Jimmy Fallon and Maya Rudolph Reminisce on Will Ferrell’s Various ‘SNL’ Behind-the-Scenes Alter Egos

Maya Rudolph reunited with her former Saturday Night Live castmate Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Tuesday night, where they reminisced over co-star Will Ferrell’s behind-the-scenes antics at Studio 8H.

Fallon asked Rudolph if she remembered a character that the Anchorman star created on set.

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“Are you talking about Chip Kudrow or Ron?” interrupted Rudolph.

The host noted that the character he was thinking of was Chip Kudrow, a persona that Ferrell used for an ongoing bit, where he pretended to be Lisa Kudrow’s brother.

Rudolph explained, “Will Ferrell had a character named Chip Kudrow who would just show up at our pitch meetings.”

It’s clear that Ferrell had various alter egos on set, as Fallon asked Rudolph if Chip was the one who wore a referee shirt or overalls. This prompted Fallon to mention another one of the Barbie star’s characters, named Ron.

Rudolph recalled, “Ron would just say, ‘I’m Ron,’ and he wore these shades.”

Fallon noted to the audience, “Will would stay in character all week and you couldn’t break him. Just during the day for no reason.”

“One of the greatest gifts of life was, like, when I got to SNL, there were so many people that were just like … He was so comfortable doing the weirdest bits and nobody said anything,” added Rudolph. “I didn’t know it wasn’t normal.”

The former SNL stars also shared another memory from working alongside Ferrell, in which Rudolph wrote a heartfelt sketch for the actor’s last read-through.

“At the last table read, you write stuff that you know isn’t going to make it on the show, but you just do it to send off the person that you love,” explained Rudolph. “We did a parody of the Phoebe Snow song [‘Poetry Man’] but it was ‘You’re the comedy man. You make everything all right.'”

“Dude, we all lost it,” recalled Fallon, who also shared that everyone in the room cried.

In an online SNL featurette from 2020, Ferrell talked about creating the alter ego of Chip. He shared that he was struck by how serious the production was for a comedy series and decided to have some fun on set. “[Writer and producer] Steve Higgins would be like, ‘Can I help you?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m Chip Kudrow, Lisa Kudrow’s brother. Yeah, I’m guest writing. Lorne [Michaels] didn’t tell you?'”

Ferrell continued, “They would actually go through the normal, constructive process of giving notes and then Steve would go, ‘Chip, any ideas?’ And I’d just be like, ‘This one’s good to go.'”

He also talked about Ron, his other on-set alter ego, who wore a fake mustache and an ascot, featuring an outfit that he found at a thrift store. “I never broke character. I just went, ‘I’m Ron,'” said Ferrell.

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