This photo has been zipping around the Internet today, and for good reason: It's funny and involves a famous comedian. In this case, Will Ferrell.
But what about the golf tournament itself? Where is it? When is it? Why is it?
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Zach Galifianakis finally gets Will Ferrell to sit down for a chat "Between Two Ferns" in this new installment of his Webby Award-winning series.
Watch them eat cherries and cherry tomatoes. What's Jon Hamm doing here? Don't worry. That's not a spoiler. Nothing could spoil this.
Roll the clip!
Why is former President George W. Bush making an official announcement about Osama bin Laden while serving himself food from a buffet restaurant? Oh, wait. It's Will Ferrell from Funny or Die. OK. It all makes sense now.
Let's proceed. Fun facts for you comedy nerds: This is co-written by Adam McKay and new FoD hire Chris Kelly. Also cameos by Billy Merritt and Colton Dunn. Roll the clip!
Remember where you were when you heard that Will Ferrell was making a movie in which he spoke only in Spanish? Here's the new trailer for Casa de mi Padre, also featuring Gael Garica Bernal, Diego Luna, Nick Offerman. It's written by Andrew Steele and directed by Matt Piedmont.
Thanks, Gary Sanchez productions! Roll the clip!
Today's funny ha-ha in a ho-ho weird way video comes from Funny or Die, where Owen Burke convinced Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly to re-enact the famous Christmas duet by Bing Crosby and David Bowie, recorded just before Crosby's death in 1977.
They're fairly faithful to the whole segment, save for an additional NSFW remark or two. If you're not yet in the holiday spirit, perhaps this is just what you need to be reminded 'tis the season. Roll it!
And for comparison's sake, here is the original 1977 video.
Will Ferrell told David Letterman last night that not only was he good friends with Celine Dion, but also that he was planning on filling in for her during maternity leave on her big show in Las Vegas. Not that Ferrell would do his own comedy show in place of Dion. Oh, no. He'd do her songs. Want to see how much he has learned so far?
Roll the clip!
Ben Stiller and Paramount announced a deal today that'll bring back Stiller's Zoolander character, last seen on the big screen in 2001.
A Zoolander sequel has been in the works and/or rumored for the past few years, but this isn't going to be that. Rather, Stiller will voice the male model again in an animated Web series. By going to short films, it's a return to the origin of the character, created as a spoof for VH1's Fashion Awards in 1996 and 1997.
Stiller told The New York Times' Dave Itzkoff that doing shorts allows them to get the project back in the public eye quicker and easier than fighting over big budgets with the studio for months. Stiller hoped to have the film's other cast members (Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, among them) also provide voices for the toon. “You don’t want to have the guy who did the Hanna-Barbera cartoons come and do the voices,” Stiller said. “No offense to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons – I’m a huge Scooby-Doo fan.”
In a second deal with Paramount Digital, Stiller also will be heading up a separate live-action Web series called “Billy Glimmer,” in which he stars as a Las Vegas impersonator. Human Giant's writer/director Jason Woliner will direct those shorts, with fellow Human Giant vet Rob Huebel co-starring.
Remember the old days when Will Ferrell would make Jimmy Fallon crack up in front of a live studio audience? Well, the old days are new again as Ferrell showed up on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, ostensibly to promote his new movie The Other Guys, but also to make merry in a sketch wherein he made Fallon a deli sandwich with fake arms.
Fallon loses it even in the set-up, and the sketch itself has just the right amount of giggling, cold cuts, mustard, meatballs, fake arms and hands, and Will Ferrell. Tasty. This is why they're called "sandwich artists." You can watch it all over again, or even for just the very first time, right now. Roll the clip!
From what I hear, The Other Guys casts such a wide net into New York City that if you do not know a comedian in the film, then you do not know comedy.
From what I see, this promotional clip for the movie stars star Will Ferrell as his character from the movie, a New York City police officer, trying to recruit new recruits for the NYPD. NSFW language ensues. Roll the clip.
If you were to tell me that Saturday Night Live would gather up all of its grand presidential impersonators for a one-time reunion, then I'd remind you that Phil Hartman is dead, and stop playing me. But you kept at it, and told me, hey, what if we got Jim Carrey to play the ghost of Ronald Reagan with a dash of Ace Ventura, then I'd go, oh, really, well, which SNL is this going to be on?
Oh, it's not on SNL. It's on Funny or Die. OK. Ready for the viral video action! Wait. This is a PSA? Or as you kids call it, a public service announcement. For the banking crisis. Directed by Ron "used to be Opie or Richie Cunningham if you're an older person, and just another big movie director if you're a kid" Howard. For real this time. If you think SNL's political "cold open" sketches are weirdly too focused on making points, then full speed ahead into the danger zone. At least Dan Aykroyd looks more like Jimmy Carter a generation later (can you believe Aykroyd pretended to be Carter with a mustache on live TV?), as does Chevy Chase as the late Gerald Ford. As for Dana Carvey as Bush 41, Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton, Will Ferrell as W., Fred Armisen as Barack Obama and Maya Rudolph as Michelle Obama, well, you're not going to see anything here you haven't seen before. Just all of them together in a room. Isn't that special? Roll the clips.
There's also a behind-the-scenes video, if you need to see how and where the magic happens. Which means bloopers and jokes. You like bloopers and jokes.
I'm very excited about the new HBO series collaborating with Funny or Die, who in turn is unleashing lots of great comedians to do their things on cable TV. Here are four new teaser trailers for sketches from the series Funny or Die Presents, which debuts at midnight Friday, Feb. 19.
The first features the latest installment of "Drunk History," which won an award at the Sundance Film Festival and cast Will Ferrell and Don Cheadle to re-enact the drunken ramblings of Jen Kirkman. She really does look drunk, you guys! Roll it.
And the second clip shows us a reunion of sorts, as Zach Galifianakis joins Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim in a bit called "Just 3 Boyz." Looks like someone really could use a horse massage?
But wait. There's more!
Here's a clip from the short film, "Designated Driver: Office Prank," that includes Rob Riggle, Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel.
And there's a fourth clip. This is called "Hold Up," starring Ed Helms, Thomas Lennon, Malin Akerman, Rachael Harris, Huebel again, and Creed from The Office acting like Creed from The Office. "C'mon. It's open season on jive turkey." Perfect? From what I gathered from Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, this one is his handiwork, and also includes Jerry Minor, Brandon Johnson, Ian Roberts, Rich Fulcher and Kate Walsh. Roll it and see:
HBO has a new look online, and that includes a home page for the upcoming series of sketches from Funny or Die called Funny or Die Presents, and along with it, a fresh "Buzz" video that offers insider looks at FoD Presents (Brett Gelman dancing in 1,000 Cats! Leo Allen with a snake! Will Ferrell in disguise!). That's not all, though. You also get behind-the-scenes with Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington on animated their popular podcasts, a look at the second season of animated series The Life & Times of Tim (with Nick Kroll talking improv!), and previews of Bill Maher's latest stand-up special and season of Real Time. It all debuts Feb. 19.
Producers of a Broadway revival of Terrance McNally's "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," announced that Megan Mullally and Patton Oswalt would take the leading roles when the former Off-Broadway hit from 1991 returns to New York City's bigger stages in April 2010. It's set for a limited engagement to run through June.
Oswalt played drama on the big screen this year in Big Fan, but his Broadway debut in the coming year marks yet another stand-up comedian who will learn the lines for the dramatic stage. Is this a new trend or just something we're only now starting to notice? Who's to say? A quick search of my memory and the Internet turns up at least these precedents of going from stand-up to stage:
Mario Cantone has performed in several Broadway productions since 1995. But it seems as though the connection between stand-up and Broadway began heating up in the past six years, when Eddie Izzard received a Tony Award nomination for starring in the 2003 revival of "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg." Since then, musical comedian Stephen Lynch has starred in the stage adaptation of the film, "The Wedding Singer," Bob Saget took a turn as the Man in Chair in 2007's version of "The Drowsy Chaperone," Cedric the Entertainer was part of last year's short-lived revival of "American Buffalo," and of course, the beginning of 2009 saw Will Ferrell romp on Broadway in his one-man show, "You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush." Currently, you can see David Alan Grier in David Mamet's new play, "Race," co-starring with James Spader, Richard Thomas and Kerry Washington.
Who else am I missing from this list? Are comedians finally being taken seriously as stage performers? Discuss.
Did you know that Warner Bros. is developing a live-action/animated movie version of beloved Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yogi the Bear? That's the word on the street, as well as on the Internets (IMDB profile for "Yogi Bear" (2010)).
So comedian/actor T.J. Miller ventured over to Hollywood Animal Ranch for a screen test with Bam Bam, the grizzly bear. When I first clicked, I expected CGI. Nope. This is real. Watch as Miller improvises with Bam Bam. Will they survive? SPOILER ALERT!
Hey, Boo Boo! Do you need a refresher on who/what Yogi the Bear was? Here is a 1968 episode of Yogi's Big Break:
And to complete the circle (or triangle!), here is a clip of Will Ferrell wrestling "Dewie the Bear" from the 2008 movie, Semi-Pro. Of course, that bear actually later went on to kill an animal trainer last year. The things we do for comedy sometimes, people!
The finale of American Idol generally tries to surprise TV audiences with a lot of superstar appearances and performances, but according to Funny or Die's Adam McKay, we almost got to see and hear Will Ferrell deliver his own "tribute" to the nation's #1 show. As McKay wrote on the FOD blog: "So we were contacted by American Idol about Ferrell doing something on the season finale tonight. We wrote a song and they said yes. Then I think they took a beat and actually read what we wanted to do and the plug was pulled. But we got pretty far down the road."
McKay said they were still willing and raring to go as recently as the night beforehand. Something tells me, however, that they read the lyrics and thought: Idol is more than willing to mock its contestants, but mocking the judges? That's Simon Cowell's job.
The 34th season of Saturday Night Live certainly brought a lot of buzz and attention back to the show, and Lorne Michaels and company celebrated the end of that year with a bang that included plenty of starpower and nostalgia, plus a heavily implied farewell to Darrell Hammond, who completed his record thirteenth season as a cast member by returning for multiple sketches. We got to see Hammond reprise Dick Cheney and Sean Connery one last time on the show, and it's only surprising that we didn't get to also see him pull out his Donald Trump as well -- considering how much Trump was in the news with a certain Miss California (who could have been played by newbie Abby Elliott). But with star and SNL veteran Will Ferrell hosting, we saw just how much Ferrell mattered to the show earlier this decade, as he dominated the finale's proceedings from beginning to end. Even with all of the celebrity cameos and returning SNLers. Did I mention them yet? OK. We saw (take a deep breath now): Tom Hanks, Norm MacDonald, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd, Elisabeth Moss and Artie Lange. With all of this happening, the current cast had much less on their plates to worry about. Good? Bad? It'll almost all make sense soon enough.
But first, a cold open from an NBC studio, and in the makeup chair getting ready for Meet the Press is one disgraced newly former VP Dick Cheney (Hammond), with Abby Elliott playing the makeup specialist. Ferrell shows up as his now Tony-nominated caricature of George W. Bush, trying to surprise Cheney and confront him about his newfound desire for media attention. Surprise fails because W. whispers too loudly: "That is one of the many reason I am no friend to libraries." Zing. We get it. They also poke fun at the current administration when W. asks why Cheney couldn't have been more like VP Joe Biden, going out for burgers and saying dumb things in public to make him look smarter. W. implies he has been watching a lot of Dr. Phil with his free time this spring. An OK, utterly predictable sketch, held together by the performances of the leads.
Ferrell's monologue attempts to re-establish his cred as a dramatic actor with roots in the theater, also with predictably disastrous results. Again, it's only Ferrell's sheer persistence that sells it. "Line?"
Talk about nostalgia. Our ad spoof for the night goes deep into the vault (Season/episode #26.11) for an oldie in which Ferrell sells his services as Wade Blasingame, Esq., attorney at law. Blasingame has sued more than 2,000 dogs. Because would you let a human do the things dogs get away with every day? Chris Parnell simulates the dog in scenes with Hammond, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Tracy Morgan and Horatio Sanz. If you want to look for such things, you might even notice that the way Ferrell, in particular, delivers his lines can suggest that SNL knew how to deliver lines awkwardly before a certain Tim & Eric came along (instead of the other way around). Anyhow.
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Some "entertainment reporters" at "press junkets" try to be "funny." For the upcoming summer tentpole movie version of Land of the Lost, Seth Morris and Funny or Die help Will Ferrell get out in front of the press. And also expose the world of Sid and Marty Krofft to be a little more sexual than you remembered. Then again, it was the 1970s.
Tonight's NCAA men's basketball championship pits the University of North Carolina against Michigan State at Ford Field in Detroit. What are the odds that Will Ferrell, as his Anchorman character Ron Burgandy, scored one-on-one interviews with both coaches last year during his Funny or Die tour? No betting allowed, because Ferrell already did done gone and done it. Here are his improvised chats, in front of the respective college campus crowds, with North Carolina Tar Heels Coach Roy Williams and Michigan State Spartans Coach Tom Izzo. How Burgandy managed to attend and/or work in the journalism programs at both schools is not a coincidence. No matter whom you're rooting for, enjoy:
Last summer, the Funny or Die team (Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Chris Henchy and Judd Apatow) received a big vote of confidence in the forms of capital investment and broadcasting agreements from HBO. They had just worked together on the production of Eastbound & Down -- and if you have not watched this surprisingly magnificent miniseries starring Danny McBride as washed-up pitcher Kenny Powers (the sixth and final episode aired this past Sunday), then you should find yourself a TV with HBO and watch it right this very moment and it will make your weekend that much more enjoyable. Anyhow. So, yes, of course, seeing how well that went, HBO agreed to invest in the FOD guys and commission 10 original half-hours of programming from them.
We're starting to see this come to fruition this week.
Paul Scheer (MTV's Human Giant) announced he'd begun production on "a MINI mini series" with Rob Riggle (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) called Designated Driver.
And fans of Brett Gelman will be heartily pleased to know that his catstravaganza, "1,000 Cats," will be filmed on Saturday afternoon for FOD/HBO. At The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. (Fun fact: The same stage to be used in May for NBC's America's Got Talent) As Gelman says in his Facebook event invite for the event: "Pleases come. And if you can, please come dressed in some sort of formal wear. For we will be getting some shots of you, and plus how else would you come dressed for 1000 Cats." How else, indeed. Seriously, though: Read my review of Brett Gelman's 1,000 Cats if you need further proof. So that's at least another of the 10 half-hours.
Sounds like the FOD guys already are living up to the promises they made back in June 2008 when they first announced the deal with HBO. Here's what Ferrell told Variety then: "We do know we want it to be in the same family of the comedy that we're doing on the website -- just a wide range of anything from a funny offbeat talkshow to a maybe more-traditional-type sitcom to a show with puppets," he said. "We don't want to limit ourselves in any way, which is what we love about the stuff that we do for Funny or Die. The spitballing on these ideas is going to be the fun part of all this." And this is what McKay said: "Our idea in going into Funny or Die was that it would be a kind of clubhouse for us and friends of ours who could come and try stuff that they couldn't do as easily in movies or TV. And it was also about us getting to find new talent." If this is how they're starting, then I cannot wait to see what else makes the slate of HBO/FOD programming to come in 2009-2010.
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