Will Ferrell says dressing in drag for laughs on “SNL” is something he 'wouldn't choose to do now'
The comedian said that there's "a fair amount where you’d lament the choice" of sketches during his "Saturday Night Live" tenure.
Will Ferrell dressed as a woman during numerous Saturday Night Live sketches — and he has no interest in returning to that type of comedy.
Ferrell and his friend and frequent collaborator Harper Steele said in a The New York Times interview that they regretted some SNL material as their worldviews have evolved. When asked about repeatedly playing former Attorney General Janet Reno on the show, Ferrell responded, "That’s something I wouldn’t choose to do now."
NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Will Ferrell as Janet Reno on 'Saturday Night Live'Steele, who wrote for SNL from 1995 to 2008 and recently came out as trans, expressed her own regret about the sketch in the same interview. "No, I wouldn’t write it again and I don’t think it’s right," she said. "I have always thought punching down was wrong. What I have been discovering, like most of us, is that we were punching down sometimes when we didn’t think we were."
Representatives for Saturday Night Live did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment.
"I understand the laugh is a drag laugh," Steele said, as she reflected on the specifics of why the Janet Reno sketches (and other drag-based sketches) feel uncomfortable. "It’s, 'Hey, look at this guy in a dress, and that’s funny.' It’s absolutely not funny. It’s absolutely a way that we should be able to live in the world."
Steele clarified that she doesn't believe queer people as the subject of straight performers' comedy is always automatically problematic. "With performers and actors, I do like a sense of play," she said. "Robin Williams, at least as far as we know, was not a gay man, and yet he spent about half of his comedy career doing a swishy gay guy on camera. Do people think that’s funny, or is it just hurtful? I’ve heard from gay men that it was funny, and I’ve heard from gay men that it was hurtful. I am purple-haired woke, but I wonder if sometimes we take away the joy of playing when we take away some of the range that performers, especially comedy performers, can do."
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Related: Will Ferrell says James Caan told him 'You’re not funny' on Elf set
Ferrell noted that his Janet Reno sketches are far from his only regrets, though he also acknowledged that he didn't always have total control over SNL's sketch lineup. "I’d have to go back and review shows, but I’m sure there’d be a fair amount where you’d lament the choice," he said. "I mean, in a way, the cast — you’re kind of given this assignment. So I’m going to blame the writers."
Steele said that she has her fair share of SNL regrets as well. "There were a few times even while seeing the sketch mounted, I would go, ugh," she said. "I think that is a fear-based thing where you feel like you’ve got to please an audience or you’re losing your job, and you make a decision that is not — I probably felt a lot of fear, impostor syndrome. I might have overstepped bounds." She cited certain sketches about Monica Lewinsky, Britney Spears, and Bill Clinton as possible missteps.
Ferrell and Steele first met at SNL in the mid-1990s, and have since collaborated on a multitude of comedy projects together, including Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, Casa de mi Padre, A Deadly Adoption, The Spoils of Babylon, and The Spoils Before Dying. Their latest project, Will & Harper, is a documentary chronicling their cross-country road trip that the duo took together shortly after Steele came out to Ferrell.
Will & Harper hits select theaters Sept. 13 before releasing on Netflix on Sept. 27.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.
