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Over the next couple of days, Ferrell will have some quiet moments to reflect on life atop the comedy heap. Right now, though, it's showtime. He and his fellow comedians, who are dressed as ninjas for an opening skit, gather in a circle and put their hands into the middle for a cheer: ''The heart of Gary Busey!'' Actor Will Arnett, who costars with Ferrell in Semi-Pro and is emceeing tonight's show, takes the stage to kick things off: ''And now...the man who turned the silver screen gold...he craps box office and wipes with DVD sales...Will Ferrell!'' With that, Ferrell strides triumphantly on stage to the Mortal Kombat theme song and the roar of the crowd.
Midway through the show — after bravely fighting off the ninjas and introducing the upcoming comics — Ferrell returns to the stage on a Jazzy scooter to take questions from the audience. Connor, a political science major in a black T-shirt, steps up to the microphone. ''I just want to know why you did Bewitched,'' he says, ''because it really sucked.''
Ferrell stops his Jazzy and looks wounded. ''Connor, I'm not going to lie to you — that hurt me,'' he says. ''Here's the thing: Day 1 of shooting, I said, 'We're in the sh---er.' But I don't quit. I fulfill my contract. And while it was maybe not a popular movie here, in Portugal I cannot leave my hotel, that film was so huge.''
The few failures Ferrell has had in his career don't seem to trouble him much. According to Adam McKay, his longtime creative partner and the director of Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Ferrell's next movie, Step Brothers, the actor's career guidance system isn't calibrated for maximum box office revenue or global domination. ''Will would do an infomercial if it made him laugh,'' he says. ''All the traditional ways people look at careers ascending or not going well — none of it applies. So long as the work is interesting to him, he's fine any way you cut it.''
Of course, not everyone around Ferrell shares this philosophy. Industry executives tend to be like those fans who get uneasy when he strays too far from sure things. As he's gained clout in the industry, Ferrell has often used it to shoot down projects that others might regard as an easy payday, such as a potential sequel to the $173 million smash Elf. ''I was like, 'I'm telling you guys, there's no sequel here,''' he says. '''What are you going to do: Buddy the Elf goes around the world and spreads Christmas to other countries? Well, we could do that!' I was like, 'No, I'm kidding!'''
NEXT PAGE: ''They obviously didn't get [Anchorman], even while we were filming. They said, 'Why would 13-year-olds care about newspeople?' We were like, 'It's about broad, funny characters! It's Austin Powers!'''
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