Molly Shannon is reflecting on her decades-long friendship with Will Ferrell and the incredibly prescient comments he made early in his career.
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Shannon recalled meeting Ferrell in the mid-1990s while working at what she described as a “cappuccino and scone place” in Los Angeles. The two were introduced through the comedy troupe “Groundlings” and immediately hit it off. “We hit it off right away,” she said, recalling serving him scones and lattes. “We’ve been friends ever since. 30 years.”
Both were hired by “Saturday Night Live” in 1995 and became part of a defining era for the long-running sketch series. Shannon created characters such as Sally O’Malley, and the pair also collaborated on projects such as “A Night in the Roxbury” and “Superstar.”
But Shannon said one of his early conversations on “SNL” stuck with him. Ferrell was enthusiastic about taking the job, but was cautious about how long it would last.
“I don’t know. Who knows how long this will last,” he told her at the time. “I don’t think this situation will last long. I think actors will eventually be replaced by robots and we won’t need human actors anymore.”
Shannon initially dismissed the idea as too pessimistic, saying she recalled being told, “You’re so gloomy.”
Ferrell joked that it would be okay either way, she added. “He said, ‘You could work as a dog groomer, as a UPS driver, as a coach, and still be happy.'”
“But Will was right,” Shannon said, adding that the two are “dead laughing about it now.”
