The Facebook campaign to hire Will Ferrell for All-Star Game player intros is underway
On Wednesday night, Will Ferrell told anyone that would listen that Carlos Boozer still lives with his mother, and that Emeka Okafor "minored in love" at the University of Connecticut. He was allowed to scream this into an arena's public address microphone, because the New Orleans Hornets let Ferrell announce the starting lineups in their eventual loss to the Chicago Bulls. Not that Will usually works terribly blue, but it was tame by Ferrell's standards. Still very, very funny overall.
In the days since, a Facebook campaign has popped up, encouraging the NBA to hire Ferrell to announce the starting lineups for the 2012 All-Star game, which takes place later this month in Orlando. It's a longshot, to be sure, but Ferrell will be based in the South for the foreseeable future filming a movie, he's an NBA fan, and this would seem to be a win-win for both Ferrell and the NBA, right?
[ Related: Comedian Will Ferrell introduces the Hornets ]
Maybe. We want it to be, we want it to happen (as unapologetic Ferrell devotees), but we're not exactly sure either side would commit to the pairing no matter how many people support that Facebook page.
Will Ferrell is at his best when his humor is at its strangest, because he's clearly not some observational guy that succeeds getting to the heart of humor based on what we're already thinking about bent wheels on shopping carts. No, Ferrell's finest work comes from carefully scripted bits (usually worked up in tandem with the great Adam McKay, who is a huge NBA fan as well) and movies that show off a strange and at times dark sensibility.
Though I loved and laughed out loud at his announcements during Wednesday's game, he was still a little reserved in his weirdness. And that was in front of a barely there New Orleans crowd in an anonymous February game. How much would he hold back, with the NBA likely going over each of his intros beforehand to have their say, on national TV?
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This isn't to say Ferrell takes it easy, sells out, doesn't push the envelope, or any cliché you want to throw out there. But it would be fair to guess that the NBA and Will might not decide this partnership is worth it. Partially because Ferrell couldn't get to work in the sort of oddball lines that have made it so people like me see just about every one of his movies (yes, even "The Suburbans") over and over while getting lost at Funny or Die whenever the opportunity presents itself. But mainly because the NBA might not like Ferrell telling a showcase audience that Marc Gasol lives with his mother. Even as innocuous as that line is. Even though Gasol's mother might actually still live in Memphis.
Vote, and "like" away, because I'm well in favor of hiring Ferrell. Just understand that you might be getting the sort of Ferrell that has to sit through an entire day's worth of staid press junket interviews, as opposed to the nutty and wonderfully menacing one we get to see in bits like this.
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