Will Ferrell says Christopher Walken is annoyed by 'SNL' cowbell sketch
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Christopher Walken would really prefer less cowbell.
The 76-year-old cult film icon apparently feels scarred from a popular “Saturday Night Live” skit he was part of during the 25th season of the late-night NBC show in 2000.
In it, the guest host played Blue Oyster Cult producer Bruce Dickinson, who instructs fictional band member Gene Frenkle — portrayed by then-cast member Will Ferrell — to use “more cowbell” on the group’s landmark hit “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”
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The skit also featured Chris Kattan, Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon (who has a hard time keeping himself from laughing throughout the sketch).
“Guess what? I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!” Walken implores before the group records the track during the nearly six-minute-long skit.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ferrell, 52, who returns to host the show for the fifth time this Saturday, shared Walken’s feelings Thursday during a visit to “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” He said he visited Walken backstage at a theater performance many years after the sketch aired and the actor told him, “You know, you’ve ruined my life.”
Walken — who won a 1979 Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “The Deer Hunter” — reportedly told Ferrell that his fans are a bit overzealous about the sketch.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“‘People during the curtain call bring cowbells and ring them. The other day I went for an Italian food lunch and the waiter asked if I wanted more cowbell with my pasta bolognese,'” Ferrell said Walken told him backstage. “And I think he was really mad at me. He had a little smile, but …”
Ferrell, who said he will spend Thanksgiving with family in Boston this year, suggested that Walken’s career only has three high points.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“From ‘The Deer Hunter’ to ‘Pulp Fiction’ to ‘More Cowbell’ — that’s all he gets,” Ferrell said. “What are ya gonna do?”
Let’s hope Harry Styles — who hosted “SNL” last weekend — doesn’t have a similar reaction to a now-infamous sketch he did involving Sara Lee cakes.
This story originally appeared in the New York Post.