• 47:51Speaker 03

  And didn't find its audience till much later.

• 47:55Amy Poehler?

  Yep, yep.

• 47:57Speaker 03

  I had been in, uh, that last year, second, I'd filmed, no, that last year I was leaving, cause I was filming Old School.

• 48:06Amy Poehler?

  Old School, that's right. You were going back and forth.

• 48:08Speaker 03

  So, Old School, but Old School had been held on to, which is not usually a positive endorsement from the studio.

• 48:15Amy Poehler?

  They're like, they're like, this is great. Hold on.

• 48:18Speaker 03

  This is so good. Let's keep it on the back burner. It's too good.

• 48:26Speaker 03

  No, it went from like a November release to like February of the next year.

• 48:34Speaker 03

  And the only thing that was big time development was Elf.

• 48:39Amy Poehler?

  I mean, Elf is such a good movie.

• 48:42Speaker 03

  So, we didn't even know. We didn't even know.

• 48:46Speaker 03

  And then, yeah.

• 48:47Amy Poehler?

  Well, let's talk about Elf for one second.

• 48:48Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 48:49Amy Poehler?

  It is the, I mean, it is a lot of people's comfort movie. It is definitely their favorite Christmas movie. It's so fucking funny. It's, it holds up so well.

• 48:59Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 48:59Amy Poehler?

  Directed by John Farber, who was like a Chicago improv guy that, you know, I came up with and, um, it's so, what do you think?

• 49:08Speaker 03

  And it was interesting, cause John really wanted to make sure it had a timeless feel to it. And John really wanted to, and was 100% right, but I'm coming off of SNL. I'm no, I'm known, yes, there was like the Cheerleaders and sketches like that, but I'm also known for a PG 13 pushing our brand of humor.

• 49:35Speaker 03

  And.

• 49:37Speaker 03

  I'm sitting in my trailer in my elf tights, looking in the mirror going, what have you done? I'm dressed as Buddy and I'm in, this is early movie deals. I'm in the double, I'm in the double.

• 49:57Amy Poehler?

  I was gonna say, I picture you really crowding this trailer.

• 49:59Speaker 03

  I'm in with the space heater that's still built into the wall. And it's, we shoot the New York stuff first, so I don't even know if I know who this character is yet.

• 50:09Amy Poehler?

  You're just walking around this.

• 50:10Speaker 03

  I'm walking around in yellow tights and I'm like, oh my God.

• 50:16Speaker 03

  What? This could be it.

• 50:17Amy Poehler?

  This could be it.

• 50:18Speaker 03

  This could be like, what? That guy was so funny and then he made this movie. We played a giant elf. Oh, poor, oh.

• 50:27Amy Poehler?

  That's why, that's why it's so embarrassing. It's like, it could be like, he's a genius. Classic Christmas movie forever, or the tights were the thing that killed this.

• 50:35Speaker 03

  I just remember, but I remember going, this is either gonna be a homerun or it's gonna be a complete strikeout.

• 50:41Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it's a very good example too of what you do so well, which is like the big and little of it all. Like you play big, but you're little or you're like, you've got no power, but you're cockier than you should be. Like playing around with status, which you do in all your movies. Like Anchorman is a perfect example of that. Like one of many things you made with McKay, which is just like this deeply stupid, hilarious person who is disconnected to the world.

• 51:06Speaker 03

  Right.

• 51:06Amy Poehler?

  But yet in charge and who is why really, really mentally, mentally challenged.

• 51:14Speaker 03

  With problems.

• 51:15Amy Poehler?

  Really has a hard time with life.

• 51:17Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 51:18Amy Poehler?

  And it just, it just gets worse, not better.

• 51:20Speaker 03

  Right.

• 51:21Amy Poehler?

  Never changes. And, and all you guys did was just go for all of the funny and have the funniest people in it. Like Steve was here, we were talking about him in that movie and how he was just blown away by watching you work and being around all you guys and like, and every single character in that movie is Kechner and Rudd are so funny.

• 51:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 51:46Amy Poehler?

  You love playing Ron, like you, you, you love doing him, right? What's fun about him?

• 51:50Speaker 03

  I still will trot him. Well, we did a podcast with him, which was so fun. Just because Ron can say whatever he wants.

• 52:00Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:00Speaker 03

  And he doesn't have to have the right facts.

• 52:05Speaker 03

  He doesn't have to. In fact, I just did Ron recently. Down in San Diego, because Bill Curtis, longtime Chicago, who narrates the movie.

• 52:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:19Speaker 03

  Was retiring from Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

• 52:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:22Speaker 03

  And I had gotten a email just asking what I sent a video. And to congratulate Bill and he's so proud of his connection to that movie. And he still has a standee in his house of Ron.

• 52:40Speaker 03

  And he's the sweetest guy. And I said, Well, hold on, where are you doing the show? He's like, We're doing it live down in San Diego. I'm like, What if I come and surprise him?

• 52:48Amy Poehler?

  Well.

• 52:50Speaker 03

  They were like, Would you actually? I'm like, Yeah, that I we owe him so much. And so we surprised the audience.

• 52:57Amy Poehler?

  Oh, that's huge. It's also such a good name, Ron Burgundy, and also great that his suit was burgundy.

• 53:04Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 53:04Amy Poehler?

  You know, costumes are so fun. You love them.

• 53:08Speaker 03

  I love a good costume. Yeah.

• 53:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, you do.

• 53:10Speaker 03

  But Ron had other costumes, too.

• 53:12Amy Poehler?

  He did. He had other suits.

• 53:13Speaker 03

  He didn't just have the one. He wasn't that crazy.

• 53:15Amy Poehler?

  No. But when you think about Ron, you think about him in his burgundy suit.

• 53:20Speaker 03

  But he had some delightful tans.

• 53:22Amy Poehler?

  I mean, he was he was had like a fisherman turtleneck at times.

• 53:25Speaker 03

  He had baby blue, like leisure suit.

• 53:28Amy Poehler?

  Gorgeous blue suit, though. Bring out his eyes. He was a very handsome man.

• 53:32Speaker 03

  He was very handsome.

• 53:33Amy Poehler?

  Ron was very handsome.

• 53:36Amy Poehler?

  And then you and I did a movie. We did two movies together. We did Blades of Glory.

• 53:41Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 53:41Amy Poehler?

  Which was so fun. And you had to learn how to ice skate?

• 53:44Speaker 03

  I had to learn.

• 53:46Amy Poehler?

  Or did you know a little bit? I had to learn.

• 53:49Speaker 03

  But you didn't love it, if I recall.

• 53:52Amy Poehler?

  I talked about it with Greta Lee on this pod a few weeks ago.

• 53:55Speaker 03

  Love it.

• 53:56Amy Poehler?

  I didn't love it.

• 53:59Amy Poehler?

  I wasn't, I, I, I, I think I thought, you know, like you sit down at the piano and you think you're gonna be able to play the piano, like, I thought I'd be better at it. And I was like, fuck, I'm not. But I remember us meeting the real, you know, performers and just being like, we're never ever gonna look like we can do this.

• 54:17Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 54:18Amy Poehler?

  And you look, of all your movies, you look the tallest in Blades of Glory.

• 54:24Amy Poehler?

  You look so tall. Do you ice skate still?

• 54:27Speaker 03

  No.

• 54:27Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 54:28Speaker 03

  I need to.

• 54:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I'm too nervous now.

• 54:30Speaker 03

  I let it, I let it, I have the skates.

• 54:32Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 54:33Speaker 03

  Packed away somewhere. They were custom made skates.

• 54:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. You insisted on it.

• 54:37Speaker 03

  I have my costume.

• 54:39Amy Poehler?

  You do?

• 54:39Speaker 03

  Framed.

• 54:40Amy Poehler?

  You do?

• 54:41Speaker 03

  Yeah. But Viv.

• 54:42Amy Poehler?

  Will's wife.

• 54:43Speaker 03

  Yeah, sorry. It, it's hanging in the garage. She won't let it come into the house.

• 54:50Amy Poehler?

  She's like, I don't want it. I don't need it in my house.

• 54:54Speaker 03

  I don't not like it, but it's gonna hang in the garage.

• 54:59Amy Poehler?

  And then we did The House together.

• 55:01Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 55:02Amy Poehler?

  Which was so fun to do with you. It was a dream come true to make a movie with you. Did not really resonate.

• 55:08Speaker 03

  Did not resonate at all.

• 55:09Amy Poehler?

  Flop.

• 55:10Speaker 03

  But yet, I still argue that movie's funny.

• 55:15Amy Poehler?

  My kids often tell me that that, like, they're like, Mom, that was 7% on Rotten Tomatoes.

• 55:22Speaker 03

  Oh, I didn't realize it was that.

• 55:24Amy Poehler?

  And I was like, no way, 7%?

• 55:26Speaker 03

  Have they seen?

• 55:28Amy Poehler?

  It's gone up. I just want you to know.

• 55:30Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 55:30Amy Poehler?

  I just checked today.

• 55:31Speaker 03

  14? Did it double?

• 55:32Amy Poehler?

  It's 20%.

• 55:34Speaker 03

  Triple!

• 55:36Amy Poehler?

  We did it, we did it. But that was a really fun movie!

• 55:41Speaker 03

  It was a fun premise and a fun movie. How did that, come on?

• 55:44Amy Poehler?

  I don't know, but I'm sorry.

• 55:46Speaker 03

  No, I'm sorry.

• 55:47Amy Poehler?

  I feel like I flopped you. You spoke about Vivica. Vivica, your wife of now 25 years, probably?

• 55:53Speaker 03

  25, going on 26.

• 55:56Amy Poehler?

  Damn. Such a formidable, cool, smart, interesting person. So, such a perfect match for you, Will. And Swedish.

• 56:06Speaker 03

  Swedish.

• 56:07Amy Poehler?

  And that's what we have in common. My brother lives in Sweden. What are the stereotypes of Swedish people that are correct?

• 56:14Speaker 03

  I think the stereotype that Swedes aren't funny is not true.

• 56:18Amy Poehler?

  Agree.

• 56:19Speaker 03

  They are very sly, dry sense of humor.

• 56:22Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 56:23Speaker 03

  And as you know very well, and your brother knows, can be also be the unintentionally direct.

• 56:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, very direct. I think intentionally.

• 56:36Speaker 03

  Intentionally. But they don't, but it's just, it's just a matter of fact. No, I'm just telling you.

• 56:43Amy Poehler?

  No, you look, you've got fats.

• 56:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 56:45Amy Poehler?

  No, you were skinny and now you're fat.

• 56:47Speaker 03

  Someone, someone is very tired. You look tired.

• 56:50Amy Poehler?

  Well, she, well, I don't think he would be, do well because he's ugly. What? He's ugly.

• 56:59Speaker 03

  Or the polite version is like, it's, they are a little bit ugly.

• 57:04Amy Poehler?

  They're a little, you're right.

• 57:06Speaker 03

  That's the polite.

• 57:07Amy Poehler?

  He's a little bit ugly.

• 57:08Speaker 03

  My best story, we, this was when we were first taking trips there. I didn't have an, I didn't have a lot of Swedish under my belt, but I had, I had some nouns, you know? And we were on one of these little tour buses, or it was a boat. It was a boat out to the archipelago and they had like a, you know, one of those outside decks. And I saw this group of tourists and they were looking and pointing. And then they sent a scout. You could tell they sent a scout to go check to see if, if it was really me.

• 57:49Speaker 03

  And so I say to Viv, and we were with her cousin Eva, and I was like, uh, let's start, we should start speaking Swedish. I want to see. And so they started speaking and I just started going, ja, ja, uh huh, oh, schikling, which is just chicken. Uh, ja, oh, skur, which is shoes. I'm just saying nouns. And I'm just like, ja, schikling, yeah, chicken, yeah, shoes, yeah, hat, hmm, oh, bra, which is good. And I just would say these words. And he did this lap.

• 58:32Speaker 03

  And he, it was kind of, it was really fantastic, bad movie acting. Did this lap where he did a slow look at me and then he looked away. Then he looked back at the group and he just went.

• 58:48Speaker 03

  Not him. Not him.

• 58:52Speaker 03

  So I was like.

• 58:53Amy Poehler?

  So sad.

• 58:54Speaker 03

  So good.

• 58:55Amy Poehler?

  I mean, you could be Swedish. You look Swedish, Will.

• 58:57Speaker 03

  Which, the B side of that is Swedes listening to someone just go, chicken. Shoe. Shirt. Good.

• 59:09Amy Poehler?

  And they'd be like, he's stupid. Well, he's, he's obviously stupid.

• 59:13Speaker 03

  They took him out for the boat ride.

• 59:14Amy Poehler?

  He's a little stupid.

• 59:15Speaker 03

  The other thing that's really annoying about the Swedes.

• 59:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:19Speaker 03

  And I'm sure Greg has encountered this, but the men all can either are gourmet cooks, can build a table.

• 59:27Amy Poehler?

  They're insane.

• 59:28Speaker 03

  Can repair the tire on your car.

• 59:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:31Speaker 03

  Yeah. Oh, the dishwasher's boat. Let us take a look. Well, the Floman valve is not working.

• 59:37Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 59:38Speaker 03

  And take it apart.

• 59:39Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 59:40Speaker 03

  Like.

• 59:40Amy Poehler?

  Yoran can fix it.

• 59:42Speaker 03

  They can do everything.

• 59:43Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 59:44Speaker 03

  They can do.

• 59:45Amy Poehler?

  They can do everything. And they're so tall and buff and they're very, and also home a lot.

• 59:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:53Amy Poehler?

  They're just like, they're, they're, yeah, they're pretty, yeah.

• 59:56Speaker 03

  And like, I sewed the button back on my shirt. I'm like, I can't sew a button. I should, I should be able to, I'm 58. I should know how to sew a button. You would think.

• 1:00:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:07Speaker 03

  Right?

• 1:00:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. But they're like, Matthias will do it for you.

• 1:00:12Speaker 03

  Let us do it.

• 1:00:13Amy Poehler?

  Let us do it.

• 1:00:13Speaker 03

  Or if you start to do it, they're also very precise. So if you start to, oh, I'll do like, let me do it. I don't want you to wreck it. That's okay. I'll do it. Code for it. You're gonna break it. Let me do it.

• 1:00:29Amy Poehler?

  And then the last thing, well, last two things before we get to the hawk. I just also, I love, I, the film you made with Harper last year. It was such a beautiful, beautiful film, Will. Like, congrats on its success, on how it was received. Do you have people coming up to you still talking to you about it?

• 1:00:47Speaker 03

  Still to this day.

• 1:00:48Amy Poehler?

  What do they say when they?

• 1:00:50Speaker 03

  The gift that keeps on giving. Just, uh, just thank you and what, you know.

• 1:01:00Speaker 03

  I love it. What a beautiful, but we've, we've gotten stories that have ranged from, we watched with our trans child and it was the first time we talked about it as a family. We, um, it, it's just run the gamut and, uh, and it might've been the most, once again, like surprising in the sense that we didn't know what we were gonna make or have. I mean, it's a documentary.

• 1:01:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:35Speaker 03

  But to have this thing where we literally got to the beach at Santa Monica and Josh yelled, "Cut." And we were like, "Oh, my God, that was so much fun, but I don't think there's a movie there." We both said that. And then the first time we watched it, and we're like, "How did you do that? This is, how did you build a narrative structure out of this whole thing?" It's to then, from the festivals and the, it was, everything was just like the most fun year.

• 1:02:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:05Speaker 03

  Yeah. And

• 1:02:06Amy Poehler?

  I love to hear that. That's awesome.

• 1:02:08Speaker 03

  The coolest thing ever.

• 1:02:10Amy Poehler?

  And, you know, Harper and I worked together at SNL and, you know, not only was it exactly, like, was it exactly about that, about like somebody's journey and, but it's just the journey of friendship. Like, how, how do we allow people to change? How do we allow them to get more themselves? What is so beautiful about the film is it like, doesn't shy away from that middle, um, middle space.

• 1:02:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:02:38Amy Poehler?

  That allows not only Harper to talk about how she's feeling, but for you, like, that middle space is, is kind of like treacherous.

• 1:02:46Speaker 03

  For sure.

• 1:02:47Amy Poehler?

  People get very afraid to stay there. They want to get on one side of the pool and they don't want to get it wrong.

• 1:02:51Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:02:51Amy Poehler?

  And also, same with Harper, like Harper's like figuring out like, where is she in this world and this space? And the fact that you guys just kind of settled in there, it's such good storytelling.

• 1:03:02Speaker 03

  She gave permission. She was like, "Let's..." You're gonna make, ask me whatever. I'm gonna make mistakes. You're gonna make like, okay, okay, are you sure? Okay, what about this? You know, and what a kind of wonderful piece about just friendship and just being an advocate for for anyone who's going through anything.

• 1:03:22Amy Poehler?

  Totally.

• 1:03:22Speaker 03

  And that was kind of the the universal takeaway as well.

• 1:03:26Amy Poehler?

  And you team up with Harper again on

• 1:03:29Speaker 03

  The Hawk.

• 1:03:30Amy Poehler?

  The Hawk, which is the name of your character, Lonnie Hawk.

• 1:03:35Speaker 03

  Lonnie Hawkins, Lonnie the Hawk.

• 1:03:37Amy Poehler?

  Hawkins, okay. Incredible. You have an incredible look in this show.

• 1:03:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:03:42Amy Poehler?

  Incredible. Always a little sunburned?

• 1:03:45Speaker 03

  Always.

• 1:03:46Amy Poehler?

  Got a little golf golf tan?

• 1:03:48Speaker 03

  Golf tan.

• 1:03:49Amy Poehler?

  The great Autumn Butler doing your makeup for that.

• 1:03:51Speaker 03

  Autumn Butler, Kraft, Autumn Pitch, like, what if Lonnie? What if Lonnie had a little tan line? Like, like, and we carry it the whole series.

• 1:04:03Amy Poehler?

  Perfect.

• 1:04:04Speaker 03

  And I said, done and done.

• 1:04:08Amy Poehler?

  And Parnell is in the show, right?

• 1:04:10Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:04:11Amy Poehler?

  Well, we talked to Parnell.

• 1:04:13Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:04:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, we did. We talked to him before this, before we started, because we always try to talk well behind someone's back and we try to get a question. And before we get to his question, let's talk about Parnell for a second. What a, like, what a laser focused performer.

• 1:04:31Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:04:32Amy Poehler?

  So funny. What was fun about working with him? And you guys have worked together on many things for a long time and shared an office at SNL.

• 1:04:39Speaker 03

  Chris Parnell, comedically, yeah, he's so precise. He nails every performance, every nuance, everything. You give him a note and he just executes everything in such a funny way.

• 1:04:55Amy Poehler?

  I mean, he's a really good actor.

• 1:04:56Speaker 03

  Yes, really good actor and is so funny in this because he just plays wonderfully uptight.

• 1:05:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:04Speaker 03

  And gets so mad throughout. We have him screeching at times, literally screeching. Jerry Collins is writing on the show, too.

• 1:05:13Amy Poehler?

  Oh, nice. Your third roommate.

• 1:05:15Speaker 03

  And we were reminiscing how we had, we shared, the three of us shared an office at SNL. And for a good half of the season committed, I don't know if you remember this, committed to wearing short sleeve button down white shirts and dark, we dressed as NASA.

• 1:05:30Speaker 03

  Mission Control guys, do you remember that? Every writing Tuesday, we would wear-

• 1:05:35Amy Poehler?

  I was ahead of my time, I think.

• 1:05:36Speaker 03

  Oh, you weren't there yet?

• 1:05:37Amy Poehler?

  I don't think I was there yet.

• 1:05:39Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 1:05:39Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I missed the fun.

• 1:05:41Speaker 03

  It was Jerry's idea. Should we, every Tuesday night, on the writing night, should we wear short-sleeved button-down shirts with black ties? Like, we work for NASA? Yes, let's do that.

• 1:05:53Amy Poehler?

  Okay, but his question to you was, who were your comedy idols growing up?

• 1:05:59Speaker 03

  I loved staying up and watching The Tonight Show. And I would, if there was a comedian on, I would stay and watch the re- If there wasn't, I'd- So I'd, that's where I would see Jerry Seinfeld for the first time. That's where, you know, Richard Pryor.

• 1:06:19Speaker 03

  You name it. That was, you know, before cable. That's, that was one of the few outlets-

• 1:06:23Amy Poehler?

  Totally.

• 1:06:23Speaker 03

  -to get to see comedy. So I just kind of, and then I loved, I loved those late 70s, early 80s sitcoms, like-

• 1:06:32Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:06:33Speaker 03

  Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley. All of that stuff. I'm watching these actors be so funny, but then it felt real. And how are they doing that? And, like, Andy Kaufman in Taxi.

• 1:06:50Speaker 03

  So it's, I didn't have that one person that I could put on a poster in my room.

• 1:06:58Amy Poehler?

  Sure, yeah.

• 1:06:59Speaker 03

  Bob Newhart.

• 1:07:00Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, who you worked with in Elf?

• 1:07:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:07:02Amy Poehler?

  Well, you bring up the fact that when we grew up, TV was kind of the only place. Like, I didn't, I didn't go to the theater. It was the only place to kind of find out. Or some, like, comedy records. And now, I mean, you have been, like, you've been on the front line of a lot of, like, new media. You know, you're like Funny or Die, and you're like, have- You know, big money players, which is it's huge. Network of great podcasts, including Les Culturistas, which we love here. Like you, you've kind of like in our lifetime, the way people

• 1:07:36Speaker 03

  Crazy. Yeah.

• 1:07:37Amy Poehler?

  Watch things and find people is so different than waiting for the one TV show at 11:30 at night.

• 1:07:44Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:07:44Amy Poehler?

  It's do you, what do you get out of producing? I mean, you're always, you're always trying to encourage like young, fresh voices, new POVs. You're always doing that. What do you like?

• 1:07:54Speaker 03

  Probably the same thing that you've probably gotten out of it. Just being able to lend some currency to someone who, you know, has a fresh voice. Or you're just like, yeah, give them a shot.

• 1:08:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:07Speaker 03

  Why not?

• 1:08:08Amy Poehler?

  You just, cause I think you like, I mean, it's been said about you, but you love to laugh. Like you're really, you really want to laugh.

• 1:08:16Speaker 03

  And I remember that when Jerry Seinfeld came to host SNL. He laughed so hard at every sketch. I was like, Jerry, do you really, you're like the most generous host I've ever seen. He's like, he's like, I just love comedy. And I was like, that was a slight Jerry Seinfeld. Yeah. I didn't want it. It was a, it was a light dusting.

• 1:08:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. If, if you want more, you gotta, you gotta pay through the paywall.

• 1:08:45Speaker 03

  Go to the paywall.

• 1:08:46Amy Poehler?

  Go to the good hang paywall and you'll hear.

• 1:08:48Speaker 03

  Full.

• 1:08:49Amy Poehler?

  Full Seinfeld.

• 1:08:50Speaker 03

  Hair, makeup, everything.

• 1:08:51Amy Poehler?

  But not, you can't, you don't get this for free.

• 1:08:53Speaker 03

  Yeah. That was just a little dash. I do regret, regret that little dash of Jerry Seinfeld. But keep it in, keep it in.

• 1:09:02Amy Poehler?

  It was just a tiny.

• 1:09:03Speaker 03

  It was a tiny dash.

• 1:09:04Amy Poehler?

  It was so slight. It was so slight because you can't help it. Because how do you talk about it without talking like this?

• 1:09:11Speaker 03

  But. But I do remember going, yeah, why? We should all laugh at each, I mean, if we think it's funny.

• 1:09:19Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:19Speaker 03

  We should all.

• 1:09:20Amy Poehler?

  Or if it's not. Also, sometimes if it's not funny, it's the best thing in the world. And I'll finish with this, which is, one of my favorite things ever was at SNL, we would look at sketches that bombed. And my most favorite sketch I've ever watched that bombed is your Gabe Kaplan sketch, which we've talked about. And for people under the age of 50, there was a gentleman named Gabe Kaplan on a show called Welcome Back Cotter.

• 1:09:43Speaker 03

  Another 70s sitcom.

• 1:09:44Amy Poehler?

  70s sitcom, and he was, he was huge. He would be like, what would he be like now? It would be like.

• 1:09:50Speaker 03

  It was kind of like, it was almost like equivalent of like a Larry David, maybe in a way.

• 1:09:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, sure.

• 1:09:56Speaker 03

  If he was the teacher in a classroom with all these, a young John Travolta.

• 1:10:00Amy Poehler?

  Yes, young John Travolta, incredible. Anyway.

• 1:10:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:10:04Amy Poehler?

  Will does a sketch where he plays a guy.

• 1:10:08Speaker 03

  Oh, and he has a very distinct look.

• 1:10:10Amy Poehler?

  Right. His look is like a very 70s.

• 1:10:12Speaker 03

  Very 70s, big mustache, big curly hair, sideburns.

• 1:10:17Amy Poehler?

  And Will did a sketch that went into the SNL archives that we used to pull up, not only because, and this is going right back to the beginning, Will. Because watching the captain fail is, makes you feel a lot better.

• 1:10:30Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:10:30Amy Poehler?

  About yourself. But also, the way in which everyone dug in deeper, the worse the sketch was going, to me is like, that's true love. But Will plays a guy who, what's the premise?

• 1:10:44Speaker 03

  Premise is that I am a guy who works at an office, I think we made it an insurance company, that Gabe Kaplan, the actor, is a client of. Okay. I look just like, I've cultivated, I'm such a fan of Gabe Kaplan, I've cultivated my look to look just like him.

• 1:11:05Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 1:11:06Speaker 03

  And the sketch is, it's in the break room, and it's the day that Gabe Kaplan actually came into the office to sign some paperwork. And they're talking about how nice, it's John Goodman, it's Molly, it's Tim Meadows.

• 1:11:18Amy Poehler?

  John Goodman, Tim Meadows, and Molly.

• 1:11:20Speaker 03

  And they're talking about, what a nice guy, he was so cool, he was so funny. I'm like, who are you guys talking about? Oh, Gabe Kaplan was here.

• 1:11:28Speaker 03

  I was like, what? Yeah. Why didn't you guys come and get me? Like, what do you mean? Like, you guys, I... That's the reason why I'm working at this company. And I lose it. And I'm like-

• 1:11:40Amy Poehler?

  And he starts to lose it. And there is not-

• 1:11:43Speaker 03

  One-

• 1:11:44Amy Poehler?

  One laugh. I mean, there's not even a cough.

• 1:11:46Speaker 03

  No, there's the smallest laugh in the world, though. Way up in the corner, you're-

• 1:11:51Speaker 03

  At one point.

• 1:11:51Amy Poehler?

  So the audience, number one, you're all, you're screwed. They don't know who Gabe Kaplan is.

• 1:11:55Speaker 03

  They don't know who Gabe Kaplan is.

• 1:11:56Amy Poehler?

  They don't, they don't appreciate that you're dressed just like him. And they don't understand why you're mad.

• 1:12:01Speaker 03

  They don't understand why I'm mad. And I'm, the whole... The thrust of the sketch is built off my tirade of why, why didn't anyone? I was in the bathroom. Why didn't anyone check the bathroom? Did you not think, like, they're like, relax. We didn't think to check the bathroom. Like, why wouldn't you? You know how much he means. I wanted to meet him.

• 1:12:21Amy Poehler?

  And what happens is Molly and you and Tim Meadows play it like a drama. You're in like-

• 1:12:26Speaker 03

  Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf or something?

• 1:12:27Amy Poehler?

  You play it like, who's afraid of Virginia? And you're both, and Molly's going, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. And you're going, how could you do this to me? And it is the funniest and a lesson in commitment. But it's such a good example of how everyone is one thing away from bombing all the time. That's no matter who you are, like, the bombing is so delicious. As I finish, anything right now that you're like, do you watch comedy? Are you like, do you, is there anything you're watching right now that you love?

• 1:12:59Speaker 03

  No.

• 1:12:59Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 1:13:03Amy Poehler?

  I ask this because I'm always looking. I'm always looking.

• 1:13:07Speaker 03

  I really was trying to come up with something clever. I mean, right now, I'm watching all the World Cup.

• 1:13:13Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:13:14Speaker 03

  I'm really into, it's very exciting. We went to one of the games out in L.A.

• 1:13:18Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:13:18Speaker 03

  And it was electric.

• 1:13:20Amy Poehler?

  I also love when, like, the best players play great. It's like Messi is just playing so great.

• 1:13:25Speaker 03

  Mbappe.

• 1:13:26Amy Poehler?

  Mbappe.

• 1:13:27Speaker 03

  That's just fun to say.

• 1:13:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:28Speaker 03

  Mbappe.

• 1:13:29Amy Poehler?

  Mbappe. The M is not silent.

• 1:13:33Speaker 03

  It's not silent. No, no, you lean into it. Mm, bape. Mbappe. Luxuriate in the M.

• 1:13:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Um, Will Ferrell. I- I think we did it.

• 1:13:45Speaker 03

  We so did it.

• 1:13:48Amy Poehler?

  I really do think we did it. We talked for a long time.

• 1:13:50Speaker 03

  We really did, yeah.

• 1:13:51Amy Poehler?

  And, um, I just-

• 1:13:53Speaker 03

  Are these real plants?

• 1:13:54Amy Poehler?

  These are fake, fake plants, fake food.

• 1:13:56Speaker 03

  Gotcha.

• 1:13:58Amy Poehler?

  Fake plants, fake food. I didn't want the, like, codependent responsibility of keeping these alive.

• 1:14:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's fine. The compliment is it looked real out of the side of my eye. That's the compliment. And I was like, oh, that's not real. So that's a compliment.

• 1:14:11Amy Poehler?

  You just want to be able to side it.

• 1:14:13Speaker 03

  Side eye.

• 1:14:13Amy Poehler?

  Is there any food over there that looks real?

• 1:14:15Speaker 03

  Side eye reality. That hamburger with the sesame, the sesame seed buns.

• 1:14:18Amy Poehler?

  Okay, let's just, let's take a look at that before we go.

• 1:14:21Speaker 03

  The sesame seed dro- drew my eye.

• 1:14:23Speaker 05

  So this is a, this is your typical-

• 1:14:26Amy Poehler?

  Take a look at that if you want to feel it.

• 1:14:28Speaker 03

  Is that a dog toy? Oh, no. It's got a good weight to it.

• 1:14:31Amy Poehler?

  And does it come apart? It's a, Will's a, no.

• 1:14:35Speaker 03

  No, it doesn't.

• 1:14:36Amy Poehler?

  It's all glued together. It's a cheeseburger with, like, a rubber cheeseburger, but it looks good, right?

• 1:14:40Speaker 03

  Kind of looks appet- yeah.

• 1:14:43Amy Poehler?

  Now be careful.

• 1:14:44Speaker 03

  Oh, I want to bite into it. Don't do it.

• 1:14:47Amy Poehler?

  Be careful. Don't do it. Will, thank you for being here.

• 1:14:49Speaker 03

  Thanks, Amy.

• 1:14:49Amy Poehler?

  Thanks for doing this.

• 1:14:50Speaker 03

  This is a pleasure.

• 1:14:51Amy Poehler?

  It's great to see you. I love, I love spending time with you.

• 1:14:54Speaker 03

  I love that you're a power player in this space now. I love it.

• 1:14:57Amy Poehler?

  I mean, look at me. Can't you tell?

• 1:15:02Amy Poehler?

  Like every power player.

• 1:15:03Speaker 03

  Yep, yep. That's what sets you apart, right there.

• 1:15:08Amy Poehler?

  Thanks, buddy. Thanks for doing this.

• 1:15:09Speaker 03

  That was so fun.

• 1:15:12Amy Poehler?

  Thank you, Will Ferrell, for coming. You're the best. You're the king and the goat and the captain, as far as I'm concerned. And, um, it's so, so fun to have you here. And, and, and I could have talked about all of your comedic choices for a very long time, but I just want to end in this polar plunge by talking once again about Bobby and Marty Kulp. Um, the, um- Very religious singers who sing, um, sing popular songs in their own special way. Do yourself a favor and go down memory lane and watch Anna Gasteyer and Will Ferrell play those two weirdos.

• 1:15:51Amy Poehler?

  And pay attention, please, to Will's bald cap, um, his outfits, and his gentleness. Because I think that people know Will as these characters that kind of yell and, you know, have these like giant bursts of energy. But Marty Kulp is just, he's just very self-contained. And it's such a funny, weird performance. And one of my favorite characters among the many that Will have, um, have given us. So, uh, thank you for, uh, joining us, Will. Thank you for listening, whoever's listening. And we'll see you soon on the next one. Okay, bye. You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me,

• 1:16:36Amy Poehler?

  Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullen, and Aleah Zanarez. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

• 1:16:56Speaker 05

  Ugh, I hate Mondays. King's Hawaiian cinnamon swirl bite? Uh, Taylor Hansen? Sure, I'll try one. Mmm.

• 1:17:05Speaker 06

  Hey, let's get back to work, please. But Taylor Hansen's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites. Taylor Hansen? Nice. Try one. Mmm.

• 1:17:18Speaker 06

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites. There's nothing like it.