Don’t Need Nothin’ (But a Helmet)
(For the record, I liked Land of the Lost quite a bit. It’s not without his problems, but the fact remains that Will Ferrell and Danny McBride are two of the funniest actors working today. Those guys can save any scene, and Ferrell fights a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a long stick. This is the kind of thing that amuses me.)
Sure, Will killed it as the first guest on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and he was great on The Daily Show. But his best appearance this week was the strangest: Man vs. Wild. That’s right, Will Ferrell went to the Arctic Circle with survivalist Bear Grylls.
Now, we all know that Bear is at least a little bit full of it. It’s been revealed that some of his life-threatening situations are staged, and he gets more than a little help from the camera crew. I mean, he’s still one million times better at this than I would be, but he’s no Les Strode of Survivorman. Still, this knowledge didn’t make the episode any less fun.
Despite Bear’s melodramatic narration (which also indicated he was only faintly aware of how Will Ferrell is), Ferrell was really entertaining, even while waist-deep in snow. Early on, Bear gives him a Twinkie that they can eat in the event of an emergency. He stresses that this Twinkie is only for an emergency, if they can’t find any other supplies. The moment Bear leaves to look for water, Will scarfs the Twinkie. It’s hilarious, and almost manages to get a laugh out of the humorless Grylls.
What I liked best is how Will comes off as a legitimately nice, cool guy. He’s game for whatever goofy stunt Bear puts out there, and there’s not a trace of celebrity brattiness or prima donna behavior. After a week of watching Spencer Pratt freak out over inconvenience and equate fame with value as a human being, this was really refreshing. It’s nice when a famous person that you like turns out not to suck.
And yeah, Will Ferrell eats a reindeer eyeball before it’s all over. Even if the dead reindeer was supplied by the crew, that dude actually ate an eyeball. It’s pretty clear that Will Ferrell is way cooler than he needs to be.
Here’s the first segment of the episode – the Twinkie shenanigans begin about six minutes in.
Myndi
This. Just…. this.
