Will Ferrell reveals he carved his early SNL niche by ditching big-name impressions for quirky picks like an unhinged Neil Diamond. Ferrell has always had a gift for turning the strangest corners of comedy into unforgettable material, often through bizarre impressions that felt too odd to fail. From offbeat characters to wildly specific takes on public figures, he built a style that stood apart.

And now he has revealed how he first got to that approach in the first place.

Will Ferrell says one of the ways he made his mark on Saturday Night Live was by leaning into strange, offbeat characters instead of chasing the biggest celebrity impressions. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he explained that when other cast members handled the major impersonations, he felt free to carve out his own lane with weirder material.

“I should really work around the edges and do just bizarre, obscure people,” he recalled.

On the same podcast, Ferrell said that approach helped inspire one of his most memorable sketches, a fake VH1 Behind the Music episode built around Neil Diamond.

“I’ve been working on a Neil Diamond,” he told Adam McKay, before turning that idea into a version of the singer who was wildly self-serious and completely unhinged about his own creative process. The bit worked because it played against Diamond’s gentle pop image while giving Ferrell room to go fully strange.

That mindset became a big part of Ferrell’s early identity on SNL, where his oddball choices helped him stand apart in a crowded cast. Rather than trying to outdo everyone else with straight imitation, he found comedy in characters that were a little awkward, unexpected, and just bizarre enough to feel new.

“Let’s write a VH1 Behind the Music of Neil Diamond,” he remembered McKay saying, and that spirit of playful absurdity became a calling card for his rise.

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That same instinct for chaos and commitment now carries into his latest project on a much bigger stage.

Will Ferrell’s new Netflix comedy The Hawk leans all the way into his brand of goofy, self-aware silliness, this time on a golf course. The series centers on Lonnie Hawkins, a once great pro who tries to claw his way back after a career collapse, and it gives Ferrell plenty of room to do what he does best, playing a blustery man child with complete commitment.

The show also has a strong supporting cast that helps keep the chaos moving. Fortune Feimster plays Sam, the freewheeling caddy who becomes Lonnie’s unlikely ally, while Molly Shannon appears as his foul-mouthed ex-wife Stacy, and Jimmy Tatro plays his tightly wound son Lance. 

Reception, though, has landed somewhere in the middle. The show’s broad humor and stretched-out format have drawn mixed responses, with some viewers finding the material, uneven, even if the jokes often land. Despite that lukewarm buzz, The Hawk has already been given a season 2. That suggests Netflix sees enough value in Ferrell’s goofy golf swing to keep the game going.

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What do you think about Will Ferrell’s oddball comedy style and his latest show? Let us know in the comments.