Funnymen and poker have been much in the news recently, with comedian Kevin Hart plying his skills at the table in some seriously big events, but it was comedy actor Will Ferrell who stole the show with his ‘great gambling story’ on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show recently.
The star of movies such as ‘Elf’, ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’ and ‘Get Hard’ (where he actually appeared with Kevin Hart), started off by joking about paying for his daughter’s college education.
“Like every suburban couple, we decided to run an illegal casino in our neighbourhood to pay for her college” which led the show’s host Fallon to ask about his gambling expertise.
“I play poker occasionally,” was Ferrell’s reply, but when it comes to having a poker face, the Hollywood ‘Frat Pack’ movie star joked “When I get a good hand it’s hard not to go “Yes!” accompanied by a dead-giveaway fist pump. Jimmy Fallon admits his own poker face isn’t worth sharing with the audience: “But I sweat,” he jokes.
Ferrell is a funny, funny guy of course, and reveals:
“When I sit down, everyone at the table looks because it’s the dumb famous guy… with a lot of money… and they’re just like, licking their chops!”
His great gambling story, however, steals the show…
‘Bumming about LA with some ‘actor’ friends”, he says about the days before he got the Saturday Night Live gig which propelled him to fame and riches, “We wanted to do a movie.”
Money, as always, is the big stumbling block for aspiring actors and directors, so Ferrell explains:
“We got $10k together by maxing out all of our credit cards… but when started to make the movie we realised it was going to cost $30k, not $10k.”
The answer? In true gambling degen style Ferrell and his buddies decided on the only course of action available to see things through – the ‘Monte Carlo or Bust! Approach!'
“Let’s take the $10k to Vegas,” we thought. “If we win $30k we make the movie, if not, then ok – no movie”
Making a killing in Vegas isn’t easy, but for complete innocents like Ferrell and friends there was only one way to make it work – luck!
“We put the money on Black at the roulette table,” says Ferrell – the Tonight Show audience in stitches already. “We spin it ('I wasn’t allowed to!' I asked, but was told… ’You’re not an employee of the casino!') The little ball bounces all over… lands on Black… and we get $30k!”
The studio is falling about laughing in the background at this twist of fate, but as with every comedian/actor the finale is usually well-hidden.
Fallon finally twigs and says:
“Hmmm, I don’t think that story is true?”
“Yes, actually… that didn’t happen!” says Ferrell. “You asked if I had a great gambling story… I gave you a great gambling story! But no, that never happened!”
But it might make a great comedy movie, and Ferrell would be first in line for the lead role of course!