At the end of December, Will Ferrell caused a stir at the Los Angeles Kings vs. Philadelphia Flyers hockey game, appearing in the crowd in an unusual outfit. The comedy actor was dressed as Buddy from his 2003 holiday classic Elf, but with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, a beer in hand, and a tongue-in-cheek response to a reporter's question: "Christmas was tough." Ferrell has since clarified that it wasn’t a teaser for a sequel to the movie—he was simply having fun.
“Buddy the Elf has hit hard times at the North Pole. He just grabs a beer and takes a drag,” the actor joked on Jason and Travis Kelce’s podcast, as quoted by Variety. “It was just one of those funny ideas I sometimes get. We have season tickets for the L.A. Kings games, right behind the glass. I told my wife it would be hilarious if, during winter break, I pulled out my old Buddy costume, didn’t shave for a week, grabbed some chewing cigarettes, and just sat there for a while to see how people would react.”
The people were certainly surprised. Photos and videos of Ferrell quickly went viral, turning him into a meme. “The reaction was crazy. People didn’t know what I was doing—whether I was promoting something or what. But I just enjoy doing odd things like that sometimes to shake things up,” the Elf star admitted.
During the holidays, Ferrell didn’t have a new movie to promote, but soon audiences will see him in You’re Cordially Invited, an R-rated comedy co-starring Reese Witherspoon. However, Ferrell is fairly pessimistic about the current state of such edgier comedies.
“They still make them, but for some reason, people don’t go to the theaters to watch them. There are so many options these days that people would rather watch them at home. But when you’re sitting in a theater with an audience watching a comedy, it reminds you of how much more fun that is. We’re trying to bring that back,” he said regarding his upcoming film, which will also skip theaters. You’re Cordially Invited is set to debut on Prime Video on January 30.
