Will Ferrell expresses regret for dressing up as a woman on ‘SNL’

nme.com:

Will Ferrell has admitted that he regrets dressing up as a woman on Saturday Night Live.The actor and comedian featured in the Janet Reno’s Fantasies sketch in season 23 of the NBC variety show in 1997/98, which saw Ferrell dress in drag as the late attorney general.Speaking in an interview with The New York Times‘ The Interview podcast, Ferrell said: “That’s something I wouldn’t choose to do now.”He went on to say that he’s certain there’s “a fair amount” of sketches from his SNL tenure “where you’d lament the choice”, before joking: “I mean, in a way, the cast – you’re kind of given this assignment.

So I’m going to blame the writers.”Former SNL head writer Harper Steele also expressed regret over Ferrell’s sketch, adding: “This kind of bums me out.

I understand the laugh is a drag laugh. It’s, ‘Hey, look at this guy in a dress, and that’s funny’. It’s absolutely not funny.

It’s absolutely a way that we should be able to live in the world. However, with performers and actors, I do like a sense of play.”Steele, who came out as transgender in 2022, went on to talk about Robin Williams and the 1996 movie The Birdcage in which the late actor and Nathan Lane portrayed a gay couple.“This is an interesting question to me.