Casa de mi Padre opens wide tomorrow and Will Ferrell has spent this week making his rounds, upping the ante on standard talk show appearances by drinking bloody marys in bathrobes with Nick Offerman on Today. The man takes run of the mill Hollywood PR, pumps it full of a super serum comprised of equal parts random and funny, and makes it work exponentially harder for him on the web.
In other words, the man is a GD viral marketing wizard. There is no denying this. He’s been doing it for years. Hell, even his movie ideas are internet bait now. A white comedian who doesn’t speak Spanish starring in a Spanish language movie? Yes and please.
So now seems like a promising time to revisit some of the most masterful web-baiting of Will Ferrell’s career. For the sake of keeping this list manageable, we’ll be concentrating on the viral moments where Ferrell wasn’t in movie character. Everyone else in Hollywood, you’re doing it wrong.
From earlier this week. The entire interview in subtitled broken Spanish. Brilliant. Worth it for “Yimmy” alone. Watch the other clips here.
As Vince so succintly put it in May 2010: “Will Ferrell showed up to a AAA baseball game in Round Rock, Texas the other night in character as ‘Rojo’ Johnson, a Texas-born, Venezuela-raised pitcher who recently did time for illegal lizard smuggling.”
Photographed at his charity Will-Powered Golf Classic last summer. The internet approved.
In June 2009, Ferrell participated in the first ever celebrity Man Vs. Wild (*pours some piss out*). It may have been in conjunction with promoting Land of the Lost, which doesn’t really count as something promotable. As Matt pointed out then, Ferrell just being Ferrell was the most fascinating part.
Southern Rock Mr. & Mrs. Farrell got Conan to strap on his axe and close out his Tonight Show run with some always appropriate Skynard.
So it was only fitting Ferrell was the one to shave Conan’s unemployment beard on Conan.
The bridegroom, Buck, was a production assistant on The Other Guys. Ferrell rewarded his efforts with this very special wedding announcement in the New York Times.
Back in February while filming a movie in New Orleans Ferrell delivered the most memorable NBA lineup intros possibly ever. Pretty sure this is what got him named King Bacchus.
After a slew of mysteriously random Will Ferrell Old Milwaukee ads hit the web two months prior, this one aired during the Super Bowl…in one town…in Nebraska. The end.
Funny or Die was pretty much a success before it even got started thanks to this.
