Christopher Walken told Will Ferrell SNL’s ‘More Cowbell’ ruined his life
He doesn’t need more cowbell.
“Saturday Night Live’s” iconic “more cowbell” sketch starring Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken gets a behind-the-scenes deep dive in a new documentary – and Ferrell reveals that Walken isn’t such a fan.
In the Peacock documentary “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” (premiering Jan 16), Ferrell, 57, recalled how Walken, 81, starred in a play several years after that famous “SNL” sketch.
“I went to see [Walken] backstage, and he’s like, ‘You know, you’ve ruined my life…every show, people bring cowbells for the curtain call and bang them. It’s quite disconcerting,’” Ferrell revealed.
The cowbell sketch originally aired on April 5, 2000, during an “SNL” episode in which Walken was the host.
The sketch is about the fictional process of Blue Oyster Cult recording their hit song, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” Ferrell plays an overzealous cowbell player.
As his fellow band members – played by then “SNL” cast members Chris Parnell, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, and Horatio Sanz – complain about his antics, fictional record exec Bruce Dickinson played by Walken encourages him to play the instrument harder.
Ferrell’s character rings the bell while gyrating and dancing — which naturally distracts the other musicians.
In a frequently quoted line, Walken’s character encourages him by saying, “I’ve got a fever – and the only prescription is more cowbell.”
It’s since become one of most iconic sketches in “SNL” history.
Ferrell said that the sketch is “a testament to trusting your gut, ‘let’s just try it.’”
The “Elf” star listened to the song during his childhood.
“I had the thought even as a kid, ‘What is the life of the guy playing the cowbell?’ I guess that was germinating for decades in my head.”
He originally pitched it for an episode that Norm Macdonald hosted, with the late comedian playing the role that Walken ultimately did. But, it didn’t get chosen that week, ending up in Walken’s episode instead.
Originally, it also nearly featured a wooden block as the instrument instead of a cowbell.
“It’s the biggest sketch I’ve ever been part of,” Fallon, 50, said in the doc. “I was so nervous. It was one of my first shows, I was new.”
The sketch was put in an area of the stage that the cast called “sh-t can alley,” or “coffin corner,” because sketches that get placed in that location “die” and get cut before making it to air.
“I don’t think anybody had faith the sketch would air,” said Fallon.
After all, Ferrell noted that it wasn’t funny at all when they practiced in dress rehearsal.
Walken didn’t “do full Walken,” he explained. “And I don’t think I’m as physical. I didn’t do it like that in dress [rehearsal], with that much thrusting.”
Ferrell, who dons a shirt that’s too tight in the sketch, said that he also made that adjustment to his wardrobe after their dress rehearsal.
“I was like, ‘give me the tightest – do we have a size smaller of that shirt?’” he said.
When the sketch aired live on TV, Walken, “upped this game,” Fallon added. “He was almost doing an impersonation of Christopher Walken. He was talking like how no human being would talk, ever.”
Even Ferrell was surprised by Walken’s performance.
“Christopher Walken…gets all fired up. He leans into it on a level that I didn’t expect,” the “Anchorman” star said.
Fallon famously couldn’t keep a straight face and laughed during the sketch.
“It was the funnest thing I had ever seen in my entire life…you could feel in the air that it was working. When a sketch is going and is cooking, the room almost shakes a bit, and it was shaking that night,” the “Tonight Show” host recalled.
“I was out of my league…I looked into the eyes of a lunatic,” he said, referring to Ferrell.
Ferrell admitted that he was laughing too during the sketch, but unlike Fallon, it was harder for the audience to spot because he had “the benefit of wearing a [fake] beard” as part of his costume.
“Will was right on top of me banging the cowbell in my face,” Parnell remembered. “I had the sense he wanted to make me break.”
Ferrell, indeed, wanted them to all lose it on stage.
“There was one moment the camera wasn’t on me and I cracked a hint of a smile,” Parnell added. “But thankfully, the cameras didn’t catch it.”
Even after getting an enthusiastic reaction from the audience that night, Ferrell noted, “There was no way of telling that [the sketch] would be a thing that would in any way be remembered from that point on.”
While the other cast members look back on it fondly, Walken — who didn’t participate in the doc — can’t say the same.
“I don’t understand why it follows me around like it does,” he said in a different clip. “It’s kind of run its course.”
