Zach Galifianakis’s satirical talk show Between Two Ferns ran for 21 episodes between 2008 and 2018. During that time, he conducted awkward interviews with a number of celebrities, many of whom gave viewers the impression that they weren’t happy with Galifianakis’s behavior.
Among the big names Galifianakis welcomed over the years were Bruce Willis, Justin Bieber, Brad Pitt, and Barack Obama. But although it absolutely seemed like it at times, Galifianakis is adamant that he never intended to upset any of his guests.
While appearing on Vulture’s Good One podcast last month, Galifianakis explained that the guests on Between Two Ferns were in on the joke from the beginning. “I never wanted to prank anyone,” the comedian insisted, before revealing that he’d worked on a prank show in the past and hated the experience. However, he clarified that he didn’t let them know the questions in advance (the one exception was the Obama episode). This was strictly so that their responses would be spontaneous.
Zach Galifianakis Revealed the ‘Between Two Ferns’ Guest Who Made Him Think He Was About to Get Hit
Furthermore, Galifianakis pointed out that he was always willing to cut out anything that one of his guests found offensive. For the most part, Galifianakis said that he got along with everyone who’d been on the show behind the scenes. That includes Pitt, who famously spat his gum in Galifianakis’s face. According to Galifianakis, he was the one who instructed Pitt to do that before filming the interview.
But there was a guest who did make Galifianakis uncomfortable at one point, at least in the moment. “I interviewed one person before, and I thought they were legitimately angry at me, and I told the director, ‘We’re done,’” Galifianakis recalled. “I thought someone was gonna hit me.” When pressed on who he was talking about, Galifianakis confessed that the mystery celeb in question was Sean Penn.
“He’s that good of an actor,” the comedian joked. You can check out Penn’s full Between Two Ferns segment, which was filmed in 2010, below.
The post Zach Galifianakis Thought One ‘Between Two Ferns’ Guest Was Actually Going to Hit Him, and It Wasn’t Who You’d Expect appeared first on VICE.
