Total Film has held court with Will Ferrell on a number of occasions over the years. Here, we’ve compiled the comedy king’s pearls of wisdom on making ‘em laugh. Enjoy…
In person, Ferrell is less pushy, not at all frantic; disappointingly sane. But he soon revs up to performance level, dropping in bizarre vocal tics, imaginary side-characters and, most satisfyingly, making extensive use of really stupid noises to illustrate his points…
You’ve done some supporting roles recently, but this [Talladega Nights] is where you live, right: writing for yourself?
"Definitely. It’s easily the most fun and the clearest way to get my voice out there."
How does it work, co-writing with Adam McKay?
"We start by structuring – crafting something to hold it all up. Then, we just start blurting out random thoughts and ideas – without any rules or fear of judgement.
"So, you might say, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if Bobby’s dad tried to help him conquer his fear of driving by putting a live cougar in the car?’
Yeah! And one of us will go, ‘Oh, that’s funny… get it down!’ And the script evolves from there. We’ll just list bullet points – everything from a joke idea to a character idea to a dramatic arc. We don’t bounce a script back and forth. We just sit there together with the typewriter and write it all out… Oh yeah, that’s our big secret! We use a typewriter, not a computer."
Really? You use a typewriter?
"Nah. I just said that ’cos I noticed I said ‘typewriter’ instead of ‘computer’. Of course we use a computer!"
Ah. You’re not going to talk about how typewriters help you to physically connect with the words, or something...
"Yeah! [Spiritual voice…] ‘The typewriter speaks to us! It is our conduit!’ Nah, man. We use a computer like everyone else. We’re not idiots!"
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Comments
RagingBull
Feb 14th 2012, 9:29
I'm sorry, for all the worth of the stars you've selected, I cannot take any "funniest stars alive" list seriously that does not acknowledge the likes Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and, to a lesser degree, Harold Lloyd. You've not shown prejudice towards early comedy (The Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy) so how can you fail to acknowledge stars without which many of the above acts could not exist. Charlie Chaplin is worth one hundred Will Ferrels, and I am still a fan of him also.
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RagingBull
Feb 14th 2012, 9:29
I'm sorry, for all the worth of the stars you've selected, I cannot take any "funniest stars alive" list seriously that does not acknowledge the likes Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and, to a lesser degree, Harold Lloyd. You've not shown prejudice towards early comedy (The Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy) so how can you fail to acknowledge stars without which many of the above acts could not exist. Charlie Chaplin is worth one hundred Will Ferrels, and I am still a fan of him also.
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Heisenberg
Feb 14th 2012, 9:32
One, admittedly, very funny movie in 2004 is about it for me. Limited comedian, his repertoire consists of random words/sentences in a raised or shouty voice. My first time seeing him was austin powers, and he is still doing pretty much the same act now, 18years later.
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YorksProp
Feb 14th 2012, 11:15
@RagingBull any "funniest stars alive" list that DOES include Chapline, Keaton, Lloyd, Marx Brothers or Laurel & Hardy would lose all credibility to me, them being dead and all.
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jthecrab
Feb 14th 2012, 12:15
Ferrell is great but John C Reilly is a true genius. Whenever they make a movie together Reilly always outshines him IMO.
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2Dglasses
Feb 14th 2012, 15:37
^agreed. talladega nights and even step brothers are way better than kicking and screaming and even semi-pro which had some nice moments. Ferrell is incredibly funny in small doses (the stuff with Pearl the baby) but sometimes hard to stomach for a whole film. Walk h*****n the other hand i think is one of the more underappreciated comedies of the last 10 years-sadly it came along just when everyone wanted fratboy nonsense.
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writerdave87
Feb 14th 2012, 22:26
Have you noticed how John C Reilly looks younger in every successive film he's in? He looked about 50 in the River Wild!
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2Dglasses
Feb 15th 2012, 8:12
WTF? "Walk hard", followed by the word 'on' is asterisked out?
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ChrisWootton
Feb 15th 2012, 12:28
I wonder if Erection is allowed to go through
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ChrisWootton
Feb 15th 2012, 12:28
Yes. It is.
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Heisenberg
Feb 16th 2012, 8:37
I assume that in a few weeks, Total Film will be advertising the new Will Ferrell film? On the front page alone i see 3 features basically about him being 'funny'.
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FBJRider
Feb 17th 2012, 19:51
He's alright, he's never starred in a film that's more than mediocre. He's better than the likes of Adam Sandler etc. Obviously but he's nowhere near one of the funniest people alive.
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Aleric
Feb 20th 2012, 22:13
Will Ferrell, the most over rated comic on the planet. His movies are the lowest of the art and his real life demeanor makes his a detestable a*s. Unless of course you agree with him then you are acceptable in his circles.
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