Comedic Legend: Will Ferrell
story by Blake Kjellesvik
“WE’RE GOING STREAKING!” — Will Ferrell as Frank Richard in “Old School” (2003).
Photo credit: Instagram - enews (E! News)
No, we’re not going streaking. (Well, you can, but I won’t.) Those are the words of many regretful people, but also of six-time Emmy Award-winning and two-time ESPY Award-winning comedic actor Will Ferrell.
You probably know him from fan-favorite movies like “Elf,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” or “Step Brothers” to name a few. What you may not know is that he also played professional baseball, and his actual full name is John William Ferrell. He stands today in the top ten of many people’s lists of comedic actors and is the king of comedy films in my eyes. I’d like to focus on his contributions to comedy over the years, his strong interest in sports and his overall effect on my own life.
Ferrell began working in the comedic space back in the ‘90s with a small comedy group called “The Groundlings.” Shortly after that, he joined “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) and quickly rose to stardom. In 2001, he became the highest-paid SNL actor by a long shot, making $17,500 per episode and over $350,000 per season. He made quite a few movies in the late ‘90s, but it was when he stepped away from SNL in 2002 that his movies started becoming comedy classics.
His resume speaks for itself with “Elf” and “Old School” in 2003. In 2004, he became Ron Burgundy in “Anchorman.” ‘06 “Talladega Nights,” ‘07 “Blades of Glory” and in ‘08 he made two of my favorite movies of all time — “Semi-Pro” and “Step Brothers.”
He’s been a huge contributor to so many comedy classics that it’s not even funny. Later in his career, he’s dabbled in a few projects that hold a more serious tone, but he’s still mainly retaining his position in the comedy genre. As I mentioned before, he’s won six Emmy Awards, one for Outstanding Television Movie, two for (Live) Outstanding Variety Special and three for Outstanding Drama Series, proving that he’s not just the funny guy.
Ferrell played professional baseball, although it wasn’t for long. He played in five spring training games for 10 different teams one day back in 2015, and in fact, played in one for the Mariners. After the games, he sold all of the memorabilia, and all the proceeds went to two charities for cancer.
Ferrell’s love for sports is no big secret, and he doesn’t hold back when it comes to his movies. He won the ESPY Award for Best Sports Movie back-to-back years, for “Talladega Nights,” which is about NASCAR, and then for “Semi-Pro,” which is about basketball.
Will Ferrell is a guy who has been a constant (except for “Holmes & Watson, but we don’t talk about that) in the comedy genre for decades. Watching his movies over the years has helped form parts of my humor and personality, and he is the reason and inspiration for why I wanted to become a writer. He’s made some of the funniest movies I’ve ever been lucky enough to lay my eyes upon, and I thank him for that because it’s brought me and many others much joy. Quite simply, he’s the G.O.A.T.