How Netflix’s ‘Between Two Ferns’ movie got Keanu Reeves and Brie Larson in the hot seat
- Guests such as Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence and Barack Obama were ruthlessly mocked on the original online talk show
- Zach Galifianakis and co-creator Scott Aukerman talk about how they turned the viral hit into a film
In January 2008, without any fanfare, an unassuming video was uploaded to the website Funny or Die in which a then-largely unknown comedian named Zach Galifianakis conducted a painfully awkward interview with actor Michael Cera on a bare-bones set featuring two potted ferns. Galifianakis lobbed disdainful questions at Cera and snored aloud at his answers. He mockingly imitated his voice. He tried to force him to tickle his thigh. And a viral comedy hit was born.
Eventually, Galifianakis and co-creator Scott Aukerman started toying with the idea of expanding the series, which skewered the typically bland, fatuous back-and-forth of celebrity interviews, into a full-fledged feature film. But that was easier said than done.
“To take a four- or five-minute video and blow it up into a movie – how would you do that?” Galifianakis says. “And why would you do that?”
Aukerman, who wrote and directed the film and hosts the popular podcast Comedy Bang Bang, and Galifianikis discuss how they supersized Between Two Ferns, the one question that was (almost) too offensive for the show and why you shouldn’t hold your breath for President Trump to be a guest.