Will Ferrell did not appreciate it when a stranger told him he’s “no Larry David,” the Saturday Night Live alum revealed on a new episode of the podcast Happy Sad Confused.
Ferrell was heading to the bathroom in a restaurant when a woman approached him. “She’s like, ‘You’re very funny,’” the comedian recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Well, that’s very nice of you.’ She’s like, ‘But you’re no Larry David.’ And I go, ‘Oh, well, yeah,’ I kind of chuck, ‘Are you kidding me? He’s one of the best. He’s a king. He’s a king.’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ Anyway, she goes to the bathroom. I go to the men’s room.”
But the interaction didn’t end there. Ferrell said they exited their respective bathrooms at the same time, and the woman picked up right where she’d left off.
“She’s like, ‘I’m serious. You’re no Larry David. Like, you’re not even close to him,’” Ferrell continued. “And I was like, ‘Oh, we’re going there.’”
Ferrell said he’s not afraid to stand up for himself in those situations, which often surprises people. The public tends to overlook that he can experience anger and frustration.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I get it. You like Larry David. Why don’t you go back to your table and shut up?’” Ferrell said, laughing. “If you’re gonna really keep it up, then I’m gonna get back in your face. I get it, you like Larry David. I do, too. You made your point.”
This wasn’t the first time Ferrell has responded cheekily to backhanded compliments. A man once told him, “I don’t care what they say. I think you’re hilarious,” and Ferrell decided to have some fun.
“I said, ‘Well, thank you, but what are they saying? You said, ‘I don’t care what they say.’ Well, who’s they?” Ferrell said. “He’s like, ‘Oh, no. Uh-uh, no, I didn’t mean it that way.’
But Ferrell wasn’t finished.
“No, let’s sit down and talk about it,” he said to the man. “I want to break it down. Who’s ‘they?’ Give me the list.”
The downside, Ferrell knows, is that people can leave with a bad impression. But he insisted it’s just not important to him if a stranger in a restaurant finds him unsavory.
“I know the B-side of that was like, ‘I just met that Buddy the Elf,’” Ferrell said. ”‘He’s an a--hole.’ Her version was probably, ‘I just told him I love Larry David.’"
