Will Forte

Summary

**Podcast Summary: "Will Forte" Episode of Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes)

Release Date: March 5, 2025
Guest: Will Forte
Hosts: Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Mary Steenburgen

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1. Welcome and Introduction

The episode kicks off with a warm welcome from Mary Steenburgen, who introduces her husband Ted Danson and co-host Woody Harrelson. They express their excitement about reuniting with longtime friends and the special guest, Will Forte.

Will Forte [00:32]: "They turn from Teddy to Ted or from Willie to Will."

Mary enthusiastically introduces Will Forte, highlighting his roles in Saturday Night Live, MacGruber, and The Last Man on Earth. She praises his talent and character, setting a friendly and engaging tone for the episode.

Mary Steenburgen [00:49]: "He's truly one of the sweetest, most thoughtful guys in the business."

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2. Early Connections and Career Beginnings

The conversation delves into how Mary, Woody, and Will first crossed paths, particularly through their involvement in the show The Last Man on Earth. Will shares how he met Ted and Woody at the AARP Awards in 2013, recounting the initial impressions and humorous moments.

Will Forte [03:37]: "I met both of you for the very first time at the AARP Awards."

Woody reminisces about meeting Will, expressing admiration for his comedic prowess and ability to make others laugh effortlessly.

Woody Harrelson [04:21]: "You make me laugh so hard."

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3. Experiences on The Last Man on Earth

The trio reflects on their time working together on The Last Man on Earth. Will discusses the unique challenges of writing and acting simultaneously, balancing creative responsibilities, and the intense workload that often led to sleep deprivation and stress.

Will Forte [08:24]: "I didn't really know all the responsibilities that came with... being up at the upper level stuff. It was just a crazy amount of work."

Despite the hardships, Will emphasizes the camaraderie and familial atmosphere on set, which made the demanding schedule manageable and enjoyable.

Will Forte [16:08]: "Getting to go down and just have the day acting with all you guys... it was just a delightful group we got to be with."

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4. Creative Process and Challenges

Will Forte shares insights into the creative process behind The Last Man on Earth, including the complexities of editing long comedic scenes for network television. He highlights the balance between creative vision and budgetary constraints, often leading to innovative solutions that sometimes enhanced the final product.

Will Forte [14:05]: "You just gotta... take little bits of time. And then soon it was just like 10 seconds when ideally it would be 2 minutes of doing."

Woody and Mary add their perspectives, recalling memorable moments and the collaborative spirit that drove the show’s success.

Woody Harrelson [14:07]: "Thank God. It was so great."

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5. Personal Lives and Family

The hosts and Will transition into personal anecdotes, discussing family life, parenting, and the impact of having children on their creative and daily routines. Will humorously shares the challenges of balancing parenting with creative pursuits, noting the limited time available for writing and exercising.

Will Forte [54:25]: "I'm more tired, so it's harder to find times to do it because it's... Everything's about your windows."

Mary and Woody chime in with their own experiences, highlighting the universal challenges and joys of family life.

Mary Steenburgen [56:15]: "We can't get our kids to watch our stuff."

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6. Reflections on Acting and Life

The discussion deepens as Will reflects on his journey in the entertainment industry, from his early days at the Groundlings to his breakthrough on Saturday Night Live. He candidly talks about the struggles of creative control, the disappointment of projects like Brother Solomon, and the fulfillment found in projects that align closely with his artistic vision, such as Nebraska and MacGruber.

Will Forte [36:35]: "It was like, you know, it's tough when something... When you cave in on things and then the movie comes out and it doesn't do well."

Woody adds his admiration for Will’s resilience and creative spirit, reinforcing the mutual respect among the hosts and guest.

Woody Harrelson [37:09]: "You were amazing in that. And actually, it's a great movie."

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7. Charity and Fundraising Efforts

The episode also highlights their philanthropic efforts, particularly their involvement with the Boys and Girls Club of America. Will shares stories from past fundraisers, including humorous mishaps like Mary and Woody inadvertently delivering his speech, which showcased their genuine camaraderie and support for the cause.

Will Forte [62:04]: "The conceit of the bit then was that you wanted to write stuff for me, but I said, no, don't worry."

Mary and Woody express their enthusiasm for supporting the organization, emphasizing the positive impact it has on the community.

Will Forte [62:41]: "It gives a place for kids to go in the community after school. It's just amazing."

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8. Closing Remarks and Future Plans

As the episode wraps up, the hosts and Will share heartfelt compliments and reflections on their friendships. They discuss upcoming projects and potential collaborations, maintaining a light-hearted and affectionate atmosphere.

Mary Steenburgen [66:58]: "That's a good outro."

Woody delivers a poignant tribute to Will, celebrating his uniqueness and the value he brings to their lives.

Woody Harrelson [64:55]: "You are one of the most remarkable people I've ever known."

Will reciprocates the admiration, expressing gratitude for their friendship and the lessons learned from observing their partnership.

Will Forte [67:02]: "It's a real lesson to me... how you treat people and how, you know."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Will Forte [02:21]: "I woke up, I downed a coffee, wrote it up, and then got the girls up and did the morning routine with them."

• Will Forte [08:24]: "I didn't really know all the responsibilities that came with... being up at the upper level stuff. It was just a crazy amount of work."

• Will Forte [16:08]: "Getting to go down and just have the day acting with all you guys... it was just a delightful group we got to be with."

• Woody Harrelson [37:09]: "You were amazing in that. And actually, it's a great movie."

• Will Forte [67:02]: "It's a real lesson to me... how you treat people and how, you know."

---

Conclusion

This episode of Where Everybody Knows Your Name offers an intimate glimpse into the lives and careers of Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, and their guest, Will Forte. Through candid conversations, humorous anecdotes, and heartfelt reflections, listeners gain a deeper understanding of their creative processes, personal lives, and the enduring bonds of friendship that sustain them both professionally and personally.

If you enjoyed this summary, consider tuning into the full episode to experience the warmth and humor of these beloved actors reconnecting and sharing their stories.

Transcript

[Ted Danson]

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[Will Forte]

They turn from Teddy to Ted or from Willie to Will.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Right.

[Will Forte]

But how is Mary not mayor? Not mayor.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Welcome back to everybody knows your name. I am so, so happy to have my. Well, the darling of my life here for today's episode. And by that I mean my wife, Mary Steenburgeon, and not you, Woody, Although you are a close second. Mary and I thought it'd be fun to team up this week since our guest is someone we both know and love. And that would be Will Forte. You know Will from Saturday Night Live. MacGruber, the Last man on earth. He's a tremendously gifted actor, writer, and comedian. I know this gets tossed around, but he also is. He's truly one of the sweetest, most thoughtful guys in the business. And this time I mean it. Not so much the other times. Anyway, so excited for you to hear them together. Mary Steenburgen and Will Forte.

[Will Forte]

Is it already started?

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

The walk in is the.

[Will Forte]

Oh, wow.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah. This all counts.

[Will Forte]

Oh, great. Okay, so one minute down. Oh, wait, we started right at 11, too.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah.

[Will Forte]

I am five hours into my day.

[Woody Harrelson]

Which is fun because a little baby girl woke you up.

[Will Forte]

No, I woke up earlier than that to go exercise this morning.

[Woody Harrelson]

What was the exercise?

[Will Forte]

I did a rowing machine and it's all about my. Yeah, my. My morning schedule, which is riveting.

[Woody Harrelson]

I'm on the edge of my seat. So you do you.

[Will Forte]

I woke up, I downed a coffee, wrote it up, and then got the girls up and did the morning routine with them. And then I'm the person who drops off Zoe at school. She said at a. Oh, my God. School. Yeah. And they, they say have the parent that the child loves less drop them off so it's easier for them to say goodbye.

[Woody Harrelson]

I've never heard that it said.

[Will Forte]

I might be paraphrasing.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah.

[Will Forte]

But that's essentially what I heard when I was told that I was drop off.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Oh, my gosh.

[Woody Harrelson]

And did she fuss when you dropped her off?

[Will Forte]

No, she's now we're about a month and a half in. So the first couple days are very tricky. I mean, you guys have heart wrenching.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Heart wrenching through it and now we get to have a version of it with our granddaughters.

[Will Forte]

Oh, yeah, the drop off. You're the bad guy. You're like, okay. Although she loves. She does love school. But then I don't get to do the hero part where I pick her up.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Will Forte]

My wife takes that part, so it's.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Like I. Oh, thank God, Mom. Yeah, yeah. All right, let's just. We're not gonna bounce all the way back, but let's bounce back to at least you and Mary meeting. Did you on Last man on Earth. Did you.

[Ted Danson]

Did she audition?

[Will Forte]

Well, actually, where I met her, I met both of you for the very first time at the. It was an awards. It was 2013.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Oh, Nebraska.

[Will Forte]

The AARP Awards.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Oh.

[Will Forte]

And we were at the red carpet and we met. I was there for Nebraska and you guys were there. You were nominated for singing the song for best song. And I think you won, right? You won for. Oh, my God. I'm.

[Mary Steenburgen]

No, this was. That must have been Melissa Manchester song.

[Woody Harrelson]

I'm not sure. But I thought I met you at a screening of Nebraska. No, I just remember.

[Will Forte]

I don't think so.

[Woody Harrelson]

Okay. I just remember being blown away by how good that anyone that could be as funny as you. And we can talk about it later. But you do make. You. Do you make Ted jealous? Because you make me laugh so hard.

[Ted Danson]

It's true.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah. He's not jealous of people who, you know, are like, he's crazy. Yeah. He just gets jealous when people make me laugh. Hard.

[Will Forte]

But anyway.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Cause there's nothing better than making Mary laugh.

[Will Forte]

You're the king. You're the king and you're the queen. In our world, Cheers is definitely my all time favorite.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Okay, this. Well, maybe I should pause and not run over that.

[Woody Harrelson]

Sink that in.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Sorry, what did you say again?

[Will Forte]

I said Cheers is my all time favorite show. In fact, we were talking about it last night before the group that we were eating dinner with even knew that I was coming in to do your podcast. We were just talking about how amazing it is that you can a show like that where you're just in the bar. I mean, every once in a while you go into the. The office or you go into the pool room in the back. And every once in a. Once in a while you go to somebody's like Carla's apartment or something, but you're for the most part just on that one set. And it's riveting. It's never boring. It's those writers. I mean, obviously the performers. But, you know, as I started out As a writer. So like just to, to, to be able to write stuff that's that funny and interesting and can and. And doesn't need all the moves to different locations and stuff.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah.

[Will Forte]

It's just amazing. That was, that was a hell of a group.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Well, I want to thank you for that little plug because you just satisfied the little Cheers nod. So I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

[Will Forte]

My pleasure.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Now let's go back to you and Mary meeting as far as Last man on Earth.

[Will Forte]

Okay.

[Mary Steenburgen]

She audition?

[Will Forte]

Oh, no, no, no way. We didn't know that was going to.

[Woody Harrelson]

Work, but thanks for asking, Ted.

[Mary Steenburgen]

I was just. I was. Excuse me, I'll be right back.

[Will Forte]

She. She was. We have the same agent, Joe Yao.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah.

[Will Forte]

And I knew this character was coming up and Jo pitched Mary and I was like, Mary Steenburger would never do this. I'm like, I wasn't even thinking that. And I'm like, do you think she would do it? And she said, well, I can ask her. And so that was how that started. Everyone just couldn't believe that that was even a possibility. So we were very excited.

[Woody Harrelson]

Well, what happened was she and I went to a screening room somewhere and they started screening the pilot. And about I think maybe two to three minutes in, I leaned over and said, I don't care who the character is, I want to do this. Because it was so.

[Mary Steenburgen]

It was a brilliant.

[Woody Harrelson]

It was so wonderful.

[Will Forte]

And so it's your cheers.

[Woody Harrelson]

It is for me. I did it four whole years.

[Mary Steenburgen]

She was.

[Woody Harrelson]

No, but it is my kind of humor. It's so. Well, Cheers. I was a massive Cheers fan. So much so I married you. But no, I thought it was. It's so weird and I do like weird. And it was so nine year old boy. Yeah, my nine year old boy that it lives so strongly inside of me, was so happy to be on that set every day for four years.

[Will Forte]

I mean, that was. It was. I look back now and it is a magical period. But it also was. It was. It was very tough going through it just because it was.

[Woody Harrelson]

You did.

[Will Forte]

I had never really. I started out as a writer, but it was. I started acting before I had gotten too far up the writing chain. So I didn't really know all the responsibilities that came with the, you know, being up at the upper level stuff. And it was just a crazy amount of work. So. So I would. I think I turned into a little bit of a crazy person. I was definitely drinking too much.

[Woody Harrelson]

You were very sleep deprived.

[Will Forte]

Very sleep deprived.

[Woody Harrelson]

We almost did an intervention. Not about Your drinking, but about your lack of sleep and your fatigue.

[Will Forte]

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, the drinking was more just like. You'd get to the end of the day and it'd be like midnight and I knew I had to wake up at six. But you're just. You've been going so hard that you. You're like, how do I go to sleep? How do I go to sleep? So I, you know, take a shot of whiskey or two and just go to sleep. And then it became. You needed that to. That was just the way it became routine. So. And then it became routine in other ways which were not great.

[Woody Harrelson]

But anyway, he's healthy now. To all the people who love him, he's doing just great.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Just morning drinking, I think is.

[Will Forte]

Yeah, it was just a little bit of that and a little bit of midday and brunch drinking and afternoon drinking.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Isn't that first cup of coffee like, oh my God, this probably is illegal? It makes me feel so good.

[Woody Harrelson]

Ted and I accidentally got locked in our bedroom the other night. And how did that happen? That's too long a story. But it was pretty. We were intensely locked in there. Like we were driving. We spent about half an hour trying to get out and we couldn't get out.

[Mary Steenburgen]

And I don't think we were stoned either, but. Go on.

[Woody Harrelson]

And we were not worried about anything except we were frantic about tomorrow morning's coffee and how do we get to it.

[Mary Steenburgen]

We figured somebody would find us around noon the next day.

[Woody Harrelson]

We wake up so early, we're like, what will we do?

[Will Forte]

This was in your room.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Kind of iron sliding door, things with, you know, ripply glass and stuff. And so it has this. An old fashioned little thing that you had to turn. But it somehow broke and we saw.

[Woody Harrelson]

Something scary on TV and I locked us in and I thought I could open, but we, we couldn't. And we were so freaked out about our coffee situation.

[Mary Steenburgen]

And then finally we MacGrubered.

[Woody Harrelson]

We MacGrubered it. I looked at it and I said, there's two screws here. Let's fashion a screwdriver. And we did that Fashion run out.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Of my tweezers and we were off and running.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah, we together. It took both of us two heads. So we got ourselves out of there. Now how did this become about us? Back to you.

[Mary Steenburgen]

When you said that last man on earth was Mary's Cheers, it literally was in that the camaraderie of the group, the laughter, the funniness, the right up her alley sense of humor wise. But the fact that how many years later we can't wait to have game night or travel with you. Olivia is like this dreamboat that we adore, you know, so that comes out of four years of something very special. Let me put it that way.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah.

[Will Forte]

Oh, yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

I loved everyone on that show. That was such a great cast of wonderful crazy wackos. And it was just. It was so we. The read throughs.

[Will Forte]

And.

[Woody Harrelson]

And this may be a failing on your part. We never got the scripts ahead of time. So the read throughs, literally the pages were hot when you would get them. And it was a cold reading for each of us. And I would get so tickled during the read throughs that I had to wait a few seconds to compose myself before I could continue. I remember specifically one time when it was revealed that your middle name was Tandy and that we were gonna call you Tandy from then on. And I don't know why, but that just set me off for quite a long time.

[Mary Steenburgen]

She's a terrible giggler.

[Woody Harrelson]

I'm sure you know, he knows that.

[Will Forte]

Oh, yeah.

[Mary Steenburgen]

And you're not. You're a very serious, funny person.

[Will Forte]

I'm a non breaker.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah. I never saw you break. I never did see you break.

[Mary Steenburgen]

But the one she talks about the most was you tuning your guitar to sing a song for the group. And you tuned it for probably two and a half minutes airtime, right?

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah. Your character Tandy took a long time to tune that guitar to play this song you'd written called Closure.

[Will Forte]

Yes.

[Woody Harrelson]

And then you launched into it and all you did was rap the guitar with your knuckles. You never played, never touched the strings and that. Like, I remember us filming that and me like, trying so hard to at least make. The camera was behind me. And I thought, well, just don't shake your freaking shoulders and maybe you won't ruin the scene. And then finally I started bargaining with you to get out. I said, couldn't Gale go, you know, pour herself some wine and be. Not be in this scene? You know?

[Will Forte]

But the biggest bummer about the tuning is. Yeah, ideally, if we were on a streaming platform, we could have played. Because that was one of my favorite things, was just taking forever to tune the guitar and then never even strumming anything, just using it as a drum. But then on Fox, you have to edit it down to 21 minutes, 39 seconds and 18 frames or whatever it is. And you'd try to keep a long version of the tuning in as long as you could. And then you're like, you just gotta. You would have to take little bits of time. And then soon it was just like 10 seconds when ideally it would be 2 minutes of doing. Yes.

[Woody Harrelson]

Thank God. It was so great.

[Will Forte]

That was. Yes, that was. And it was usually my fault for the scripts being in so late, but it was just. It's crazy. Cause like, you're. It is the amount of, you know, they're like, oh, you need to edit this all at once. It'd be. We need to get a cut of this in. Writers are waiting to finish the outline. You have to do music. So it's like there are three things that all need to be done right now. How do I do it? So something would. That's why I would always have to stay up super late, because I'd. There just wasn't enough time. So somebody was always waiting around for me. But I will also say that when you talk about this special group of people like all this, I was driving myself crazy and getting very little sleep. But the stuff that all made it really fun was just when I'd go get to go down and just have the day acting with all you guys. That was just the really fun part that got me through everything was just like hanging out with you guys and getting that, you know, it was the little family we had, obviously our cast, but then that crew and just, you know, Mary and Kia and Curtis and Sandra and, you know, it was just a delightful group we got to be with.

[Mary Steenburgen]

I never heard, just so you know, any stories coming home with Mary about you being grumpy, for real. About you being tired and exhausted and having terrible flatulence.

[Woody Harrelson]

But remember, the flatulence was. I mean, that's a whole other story. That was.

[Mary Steenburgen]

That was a good morning, Mary.

[Woody Harrelson]

It was. It felt like your weird way of giving me a tribute every day.

[Will Forte]

That was. There was. Now, I don't remember exactly how we started it. I do remember it from your butt, dude. It was started from my butt. But, like, there was a tradition day where it was, I think, even a challenge at some point. I had farted and I'm like, I'm so sorry. That was. You know, you're tired, you're snacking all the time to get. To get energy. And I'd put on like 20, 25 pounds during the whole season. But like, it goes in and to, you know, it's like exhaust coming out of a car. You just gotta go somewhere. And you said, oh, don't worry about it. The. You know, the. I don't want to out you here. But you said, you know, our family was big on farts. You cannot phase me with farts. And it turned into a. Like a challenge. Like, I challenge you to fart in front of me every day or something like that. Or I can't remember who instigated. Instituted the challenge. This is the thing. And so it was always very fun when I'd come. Come up to Mary and just say, mary, I have to. I have to talk to you over here. She knew what was coming.

[Woody Harrelson]

No, sadly, I fell for it so many times. It's embarrassing how many times I. Because you're such a good actor, in addition to great control of your butt, clearly. But I. I fell for it every time. And in your defense, it was mostly just audibly shocking. Not, you know, I didn't want to.

[Will Forte]

Put you through the smell side of.

[Woody Harrelson]

It, and you didn't.

[Will Forte]

I would take you there. Usually we'd get it out of the way. It was like, very perfunctory, very businesslike. And then we'd get back and get to work.

[Mary Steenburgen]

We would PG farts. PG farts. Yeah. Yeah.

[Will Forte]

And you'll be happy to know that, like, I'm. I'm eating better and farting less.

[Woody Harrelson]

I'll verify that with Olivia. But anyway.

[Ted Danson]

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[Mary Steenburgen]

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[Ted Danson]

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[Mary Steenburgen]

Hey, while we're still here on this, before we go backwards in your life, was it bizarre and did you get a lot of feedback from fans that the end of the story, you're leaving people hanging because you didn't know whether you were coming back or not. But the whole world shutting down because people no being wiped out because of a virus that started in what year? 2020 in your story, wasn't it the exact same time that Covid started? As far as dates it was.

[Will Forte]

There were a lot of things. We got pretty close. I look forward to the. I look at the Kristen Wiig episodes where each time we'd bring in a special guest, we'd jump backwards in time. And with her we would see the virus kind of slowly creeping in. I guess we'd see that with everybody. But with her there was the, you know, the moment where everybody's walking with masks on the street, which now you'd look at, and it'd be like, oh, yeah, but not a. Not a huge deal. That's the way it was. But back then it just seemed like, oh, this is over the top. And then she had to go shopping and she made her own, you know, her own basically PPE gear. And we wrote it as a joke. She's in a bunch of garbage bags and then you saw in some of those hospitals. That was kind of what they did. So it was very interesting. And there are even people that I've talked to, like, I went to a high school reunion the other day, and this guy came up and said that his brother, who I also went to high school with and brother's friend, think that I have something to do with the virus. They actually do believe this. It's not like a fun thing. Oh, wow. They are convinced that I am was part of this conspiracy to bring about the virus, which is, I guess I can come out and say I did not have anything to do with this virus. This was just a fun little show.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Crazy world we live in.

[Will Forte]

It is a pretty crazy world.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah. Well, I recommend everyone go back and watch this. Binge it again or see it for the first time. It really is unlike any other show. And let me say, give you more compliments on this, that Mike Schur, who is a fan of yours, but Mike Shore created all these wonderful shows, including the Good Place. And the Good Place was kind of far out and different than any other show on tv. And he credits watching Last man on Earth and going, oh, wait a minute. On network TV you can take an audience to a new place and it's okay. So you did have an impact on him.

[Will Forte]

Yeah, well, you know, I was at SNL when he was there. I mean, he was just the smartest. He's so smart, so funny, so smart.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Northern California born and raised, right? Yep.

[Will Forte]

You guys are born in Oakland.

[Woody Harrelson]

You're both named after your dad. Sorry to interject.

[Mary Steenburgen]

I see you're the fourth, so you were named after your great grandmother, Forte the fourth.

[Will Forte]

And wait, you're Edward.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Edward Bridge Danson.

[Will Forte]

You're the third.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah, yeah. It doesn't have the same weight behind it that it did in the 50s, but now it's just annoying.

[Will Forte]

Have you been Ted your whole life? Were you Teddy?

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah, I was Teddy. I was Teddy. Yeah. Please tell me, when did you switch.

[Will Forte]

To Ted from Teddy?

[Mary Steenburgen]

I, I, I was, I think I was always introduced myself as Ted, but my mom, who loved me, called me Teddy. And so my childhood friends all called me Teddy.

[Will Forte]

But yeah, it's interesting that, like, when men get to a certain age, they turn from Teddy to Ted or from Willie to Will. Right, but how is Mary not Mary, not Mar.

[Woody Harrelson]

Well, I do get married. Called Mare a lot.

[Mary Steenburgen]

But you went from Mary Nell.

[Woody Harrelson]

That's true.

[Mary Steenburgen]

To Mary.

[Woody Harrelson]

I was married. Now that's my middle name, but.

[Will Forte]

Oh, I know.

[Woody Harrelson]

Oh, you know.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Okay, here's my question, a kind of broad question. How, how looking back at those early preteen or early teens, can you spot or see that Will or Willie, as you saw that, could you see. Sorry. That you would someday be Will Forte? Saturday Night Live, Last man on Earth. When did you start to go, oh, I'm funny, or let me make use of funny. When did you become that person?

[Will Forte]

I was always energetic and loud and I was very extroverted and would have no problem with doing, doing things that other people wouldn't do. Like, if you dared me to do anything, I would do it. And I don't know that. And I guess I was funny, but I don't know. But back then I was a huge fan of comedy and I would watch a ton of comedy and you would think, oh, that'd be fun. Oh, these people get to do that for a living. But it just seemed so far away, you know, you're like, oh, but I'm going to do whatever I do, you know, but, but wow. What. How about these people who get to do that? And I was just a fan of all that comedy, you know, grew up watching those early Lettermans and big fan of SNL obviously, and Monty Python and Steve Martin was my hero back then and just all the SNL casts, just everybody. So I went to ucla. So then you're down in the area and you're still, you're thinking, oh, this is, you know, this is just something other people do, you know. I also wasn't in drama class, theater class. I was just a history major. But every once in a while I would have friends who were trying to act and, and they would like say, oh, we're. I, I have to go in and audition. They said to bring a couple friends. So then I would go, I'd be one of the friends that you would pick and then I'd go and I would get the audition and, and then I went on an open casting call for a Coke commercial once and I got the. And I booked. So I was two for two for commercials. And then I was just thinking, oh, I mean, maybe it just kind of happens like that. I'll just be walking down the street and somebody will discover me. That doesn't happen for schlubby, you know, 19 year olds. So it's after. As I graduated from college that was. I was trying to do what my dad did at first and I was working at this, this brokerage firm doing cold calls for this guy and Brett Satchelloff, who is a delightful man, but I was just realizing, oh, this is not making me happy. And somebody had told me about the Groundlings, and I just thought, why not just take a shot? That's, you know, see what happens? And. And that was. From the second I went to the Groundlings, I knew that I had found the right place and that I was doing the right thing, because it was. Even if no success had ever come from it, it was just. I felt so differently being in that place, and I was just happy all the time, as opposed to hating life.

[Woody Harrelson]

Did you develop characters before you went there and then did an audition with those characters, or how did you even get into the Grand Lights?

[Will Forte]

It's a. You do have to audition to go in, but it's. But it's like an improv audition, so you. You don't really develop stuff. It's funny because I don't know anything about anything back at that time. I mean, it's questionable whether I do know anything about anything now, but back then, you just think, I have to audition for this place. I have to go through four levels of classes. Can't I just go up to the front of the line level? And, yeah, it's like, they must know I'm. You know, and. But it's how. How little I knew about the process and every single step of the way, I needed that process. And you're learning all these different things. And I had never been on a stage really before. I had, you know, one. One scene in a drama class my sophomore year of high school, and then I emceed a talent show my senior year of high school, and that was it, basically. So. But then, you know, I think, like, oh, I can just go straight to. I don't know. So anyway, I went through that process and loved it.

[Mary Steenburgen]

While you were still doing your day job, though, I read that you wrote a script, a film script, so writing was hard.

[Will Forte]

Well, I stood. While I started at the Groundlings, I started also trying to write, and I was writing with this really good friend of mine in London at the time, Hutchinson now. And I started writing stuff while I was at the Groundlings. And then one of the things. Got an agent through these things. I wrote. Who's still my agent, Matt Rice, who I went to UCLA with. And then one of the sketches that I wrote at the Groundlings got me a job at the Jenny McCarthy Sketch Show. So that was my first job that happened as I finally made it into the performing company of the Groundlings. So I'm starting to perform and writing on the side, and then I Went to Letterman, got to write for one of my heroes for. For nine months, came back and started working on sitcoms. The army show, this show called Action, and then went to third rock from the sun, and then 70s show from there. And during that period, right before third rock from the Sun, I had written this thing called Dos Hermanos, which was about these two dipshit brothers. And then when 70s show, when I was still performing at the Groundlings during hiatus periods for the sitcom and got the SNL job. And Carsey Werner, my bosses for 70s show said, we'll let you go, but you have to write a movie for us. Wow. I was like, oh, my God, that's great. I get a. This is. That didn't seem like punishment at all. And they said, what about turning Dos Hermanos into a movie? So I worked my butt off to write that up into a script. And then it turned into the Brother Solomon.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Right before you came. We watched the trailer and dying to watch it. That's a. Was it received well? I would look very funny.

[Will Forte]

I don't know that I've ever done anything that was received well, except for Nebraska.

[Woody Harrelson]

Right.

[Will Forte]

And Last man on Earth, I feel like was received pretty well.

[Mary Steenburgen]

MacGruber. Come on.

[Will Forte]

I mean, MacGruber is, to me, my favorite thing I've ever done. It's. It's. It. Which sounds weird because, I mean, Nebraska is right up next to it. I, too, have gotten a chance to have done something like that. Like, endlessly grateful to Alexander Payne, and it's like. It's apples and oranges. But there was something about that MacGruber movie that we just somehow loved very dearly and we were very proud of. And because Brother Solomon was an experience, the first experience I had, so I didn't know when to, you know, you try to pick your battles, and just. That was an experience of, like, losing control of something, and it just kind of turned out differently than you thought. And then. But MacGruber was. Lauren really, like, just protected us and built this wall around us and said, do, you know, basically do whatever you want. And, you know, the people who let us make the movie, you know, Lauren and then the company that let us do it were very good about just letting us make all the decisions, and we had to fight for some, but usually they let us win those things. So this was, you know, something that we actually got to control pretty much from beginning to end. And certainly there were things that we wish were a little different, but, like, budgetary stuff where, oh, you can't do this. So you gotta do this instead. And a lot of times those, you know, some of those changes that we're forced to do were things that we think probably were even better than what we would have done had we had a bunch of money. So. So. But that. That was why it's such a great experience, because it's like, you know, it's. It's tough when something. When you cave in on things and then the movie comes out and it doesn't do well, and you just think, oh, what could have been? But this was one. It still didn't do well. But it didn't. It was like, oh, there's such a different feeling when you know that the movie was exactly what you wanted it to be. When it doesn't do well, you. You really can kind of rest easy.

[Mary Steenburgen]

It's your child. It was completely your. Yeah, yeah.

[Will Forte]

Enough.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Can we go back to Nebraska?

[Will Forte]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Because I knew you. Not knew you, but I knew your work before Nebraska. So I was first kind of startled that you were in it, and then I was absolutely.

[Will Forte]

As were we all, but.

[Mary Steenburgen]

But blown away by how effortlessly really, really good you were.

[Woody Harrelson]

You were amazing.

[Will Forte]

So naturally, to me, it's so. I mean, you're very talented.

[Woody Harrelson]

You were amazing in that. And actually, it's a great movie. I love that movie. Bruce Dern is so magnificent in that movie. Everybody is. And your relationship with him off screen was pretty important for you at that moment too, right?

[Will Forte]

Oh, yeah. I mean, no. I mean, I made a joke. It was a terrifying experience because, I mean, it's hard to go from the Groundlings to SNL because you're faces you make on stage. You probably ham it up just because you're trying to get it across to people in the back row. Well, at tv you got to learn to like, oh, you can be a little more subtle with that stuff. So you're constantly learning. And then you get to the end of SNL and you're like, okay, I think I kind of have this down. And then. And then it's like you get a shot to be, okay, let me step this out just a teeny bit more, if that's all right.

[Mary Steenburgen]

No, I want to know how you got it and what that was.

[Will Forte]

So the end of SNL was. We had, in 2009, made MacGruber at the end of the season, 2010, the end of that season, the movie was coming out a week later. So the movie came out and just shit the bed. Just did tremendously badly. And it was tough for a couple weeks. And then me And John and Jorma, the. My other buddies who made the movie, we all made the movie together. We all just got together and said, you know what? We're proud of this thing. Eff it. There's no. At some point, we gotta try to do another chapter of this. And whether it's on our iPhones or whatever, we just gotta. We can't let this be the end of it. And then over the next couple weeks, I just realized, with the help of my agents and manager, they said, look, you can go back to snl, but, like, you're not gonna get to make another SNL movie. That's just not gonna happen. So, like, at some point, you're gonna have to leave. We think this is probably a good time to leave. And I'm like, right after laying a major egg in the movies, and they're like, yeah, we think. I mean, it's always gonna be. You're just gonna have to do it at some point. And it started making sense. I had just turned 40, and I thought, yeah, okay, I guess they're right. And I wanted to be closer to my sister, had just had her first kid. And so I decided to leave snl. Lauren was awesome about it, and he's fantastic, but the plan was like, try to just see if you can get small supporting parts in comedies and see if you can kind of make your way back up to a point where you could maybe get a kind of a bigger role in a comedy movie. And so for. So I just didn't do anything for about a year and a half. And then Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg reached out about being in that's My Boy. And that was a thrill because I was like, you know, there was part of me that was like, I may never work again. Which was fine because I love writing. And so I was thinking, I can go back and write if I need to, but. But. But there's part of me that wanted to act. For sure. It was really fun doing it. And. And so that was a big deal when. When they gave me that job, that meant a lot, and that gave me a little hope. And then right after that, Akiva was directing the movie, which became the Watch, and I got to do a part in that. So that was also a big deal. And then it was like, okay, I'll just try to keep doing some kind of small supporting roles. And then this Nebraska came up, and it's like, all of a sudden, I got a chance to be in a movie that was kind of more on the dramatic side. And Be one of the main people. And it was. Just came out of nowhere. It was something I thought would never happen or take 30 years to do. And it just. I mean, it was. I still don't know how it happened. And I thank my lucky stars it was just out of nowhere. I would have never expected it. I still. I mean, everything in your life kind of makes sense when you look back, but at the time, it was like, this is gonna be taken away from me at some point. Like, I. Up until. Even after the first week of shooting, I'm like, are they gonna bring in somebody? Are they gonna fire me and just reshoot the first week? And then by the time we were, like, halfway through, I started feeling like they were too financially invested to turn back. But, like, that whole experience was just terrifying. Like, I mentioned having to retrain yourself to make faces on more subtle faces for snl. And then I got to do this thing I've never really done before for one of the best directors out there. And with Bruce Dern, it was terrifying. So Bruce Dern just was the best. He was a constant teacher. He wouldn't say, hey, do it like this. He would just say, you know, it's all about. He'd just say little things like, just, you know, you're looking for the truth of the scene. That's it. Or, you know, just be honest or. And a lot of. A lot of times I would. In the early going, I go like, that sounds like some, you know, mumbo jumbo acting philosophy stuff. And it really sunk in later. That was like, oh, that really is kind of all. All it is is like, that's what you're doing. For any acting, like, even for the, you know, weird absurd comedy stuff, you're, like, finding whatever the truth of that particular character, that crazy, zany person is. Well, for this is just like, oh, you're trying to, like, authentically be this more subtle person. I don't know. It all made sense. But more than anything, he just would tell me all these fun stories, and we became friends, and that relaxed me, and he was just a very giving person. And I mean, everybody on that set was. But, like, he's. I'm spending every day just in a car next to him, and we became tight. And you know what? I haven't talked to him in a while, and I think about him all the time, and this is reminding me that I just want to reach out to him because it was a very special relationship. I saw June Squibb, my mom from that I went to dinner with Her a couple months ago now. But I really want to reach back out to him because that was the experience of a lifetime.

[Mary Steenburgen]

He's kind of an actor's actor.

[Woody Harrelson]

He really is.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Everyone respects.

[Woody Harrelson]

His daughter is one of our dearest friends, the best, and we're the godparents to her son. So, yeah, they're all special people. Her mom is well, so, you know, that was a great person for you to encounter, because he knows what he's talking about, and he's not pretentious about acting. He's just really such a great, truthful actor.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Both of them, Diane Ladd is Bruce. You know, they both come from that tradition where acting is genuinely a noble profession and they care about it and take it very seriously.

[Will Forte]

Oh, yeah. No. Oh, my God. He has the best stories. They're so fun listening to his stories. And Laura actually came toward the very end. I think she came a couple times, but at the very end, you're at the end of the shoot. And so the end of our production schedule, all the acting scenes and the dialogue scenes are done. And the end of it. Alexander Payne had bought the RV that Jack Nicholson drives around in about Schmidt. So for a week after all the dialogue scenes were done, we got into the car. Bruce and I were driving. We simulated the road trip that we were doing in the movie. Driving from Billings, Montana, to Lincoln, Nebraska. And they followed us. They mounted a camera to the. The front of the car on a crane, and they just followed us and would pull up next to us and just film us for this whole time and just grab these beautiful scenery shots. And this was the best way to end this experience because you've become friends with all these people and all the pressure's off, and you just got to enjoy these people for a solid week without any stress. And we're stopping in a new place every. Every night. And you're just making this beautiful trip with these wonderful people. And Laura was. Was part of that. That journey. So we. It was a really amazing way to end that.

[Woody Harrelson]

That is cool.

[Will Forte]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah, Very cool. And you are.

[Will Forte]

You are not gonna believe this. I did not fart in that car.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Even once, you know, So I believe in us.

[Woody Harrelson]

I can analyze what this means about me and what that means about Lara and Bruce and how you hold me. I'll think about it later.

[Mary Steenburgen]

I'm going to think about it, too.

[Will Forte]

That.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Trying to make my wife laugh with your farts. That's just. By the way I do this if.

[Will Forte]

You know what? I would not if I was in a car with you.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah. Don't say, don't say you wouldn't.

[Will Forte]

Unless given express permission, I would not flatulate in a car.

[Woody Harrelson]

That's such a lie.

[Will Forte]

I want any person that I fart around to have an escape zone. Unless it is like my sister, I want her to stew in it.

[Ted Danson]

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[Mary Steenburgen]

Having a case for your phone.

[Ted Danson]

Most of the time you'll be fine.

[Mary Steenburgen]

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[Ted Danson]

Network, your online data is not secure.

[Mary Steenburgen]

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[Ted Danson]

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[Mary Steenburgen]

You know, there are a lot of bad actors on the Internet and it's a little, shall we say, daunting for someone who's, shall we say, tech challenged like myself, Express VPN really puts my mind at ease.

[Ted Danson]

My producer just showed me how it.

[Mary Steenburgen]

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[Ted Danson]

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[Mary Steenburgen]

Okay, we're going to jump around. Let's talk about this is me. And this is probably shouldn't even say, but it's like when I met you, I went, oh, I'm not sure he'll get married and have kids. And then you get married and you have Kids with the most brilliant woman. And it was the most natural. You know, I now look at you and like, I can't imagine you not married without kids. I really can't.

[Woody Harrelson]

But I still can't imagine you married to anyone else, by the way.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah, that's true.

[Woody Harrelson]

Other than Olivia. You really, really did. She is amazing. And she totally adores and celebrates you and doesn't put up with any nonsense either.

[Will Forte]

Very patient.

[Woody Harrelson]

Very patient. She's amazing. And we were honored to be at your wedding, which was in Albuquerque.

[Will Forte]

And I was so excited you came.

[Woody Harrelson]

It was so much fun.

[Mary Steenburgen]

It was so kind of. Surprise wedding.

[Will Forte]

Oh, yeah. Very last minute. We. Well, look, I had gotten to the point. Late 40s, right. I just thought, oh, maybe that thing that I've always heard that love is, maybe that just doesn't exist. Like, I've met. I've did a lot of wonderful people, but it just. I don't know, it just. Maybe I. What? Bad timing? Bad whatever. It just. I just. It would. Was never really the right thing. And then I was just thinking, maybe it's just not out there. Maybe it's. Maybe it's. You know, maybe I. Maybe I won't have kids. I always thought that I have kids early. And then she came along and it just all of a. It's crazy how quickly it can happen. Like, it just. It just was. You know, you hear how from people who it's happened to, how easy it's supposed to be. And that was just the way it was. It was like, oh, this is. Oh, it's not. I don't even have to. You don't even have to think about it. It's like, oh, this is the person I'm supposed to be with. It's so obvious. And I mean, sure, there's hard times throughout it, but like, there's never any part of me that's like, oh, I'm supposed to be with somebody else or not be with her. You know, it's just like so natural. And having these kids is so. It's the best.

[Woody Harrelson]

I know. Can you imagine now having your life without those two little girls?

[Will Forte]

Oh my God. It's nuts. Yeah, it's. It's just. It's. It's almost an out of body experience. Like it's crazy. You're like, wait, this is the. I created this little angel devil there. It's. It's. Yeah, it's. It's crazy. So it. I. I got really lucky. It's just another thing. I'm. I'm very. I've just. I'm a very lucky person, so I'm very thankful.

[Mary Steenburgen]

We all are.

[Will Forte]

We all are.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Does it change your creativeness in any way? Have you, now that you're a father, you know, happily married and all that, does that. Is your creative process any different? Is it less important? More important? The same. Has it had any impact that way?

[Will Forte]

Well, I mean, you're, I'm more tired, so it's harder to find times to do it because it's. Everything's about your windows. Like, okay, now, now it's. I know I'm gonna wake up at seven in the morning every morning. We're lucky that our kids sleep till then.

[Woody Harrelson]

Amazing.

[Will Forte]

No, that's gonna happen. And then I drop off Zoe at school and I get home at 9 and then, and then usually my daughter Cecilia, that's around her nap time. So I know I've got probably an hour and a half there to get done with, you know, either exercise or do some writing. But usually it's like just cleaning up. It's, everything's, every window of time gets cleaned up. So then she gets up and then you're kind of with her until the next nap and then you have a little bit of time and then Zoe gets home from school and they're both up until you put them to bed. So you're just in it until 7:30 or 8:00 and then you're like, okay, I can write or I can go exercise. I haven't done that yet. But you just are like, or I can do the dishes in the laundry and then sit around and watch tv. Cause you're exhausted. So it's, it's. I'm trying to. That's why this morning was the first time I'm like, I'm going to try a new schedule. Try to get, be more on task. But like, in terms of, has it changed my creativity in, in terms of like, do I want to do things that my kids can watch? I don't really care, you know, by.

[Mary Steenburgen]

The way, you never want to watch your stuff. Yeah, we can't get, get our kids to watch our stuff.

[Will Forte]

Exactly.

[Mary Steenburgen]

So you're safe.

[Will Forte]

She's, it's, it's really fun introducing her to new music. But I mean, yes, it would be fun if I could do something they could watch. That's great. But you know, at some point they'll be adults and they'll, you know, watch the more risque stuff and be. Either way they're going to be embarrassed of their dad.

[Woody Harrelson]

Welcome to the harsh critic of his work. There's no way around it.

[Will Forte]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah, that's funny.

[Will Forte]

Yeah. It's so fun getting into the. Like introducing them to. I mean, introducing them into to anything is fun, but it's. We've been. She's really into the Beatles right now because I'm a huge Beatles fan and just getting her in it, she's just hitting some Diana Ross stuff and loving. She loves Upside down. Right now, she's just upside down. You're turning me. Giving love instinctively. She's loving that. And it's just fun. But it's also like, oh, there's an owl or moons, you know, the moon. What's the moon all about? Or it just. Everything is just so fun to look at the world through their eyes and go, that's right. I didn't know what the friggin moon was for a long time. And I still just kind of, you know, it's up there and it affects the tides and I gotta brush up on my moonstrate, brush up on my mouth. It kind of makes me a smarter person. It makes me realize just how little I do know. Because when you have to explain it to a kid, you're like, yeah, I know I've been taking a lot of stuff for granted.

[Woody Harrelson]

I know they do open up the world to you, make it more intense and more questions, more curiosity. It's really amazing.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Have you ever. I was at Connecticut Yankee and King Arthur's Court. Do you remember that book where somebody goes back to. You know, all the way back, hundreds of years, you. Sometimes I fantasize, boy, if I knew what I know now. But I was living in the 1600s. Can you imagine? Then I realized, yeah. Electricity? Sorry, no idea. Gunpowder? Nope, got nothing. You know, it's like.

[Will Forte]

I mean, in a lot of ways that's what last man on Earth was. One of our things was like, what if the world ends except for a couple people, but nobody knows how to do anything right? Because most of my friends would have no idea how to do anything. But yeah, it's all that. It's Mark Twain. Right? I must have read that way back in the day. But yeah, I mean, I love thinking about that. Just how do dumbasses come together and figure stuff out or just, you know.

[Woody Harrelson]

My character had to perform surgery, an emergency appendectomy, which she totally was completely. Why? What? I can't even remember why I was chosen. Was it because I was a chef?

[Will Forte]

You had, I think you had like some use. You had to give somebody stitches.

[Woody Harrelson]

Oh yeah.

[Will Forte]

And you were.

[Woody Harrelson]

And I was pretty good at that.

[Will Forte]

Yeah, you were The. You were just. Were like, oh, eff it, I'll do it. You know, and so you. You did it, and you just kind of became. You were the closest thing to a doctor because nobody knew anything, so you had to do it.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah.

[Will Forte]

And, yeah, I mean, all that stuff. Excuse me. Because I think back to, like, caveman days and, like, what would you do when you have a toothache? Like, now, that's the worst. That's the worst pain. But you can go get a root canal. And you. Back then, what do you do?

[Mary Steenburgen]

You probably didn't have to worry about it because your lifespan was about, what, 18 years old?

[Will Forte]

Was that it? Was that.

[Mary Steenburgen]

No, I don't know. I'm making that up. Hey, can we switch. I know you're. And this. I don't know when the podcast will come out and all of that, and I know we're doing something together with you. A fundraiser.

[Will Forte]

Oh, yes.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Like we did there. You want to talk about. Is it the Boys and Girls Club of America?

[Will Forte]

Yes. Boys and Girls Club. I've for years and years gone to this fundraiser every year for the Boys and Girls Club of Venice. My friend Katie Tucker was big up in the organization, and so we'd always go there to their dinners. And then when I met Olivia, my now wife, she was blown away by it and said, I want to get involved. So she has now become really instrumental in the fundraisers and this gala and is raising all this money. So last year, you guys came to. We had such a good time. You were the hit of the entire event.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Who wrote our material?

[Will Forte]

I wrote your material. But you delivered it. But that was the joke of. It was I was getting this honor for my work with the Boys and Girls Club of Venice.

[Mary Steenburgen]

This was the conceit.

[Will Forte]

The conceit of it was. That was not a conceit. That was actual. That was an actual. You know, I did get an award. I was honored. But you agreed to introduce me. And so the conceit of the bit then was that you wanted to write stuff for me, but I said, no, don't worry. I don't want you to go. You know, put yourselves out. And you said, no, no, it's not. We, you know, it's no trouble. We'll do it. And I said, no, no, no, I will write your speech for you. And so. And then you. And then I seal it up in an envelope so that you can't change.

[Woody Harrelson]

It, and we open it in front of the audience and begin to read what you wrote for your own introduction.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Discovering it as we go.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah. Which was highly insulting of us, actually, in its own weirdness.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Didn't even mention our lovemaking or your lovemaker. Something.

[Will Forte]

Hey, you guys. That was your introduction. Oh, so you guys were so funny.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Give a plug, though. Why are you doing this? Tell me about Boys Club a little bit. The real impact it has.

[Will Forte]

Well, I mean, it just gives a place for kids to go in the community after school. It's just amazing. You can do sports there, you can do art, you can do music. And it's just a place to go. If kids don't have a place to go after school, it's a really great, safe place to go where these wonderful mentors are there looking after them and helping them learn stuff or just be with them. And, you know, everyone who works there is.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah, we were really impressed.

[Will Forte]

Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

It's such a great organization and it was such a fun night and it's such a great gala.

[Mary Steenburgen]

And the two actors in us dined off of that moment for the longest time. It was good material.

[Woody Harrelson]

It was really good people.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Good material.

[Will Forte]

Talk about how funny you guys were.

[Mary Steenburgen]

It was great material.

[Will Forte]

Well, hopefully we can catch lightning in a bottle again. But this year will be really fun because Jason Sudeikis is coming out and Shaw is going to do something.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Oh, great.

[Woody Harrelson]

Kristen Shaw.

[Will Forte]

And then a special surprise guest.

[Woody Harrelson]

Really?

[Mary Steenburgen]

Where?

[Will Forte]

I'm not. I can't. I'll tell you guys after, but I can't.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Surprise.

[Will Forte]

Unless this. When do you think this would come out?

[Mary Steenburgen]

Not before February. March.

[Will Forte]

Weird Al. Weird Al is coming out soon.

[Woody Harrelson]

Oh, right.

[Will Forte]

Oh, so I can say the whole thing. So I'm in the process of writing that, so I haven't written your thing yet. Because I. Oh, great. Because I know that's just gonna be in the envelope and that will be, you know, I can do that after. This is, like, gonna have singing involved. And, you know, I just need to get the OKs on all this stuff. Your stuff is like, you know, pretty. Pretty easy to wrangle. So I'll, you know, probably end of.

[Woody Harrelson]

This is not involved. An accordion in front of Weird Al. I am not.

[Will Forte]

No, it does not.

[Woody Harrelson]

Okay.

[Will Forte]

It does not. Unless you wanted to do that.

[Woody Harrelson]

I don't. I don't.

[Mary Steenburgen]

I'm a little curious why she mentioned it, but.

[Woody Harrelson]

No, because I don't trust him. And because you made me play the accordion a lot of times when I wasn't prepared.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Wait, what was the song?

[Will Forte]

Reformer Informer.

[Mary Steenburgen]

He knows.

[Woody Harrelson]

Your dad must know me. I'M going to blame Boom Boom. Detective Mani Sese Marie. No. Detective Mani Sese. No. What is it? Detective Mani ses. Oh, fuck it. I forgot it. But I. But I could do it for the longest time.

[Will Forte]

I cannot believe that you remember that. You know much of the song.

[Woody Harrelson]

Well, that's the least of it. I had to figure out how to play that on the accordion and you gave me like 24 hours notice. Weirdo.

[Mary Steenburgen]

She did cuss every once in a while.

[Woody Harrelson]

I did complain a lot. But the truth is, you are a magical being, Will Forte. I have to say, you are. You are one of the most bizarrely, like, you'll go anywhere, you'll remove any part of your clothing, you will shave half your beard and your eyebrows and God knows what else. I thankfully don't know. And then we went to the People's Choice Awards, and you had half a beard and only eyebrows on one side and half your head was shaved. And, you know, you will go anywhere and do anything. And you are also the person that has to say hello to every single person in the makeup trailer in the morning. Then you don't leave the makeup trailer until you've said goodbye to each of those people. And you're unfailingly kind. And even though you're also unfailingly weird, you're just one of the most remarkable people I've ever known. Every second I spent working with you, I treasure. I treasure it because you're just. There's no one like you remotely so there.

[Mary Steenburgen]

That's a good outro.

[Will Forte]

That's amazing.

[Woody Harrelson]

Top that, sucker, by the way.

[Will Forte]

No, All I will say is one of the great joys of my life has been knowing you guys. I look at you guys and your. I tell everybody, you know, ask anybody. I say, coolest couple in the world. I mean, you're the coolest individuals. You remove yourselves from your couple, from your couplehood. And you're the coolest individually. And then together, you're just the best couple out there. So it's a real. It's a real lesson to me. Like, you know, before, when I was like, oh, am I gonna find the right person? It was like that what I wanted was what you guys have, you know, and how you treat people and how, you know. So. Right back at you.

[Mary Steenburgen]

And you did.

[Will Forte]

That's what you did.

[Woody Harrelson]

And were you 40, really when you met her?

[Will Forte]

No, I was. God, I was 49, probably.

[Woody Harrelson]

Oh, okay. Yeah, I was 40 when I met Ted. But I had said, I guess I'm not good at love. I guess I'm not good at this. And I have two amazing kids, and I'm done. I'm good. I'm not gonna forget it. And then that's when I met him. So sometimes, like you almost described giving up, you know, it's just not gonna. I guess it's not gonna happen. Sometimes that's when it does happen, you know? But anyway, Love your will.

[Will Forte]

For you. Some stuff. Some stuff. Some stuff is. But, you know, it's just meant to be.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yep.

[Will Forte]

It just, you know, you could. I feel like, you know, you hear about Sliding Doors, and I've not seen the movie, so I just. What I think Sliding Doors is, is like, you make one little choice and your life is completely different. But I think there are some things that, like, you're just the. You know, everything's going to work itself back to the same place. I went to a heart doctor the other day just. Just to, you know, generally check up on it. And he said something about, like, if you're your heart, your stuff is pretty amazing in there. Your veins. And I don't know, he's. He's did a better job of describing this, but there's. It is amazing how if you have, like, a little blockage, your. Your heart kind of just finds another way around it and can kind of just. It's. You know, obviously people have heart attacks and stuff, you know, but, like, there is. It just reminded me of what life can be. It's like you're just like, it's gonna go to that place. It just might sometimes arc around a little clot and get back in there.

[Mary Steenburgen]

I like that. See, Mary doesn't know what you're talking about because she doesn't think about her bodies. But I like that.

[Will Forte]

But you think about her body all the time.

[Mary Steenburgen]

I do. All right, now. Now we'll go out on that weird note.

[Woody Harrelson]

Really?

[Mary Steenburgen]

No, we'll cut it right after he gave that amazing compliment to us. We'll go cut. Hey. Love you. Thank you. Love you for coming in.

[Will Forte]

Well, thank you in advance for coming to support the Boys and Girls Club and anything for you guys.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Thank you so much to Mary and Will for joining me this week. I love you both in very different but equally special ways. That's all for this week's show. Thanks to our friends at Team Coco. If you enjoyed this episode, please send it to a loved one. Just a reminder, you can Watch us on YouTube by visiting YouTube.com teamcoco. As always, subscribe on your favorite podcast app and give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts. That is if you want to be on the right side of history. We can cut that later.

[Ted Danson]

No, keep it.

[Mary Steenburgen]

No, cut it. But maybe keep it. We'll have more for you next week. Where everybody knows you're involved.

[Nick Leo]

You've been listening to where everybody knows your name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson Sometimes. The show is produced by me, Nick Leo. Executive producers are Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and myself. Sarah Fedorovich is our supervising producer. Our senior producer is Matt Apodaca. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez research by Alyssa Grohl talent booking by Paula Davis and Geena Batista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Antony Genn, Mary Steenburgen and John Osborne. We'll have more for you next time. Where everybody knows your name.

[Unknown]

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