Embed from Getty Images
I love watching the movie Elf every year. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love it. It’s just so quotable! I particularly love seeing a good Buddy the Elf joke or reference in the wild. I was tickled by the quick inside joke they put in Spirited (another one of my favorite Christmas movies to rewatch yearly). So, when I saw a scruffy-looking Will Ferrell drinking a beer while dressed up as Buddy at an LA Kings hockey game a few weeks ago, I thought it was a funny nod to the character. “Oh, that’s fun,” I told Mr. Rosie as I then smiled and went on with my day.
Apparently, the Internet was Interneting and Will’s rough-looking Buddy went viral and became a whole thing. Will was a guest on a recent episode of the Kelce brothers’ podcast, New Heights, so Jason asked him about it. According to Will, his ensemble was just supposed to be one big joke born out of one of his “weird ideas.”
“Buddy the Elf got laid off, I think, from the North Pole,” Ferrell joked, as both Kelce brothers laughed. “He’s having a pull from his beer, smoking a cig.”
“That was just— I get these weird ideas every now and then. We’re season ticket holders for the L.A. Kings. We have seats right on the glass, which are amazing,” he added. “I told my wife, ‘Over the break, it would be funny if I just got a Buddy the Elf costume and didn’t shave for like a week, and I’m just sitting there with a candy cigarette and I’m just gonna sit there for a period and see how people react.’ And that was it.”
“The reaction was insane!” Ferrell said. “Like, ‘What is he doing? Is he promoting something?’ But occasionally I just like to do weird things like that just to stir it up.”
Ha, I’ve followed Will’s comedy for 20+ years now. I have a feeling that he gets weird ideas more than “every now and then.” But, oh, to have a fun thought like that and then the confidence to pull it off. Good for him. It’s wild that people worked themselves into such a tizzy over this because when I saw the clip of him dressed like that, I just assumed it was all in good fun. I didn’t even get that he was going for a drunken, down-on-his-luck Buddy! I wonder how his 14-year-old son, who was sitting next to him, felt about it. I’m sure he’s used to his dad’s “weird ideas” by now.
Embarrassing your kids is a tale as old as time. And will Ferrell is the best I’ve ever seen at it!
Will is a GEM of a human being. I watched Will and Harper last night on Netflix and was so moved by what a good man and friend Will is and what a struggle Harper has gone through in her transition. I highly recommend the movie.
I appreciated seeing a wht man of his generation be a good friend and be open minded about what they understand and to show we can care about people even if we don’t understand them or their experience. I get a vibe from him that reminds me of Jim Carey and Anthony bourdain. Not in a tragic way necessarily but a kind of disillusioned and trying not to take themselves and life to seriously and a type of ernestness and self awareness to an extent.
What does being white have to do with this?
That was a great documentary. Happened to click on it a few weeks ago, and couldn’t stop watching.
Does anyone else mix up the Elf movie with Bad Santa? Not sure why I do….perhaps because they came out the same year? Either way, I saw this and thought, ‘oh, he’s just playing the other character; makes sense to me!’
They are both my favorite Christmas movie rewatch! We put them on back to back (doesn’t matter the order) and have a little marathon.
Will Ferrell is such a gem of a human being. And, he’s also hilarious. Didn’t he also dress up as Buddy the Elf to pick up his kid at school? There’s video of his kid seeing him and just booking it around the corner. It’s hilarious.
I thought it was funny and was super annoyed of all the comments that were negative under the sports channel post that I saw in FB. I also thought that it was a good joke, and that he was playing into the Elf persona. The only thing that I was questioning was the cigarette, because one I don’t like smoking and two here in Canada there is no indoor place you can smoke since the early 2010s so it just feel weird now to see people smoking… I’m happy to hear it was a fake cigarette….
Comedy genius.