Gawker: Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell Answers Fanmail on the Internets

ian spiegelman — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:28:45 EDT

Everyone's favorite shaved bear of comedy, Will Ferrell, was good enough to brave the wastelands of the Internet to answer questions from the legions of anonymous hellions who lurk in the comments section of movie websites. As usual, they were very, very interested in male genitalia.

[via OhNoTheyDidn't]

Alaska, Swimmer's Ear To Dominate Saturday Night Live Opener

Dashiell Bennett — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:30:00 EDT

The new season of Saturday Night Live begins tonight and it may be one of the most anticipated debuts the show has had in a long while. The host is human-dolphin hybrid Michael Phelps and athletes often make surprisingly good hosts, because they (generally) aren't afraid to go along with anything. (That's the secret weapon all great hosts understand.) More importantly, it will (hopefully!) mark the return of Tina Fey to the ensemble, taking on the temporary role of You Know Who. (Or maybe it'll be Kristen Wiig and her Target lady voice? Also promising.) The show definitely lost something when Fey left as a writer, and while a recurring bit role can't recapture all the magic, she will mine that part for every comedic possibility there is. And there are a lot.

The last great era that show saw was the fall of 2000, when their political humor was at its peak. Will Ferrell and Darryl Hammond were the dynamic duo of that election season, because Al Gore and George Bush were such perfect foils for each other. The comedic possibilities for Obama/McCain are not nearly as great, but ... whoo-boy do those VPs bring a lot to the table.

I would post my favorite sketch from that era here, but NBC has stupidly not provided any clips of it on Hulu. Way to seize the moment, guys! So I'll just throw this one up there, because it's hilarious and then leave you to your own devices.

By the way, Barack Obama himself was actually supposed to appear on SNL tonight, but canceled to due to Hurricane Ike. Which brings us full circle. Yay! I'm out for the evening and someone else will walk in the sun with you tomorrow. It was fun! Thanks for having me and thanks for reading!

[Hulu; HuffPo, ABC News]

T Magazine Makes Will Ferrell Stop Clowning Around

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:19:02 EDT

Oh, New York Times "T" fashion magazine: we will never understand you. We know the glossy mag brings in a ton of advertising dollars for the paper. But beyond that, its editorial mission is too rarefied for us to grasp. There's the odd indie rock fashion spread or child porn dustup, but what for? Today we were informed by a marketing person that the magazine has launched a series of celebrity "screen test" videos on its website. As far as we can tell, they're the first people to succeed in editing a five-minute long Will Ferrell interview in such a way that it is not funny at all. Beyond that, we're not sure what they were trying to accomplish. Watch the clip below, and take your own guess:

Will This Be Funny?

Richard — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:12:00 EDT

Borat's Sacha Baron Cohen will play Sherlock Holmes to Will Ferrell's Watson in a new movie based on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mystery series.

Another Young Actress Makes Music Album!

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:48:05 EDT

Good god, ScarJo is not the only one. Zooey Deschanel, the HIP young "Almost Famous" actress (ha), has just released an album with M. Ward under the name "She & Him." Distressingly, it has already been called "one of the flat-out best pop records of the year" [VSL]. What shall we expect next, a Juliette Lewis duet with Joshua Redman for "best jazz combo of the year?" Chloe Sevigny teaming up with Smuckers to create the "best jam of the year?" It's all very disconcerting. Of course, no pop album will ever surpass Zooey's most famous musical work: her duets with Will Ferrell in "Elf." Stay in your lane, Hollywood! Highlight clips of her elfish singing, which we can only hope will thwart her musical ambitions, below.

Complex Magazine Wastes A Lot Of Money

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:57:18 EST

Complex, the Marc Ecko-owned urban shopping magazine, has figured out how to boost traffic to its website among those coveted digital influencers: by spending $1 million on TV ads. Why yes, that does seem like the most cost-effective strategy, assuming you are, as one tipster put it, a "blind leading the blind media organization." Click to watch the first full ad, and marvel at how little of Will Ferrell's time a million bucks gets you these days. [Folio]

Will Ferrell Prank Turns Into Screaming Match With John McEnroe

Ryan Tate — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:17:43 EST

Before he turned his cinéma vérité antics into a big-money business called Funny or Die, Will Ferrell apparently liked to practice a little guerilla theater on his neighbors at CNBC, as seen in this funny-and-disturbing-all-at-once video. Shot probably in 2004 — the Kerry/Gephardt joke is a dead giveaway — the vid sees Ferrell crashing Power Lunch, where Sue Herera is all guffaws but Bill Griffeth and his offstage help (UPDATE: John McEnroe!) are having none of it. For evidence that this sort of mischief eventually pays, see Portfolio's January piece on how Ferrell has raised $15 million for his business.

"Funny or Die", the funny web video site ...

Pareene — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:45:23 EST

"Funny or Die", the funny web video site that has Will Ferrell and Adam McKay but no traffic or "buzz", got another $15 million from their venture capital benefactors at Sequoia (and unnamed others). There are still absolutely no reports of anyone on the internet having watched any video from that site besides the one where the little girl is mean to Will Ferrell. [PaidContent]

Who's The Hollywood Trio On Drugs?

Doree Shafrir — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:00:47 EDT

Today's Page Six wonders: "WHICH Hollywood trio of friends is in trouble? One is on crack, one's on smack, and the other cheats so much on his wife that he single-handedly is supporting several hookers..." We've narrowed it down to a few possible candidates; your input is, of course, mandatory.

Comedians grab for piece of the Internet ...

balk — Thu, 31 May 2007 09:49:40 EDT

Comedians grab for piece of the Internet pie. Again. [NYT]

Meredith Viera Covers Herself In Glory

abalk2 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:14:33 EDT

Will Ferrell was on "The Today Show" this morning to promote his new film It's Just Like The Last One, Except This One Has Ice Skating. Appropriately enough, Ferrell and "Today Show" co-host Meredith Viera took to the rink at Rockefeller Center. The results? Pure magic.

Remainders: Power Plays

Doree Shafrir — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:20:41 EST

Sacha Baron-Cohen and Will Ferrell were too good to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair. [Deadline Hollywood]

Teen magazines will be saved by cell phones. Obviously. [AdAge]

An Apple Store to replace Meatpacking District mainstay Lotus? Developing! (Not literally. At least, not yet.) [Curbed]

More on the whole Whitest Kids U' Know/Budweiser kerfluffle. [Apiary]

Remainders: Will Ferrell Still Alive!

Jessica — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 17:40:11 EST

• Will Ferrell did not die in a paragliding accident. And if he did, do you really think you'd hear about it through a barely literate press release? [Defamer]
• So long as MTV-ready bands behave like this in Manhattan hotels, we'd rather sleep in our shoebox. Fucking trash monkeys, all of them. [Hotel Chatter]
• Ladies, prepare yourselves: Tomorrow is Steak and Blowjob day! Share it with the man you love, or at least one you don't mind sucking off. [SteakandBJDay]
• We can hardly fathom paying $82 for a stack of magazines. Make them a stack of bridal magazines, and you've the third ring of hell. [Bridal Blog]
• A Gay Clay is a defective one. [Got Detroit?]
• The bad thing about winning the U.S. Memory Championship is being unable to forget the reporter bugging you, that damn Foer kid. [Slate]