Will Ferrell is one of the best comedic actors of all time, and his former supervisor, Lorne Michaels, claims that his performance on Saturday Night Live was so good that it caused him to break his own rules regarding ranking all-time cast members. Ferrell has since moved on to a successful Hollywood career, but his time on NBC’s late-night staple is legendary.
Michaels says Ferrell’s work in Studio 8H is among the best he’s ever seen, despite the fact that he’s returned as a frequent host in the years since. This is significant because he has hired all of them. When asked about Ferrell for a Hollywood Reporter story, the founder and showrunner of Saturday Night Live labeled him as “the most obnoxious newcomer” when he first joined the cast in 1995. But, in Michael’s opinion, that became a moniker he proudly donned on his route to becoming one of the finest in show history.
From the outside, whatever contingency planning was underway in 1995, when Lorne Michaels recruited Ferrell for Saturday Night Live, should have come to a stop — even if one renowned critic had dubbed him “the most obnoxious newcomer,” which he proudly wore as a badge of honor. Ferrell had the descriptor engraved on a nameplate and hung it on the inside of his office door. “You have a choice with that stuff: read it and believe it, or just laugh at it but dig in and say, ‘Oh, you hate me?'” he says.
You haven’t even started to despise me yet.’ And that’s my competitive side, where I think to myself, ‘Oh, just wait, I’ll go even harder.'” ( Michaels, for the record, never wavered in his decision: “I never rank, but Will’s definitely in the top two or three that have ever done the show,” he says. “There’s no question.”)
Given the huge list of superstars who featured in the show’s prime years, let alone the big hitters who joined Ferrell in the late 1990s revival, it’s certainly high praise. But it’s only one of many high praises Ferrell receives in the post, which is well worth reading just to see a slew of renowned people all praising Will Ferrell.
