Us vs. The World

Written by: The CinCitizens

Will Ferrell

I have been hearing the thumps of people hopping onto the Will Ferrell bandwagon for years now. They have assured me that he was the funniest part of Saturday Night Live (which, even if true, isn’t saying all that much), and told me that they think he’s one of the most hilarious comedians in Hollywood today.
 
And the whole time, I stand there in slack-jawed amazement.
A perfectly stable, mentally healthy, mature man.
 
Will Ferrell is not funny. And he’s no comedian.
 
That does not mean that he never does funny things. Everyone can do something funny on occasion. Hell, even Hitler probably cracked a joke or two (or at least tripped and fell at an inappropriate moment).
 
My point is that there’s a big difference between doing goofy shit, and  being funny. Will Ferrell has made a lucrative career out of doing the former, and passing it off as the latter.
 
To me, Ferrell is exactly like the kid in middle school who, after everyone at the table contributed their lunch effluvia to make a “drink”, would be willing to take a huge swig of it. Everyone at the table would laugh, and they might even hail this kid as a kind of hero, but it was false adulation. We laugh at this kid, but only out of a fascinated horror. We can’t believe that he (it was always a boy) would be willing to do this, and the fact that he does is undeniably entertaining.
 
In other words, he was not a comedian, but rather a loser who found his niche.
 
This is Will Ferrell in a nutshell. Whether he’s prancing around like an effeminate high school cheerleader with a glandular problem, or streaking by himself along a city street in his post-marital drunken stupor, what he exhibits is less a comedic flair than an utter willingness to make himself look like a complete asshole. That people laugh at his antics only encourages him to keep it up, and executives to keep throwing money at him for it.
 
It is my hope that one day, people will realize that he is no more than a giant awkward ape shaking his hairy ass for money. Maybe then, he can go back to middle school elixirs, and we can get some actual comedians in our comedy. It’s a wish.
 

-Rob Van Winkle