WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 Welcome to the Deep Dive. This is where we dig 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:04.280 into some dense sources, pull out the key stuff, 00:00:04.440 --> 00:00:06.500 and basically give you the fast track to getting 00:00:06.500 --> 00:00:09.740 up to speed. Yeah, exactly. And today, we're 00:00:09.740 --> 00:00:12.320 tackling, honestly, one of the most unexpected 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:15.279 career arcs we've looked at. We're exploring 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.449 the evolution of actor, comedian, writer. Orville 00:00:19.449 --> 00:00:21.789 Willis Forte IV. Who, of course, everyone just 00:00:21.789 --> 00:00:24.750 knows as Will Forte. Right. Will Forte. And it 00:00:24.750 --> 00:00:27.410 really is a deep dive into, well, a paradox, 00:00:27.609 --> 00:00:29.789 isn't it? Because if you just look at the work, 00:00:29.890 --> 00:00:32.469 you know, the super bizarre SNL sketches, the 00:00:32.469 --> 00:00:35.729 absolute relentless absurdity of MacGruber. You'd 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:37.729 assume total chaos behind the scenes. Exactly. 00:00:37.729 --> 00:00:41.270 You'd assume chaos. But our mission today, using 00:00:41.270 --> 00:00:43.710 this really comprehensive biographical source 00:00:43.710 --> 00:00:46.229 we've got, is to pull out the truth. The truth 00:00:46.229 --> 00:00:48.960 about this, frankly. intensely organized, driven 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:52.240 and often a terrified man who somehow went from 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:54.740 being a financial broker to a critically acclaimed 00:00:54.740 --> 00:00:57.219 dramatic actor. Yeah, it's wild. So we're charting 00:00:57.219 --> 00:01:00.060 that whole path, you know, from a pretty conventional 00:01:00.060 --> 00:01:04.140 start. Then those eight seasons inside the let's 00:01:04.140 --> 00:01:05.620 call it Saturday Night Live pressure kicker. 00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:07.700 Oh, it definitely was. Surviving a big commercial 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:10.280 failure and then finding this really profound. 00:01:11.550 --> 00:01:15.230 dramatic and creative success later on. And the 00:01:15.230 --> 00:01:18.370 hook here, I think, isn't just, oh, he's funny. 00:01:18.510 --> 00:01:22.030 It's how someone known almost entirely for like 00:01:22.030 --> 00:01:26.510 high concept, super high risk weirdness. How 00:01:26.510 --> 00:01:29.170 did he learn to channel that same level of commitment 00:01:29.170 --> 00:01:32.510 into finding genuine emotional truth in these 00:01:32.510 --> 00:01:34.969 major dramatic roles? That's the core question, 00:01:35.069 --> 00:01:36.870 right? We're looking for that thread that connects 00:01:36.870 --> 00:01:40.500 the financial planner guy who felt Yeah. Miserable. 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:43.900 Yeah. To the showrunner working insane 12 hour 00:01:43.900 --> 00:01:47.219 days. And, you know, the comedian who like listened 00:01:47.219 --> 00:01:49.040 to the exact same song for a whole year just 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:50.959 as a challenge to himself. Right. That story 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:53.540 is incredible. It is. And that intensity, that 00:01:53.540 --> 00:01:55.780 organizational focus, that's really the key, 00:01:55.780 --> 00:01:58.000 we think, to his versatility. OK, so let's unpack 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.219 this. Starting with that name. Orville Willis 00:02:00.219 --> 00:02:03.180 Forte IV. That's quite a name. It's got that 00:02:03.180 --> 00:02:05.099 Roman numeral. It does carry a certain weight, 00:02:05.180 --> 00:02:07.140 doesn't it? It's just like legacy or tradition. 00:02:07.379 --> 00:02:11.199 Yeah. He was born June 17, 1970, Alameda, California, 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:14.659 which makes his early career path, trying finance, 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.020 actually less surprising than where he ended 00:02:17.020 --> 00:02:21.199 up. His father, Orville Willis Rebforte III, 00:02:21.539 --> 00:02:26.039 was a financial broker. Ah, okay. Following in 00:02:26.039 --> 00:02:28.860 the footsteps. Right. And his mother, Patricia, 00:02:29.139 --> 00:02:31.319 she was an artist and a former school teacher. 00:02:31.580 --> 00:02:34.020 So you've got this mix right there in the family. 00:02:34.979 --> 00:02:38.340 Stability? professional expectations but also 00:02:38.340 --> 00:02:40.800 this creative side it's a fascinating combination 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:42.840 and there's that little story about his name 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:45.280 too yeah apparently he went by billy when he 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:47.840 was really little but then he got teased at school 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:49.879 because kids thought billy sounded like a girl's 00:02:49.879 --> 00:02:53.319 name oh kids can be brutal totally yeah so he 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:57.009 just decided okay i'm It's kind of simple, but 00:02:57.009 --> 00:02:59.009 maybe it foreshadows him having to adapt his 00:02:59.009 --> 00:03:01.110 identity later on. That's an interesting thought. 00:03:01.229 --> 00:03:03.430 And his childhood, by all accounts, sounds pretty 00:03:03.430 --> 00:03:06.069 idyllic, described as a really happy little boy 00:03:06.069 --> 00:03:08.710 in a very loving environment. Nice. And he was 00:03:08.710 --> 00:03:10.669 already soaking up the influences that would 00:03:10.669 --> 00:03:13.370 kind of define his comedy later. He idolized 00:03:13.370 --> 00:03:15.409 Peter Sellers, David Letterman, Steve Martin, 00:03:15.490 --> 00:03:18.020 and, of course, Saturday Night Live. The holy 00:03:18.020 --> 00:03:20.659 grail for him, even then. Absolutely. And the 00:03:20.659 --> 00:03:23.280 signs were there, right? He was recording these 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.599 imaginary radio shows, pulling elaborate pranks. 00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:29.740 That sort of surreal, performative streak was 00:03:29.740 --> 00:03:32.580 definitely present early on. But here's the thing. 00:03:32.740 --> 00:03:35.939 Despite that creative stuff bubbling up, his 00:03:35.939 --> 00:03:38.979 first actual goal, professionally... Totally 00:03:38.979 --> 00:03:41.319 conventional, almost aggressively normal. Yeah, 00:03:41.379 --> 00:03:43.360 not comedy. He wanted to be a football player. 00:03:43.460 --> 00:03:45.300 Right, and when that didn't pan out, he basically 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:47.819 just followed the path of least resistance. His 00:03:47.819 --> 00:03:49.860 high school profile backs that up. Graduated 00:03:49.860 --> 00:03:52.900 from Accolades High in Lafayette in 1988. He 00:03:52.900 --> 00:03:55.419 was on the varsity football and swim teams, freshman 00:03:55.419 --> 00:03:59.419 class president. Voted best personality. Wow. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:02.340 So like the all -American kid, laid back, popular. 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:05.400 Exactly. A total far cry from the anxious guy 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:07.479 who later specialized in playing these super 00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:09.900 bizarre, awkward characters. And that conventional 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:12.960 path continued right through college. UCLA, got 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.240 a history degree, joined a fraternity, Lambda 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:18.019 Chi Alpha. And then came the moment, the big 00:04:18.019 --> 00:04:20.800 pivot point. Yeah. He decides, OK, I'll become 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:23.160 a financial broker like my dad. He ends up at 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:25.019 Smith Barney Shearson. Yeah. This was supposed 00:04:25.019 --> 00:04:28.000 to be it. The safe, respectable career. And this 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:30.319 is where the source material gives us that really 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:33.620 crucial insight into what drove him later. He 00:04:33.620 --> 00:04:36.459 tried that path, the stability path, and he felt 00:04:36.459 --> 00:04:39.160 miserable there. Not just like, oh, this job 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:43.699 is boring. It was profound unhappiness. A deep 00:04:43.699 --> 00:04:46.139 sense of wrongness. Okay, that's significant. 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:48.279 And what's really interesting is the trigger 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:50.639 for change wasn't like taking an improv class 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:54.259 on a whim. No. It was writing. He co -wrote a 00:04:54.259 --> 00:04:56.879 feature -length script. just on the side while 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:00.519 working in finance. And boom. He discovers he 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:02.819 loves writing more than anything. That was the 00:05:02.819 --> 00:05:04.660 lightning bolt moment. So it wasn't even about 00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:06.899 performing initially, just the writing itself. 00:05:07.259 --> 00:05:09.420 Right. And this is the critical point. People 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:11.699 had apparently encouraged him to try comedy back 00:05:11.699 --> 00:05:14.439 in college, but it took the actual crushing weight 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:17.680 of that finance job, the misery, to finally push 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:19.420 him to make the change. So it wasn't so much 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:21.300 being pulled towards comedy. As it was being 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:24.569 pushed away from finance. Repulsion from that 00:05:24.569 --> 00:05:27.889 secure path. And think about the risk involved 00:05:27.889 --> 00:05:30.470 there. Leaving a high status job like that at 00:05:30.470 --> 00:05:32.949 a big firm to chase something he'd only just 00:05:32.949 --> 00:05:35.990 realized he loved. Yeah, that takes guts. Or 00:05:35.990 --> 00:05:38.829 maybe desperation. Or both. But it required enormous 00:05:38.829 --> 00:05:42.170 dedication fueled by that deep unhappiness. So 00:05:42.170 --> 00:05:44.910 he makes that massive pivot away from the safe 00:05:44.910 --> 00:05:48.170 world into the, well, pretty uncertain and chaotic. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:51.959 L .A. comedy scene. That's a huge choice right 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:53.800 there. And it hints at how he'd later channel 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:57.319 that same drive into this new, terrifying direction. 00:05:57.699 --> 00:05:59.540 And once he made that decision, he really did 00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:01.259 hit the ground running, started taking classes 00:06:01.259 --> 00:06:03.519 at the Groundlings, you know, the legendary L 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:05.319 .A. Improv and Sketch Place. Right. A proving 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:07.779 ground for so many people. Exactly. And he was 00:06:07.779 --> 00:06:10.220 tutoring kids on the side just to pay the bills. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:12.680 Imagine that step down from a broker's potential 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:15.759 salary to tutoring fees. That's commitment. And 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:18.379 did that focus pay off quickly? Eventually. His 00:06:18.379 --> 00:06:20.620 first real break into the industry wasn't performing 00:06:20.620 --> 00:06:23.139 live, interestingly. It was this comic book he 00:06:23.139 --> 00:06:25.660 made. A comic book? Yeah, called 101 Things to 00:06:25.660 --> 00:06:27.620 Definitely Not Do If You Want to Get a Chick. 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:30.379 Okay, that title is pure forte already. Totally. 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:33.240 And that actually got him noticed, landed him 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:36.100 his first professional writing gig on The Jenny 00:06:36.100 --> 00:06:38.759 McCarthy Show. Wow. Okay, so he's in the door 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:41.379 as a writer. And then came the call that, you 00:06:41.379 --> 00:06:43.899 know, every comedy writer back then dreamed of, 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:46.180 writing for The Late Show with David Letterman. 00:06:46.589 --> 00:06:48.769 the big leagues yeah this must have felt like 00:06:48.769 --> 00:06:51.410 validation like okay i made the right choice 00:06:51.410 --> 00:06:53.949 leaving finance you'd think so but the reality 00:06:53.949 --> 00:06:58.529 it was harsh he got hired and then he was let 00:06:58.529 --> 00:07:02.089 go after only nine months ouch fired from letterman 00:07:02.089 --> 00:07:05.319 why what went wrong there Well, I want to linger 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:07.160 on this failure because it seems like it really 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:10.339 shaped his resilience later. He himself called 00:07:10.339 --> 00:07:13.459 the experience unpleasant. Yeah. And he admitted 00:07:13.459 --> 00:07:15.720 pretty openly that he just didn't have enough 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:18.120 experience yet. He felt he needed maybe a couple 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:20.240 more years under his belt. So was it just not 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.019 the right fit for the Letterman style or was 00:07:22.019 --> 00:07:25.079 he genuinely not ready for that level? It sounds 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:26.939 like a bit of both, but maybe more the latter. 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:29.579 His natural style was already leaning towards 00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:33.149 the absurd character driven stuff. The Letterman 00:07:33.149 --> 00:07:36.189 room, especially then, was this high -speed joke 00:07:36.189 --> 00:07:38.350 machine, super topical quick punches. Right, 00:07:38.389 --> 00:07:40.509 very different energy. Very different. And he 00:07:40.509 --> 00:07:43.589 just wasn't seasoned enough yet to deliver consistently 00:07:43.589 --> 00:07:45.850 under that specific kind of intense pressure. 00:07:46.009 --> 00:07:48.389 He was quite honest about it being a gap in his 00:07:48.389 --> 00:07:50.310 experience at the time. Okay, so that's the second 00:07:50.310 --> 00:07:54.069 major career rejection, right? First, realizing 00:07:54.069 --> 00:07:56.790 finance was a dead end, now getting fired from 00:07:56.790 --> 00:08:00.930 his dream writing job. What does he do? He retreats. 00:08:01.310 --> 00:08:03.610 Goes back to L .A., but he seems really determined 00:08:03.610 --> 00:08:06.129 now to master the craft that kind of chewed him 00:08:06.129 --> 00:08:07.910 up and spat him out. Back to the writing desk. 00:08:08.069 --> 00:08:09.990 Back to the writing desk and back to the Groundlings. 00:08:10.389 --> 00:08:13.269 He rejoined their main company, performing alongside 00:08:13.269 --> 00:08:16.889 people who'd become huge stars. Maya Rudolph, 00:08:17.209 --> 00:08:20.430 Cheryl Hines. Wow, what a cohort. Right. But 00:08:20.430 --> 00:08:23.250 critically, he also got proper staff writing 00:08:23.250 --> 00:08:26.379 jobs on established sitcoms. Third Rock from 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:29.399 the Sun, that 70s show. And at this point, he'd 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:31.439 mostly given up on the idea of being a performer. 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:34.320 He was focused on being a writer, getting that 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:37.320 stable income he'd lost at Letterman. So stability 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:39.980 returns. He's found his footing as a successful, 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:42.730 reliable writer. And then? And then just when 00:08:42.730 --> 00:08:44.970 he settled, Lorne Michaels spots him performing 00:08:44.970 --> 00:08:48.029 at the Groundlings in 2001. Ah, the timing. So 00:08:48.029 --> 00:08:50.090 just as he's maybe feeling secure as a writer, 00:08:50.190 --> 00:08:52.409 he gets pulled back towards performing. That 00:08:52.409 --> 00:08:54.169 must have triggered some of that Letterman anxiety 00:08:54.169 --> 00:08:56.590 again. You have to imagine so. And the audition 00:08:56.590 --> 00:08:58.570 itself, it's become kind of legendary because 00:08:58.570 --> 00:09:00.470 it just perfectly captures his whole dedication 00:09:00.470 --> 00:09:02.669 to the absurd. Okay, tell me about the audition. 00:09:02.950 --> 00:09:05.649 He did several characters. He developed Tim Calhoun, 00:09:05.710 --> 00:09:08.529 the speed reader guy, standard enough. But the 00:09:08.529 --> 00:09:11.899 closer. The final piece. It was this deliberately, 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.620 almost aggressively weird act. This is the gold 00:09:14.620 --> 00:09:16.159 paint story, isn't it? This is the gold paint 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:18.840 story. He came out as this character, a gold 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:21.840 painted street performer. And the bit was that 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:24.690 the character performs fellatio. Right. To earn 00:09:24.690 --> 00:09:27.470 money to pay for his gold face paint. And the 00:09:27.470 --> 00:09:30.370 core of the joke, if you can call it that, was 00:09:30.370 --> 00:09:32.929 just repeating the words cock and face paint 00:09:32.929 --> 00:09:35.870 over and over and over again. Just tip -coating 00:09:35.870 --> 00:09:39.429 them. Yes. Until they completely lose all meaning. 00:09:39.529 --> 00:09:42.850 The highest concept applied to the lowest concept 00:09:42.850 --> 00:09:45.309 imaginable. It's almost daring the audience, 00:09:45.450 --> 00:09:47.950 daring Lorne Michaels, to find humor in just 00:09:47.950 --> 00:09:50.590 pure, ridiculous repetition and awkwardness. 00:09:50.870 --> 00:09:54.179 Lorne Michaels went for it. He went for it. Clearly, 00:09:54.179 --> 00:09:56.379 he saw the potential for that kind of high risk 00:09:56.379 --> 00:09:58.960 boundary pushing comedy. But here's the twist. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:02.379 Forte gets the offer to join SNL. This childhood 00:10:02.379 --> 00:10:04.419 dream. His childhood dream. And he initially 00:10:04.419 --> 00:10:07.419 turns it down. What? Why? He preferred the financial 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:10.159 security he had writing for that 70s show. He 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:12.519 was in his 30s by then, remember? And he worried 00:10:12.519 --> 00:10:14.899 that the actual reality of being on SNL could 00:10:14.899 --> 00:10:16.940 never live up to the idealized version he'd built 00:10:16.940 --> 00:10:19.700 up since he was a kid. Wow. That's the practical, 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:22.639 organized side winning out again, even over his 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:25.360 dream job. For a moment, yeah. But thankfully, 00:10:25.539 --> 00:10:29.019 he reconsidered, realized his mistake, and joined 00:10:29.019 --> 00:10:32.759 the cast in 2002, right as Will Ferrell was leaving, 00:10:32.940 --> 00:10:36.500 which was huge shoes to fill. Huge. And he got 00:10:36.500 --> 00:10:38.779 promoted fast. Yeah, promoted to full repertory 00:10:38.779 --> 00:10:41.620 player after just one season. So clearly, he 00:10:41.620 --> 00:10:43.759 made an impact as a writer -performer right away. 00:10:44.059 --> 00:10:46.559 But the sources say his actual experience initially 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:49.750 was kind of a disaster. Severe stage fright. 00:10:49.850 --> 00:10:52.330 Yeah, crippling stage fright. And here's a really 00:10:52.330 --> 00:10:54.590 interesting technical point. The sources say 00:10:54.590 --> 00:10:58.389 he had to relearn how to perform. Wait, how does 00:10:58.389 --> 00:11:00.710 a veteran of the Groundlings main company need 00:11:00.710 --> 00:11:03.460 to relearn performing? That sounds weird. It 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:05.019 does, but it makes sense when you think about 00:11:05.019 --> 00:11:07.059 the SNL machine. It's unique. It's incredibly 00:11:07.059 --> 00:11:09.940 fast. As a sitcom writer, you might have weeks 00:11:09.940 --> 00:11:12.720 to hone a character beat or a joke. Right, rehearsals, 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:16.240 rewrites. Exactly. At SNL, it's 90 minutes of 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:18.940 live TV. You're often performing sketches written 00:11:18.940 --> 00:11:21.360 by other people, sometimes with barely any rehearsal. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.820 He was used to having control over his material 00:11:23.820 --> 00:11:26.480 from the ground up at the groundlings. Now he's 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:28.700 suddenly having to interpret other people's words 00:11:28.700 --> 00:11:31.799 live under immense pressure. Okay, that. makes 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:34.879 sense. The sheer speed and lack of control. That 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:38.100 combined with the underlying stage fright. just 00:11:38.100 --> 00:11:40.059 overwhelmed him at first. And he got kind of 00:11:40.059 --> 00:11:41.759 pigeonholed too, right? Yeah. Because Pharrell 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.580 left. Yes. With Pharrell gone, the show needed 00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:47.399 someone to play President George W. Bush. So 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:49.639 Forte got slotted into that role pretty much 00:11:49.639 --> 00:11:51.480 immediately. Which he wasn't comfortable with. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:54.779 Profoundly uncomfortable. He felt his impression 00:11:54.779 --> 00:11:57.519 just couldn't compare to Pharrell's iconic take. 00:11:57.820 --> 00:12:00.279 And because that was often his main role early 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:03.139 on, it meant his own preferred style, those really 00:12:03.139 --> 00:12:06.700 absurd high concept pieces he wanted to do, kept 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:09.580 getting blocked, or pushed aside. So that probably 00:12:09.580 --> 00:12:12.379 created this awful feedback loop, right? He's 00:12:12.379 --> 00:12:14.820 forced into a role he dislikes, which makes him 00:12:14.820 --> 00:12:16.399 more anxious, which probably makes it harder 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:18.700 to pitch and perform his own stuff. Precisely. 00:12:18.700 --> 00:12:20.940 It all fed into itself, and it culminated in 00:12:20.940 --> 00:12:23.600 this really terrifying moment during the 2004 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:26.379 -2005 season. The near firing. The near firing. 00:12:26.460 --> 00:12:29.139 The sources confirm it. He was seriously on the 00:12:29.139 --> 00:12:31.580 chopping block after his third season. They apparently 00:12:31.580 --> 00:12:33.620 gave him two different three -week extensions 00:12:33.620 --> 00:12:36.340 before finally deciding to keep him on. Wow. 00:12:36.920 --> 00:12:40.519 Imagine that pressure. Six weeks where every 00:12:40.519 --> 00:12:43.320 single sketch, every pitch meeting is basically 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:46.539 an audition to save your job for someone already 00:12:46.539 --> 00:12:49.139 prone to anxiety. It's the definition of a pressure 00:12:49.139 --> 00:12:51.240 cooker. You'd think it would make someone crumble 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:53.519 or maybe try to change their style to be more 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:55.940 mainstream, more palatable. Who did? He didn't. 00:12:56.019 --> 00:12:59.240 No. And what's incredible is that maybe that 00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:04.480 structured, organized, almost rigid nature is 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:06.919 actually what helped him survive. That same intense 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:09.460 focus he'd later joke about, he just channeled 00:13:09.460 --> 00:13:11.620 it into sticking it out, trusting his own weird 00:13:11.620 --> 00:13:14.519 sensibility. He even estimated later it took 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:17.100 him a full five seasons. Five years. Five years. 00:13:17.139 --> 00:13:19.799 So two years after almost being fired before 00:13:19.799 --> 00:13:21.879 he actually felt comfortable in the show. That's 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:24.620 incredible perseverance and that commitment to 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:27.019 his own unique voice, even when it wasn't popular 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:29.500 or easy. That's what led him to become the king 00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:31.440 of the 10 to 1 sketch, right? Absolutely. Let's 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:32.980 just quickly explain that for anyone listening 00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:35.559 who isn't an SNL nerd. Yeah, good idea. The 10 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:37.519 to 1 slot, it's literally the sketch that airs 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:39.899 at 10 minutes to 1 .00 a .m. right before the 00:13:39.899 --> 00:13:41.799 good nights. When half the audience has probably 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:44.200 gone to bed. Exactly. It's traditionally reserved 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:47.019 for the weirdest, most experimental, most non 00:13:47.019 --> 00:13:50.019 -traditional sketches. The stuff that Lorne Michaels 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:53.019 maybe isn't sure about or knows won't play broad. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:55.679 It's kind of the penalty box, but it's also the 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:58.100 zone of maximum creative freedom. It's where 00:13:58.100 --> 00:14:01.059 you put forte characters like Tim Calhoun or 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:04.179 Greg Stink or the Falconer. The Falconer, yes. 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:08.120 A guy dressed as a falcon who only screeches. 00:14:08.299 --> 00:14:11.830 Perfect 10 to 1 material. It cemented his identity 00:14:11.830 --> 00:14:14.190 on the show. He was the guy doing the stuff that 00:14:14.190 --> 00:14:15.950 wasn't for everyone, but the writers and the 00:14:15.950 --> 00:14:18.669 hardcore fans absolutely loved it. It was indispensable 00:14:18.669 --> 00:14:21.590 in a weird way. And that dedication to the bazaar 00:14:21.590 --> 00:14:23.549 actually led to some pretty significant moments 00:14:23.549 --> 00:14:25.490 over his eight years there, like being in the 00:14:25.490 --> 00:14:28.450 very first SNL digital short. Yeah, Lettuce with 00:14:28.450 --> 00:14:30.870 Andy Samberg. That kicked off a whole new era 00:14:30.870 --> 00:14:33.029 of comedy for the show, those prerecorded shorts. 00:14:33.309 --> 00:14:35.009 So he was right there at the beginning of that 00:14:35.009 --> 00:14:38.350 wave. He stayed for 157 episodes in total, finally 00:14:38.350 --> 00:14:42.080 leaving in 2012. OK, so that eight year run leads 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:44.139 us directly to probably his most famous creation, 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:47.220 right? McGruber. Instantly recognizable. That 00:14:47.220 --> 00:14:50.080 bombastic, mullet wearing, always failing special 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:53.240 ops guy based loosely on MacGyver, of course. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:57.120 But here's the kicker. It wasn't actually Forte's 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:00.799 idea initially. No, which is wild considering 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.240 how much he embodies that character. It was actually 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:06.139 writer Jorma Taccone, one of the Lonely Island 00:15:06.139 --> 00:15:08.340 guys who came up with it. And Forte didn't like 00:15:08.340 --> 00:15:11.129 it. He was totally reluctant at first. Tacone 00:15:11.129 --> 00:15:12.990 apparently had to pitch it to him relentlessly. 00:15:13.450 --> 00:15:15.289 Forte thought the basic sketch idea was just 00:15:15.289 --> 00:15:17.870 too dumb. That's hilarious. The master of absurdity 00:15:17.870 --> 00:15:20.840 thought MacGruber was too dumb. I know. But Tacone 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:23.399 eventually wore him down. The first sketch aired 00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:25.960 in January 2007, and it caught on pretty well 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:27.919 with the audience. But the thing that really 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.299 blew it up happened two years later. The Super 00:15:30.299 --> 00:15:34.080 Bowl ads? Yes, 2009. Pepsi sponsored these MacGruber 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:37.519 commercials during Super Bowl XL3, and the absolute 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:40.000 stroke of genius was getting Richard Dean Anderson. 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:42.480 The original MacGyver. The original MacGyver 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.240 himself, to play MacGruber's dad in the ads, 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:47.259 getting that endorsement from the source material, 00:15:47.379 --> 00:15:49.240 plus the massive audience of the Super Bowl, 00:15:49.340 --> 00:15:52.860 it just launched MacGruber into genuine mainstream 00:15:52.860 --> 00:15:56.980 pop culture. And that naturally leads to the 00:15:56.980 --> 00:15:59.220 movie. The MacGruber movie comes out in 2010. 00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:02.139 And they had to make this thing incredibly fast, 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:04.539 like four weeks shooting in Albuquerque. While 00:16:04.539 --> 00:16:07.679 they were still doing SNL every week. Yes. Simultaneously 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:09.960 writing and producing sketches for the live show 00:16:09.960 --> 00:16:12.120 back in New York. He talked about just insane 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:14.639 levels of sleep deprivation during that period. 00:16:14.700 --> 00:16:18.240 Just constant creative output on two massive 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.620 projects at once. That sounds like a recipe for 00:16:20.620 --> 00:16:23.460 burnout. But did he enjoy making the movie itself? 00:16:23.899 --> 00:16:25.679 He seemed to love the creative freedom, yeah. 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:27.980 He described the process as really collaborative 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:30.240 with Tecone and director John Solomon. They basically 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:33.940 got to make exactly the bizarre, R -rated, absurdist 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:36.379 action comedy they wanted to make. Total control. 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:40.159 Which sounds great. But creative vision doesn't 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.220 always translate to box office success. No, it 00:16:43.220 --> 00:16:46.200 definitely doesn't. The movie got pretty mixed 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:49.320 reviews, and commercially it was a bomb. Pulled 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:52.139 from theaters really quickly, didn't come close 00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:55.799 to making back its budget. Man, for someone who 00:16:55.799 --> 00:16:58.139 just spent eight tough years at SNL, finally 00:16:58.139 --> 00:17:01.399 gets his own movie based on his character, that 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:03.500 kind of public failure must have been crushing, 00:17:03.740 --> 00:17:06.140 especially after the Letterman firing, almost 00:17:06.140 --> 00:17:08.500 getting fired from SNL. You'd absolutely think 00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:10.799 so. Another big rejection on a massive stage. 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:13.480 But his reaction, according to the sources, was 00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:16.119 actually pretty healthy. Surprisingly healthy, 00:17:16.299 --> 00:17:18.900 yeah. He basically said he found the failure 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:22.279 OK to deal with because he was genuinely, deeply 00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:25.220 proud of the movie they made. His quote was something 00:17:25.220 --> 00:17:27.059 like, when you make something that you're really 00:17:27.059 --> 00:17:29.299 proud of and it doesn't do well, you can live 00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:31.240 with it. That's a great attitude. That conviction 00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:33.359 probably saved him from just spiraling after 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:35.750 that. It had to be his shield psychologically. 00:17:36.089 --> 00:17:38.650 And, you know, time proved him right in a way, 00:17:38.730 --> 00:17:40.869 because even though it bombed initially, the 00:17:40.869 --> 00:17:43.650 sources clearly state MacGruber quickly became 00:17:43.650 --> 00:17:46.490 this huge cult classic. Right. It found its audience 00:17:46.490 --> 00:17:49.349 eventually. Exactly. So his vision was validated, 00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:52.369 just not by those opening weekend numbers. The 00:17:52.369 --> 00:17:55.450 cultural impact was delayed, but definitely profound. 00:17:55.910 --> 00:17:59.049 OK, so when the movie comes out in 2010, flops 00:17:59.049 --> 00:18:02.710 initially, and he leaves SNL shortly after that. 00:18:03.019 --> 00:18:05.299 He mentioned reasons like hitting the eight -year 00:18:05.299 --> 00:18:07.539 mark, wanting to be closer to family on the West 00:18:07.539 --> 00:18:09.900 Coast. Right, his sister's kids specifically, 00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:13.079 all valid reasons. But the period right after 00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:15.960 he left sounds like it was rough. Really rough. 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:18.500 He called that following year an emotionally 00:18:18.500 --> 00:18:21.619 trying period, said he felt devastated that he 00:18:21.619 --> 00:18:23.799 wasn't on the show anymore, which shows how attached 00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:26.819 he still was despite the grueling schedule. And 00:18:26.819 --> 00:18:28.440 he thought his movie career was basically over 00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:30.980 because MacGruber bombed. Yeah, he assumed that 00:18:30.980 --> 00:18:33.329 door was pretty much closed. Which, you know, 00:18:33.410 --> 00:18:35.710 is maybe a reasonable assumption after a high 00:18:35.710 --> 00:18:38.349 -profile flop. This kicked off what he apparently 00:18:38.349 --> 00:18:41.329 refers to as his lost period. The lost period. 00:18:41.650 --> 00:18:44.349 Define that. Just struggling to find work. He 00:18:44.349 --> 00:18:47.089 was working, but it was mostly these small, kind 00:18:47.089 --> 00:18:49.569 of forgettable supporting roles in movies that 00:18:49.569 --> 00:18:52.329 didn't do very well. Things like Rock of Ages, 00:18:52.549 --> 00:18:54.720 That's My Boy the Watch. Right, I remember those. 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:57.480 Not exactly career -defining roles. Not at all. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:00.220 He even did a cameo in Grown Ups 2. It seemed 00:19:00.220 --> 00:19:02.279 like he was maybe drifting a bit professionally. 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.240 The momentum wasn't there. But there was one 00:19:05.240 --> 00:19:07.279 really important exception during that time, 00:19:07.339 --> 00:19:09.099 wasn't there? Something that kept him visible. 00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:12.259 Yes, absolutely crucial. His recurring role on 00:19:12.259 --> 00:19:15.500 30 Rock. As Paul Esnamé, Jenna Maroney's cross 00:19:15.500 --> 00:19:18.039 -dressing boyfriend. who also happens to be a 00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:21.059 Jenna Maroney impersonator. Exactly. Such a bizarre, 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:23.900 brilliant character. And that role was critical 00:19:23.900 --> 00:19:26.960 because it was so different from the loud, often 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:30.400 aggressive male energy of MacGruber or his other 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:33.839 SNL characters. It showed this incredible comedic 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.599 nuance. And got him serious recognition. Huge 00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:39.420 recognition. He got an Emmy nomination for Outstanding 00:19:39.420 --> 00:19:42.160 Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 2013 for that 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:45.289 role. Wow. It totally validated his talent outside 00:19:45.289 --> 00:19:47.769 of his own specific creations. It basically signaled 00:19:47.769 --> 00:19:49.930 to the industry, hey, this guy isn't just the 00:19:49.930 --> 00:19:52.869 weirdo from SNL. He can deliver complex, funny, 00:19:52.950 --> 00:19:55.390 even kind of touching performances within a top 00:19:55.390 --> 00:19:58.019 tier show. So that 30 Rock role. Even though 00:19:58.019 --> 00:20:00.240 it was just recurring, it kind of served as an 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.759 accidental bridge, didn't it? From the lost period 00:20:02.759 --> 00:20:05.599 into the next completely unexpected phase of 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:08.240 his career. Perfectly put. An accidental bridge 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:12.019 to pure drama. Okay. So that Emmy nomination 00:20:12.019 --> 00:20:14.920 for 30 Rock must have given him, I don't know, 00:20:14.980 --> 00:20:17.859 a confidence boost. Or at least made people see 00:20:17.859 --> 00:20:20.259 him differently. It definitely raised his profile 00:20:20.259 --> 00:20:23.259 again and showed his range enough that he was 00:20:23.259 --> 00:20:26.599 offered his first real straight up dramatic role 00:20:26.599 --> 00:20:28.900 in this indie film called Run and Jump in 2013. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:32.160 And he went for it. He did. But he admitted that 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:34.920 the director, Steph Green, seemed to have way 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:37.200 more confidence in his dramatic abilities than 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:39.599 he had in himself at that point. He was stepping 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:41.720 on the completely new ground, feeling pretty 00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:44.200 unsure. That vulnerability seems key. Being willing 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:47.119 to trust directors who saw something maybe he 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:49.720 didn't see in himself yet. Exactly. But the role 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:51.799 of the film that absolutely cemented this dramatic 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:54.980 pivot came that same year, Nebraska. Directed 00:20:54.980 --> 00:20:57.720 by Alexander Payne, a major filmmaker. A major 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:00.640 filmmaker. And Forte had to audition for this 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.160 one, send in a tape. When he actually got cast 00:21:03.160 --> 00:21:06.500 opposite Bruce Dern, the sources really emphasize 00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:09.859 how conflicted he felt. Conflicted how? He felt, 00:21:09.980 --> 00:21:12.839 in his words, terrified to start work on it. 00:21:13.049 --> 00:21:15.609 Utterly terrified. And he specifically equated 00:21:15.609 --> 00:21:18.430 that level of fear to the dread he felt when 00:21:18.430 --> 00:21:21.230 he first joined SNL over a decade earlier. Wow. 00:21:21.529 --> 00:21:24.910 That's really telling. After all that time, all 00:21:24.910 --> 00:21:27.730 the success, even the SNL grind, he's back to 00:21:27.730 --> 00:21:30.410 feeling that same level of rookie terror in a 00:21:30.410 --> 00:21:32.549 totally new environment. It just highlights how 00:21:32.549 --> 00:21:34.329 different the skill set is, right? The muscles 00:21:34.329 --> 00:21:36.410 you need for broad sketch comedy versus quiet 00:21:36.410 --> 00:21:38.589 internal drama. Totally different. One is about 00:21:38.589 --> 00:21:41.900 commitment. to a big, absurd concept. Right. 00:21:42.019 --> 00:21:44.279 While dramatic acting, especially in a subtle 00:21:44.279 --> 00:21:46.140 character piece like Nebraska, requires almost 00:21:46.140 --> 00:21:48.660 the opposite. Stillness, vulnerability, finding 00:21:48.660 --> 00:21:51.279 small truths. He actually asked Bruce Dern for 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:53.660 advice on set. And what did Dern tell him? Dern, 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:55.440 the veteran, apparently just told him to look 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:57.380 for the truth in every scene. Simple advice, 00:21:57.559 --> 00:22:00.920 but profound. And that instruction, look for 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:04.210 the truth. That feels like something Forte's 00:22:04.210 --> 00:22:07.109 hyper -organized, super -focused brain could 00:22:07.109 --> 00:22:10.349 latch onto, doesn't it? Exactly. If you can dedicate 00:22:10.349 --> 00:22:13.150 yourself to listening to only one song for an 00:22:13.150 --> 00:22:16.809 entire year as a mental exercise, you can definitely 00:22:16.809 --> 00:22:20.410 dedicate that same intense focus to finding the 00:22:20.410 --> 00:22:23.569 emotional core, the truth, of a scene with Bruce 00:22:23.569 --> 00:22:26.349 Dern. You just redirect the obsession. And it 00:22:26.349 --> 00:22:29.049 worked. The results were... Pretty stunning. 00:22:29.309 --> 00:22:31.849 Immediate and powerful. He won the National Board 00:22:31.849 --> 00:22:33.829 of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor for 00:22:33.829 --> 00:22:36.369 Nebraska. Got nominated for an Independent Spirit 00:22:36.369 --> 00:22:38.509 Award, too. This wasn't just like, oh, hey, the 00:22:38.509 --> 00:22:41.950 funny guy can act. This was major critical acclaim. 00:22:41.950 --> 00:22:44.329 It's fundamentally repositioned his entire career. 00:22:44.630 --> 00:22:46.930 The guy who painted himself gold and yelled cock. 00:22:47.549 --> 00:22:50.009 is now an award -winning dramatic actor. It's 00:22:50.009 --> 00:22:52.190 incredible. It really is. And what's fascinating 00:22:52.190 --> 00:22:54.210 is how he leveraged that dramatic success. He 00:22:54.210 --> 00:22:55.950 didn't just settle into being a dramatic actor 00:22:55.950 --> 00:22:58.150 for hire. No, it seems like it fed right back 00:22:58.150 --> 00:23:00.569 into his writing and creating drive. Immediately. 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:03.589 He took an idea that originated with Phil Lord 00:23:03.589 --> 00:23:05.569 and Christopher Miller, the guys behind Clone 00:23:05.569 --> 00:23:08.130 High and the Lego movie, and he attached himself 00:23:08.130 --> 00:23:11.069 to it, crafting this whole treatment over a single 00:23:11.069 --> 00:23:13.670 weekend for what became The Last Man on Earth. 00:23:13.829 --> 00:23:18.099 Which Fox picked up ran from 2015 to 2018. And 00:23:18.099 --> 00:23:20.259 this show feels like the ultimate Forte project, 00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:22.259 doesn't it? It really was the perfect synthesis. 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:26.079 It had that high concept SNL absurdity. I mean, 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:28.079 the premise is literally The Last Man on Earth. 00:23:28.259 --> 00:23:31.380 But because it's a series, it needed deep, ongoing 00:23:31.380 --> 00:23:33.839 character development and narrative arcs. And 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:36.420 he wasn't just the star. He was... Everything. 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:39.519 Pretty much. Creator, main writer, executive 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:42.319 producer, and the lead actor playing Phil Tandemiller. 00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:45.420 He basically became the entire creative engine 00:23:45.420 --> 00:23:47.299 and bottleneck for the whole show. And he talked 00:23:47.299 --> 00:23:49.619 about how demanding that was. Oh, yeah. He described 00:23:49.619 --> 00:23:52.160 being a showrunner as an amount of work I never 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:54.519 knew existed. Said he was working a minimum of 00:23:54.519 --> 00:23:57.200 12 hours every single day. This is where that 00:23:57.200 --> 00:23:59.940 intense organizational drive met just absolute 00:23:59.940 --> 00:24:02.220 sheer workload. And there's a psychological challenge 00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:04.880 too, right? Managing the writer's room. Yeah, 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:06.680 he mentioned that a lot of the writers were his 00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:08.599 longtime friends from the groundlings and his 00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:11.380 earlier career. And he found it really awkward 00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:13.920 being their boss, having to delegate work, give 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:15.960 notes. Yeah, that can be tough with friends. 00:24:16.140 --> 00:24:19.259 He worried about burdening them or maybe seeming 00:24:19.259 --> 00:24:21.740 like he wasn't pulling his weight. So often he'd 00:24:21.740 --> 00:24:23.599 just end up doing the work himself instead of 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:25.859 delegating it, which, of course, just made those 00:24:25.859 --> 00:24:28.680 12 -hour days even longer. Wow. So he's trying 00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:30.660 to keep that writer's control he's always had, 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:33.960 but now he's also got the massive administrative... 00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:37.180 and creative burden of being the ultimate boss. 00:24:37.420 --> 00:24:40.829 That sounds... Incredibly stressful. Hugely stressful. 00:24:40.990 --> 00:24:43.230 But the results, they were fantastic. Yeah, the 00:24:43.230 --> 00:24:45.230 show was great. And critically acclaimed, too. 00:24:45.390 --> 00:24:48.690 Absolutely. It earned him three Primetime Emmy 00:24:48.690 --> 00:24:51.309 nominations, two for his acting, one for writing 00:24:51.309 --> 00:24:54.289 an episode. It proved he could absolutely handle 00:24:54.289 --> 00:24:56.990 long -form storytelling while still keeping his 00:24:56.990 --> 00:25:00.529 unique, bizarre voice intact, all basically through 00:25:00.529 --> 00:25:03.750 sheer force of will and dedication. And alongside 00:25:03.750 --> 00:25:06.549 all this leading man, showrunner stuff, he's 00:25:06.549 --> 00:25:09.019 also quietly become this incredibly prolific 00:25:09.019 --> 00:25:11.799 voice actor. Oh yeah, his voice work is extensive. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:14.519 He was in the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 00:25:14.519 --> 00:25:18.430 movies. He voiced Shaggy in that Scoob. movie, 00:25:18.589 --> 00:25:20.930 Tim Willoughby in The Willoughbys. But there's 00:25:20.930 --> 00:25:22.710 one voice role he keeps coming back to, almost 00:25:22.710 --> 00:25:25.250 like a running gag. Abraham Lincoln, yes. It's 00:25:25.250 --> 00:25:27.410 kind of his signature voice role now. He was 00:25:27.410 --> 00:25:29.829 Lincoln in Clone High way back, then again in 00:25:29.829 --> 00:25:31.670 the Lego movie films, and even in that animated 00:25:31.670 --> 00:25:34.450 movie America, The Motion Picture. It's hilarious. 00:25:34.630 --> 00:25:37.750 The guy known for MacGruber is also the go -to 00:25:37.750 --> 00:25:40.309 animated Abraham Lincoln. The contrast is perfect 00:25:40.309 --> 00:25:42.769 forte. And his career hasn't slowed down at all, 00:25:42.809 --> 00:25:45.089 has it? He's still balancing everything. Not 00:25:45.089 --> 00:25:48.720 one bit. He's got the main voice role. as Wolf 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:50.859 Tobin in The Great North. He was in Sweet Tooth 00:25:50.859 --> 00:25:53.640 on Netflix. And he's got multiple upcoming series, 00:25:53.779 --> 00:25:56.180 Bodkin, which is out now, something called Sunny 00:25:56.180 --> 00:25:59.259 Nights, and even Pixar's first ever animated 00:25:59.259 --> 00:26:03.440 TV series, Win or Lose, coming up in 2025. The 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:05.680 guy just does not stop working. Seems like he 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:07.299 hasn't stopped since he walked out of that Smith 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:11.900 Barney office. Okay, so given this... Absolutely 00:26:11.900 --> 00:26:15.240 relentless professional life. You know, the fear, 00:26:15.380 --> 00:26:18.279 the failures, the near firings, the 12 -hour 00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:19.859 showrunner days. We really need to look at his 00:26:19.859 --> 00:26:22.000 personal life, too. Yeah. Because that reveals 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:24.799 the bedrock, the source of all this intense dedication. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:26.900 Which seems to be this incredibly structured, 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:29.500 organized core. Exactly. Let's start with the 00:26:29.500 --> 00:26:31.789 stability he's found more recently. He met Olivia 00:26:31.789 --> 00:26:34.410 Modling back in 2018. They got engaged in 2019. 00:26:34.829 --> 00:26:37.150 And they got married in a really charmingly weird 00:26:37.150 --> 00:26:39.509 way, right? Totally Forte style. Yeah. They got 00:26:39.509 --> 00:26:41.970 married pretty spontaneously on July 31st, 2021. 00:26:42.410 --> 00:26:44.490 Apparently, it was just in the back of Jorma 00:26:44.490 --> 00:26:46.170 Tacone's house in New Mexico. While they were 00:26:46.170 --> 00:26:48.150 filming the MacGruber TV series? While they were 00:26:48.150 --> 00:26:50.769 filming MacGruber. Perfect. So even the wedding 00:26:50.769 --> 00:26:53.650 has that touch of absurdity. But the family life 00:26:53.650 --> 00:26:56.190 itself sounds very grounding now. Very much so. 00:26:56.269 --> 00:26:58.670 They have two daughters now. Zoe Douglas Forte 00:26:58.670 --> 00:27:01.450 was born in February 2021, and then their second 00:27:01.450 --> 00:27:04.529 daughter, Cecilia, arrived about 18 months after 00:27:04.529 --> 00:27:07.309 that. So he seems to have successfully built 00:27:07.309 --> 00:27:11.230 this really solid personal foundation. Amidst 00:27:11.230 --> 00:27:13.970 all the career chaos. And here's a detail that 00:27:13.970 --> 00:27:16.529 just blew my mind about his commitment to structure, 00:27:16.650 --> 00:27:19.809 to having a base. Remember, he joined SNL in 00:27:19.809 --> 00:27:22.450 2002 and moved to New York. Yeah, for eight years. 00:27:22.809 --> 00:27:24.809 Well, two weeks before he moved across the country, 00:27:24.970 --> 00:27:27.369 knowing he'd be gone for years, he bought a house, 00:27:27.470 --> 00:27:29.930 a modest little craftsman place in Santa Monica. 00:27:30.069 --> 00:27:32.730 Get out. Two weeks before moving to NYC for potentially 00:27:32.730 --> 00:27:35.289 eight years. Yep. He bought his California anchor 00:27:35.289 --> 00:27:38.210 before leaving. Wow. Talk about planning ahead. 00:27:38.349 --> 00:27:39.690 That's not just buying a house. That's like. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:43.180 planting a flag. It suggests he always knew, 00:27:43.259 --> 00:27:45.740 or at least intended to come back to L .A. He 00:27:45.740 --> 00:27:48.799 needed that fixed point, that home base, even 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:50.819 while his professional life was entirely on the 00:27:50.819 --> 00:27:53.140 East Coast. It's that organizational mind again. 00:27:53.420 --> 00:27:56.720 And that focus clearly extends to his close family, 00:27:56.779 --> 00:28:00.019 too. His mom, Patricia. She's apparently visited 00:28:00.019 --> 00:28:02.480 every single film set he's ever worked on. That's 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:05.200 incredible support. And he seems equally dedicated 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:07.920 back. He officiated his sister Michelle's wedding. 00:28:08.269 --> 00:28:11.269 And this is classic Forte, too. He filmed the 00:28:11.269 --> 00:28:14.109 births of both his niece and nephew. He loves 00:28:14.109 --> 00:28:16.549 documenting things. The history major in him 00:28:16.549 --> 00:28:19.750 may be applying that organized focus to the really 00:28:19.750 --> 00:28:21.930 important emotional moments in his family's life. 00:28:22.150 --> 00:28:24.210 OK, now we have to connect this stability, this 00:28:24.210 --> 00:28:27.109 structure to the quirks. Yeah. The things that 00:28:27.109 --> 00:28:30.509 probably fuel the comedy. his OCD tendencies. 00:28:30.609 --> 00:28:32.730 Right. He's talked about this quite openly, even 00:28:32.730 --> 00:28:34.789 joked about it. He acknowledges it can be a challenge. 00:28:34.869 --> 00:28:36.789 He apparently took some questionnaires once that 00:28:36.789 --> 00:28:39.170 strongly suggested he should talk to someone 00:28:39.170 --> 00:28:41.769 about it. But his perspective seems to be that 00:28:41.769 --> 00:28:44.309 he doesn't really want to eliminate it. He sees 00:28:44.309 --> 00:28:47.230 his OCD as just a fundamental part of who he 00:28:47.230 --> 00:28:49.569 is, of his personality. Not a flaw to be fixed, 00:28:49.630 --> 00:28:52.329 but just a feature. The thing that gives him 00:28:52.329 --> 00:28:54.990 his intense focus. And that brings us to the 00:28:54.990 --> 00:28:57.690 legendary story that perfectly illustrates this. 00:28:57.980 --> 00:29:01.140 The song. The song. It's unbelievable. He recounted 00:29:01.140 --> 00:29:03.559 how he set himself this completely arbitrary, 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:06.359 self -imposed challenge while at SNL. What was 00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:09.599 it? He decided to listen to only one single song. 00:29:09.859 --> 00:29:14.539 The same song. over and over in his office for 00:29:14.539 --> 00:29:17.319 an entire year. Entire year? Not the last. Plus 00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:20.200 one song. Why? Just because. As a test of endurance. 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:23.480 As an organizational exercise. Who knows? But 00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:25.880 it's the ultimate example of that rigidity turned 00:29:25.880 --> 00:29:28.160 into this weird form of dedication. It's the 00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:30.099 same psychological engine, right, that allows 00:29:30.099 --> 00:29:33.579 him to repeat cock and face paint until it becomes 00:29:33.579 --> 00:29:35.940 funny through sheer absurdity. Or that allows 00:29:35.940 --> 00:29:38.440 him to maintain the intense focus needed to run 00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:40.880 a whole TV show for 12 hours a day. Exactly. 00:29:40.940 --> 00:29:43.180 It's Structure and focus applied relentlessly, 00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:45.960 whether it's to endurance or absurdity or even 00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:48.400 finding the truth in a dramatic scene. He even 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:50.859 explains his gaming success. Right. Apparently, 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:53.759 while filming some movie, a good old -fashioned 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:56.059 orgy, I think it was, he achieved one of the 00:29:56.059 --> 00:29:57.759 world's highest scores on the classic arcade 00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:01.569 version of Donkey Kong. No way. Yes. Again, it's 00:30:01.569 --> 00:30:03.950 that hyper -focused dedication, that pattern 00:30:03.950 --> 00:30:06.730 recognition, that organizational skill just applied 00:30:06.730 --> 00:30:09.750 to mastering a notoriously difficult arcade game. 00:30:09.849 --> 00:30:11.970 It all connects back. Hashtag tech tech outro. 00:30:12.390 --> 00:30:14.970 So when you step back and look at the whole journey, 00:30:15.170 --> 00:30:17.990 Orville Willis, Forte the Fourth, Will Forte. 00:30:18.539 --> 00:30:21.180 What really stands out is just the sheer unbelievable 00:30:21.180 --> 00:30:24.299 range. It's kind of mind -boggling. Yeah. You've 00:30:24.299 --> 00:30:26.279 got a guy who starts out failing as a financial 00:30:26.279 --> 00:30:28.759 broker, gets fired from his dream late -night 00:30:28.759 --> 00:30:32.119 rating job, but then somehow harnesses the, I 00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:34.259 guess, the structure learned from those failures 00:30:34.259 --> 00:30:36.359 and the sheer intensity of his own organized 00:30:36.359 --> 00:30:38.920 mind. To become first the ultimate high -concept 00:30:38.920 --> 00:30:41.519 weirdo comedian. Right. And then somehow pivots 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:44.380 again to become this genuinely acclaimed, award 00:30:44.380 --> 00:30:47.019 -winning dramatic actor. And it doesn't feel 00:30:47.019 --> 00:30:49.539 random, does it? His versatility seems really 00:30:49.539 --> 00:30:51.359 rooted in something specific we've talked about. 00:30:51.460 --> 00:30:54.019 It seems rooted in his willingness to repeatedly 00:30:54.019 --> 00:30:56.240 take on the challenges that absolutely terrified 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:58.359 him. Choosing the vulnerability of performing 00:30:58.359 --> 00:31:01.240 over the safety of just writing. Choosing the 00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:03.980 scary subtlety of Nebraska over sticking with 00:31:03.980 --> 00:31:06.680 the characters he knew. Each big pivot seems 00:31:06.680 --> 00:31:09.140 driven by this need to explore something new 00:31:09.140 --> 00:31:11.859 creatively. Even when it meant facing a men's 00:31:11.859 --> 00:31:14.380 feeder or potential failure or just sheer exhaustion 00:31:14.380 --> 00:31:17.619 like with show running. Exactly. And that dedication 00:31:17.619 --> 00:31:20.119 we saw, whether he's applying it to, you know, 00:31:20.119 --> 00:31:22.279 mastering a tough dramatic scene with Bruce Dern 00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:26.420 or leading a massive TV production or even conquering 00:31:26.420 --> 00:31:28.859 Donkey Kong. Or listening to one song for a year. 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:31.079 Or listening to one song for a year. It confirms 00:31:31.079 --> 00:31:33.720 that his intense, maybe even obsessive organizational 00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:36.859 drive isn't actually a barrier to his creativity. 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:40.319 It's the fuel for it. He takes structure, applies 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:43.180 relentless focus, and some him gets results sometimes 00:31:43.180 --> 00:31:46.269 through pure transcendence. absurdity, sometimes 00:31:46.269 --> 00:31:49.710 through profound, dramatic truth. So the final 00:31:49.710 --> 00:31:51.490 thought we want to leave you, the listener, with 00:31:51.490 --> 00:31:54.170 is really centered on that idea, the power of 00:31:54.170 --> 00:31:56.650 choosing the path that scares you. Forte found 00:31:56.650 --> 00:31:59.250 his depth, his evolution, not by staying comfortable, 00:31:59.329 --> 00:32:01.869 but by repeatedly stepping into the roles and 00:32:01.869 --> 00:32:04.910 jobs that genuinely terrified him. Right. So 00:32:04.910 --> 00:32:07.430 the question for you is... What's the one challenging 00:32:07.430 --> 00:32:09.269 thing you could dedicate yourself to right now? 00:32:09.390 --> 00:32:11.809 Maybe it's a skill, maybe it's a project, something 00:32:11.809 --> 00:32:14.809 that feels almost too daunting. Like for Forte, 00:32:14.829 --> 00:32:16.990 stepping onto that SNL stage must have felt, 00:32:17.049 --> 00:32:20.390 or leaving that secure job. Could that challenge, 00:32:20.410 --> 00:32:23.089 that thing that scares you, be the very thing 00:32:23.089 --> 00:32:25.690 that unlocks some completely unexpected talent 00:32:25.690 --> 00:32:28.069 or depth within you? Just like it seems to have 00:32:28.069 --> 00:32:30.430 done time and again for the master of structured 00:32:30.430 --> 00:32:32.130 chaos himself, Will Forte.