SmartLess · Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett · Transcript & summary by WhipScribe
Ferrell rarely plays it straight for this long — the Groundlings and Harry Caray origin stories are told start to finish, with the self-doubt left in.
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“Every time I put the pancake makeup on, and I picture that guy, and I say, who's laughing now?” Will Ferrell · at 24:31 — open in the transcript →
“Leg day is a holiday in the Ferrell household” Will Ferrell · at 29:41 — open in the transcript →
Sean Hayes's surprise guest is Will Ferrell, and after an opening bit where the hosts try playing each other, the conversation turns into a genuine origin story. Ferrell grew up in Irvine watching his father — sax and keyboard player for the Righteous Brothers — get hired and fired at the drop of a hat, and it made him diametrically opposed to entertainment: he wanted a briefcase job. He studied sports journalism at USC, worked at an Orange County cable-access news station, and got his light-bulb moment when the editor asked for a volunteer to interview Rams head coach John Robinson. Forty classmates' hands shot up; his stayed down, worrying about checking out a camera and paying for parking. If he didn't have that hunger, he reasoned, he should chase the thing gnawing at him instead — so he signed up for his first Groundlings class.
The Harry Caray character came later, during the baseball strike, while Ferrell worked as an appraisal coordinator at the art auction house where his future wife Viveca worked. Driving home for lunch, he'd catch Cubs broadcasts and couldn't believe what the announcer said on air. He built a sketch around Caray doing a melodramatic play reading with no games to announce, with actress Maggie Baird genuinely crying through her lines — and later performed an augmented version as his SNL audition, alone in a pitch-black Studio 8H with Lorne watching from the shadows.
The rest ranges through the character stuff the show does best: Ferrell's dream blue-collar job (mail carrier, on foot, with the trolley), the bank customer who summoned a manager mid-transaction to announce 'this guy is your worst teller' — a verdict Ferrell accepted — wearing a 'Hello, my name is Will' name tag to his kids' school events, his loathing of unit publicists' drive-by set visits, and the charity golf tournament his dad's friend invented by claiming Tiger Woods was already in. It ends on quarantine-era domesticity: walking Peanut and Cosmo, sweeping the house for hidden devices, and the time he threw his 13-year-old son Mattias's phone out of a slowly moving car to prove a point.
Comedian and actor raised in Irvine, California — son of a Righteous Brothers sax and keyboard player — who studied sports journalism at USC before joining the Groundlings and Saturday Night Live.
Our own transcript of the public episode, with a timestamp about every 75 seconds. Tap a timestamp or the link button on a paragraph to copy a link that opens this page there.
0:00Hey there, Will Arnett here. Welcome to SmartLess, our podcast where Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and I, each week, one of us brings a guest that the other two don't know about. And this week is no exception. We get real into it. Most of the time, we just mess around with each other and then the guest has to be embarrassed. So let's get right to the podcast. Hi. Hi, how are you? Good, good. Should we go around the room and just say our names and our roles? Introduce yourself? Yeah, I'm Sean Hayes. People have been listening to the podcast for a minute now. Sorry, so we just skipped that. Same three idiots. Okay. In the role of Sean Hayes is Sean Hayes. Should we switch parts today? Oh, we could switch parts. Ooh, yeah. I'll play Will. What about that? I'll play Will. I'll play Will. You guys that? I'll play Will. You guys are assholes. You both want to play me? Let me just ask you a question. Can I ask you a question? Take a one second.
1:18Fuck. Oh, God. Okay, I'm going to be Jason. Oh, God. Okay. I'm going to be Jason. So I was, you know, so now listen. It's hard for me, though. So when I look back and I think about all the things that you've done, let's start at the beginning. Okay. So America was founded in 1492. But what if I want to really be understood? No one understands me in my house. You know, I've got a wife and two girls. It just, I start talking, they glaze over. So I really have to fight for attention. I get on this thing, I feel like I've got to stop describing my question, right? We've spoken about this before. And I just need to ask the question. And then Sean's like a golden, Sean comes on and he's like, do you like whipped cream? The golden rich reaper. The golden rich reaper. What's your favorite color? If Will was a dog, what kind of dog would Will be on this podcast? Oh, God, that's a good question. Will's probably like an untrained German shepherd. Messy. Matted. Yeah, just drool coming out on the sides. Bad hips like the German shepherds get. Yeah, dysplasia. Yeah. Jesus. Bayman would be like a full-size standard but shaved poodle.
2:39So cold yet fancy? And very proud.. And very proud. Walks very proud. Very proud. Oh, Lord. Anyway, let's get to our guest. Please. Yeah, let's do it. And I'm going to tell you, you guys actually know this person, but we're going to find out stuff that we don't know about this person. If it's my mom, I'm in trouble because I haven't called her for a while. Can I just say, if it's your mom, what? Careful. This would be such a. Careful. No, I'm just going to say it would be such a mitzvah if it was your mom because we could really get into. There's so much stuff about you, and we've known each other a long time, that I want to know. You know whose mom is not going to come on? Mine because she's dead. That's our first commercial break. We're going to go to a florist commercial break right now. Sean, by the way, I will say your mom is dead, but imagine if my surprise guest was your mom. That would really, that would be more surprising than me being pale. Paler than me. My God. Guys, our guest today is from Irvine, California. His mom was a teacher, and his father played sax and keyboard for the Righteous Brothers. Do we get a chance to guess at any point?
3:56No. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, don't guess. Okay. He studied sports journalism at USC, but ultimately went on to join the Groundlings, and the rest is history. He's got like a million movies under his belt, and I'm sure that's not the only thing. Ladies and gentlemen, William Farrell. Oh, my God. Wow. Jason. There's his headshot. Jason. Hi, Jason. Jason, answer the belly. jason it's your mother first of all she's british well oh okay sorry but but let me guess let me guess and let me guess and that oh what a great booking sean congratulations um guys. Guys, can I just, can I start by saying I'm so excited to be on the Gong Show podcast. All things you want to know about the new Gong Show. And it is just, I mean, it's sweeping the country. Both countries, Canada and U.S. Aren't that taking fire? It's unbelievable. Are you just drinking, is that just medicine out of the bottle that's what it looks like that's a kombucha i know that because my wife drinks those
5:13but it does look like a tonic from like a whole yeah yeah old time tonic yeah and i just i drink it as a prophylactic sure yeah well farrell thank you so much for coming on our little show. My pleasure. And we're all obviously such gigantic fans of yours. And one question, you know, you're one of the rare people in this business, and I think I can speak on behalf of everybody that's, you know, it's really hard to find people like you. Hold on one second. Will Ferrell's got a phone call. Yes. Tight five, everybody. You need a, okay, that's a phone call. Yes. Tight five, everybody. You need a... Okay, that's a large pepperoni, right? Uh-oh. Do you want chicken fingers with that? I thought he was ordering. He's taking orders. He's taking orders. Can I get the... Oh! All right, okay. All right, Todd. We'll be there in 35 minutes. He asked for the address and then he knew the guy so he didn't need the address. Hey. Hey, keep your landlines, folks. Keep your landlines. It is pretty strong. When the banking system collapse, you're going to want to have a landline. What I was going to say, William, was, Farrell, was I always wanted to know, what is that one thing or that one event or that one person that made you want to get in the business and pursue comedy?
6:32What was that? Barack Obama. Correct. What? Before that. Before that. Great answer. Just like a week before that. The one, the one thing, the one person? Yeah. Was there like a show or a person or an event or something in your family? Oh, Jesus. This is supposed to be things you don't know. Here come the waterworks. And we are losing light. We're losing light. I said I wouldn't cry. You said you wouldn't try to get me to cry, Sean. But right out of the gate. Here's the real answer to your question. I enjoyed being funny as a child, but I was actually diametrically opposed to going into entertainment because I watched my father, the musician, go from job to job and be fired at the drop of a hat. And I thought, that's not, who would want to do that? I'm going to have a job where I carry a briefcase to work. I can relate to that. I had some of the same fears myself, yet I still went into this non-meritocracy and fickle sort of industry. You went in early. You were early. You were an early child you went in early you were early you were early child right but you you you were young as well but i mean not a child but i mean you still had
7:51you had an opportunity to take a different path yet you didn't you still you couldn't resist the allure of uh the pancake makeup yeah so what so what what about that though floor lights after seeing your dad. Are there still floor lights? Yep, yep. There's scoop lights, scoop lights. Yeah, yeah, scoop, scoop. Yeah, scoops. No, okay, listen, Will, but seeing your dad do that over and over again and not like, you know, travel, not hold down, you know, a secure kind of jump. So what, if that discouraged you, what encouraged you? I just kind of slowly started incorporating the messing around with my friends, which I'm sure we all did. Keep it clean. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You're right. Entertainment of my friends. That sounds weird. Yeah. The massage. No. No. Yeah. The massage... No? No. No. Tickle giggle. Tickle giggle. You know, we don't... We'd love to have a good gang tickle giggle. That's it. We got it. We're back on. No, I just had... High school was kind of the moment, even though I wasn't like a theater kid or anything, and I found myself writing what were essentially skits.
9:10But was there like a comedy person that you were like, God, I wish I could do what that guy does? Who did you think was funny when you were a teenager? I kind of the typical. Interesting that Will Arnett asks it once and gets a response. The Pipes. Yeah, it's the pipes, exactly. I just got down to it. I didn't dress it up with a bunch of BS, Hayes. I was a member of the Columbia House Record and Tape Club, and one of the items... Oh, you're being serious. I'm being serious. For $1 plus postage and handling, which really comes out to about $1.89, that's where they get you. Yeah. I got to choose 13. Still seething. Well, it's supposed to be for a penny. You got 13 albums, and it's not a penny. It's $1.89. Okay? It's ridiculous. It's the handling that's expensive. Okay, man, we don't work there. It's the postage and the shipping and handling. Yeah. Not to mention, if you get one record a month, if you don't send it back within 14 days, you're charged for it. Yeah. Is that how you still use Netflix? I'm doing it the original way. Yeah, I never... I still get the discs. I'm not streaming it. I don't blame you. Will drives by Ted Serrano's house and throws discs at his front door.
10:25Here's your fucking movies. I'm done with these, Ted. One of my, one of my, was the cast album of Saturday Night Live. Okay, great. So you always aspired to be on the show that you were on? I guess quietly, yes. Quietly, I did. But that's, so Will, so you wanted to. That and, hold on, I'm not done. Yeah, shut up, Arnett. I know. Fuck. Will, can I talk to you privately real quick? Yeah, yeah. No, no, Arnett, sorry. Listen, yeah, listen, Arnett, when the guest is responding to a question, especially one that you answered, for Christ's sake. No, no. Wait until there's silence. Because silence follows a completion of the fucking answer. Here we go. Okay. Steve Martin. Steve Martin. Yep. And then I was also a Tonight Show weirdo. I'd stay up and wait to see who the comedian was. If there was a comedian on that night, I'd watch. If there wasn't, I'd turn it off. Wow. So I was kind of, that's how I. So those are the guys. Steve Martin, also an idol of mine, too, comedy-wise. I just watch. If there wasn't, I'd turn it off. Wow. So I was kind of, that's how I. So those are the guys, Steve Martin, also an idol of mine too, comedy wise. I just thought. Right. So, so dry and brilliant. But what was that moment? So you, you grew up in Orange County, you go to USC and then you go to Groundlings. What is that gap between when you, I never knew this, like from when you finished USC to Groundlings, what was that gap?
11:42Like, how did you. So I graduate USC with a degree in sports journalism. So in my mind's eye, I'm going to go work on ESPN. You know, I'm going to be a sportscaster. Oh, that would have been great. I know, I blew it. Missed it. In fact, Craig Kilborn brings that up to me every day. Do you remember Craig Kilborn? Sure do. Do you have an ongoing friendship with Craig Kilborn? I haven't seen him in probably 15 years. No. Well, he's on next. He's coming on next. Come on out, Craig. You'll see him in the green room on your way out. Come on out, Craig. If you were quarantining with Craig Kilbourne, that would be it for me. That would be the greatest. So, so you finish. So, yeah, so I have this, I finish and then, um, I start doing my, I mean, there wasn't really a job placement program coming out of college. And so you kind of have to figure out a way. And I found like a local Orange County cable access news station that I started working at. And I was trying to put together a tape, which I wish we could cut to that now. Oh, we'll find it. In which, yeah, I did, you know, sort of do some field reporting and you would anchor the news.
13:00You'd also work the camera. You would do everything. And there was a light bulb moment in that, even though was this small rinky dink local cable access, they had legitimate press credentials to all the major sports teams in L.A. And at that time, the Rams, the L.A. Rams football team were playing down at Anaheim Stadium. And the editor of the show, which was actually a teacher of the class, was actually run out of a junior college, he said, hey, we need someone to go interview John Robinson, the head coach of the Rams, at the stadium after this weekend's game. And 40 hands shot up, except for mine. But you knew him from SC, yeah? No, no, no. I'd never met him. But the point was, I'm surrounded by these hungry people who were like, I need that interview on my reel. And my first thought was like, I'm going to have to check out a camera. Parking. I got to ask someone. Yeah, parking. I got to pay for it. I got to ask one of my classmates if they'll run sound for me. Yeah. And you don't have a lot of money left over from that subscription to all those. From Columbia. Yeah. No, I'm in debt from Columbia House Records and Tape. Because he's in the middle of a major lawsuit against Columbia.
14:20We are on the five-yard line, guys. And please have me on next when we finally come to terms. But I'm giving all the money to charity. But, God, we're going to hammer them. But I had no – I said this is not a good sign. I should be leaping out of my chair to go and actually get a legit interview with a head football coach from the NFL on my reel so that I can get hired at a station in Yuma, Arizona. And I said, if I don't really have that drive, then this other thing that's kind of still gnawing away at me is I should really be looking into this comedy thing. So that's when I signed up for my first class at the Groundlings. Really? Yeah. I'm not trying to prod you into doing it. How soon after that did you kind of braid the two things by working on your Harry Carey? Oh, that was, yeah, that was kind of midway. That was a couple of years later during the baseball strike. And, uh, just kills me. Oh, that was a character you did at Groundlings? Yeah, yeah. It was the baseball strike. And I used to, I had a job, the art auction house that my then friend, now wife, Vivica, used to work at.
15:36I was the appraisal coordinator at the auction house, which was basically, I answered the phones and coordinated appraisals. And typed up appraisals and was threatened to be fired on several occasions. But I lived close enough home to drive home for lunch, and I would turn the Cubs games on during the day. And I had never heard of Harry Carey, and I was like, who is this guy? Yeah, I grew up in Chicago. So he was a part of our lives. A fixture, right. And so I'm just, I would be listening. And the thing that struck me was listening to a game and listening to this announcer say on syndicated national television, if that ball's a strike i'm a chinaman and uh and i i i literally did like a spit take and was like did he just say chinaman and wait what wait wait this is like a guy who's paid to do this he's like uh and and so i not not i just thought no this is this has got to be a sketch somehow and and they they so i somehow even though it was a southern california audience i
16:51wrote a sketch where it was during the baseball strike so harry carey didn't have games to announce and he would he had uh somehow gotten involved in a play reading and in a local theater. And it was this, this melodramatic play. And they were just sitting around, you know, let's take it from act one. And it was, you know, Perry had lines like, God damn it, Carol. Why don't you ever look at me? What would make love? And by the end of the sketch, the audience was like doubling over in laughter, even though they had no idea that Harry Caray was a real person. They're like, oh, this is something that's transcending, you know. Yeah. By the way, never knowing that, of course you do the Harry Caray character so many times, but the idea of him doing something, it was always in the baseball context, but seeing him doing something that's completely out of. Oh, yeah. And we had all these other actors, we had a really good troupe, and everyone was just playing it perfectly straight. And like this one actress, Maggie Baird, was literally getting herself to cry while she read it.
18:07And it was just like, your tears mean nothing to me. This marriage has been broken since the day we crossed the altar. You know, and... Always kind of drunk, right? Yeah, yeah, just, and then... And quaking a little. And then my friend Roy was the director, like, okay, let's stop there. Harry, I don't know if I'm feeling, you know, just giving the cliche acting notes. And like, Harry, I really want to feel it from you this time. And you're speaking to no one but Carol right now in this scene. Okay, let's take it again. And just the starting and stopping of that. Did you do Harry when you did your SNL audition? I did, which was, in fact, I tried to do an augmented version of that. And it was so surreal because, you know, you're just in a void. You're in 8H in the studio there. God, you must have been so nervous. I would have been just a mess. I just remember listening, waiting in the way. So you guys all know that set up there, waiting by the page desk outside the doors of the studio and hearing the person ahead of you go through their audition while you're on deck and just looking at all the famous pictures of everyone who had just hosted.
19:23And being in the spot, in the place that you dreamed of being, and now you're there. And then walking out to a studio that's pitch black except for a spotlight and a camera and a boom operator and Lauren sitting in the shadows, and then you just have to do comedy. Or standing. In a void, possibly. So yeah, that was very surreal. I tried doing it. I don't know. Will, Farrell, I also want to know, like, have you ever desired to do anything? I know you wanted to be a sports announcer, right? Or sportscaster. But if you weren't doing the thing that you're doing, not quarantining, but in the entertainment business, what would you be doing? If you had to pick a blue-collar job, you had to pick, what would you be doing? If you had to pick a blue collar job, you had to pick, what would it be? Oh, blue collar. Because I was going to say, I've always wanted to do finance. It seems so interesting to you. I love finance. I love figuring out like a second more, you know. Sure. I can't even do the bit because I don't even know the terms. Right, refi. Refi, low. Will comes alive. When you mention private equity, it's like.
20:38What? Who said? Are you subprime? Is that still a thing? I actually could be a post person, to be quite honest. To deliver the mail. Because I like the idea of a route, and you get to have some contact with people, and the idea of finishing a task every day. Would you be on foot armed with the dog spray, or would you be in the buggy? I would go foot with the trolley. I'd push the trolley. Nice. Yeah. Nice. Those are sneaky tricky. Those three wheels thing, they will go over on you. I'm sure they, yeah. In a high wind or yeah. Or if you don't take the letters out, you don't go in a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation. If you take too many out of the left side, it's going to tip over on the right and vice versa. Did you used to do it? Hey, how often did you look out the window masturbating at the postman? A lot or a little? Only in the summer months when they wear the shorts. Look at that card. There's David. There's David. David, our postman's here. Yeah. David is going to topple. David is going to topple. I'll get the mail. Hey, guys, David's David. David, our postman's here. David is going to topple. David is going to topple. I'll get the mail. Hey, guys, David's here. Yeah, so what? Wait. Cut to the reverses.
21:54Nobody's there. Nobody's there. He's alone. Hey, Bateman, quick question. Because you did, we mentioned before you grew up in showbiz. We all know that. We've seen the great things. And people who are listening can right now Google up, like, Little House on the Prairie and see cute little Jason Bateman. Yeah. Did you ever have a real, did you ever have, like, an outside show business job? Have you ever had, like, a? I didn't, and I genuinely hate that. I'd love to have had a paper route similar to Dave's route with his three-wheeler. But you were working all the time as a kid. I started at 10. Yeah. So there was no chance to, but I've always legitimately fantasized about waiting tables or bartending. There's something about working for a tip, which is sort of like the same thing as I want them to like me. I want this table might need something different than that table. Just sort of like being able to morph into whatever they need me to be. I have, I do, I will say this, all my quote unquote civilian jobs, I've been pretty terrible at. So. Because you didn't like authority or you were just disinterested? No, like slow. Yeah. Just like slow on the uptake. I had a lot of patient managers and supervisors who. Did you have a lot of patient managers and supervisors who. Did you have a lot of job? Like, do you have weird jobs in high school that you did? I never I was doing sports all the time. So I but I had, you know, I had like the I worked as a bank teller.
23:15I was a valet parker of cars. And. How are you taking direction? Well, you know, bank teller, you know, there's certain protocols and procedures you have to follow and this and that. And it just took me a while. I mean, the fact that I was handling numbers and money, it was, it just, I was like euphoric because of the finance. I mean, that's, that led to my level of finance, but I, I, I once had a regular customer stop me in the middle of a transaction and say, can you call your manager over? And I said, sure. And I brought her over. And in front of me, he said, this guy is your worst teller. Okay? And I just want you to know this. And he did it in a very calm way. And he was like, look, look at him right now. He's sweating. And I literally was. I was sweating was sweating he's like he's terrible he takes forever he um and and the manager to her defense was like please that's that's not true and i was like no he's kind of right and uh um and i just want you to know like i hate when i have to go to his window and then he just walked away and she was was like, I'm sorry about that. I was like, you know what? I can't really argue with him. I'm not that great a teller.
24:31This was counting bills? Counting out cash? You know, everything. Cashing a check. Yeah, doing it all. That guy did you a favor in the long run, right? In a lot of ways. Sounds like you need to pen someone a letter. Well, every time I go, every time I put the pancake makeup on, and I picture that guy, and I say, who's laughing now? So you still do all your own makeup? I insist on it. It's crazy. Well, there's allergies. Especially in the, you know, post-COVID-19 world we're all about to step into, I will definitely be doing all my own makeup. So, Will Ferrell, you are one of the funniest people on the planet, if not the funniest person on the planet. And everybody kind of, do you get sick of, like, because now you're a parent and you have to show up to, like like school things and parent things for your kids do people expect that from you all the time and what is your reaction uh there is um there is a certain level of underwhelment is that a word yes yeah it is now i can tell i can tell there are a lot of letdown people continually.
25:48But, Will, I will say this. Will, I don't even remember this. A couple years ago, maybe last year, we were having dinner. Yeah. I was having dinner with Richter and Pete Giles, and you and Viv came in from a school event with a couple other parents. And Will was wearing his name tag. They're all wearing name tags. And Will was wearing his name. They're all wearing name tags. And Will says, hello, my name is Will on the thing, which is which is great. And that's such a testament to what a great guy you are. And it's like, yeah, man, I'm not here. I'm just here because my kids are at school here and I'm interested in my kids and their lives and their school. But I'm sure you guys face the same thing. I find more that there are some parents who literally won't say hi because they go so far the other way. I don't want to bother them. So then you're like, hey, how you doing? And they walk right by and you're like, gosh, what did I say something wrong? Yeah, yeah. And then do you feel on the opposite of that, do you feel that you have to sometimes lead with sort of a vibe that is less than sort of friendly or less than sort of solicitous of conversation because you're afraid that if you seem too friendly, they're really going to lean in? And like, how do you kind of say? No, I would say that I would say at least in the school setting, most everyone is relatively normal.
27:06I would say that posture, that's my game face for when I'm on a commercial flight. Right. Just sour, don't come near me, I will rip your head off. I will. Not here. Not here for fun and games. Let's get to flying. Eye mask and headphones. Will, is there anything that you haven't done that you want to do? Either a role that you want to play or? Nope. Talk to you later. Totally satisfied. How do I turn this camera off? How do I get out of here? How do I? He did it. I did it. How do I turn this camera off? How do I get out of here? How do I? He did it. I did it. How do I? No, there isn't because everybody thinks you can do anything. I don't know. But how do you – you can't give that answer without sounding like a jackass. Right. What would you do if like let's say Ridley Scott came to you and he wanted to do King Lear and he just thought he sees something in you that would just be like an incredibly, it's off brand and studio's excited and all of those terms and all of that stuff and money's just like, you've never, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
28:22Does your douche meter go off and say, even though you could do it, do you feel like the audience will never accept it? Yeah, I think that would be a tough one to try to convince yourself that you could pull that one off. Having said that, you have – Oh, King Lear? Are you about to? No. Jason, are you doing it? No, but you have, but what about, in all sincerity, I think you've taken what you do and you've pushed it into so many realistic, dramatic, melancholy things that truly nobody else could do, just like no one else could do what you do in comedy. I really think it's admirable how you are so aware of how you come across, what sort of your goalposts are and what you're, what you're asking the audience to accept you as I think is that's a lot of discipline. I appreciate that. But, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, it's fun to do that other stuff, but there are times where, uh, I'm, I am always on those sets of more serious things going, this is very hard. And this is hard to not look like you're trying to be the actor who everyone needs to take serious.
29:41So it's a drama face. Yeah, it's so tough. Which is so funny because doing what you do, specifically what you do, is so hard. And when I say not many people, like nobody could do it. And it's so. Working out, you mean? Yeah. The way I work out? Well, just lats, the way you do arms and legs. Yeah. Nobody does legs like you. And you've always said that and thanks for the posts you always post them too not a lot of people know that we'll train reggie bush when i came through sc i'm a fair i'm a fairly modest person i think you guys i think that comes across here but i will not hold back no one does legs the way i do you know i mean leg day is a holiday in the feral household leg day is yeah it's just now here's the other thing will ferrell you know you're you're also known not only as the funniest person in the world but one of the kindest people everybody in this business always just raves about what a great human being you are that's the hard part yeah i can attest to that because that's what they pay you for yeah that's the part they pay you very very sweet and but so that said i think the thing i always wanted to know what really pisses you off yeah here we go this is where we start the interview
31:00he's all kombucha'd up now do, do you mean... We just want names. We just want names. When's the last time you just screamed your head off and let somebody had it? Yeah, because I can't picture you angry. No, I don't get... I'm trying to think of the last... I mean, I have screamed before. I have screamed in a professional manner. Or like in life, or like at home, or like in people, in human beings. What pisses you off? Yeah, home, it's the typical frustrations you have with your children. And for some reason, I'm always checking myself because I'm holding them to some standard that I don't think I was held to. Like, I was, I mean, I did well in school, but I still had, you know, my room was a mess and I've, I never emptied the dishwasher. And, uh, but for some reason I'm just like, you guys, you, it's not that hard. We're asking you to empty the trash see if i was your child i would laugh at that and put the liner back in put the liner back reline the trash can you're not done it's a two-step process right but that for some reason that i get crazy and then i'm like who is
32:24this person yeah but I was gonna say about holding them to that standard I you know during these weird times we had the other day uh Archie our 11 year old was on his zoom class yeah and it turned out he was um he had his camera off and on the side he was on his iPad playing a video game so I said to Amy I said to my ex I was like I was like what are we he's on the, I said to my ex, I was like, I was like, what are we, he's on the thing and blah, blah, blah. And as I was saying to her, like, he's on the Zoom class, but he's on pause and he's playing a video game. Beat, beat, beat. I was looking at her and I go, which I probably would have done if given the chance and you probably would have too. And she's like, yeah, I totally would have. I know. Yeah, exactly. It was crazy. I don't, I don't know why. yeah, I totally would have. I know. Yeah, exactly. It was crazy. I don't know why. Yeah. I don't know why I go there. But I have one other thing. I don't, in a work experience kind of bugaboo, I don't love the unit publicist experience on a set. Right. And for those listeners who are wondering, there's a lot of times on a production, there's a publicist assigned from the studio and this and that. And they're always playing the game of like, so-and-so is willing to do it if you are. And then, right. Guilting you. Yeah. Yeah. And they do, they, they do these wide circles,
33:40right? They just do little drive-bys every once in a while to gauge whether you're in a good mood or a bad mood to just want to kind of run something by you. And, uh, um, and I'm always, uh, I'm always amazed at, we want to have 20 journalists visit the set and do a three-hour interview while you guys are filming. And I, I'm always And I'm always like, but wait, isn't the movie the first priority? And I'm always like, absolutely, if we have time. Okay, but when do you think will be a good time? You'll have to check with the first AD. Okay, but is there a window? I have no idea. So you're up for it? Yes, if we have time. Okay. Great. So you've signed off. If we have time. Right. And then I love those days when there's no time. You just walk by and you go, I'm sorry. There was no time. Will, what was the thing I remember you were telling me once about? Kind of felt like the same thing. Somebody said to you, hey, we're going to do a golf tournament. Tiger Woods is going to come if you're in. And, like, you felt like somebody had told Tiger that you were going to play. And it was like. Yes, yes. Somehow my dad became a middleman.
34:56Oh, was it your dad? My dad somehow became a middleman. He was asking me. He had some friend of his down in Newport Beach who came to listen to him play music was like, hey, so he's talked to Tiger Woods and Tiger Woods is in for it. If you and Tiger Woods play golf together and they'll raise a bunch of money for charity for another twosome. So you're a foursome together in these two, whoever, you know, it goes to the highest bidder to play golf with Will Ferrell and Tiger Woods and that he's already reached out to Tiger and it's good to go. And, uh, I was like, well, dad, who is this friend? And how well do you know him? And, uh, he seems like a good guy. And, uh, and, uh, and I go, well, you know, a lot of times they'll ask one party before they ask the other. And, and, and I go, well, you know, a lot of times they'll ask one party before they ask the other. And so maybe I'll check, let me do some research. And for some reason, some way, I had some way to check to see if the tiger camp had ever heard of this special charity golf. Dr. Miller got involved. Exactly. And it turns out, of course, Tiger, I said, Dad, guess what? Your buddy, Tiger Woods, apparently his team has never heard anything of this.
36:13And your friend's lying to you. And he was like, how? How could that be? And I said, I know. That's the way the world sometimes works. What kind of music does he play? He's like an old time rock and roll. Really? Yeah. Guitarist? No, he's piano, sax, Hammond B3 organ. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Let's hear it for the Hammond B3. That's amazing. But yeah, that was my Tiger Woods story. I just, I always loved that idea though. I've thought about that so many times, the idea of like, so many, when they go like, hey, we want you to do this thing and so-and-so and so-and-so are doing it. And I always think back to that story of like, and then I'll go, well, why don't you make sure that so-and-so and so-and-so, that's how I found myself on an island with Marie Osmond and Kurt Cameron, you know. Oh, boy. I got asked to play in another charity golf tournament by a friend, assuming that I was going to play with the person I know. Right. Only to show up and be placed with four strangers. And these guys were like in it to win it. And they're like, hey, hope you're pretty good.
37:32Did you end up playing? Yeah, I had to play this entire 18 holes with these four guys. And they wanted to show you how good they were, right? A hundred percent. They're like, we hope you're good because we win this thing every year. And you better be funny. And you're well, and I was, it was early SNL days. So they kind of had heard of me. Maybe not. And they were like, is that show still on the air? I didn't even know people watched it. Um, sweet. He sounds sweet. And then I literally, we, we were supposed to be a banquet afterwards. And, uh, I said, guys,'m going to go put my clubs in my car and I'll meet you back inside. Just drove home. And did we win? Yes, we won. Even despite. Did you really? You didn't stick around for the trophy. I didn't stick around. That's strong. Yeah. So as we say goodbye to you on this pandemic day, what do you do the rest of the day? Let's see. It's three in the afternoon. I'm going to go walk our dogs, Peanut and Cosmo, right? So that's with a mask? That'll be with a mask. I'm going to do a sweep through the house to find where all the devices have been hidden because these kids are liars and thieves.
38:55So I'll do a sweep. And then Viv and I will start talking about what we're making for dinner at around noon every day so we'll have to start you got to build a day around that and then it's sleep by eight yeah jason have you done or will or or sean well not to your kids but maybe to scotty have you ever done a thing where you go you still had it with the devices i've threatened during this pandemic a minimum 100 times to throw the devices in the pool. Yes. I said, this iPad is going in the bottom of the pool if I see it on one more time. Yeah. Yeah, but then you quickly realize all that means is more work for you. Yeah. Yeah. True. I did throw my 13-year-old Matias' phone out the window. You did? Driving. All of us driving. But it was a real slow crawl, and I picked a target area where I knew we could find it later, and I just chucked it out the window and hit this bush. And he literally was like, what is wrong with you? And he was so shocked that I actually did it. And typical true to form, we pulled over. He's like, I can't believe it. Burst into tears,
40:15went back to look for the phone. He's like, I can't find it. I can't find it. I walked right up to the bush. I'm like, here it is. It's right here and uh so that was a great little shot across the bow uh what you're capable of right don't mess what i'm capable of but it hasn't been much of a deterrent yeah so well will ferrell thank you for being here with us we love you you're our comedy thanks you guys so much can't thank you enough. It was very, very nice of you all. Ugh, Willie. Bye, guys. Love you, buddy. Bye, Will. Thank you. Guys, that was so fun. How awesome is he? He literally is one of my favorite people in the whole world, and I was a little starstruck there for the first few minutes, but, God, he puts you at ease, doesn't he? What a nice guy. You were starstruck when I came on or when he was on? Oh, sorry. Arnett. Oh. Oh, sorry. When Arnett was, yeah. Sure. Good for you, dude. Good for you. Dude, I'm just like, I'm Arnett. Oh. When Arnett was, yeah. Sure. Good for you, dude. Good for you. Dude, I'm just like, I'm a regular guy. I'm very approachable. Farrell is the best, isn't he? I had the honor and pleasure and good fortune to work on a couple things with him, and they were some of my fondest memories because most of the time we just screwed around. And he's one of those guys who you go, oh, no wonder you're a superstar because everybody wants to work with you because you're one of the nicest people in the business
41:30and incredibly talented, right? Yeah. He's got that, as you know, you guys know, he's got that sort of that natural timing that you cannot learn. You just have it or you don't. And he has got it in spades in ways that are... He's got that thing that makes him... He's so surprising too. Yeah, always. He just surprises you with stuff. It's just awesome. Is there anything you guys learned about him that you didn't know? Certainly about his dad. Yeah, isn't that interesting? And all the sports journalism stuff that he was excited about early on, right? It's crazy. I've met his dad a few times and I guess Yeah, isn't that interesting? And all the sports journalism stuff that he was excited about early on. Right. It's crazy. I've met his dad a few times, and I guess I didn't really realize his dad was a musician. I don't know how. For the Righteous Brothers. I mean, that's crazy. Yeah. I did not know he was on Saturday Night Live. Oh, yeah. You didn't know that? Wow. Mind blown. Yeah, no, you got to go back and look at some of those. But you hosted a couple times while he was on the show Sean I never I don't look behind me I don't look behind me I just look forward oh okay so I don't know how that's applicable in this case uh Sean I'm very proud of you that you you got you got Will Ferrell to say yes do you have any sort of incriminating photos or does he owe you money? They have plenty. How'd you do that?
42:46I have a couple. No, I don't have anything. I can't think of anything. Okay. All right, guys. Love you guys. I love you. Hey, guys, I just want to say bang. Oh, yeah. Smart. Blast. Smart. Blast.





