Are you ready to feel the thunder of Chad Smith’s drums? Can America Planet Earth handle the onslaught of Will Ferrell cowbell? The Will Ferrell vs. Chad Smith Tonight Show drum battle happens tonight and — once and for all — we will know who the real Chad Smith is.
Sources at the Tonight Show are being tight-lipped about how the winner will be honored, but I’m betting that if somehow Chad Smith goes down, his drum kit will be getting a Stepbrother-style tea-bagging. And if Will Ferrell loses? Well, he has to polish all of Sammy Haggar’s sunglasses while on a tour with Chickenfoot. Obviously.
Over the years, Chad Smith has routinely had to deal with Will Ferrell fans coming up and asking him for an autograph while gushing over Old School, Zoolander, etc. It’s something that he’s come to terms with and just normally offers a polite explanation that he is not Frank “The Tank.”
“People come up to me in airports and they’re asking for my autograph, not because I’m the drummer for the Chili Peppers – they really think I’m Will Ferrell. And I’m nice to these people. (I say) ‘No, I’m not.’ But they’re like, ‘I loved you in Old School. You’re so funny.'” via 3News
Smith has even gone so far as appearing on national television to spread the message that he and Will Ferrell are two different people. If you caught Chickenfoot on Conan’s brief run as host of The Tonight Show, then you might remember that Smith wore a t-shirt declaring he was not Will Ferrell.
Ferrell on the other hand seems to have embraced his Chad Smith comparison a lot more.
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Where the actual beginnings of the Chad Smith/Will Ferrell doppelganger began is a bit murky, and you’d practically have to be on crazy pills not to notice it. (Yes, this sentence was just an excuse to use this GIF.)
As far as Chad Smith is concerned, Ferrell has been tea-bagging his image since at least the early 2000s — though I’d be willing to bet it started shortly after Ferrell arrived on SNL.
At a press conference for Australia’s Big Day Out Festival, Smith told the story of the time he and Ferrell came face-to-face in the buffet line after the Ladies Man premier.
“There’s a buffet line and I walk up and I’m getting my second shrimp skewer. There’s a guy next to me doing the same thing and then Will Ferrell is next to him and so I kind of glance over. Right at the time I’m turning to leave the table and start walking back, the guy between us splits and both Will and I turn kind of at the same time. It was classic.
“He eyeballs me up and down, and he goes, ‘You’re very handsome’ and walks away.”
Back to the drum battle. Those that were generous enough to help Smith and Ferrell raise the charity money to bring it to life have supposedly already received this consolation gift in the mail.
And now you’re all caught up on tonight’s Drum Battle TO THE DEATH (presumably).