A Fair Desire

Will Ferrell and Friends - Quick Review

On Saturday, there was a night of comedy featuring Will Ferrell and a bunch of other people which benefited both Haiti and A Better LA. Nearly $1 million was raised, with $90,000 going to the Red Cross, and the rest to A Better LA. Here's a quick review of what went down:

The night started late (somewhere around 8:40pm instead of 8pm), but we were entertained by a live Twitter stream showing tweets related to the show. As more people came in, the tweets became stranger and stranger, but still entertaining. Each seat had a little card thanking the performers and sponsors, and 3D glasses. "3D glasses for a live comedy show?" - yes, just what we wondered, too. But I will get to that.

The show opened with Will Ferrell, of course, which slid into Will and John C. Reilly doing a rendition of "Boats and Hoes." I did not realize until watching the music video that they wore those same outfits at the show. There was then a surprise visit from Lady Gaga (played by Kathryn Hahn), who made a few return visits throughout the show.

The first comic up was Aubrey Plaza (she was in Funny People). She was underwhelming. Maybe it was not such a great idea to have the first comic up be a "downer."

Rob Riggle was very funny. I've only ever seen him on the Daily Show, so I wasn't sure what to expect. He came out on stage while videos of animals copulating were shown on the big screens to the tune of "Anyway You Want It." We were then treated to an extremely dramatic descriptions of men's restrooms at stadiums, how he almost died getting out of the shower, and what happened when he took a flight to Los Vegas surrounded by guys from Long Island.

Then, the reason for the 3D glasses was revealed - Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly came out and did their interpretation of Avatar (interrupted by Lady Gaga). So, actually, there was no reason for the 3D glasses except as a gag. Makes you wonder how much they spent on those.

Nick Swardson was busy doing something else, so he didn't show up. Nick Kroll did, but I think he might have been more funny if I had known something about him beforehand. He did a pretend satellite conversation with himself as Bobby Bottleservice, which was mildly funny. The best part of his act was his impression of unimpressed cats.

From what I heard from the people around me and in my own opinion, Tim and Eric bombed it. They ran around for five minutes or so singing about diarrhea while dressed in skin suits with enormous testicles. Then they pretended to accept an award for best comedy sketch of the night. It wasn't very funny. But maybe that's just me and a few people I overheard. Oh, and the guy who wrote this article.

Demetri Martin was hilarious, as expected. He didn't draw any charts, but he played a guitar and harmonica while delivering very short jokes, including what to say when someone asks, "Are you ticklish?" and "I'm not racist, but you look nice today."

The night finished with Tenacious D. They were pretty much perfect. They started off with a song making fun of their somewhat unsuccessful movie ("The Pick of Destiny") and were amazingly entertaining the entire time. Jack Black was rocking a wolf shirt.

At the very end of the show, when everyone came out for the curtain call, Will Ferrell returned in his Snuggie. He then turned around to shake the other performers' hands, revealing that he wasn't wearing any pants. Or underwear.

Overall, the night was fun. I saw some older people there, though, and I felt bad for them. Especially for having to sit through Tim & Eric.

Filed under // a better la aubrey plaza demetri martin haiti jack black john c reilly kathryn hahn nick kroll rob riggle tenacious d will ferrell

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Will Ferrell and Friends - Quick Review

Make It Better: A Night of Comedy with Will Ferrell and Friends