A new documentary from Will Ferrell’s team has been popular on Netflix since it dropped last month. I finally sat down to watch the film last night, and was caught off guard by its primary subject being from Iowa. There’s even a whole segment set in Iowa City and other small Midwest communities.
Let me catch you up: the new documentary Will & Harper chronicles the 17-day road-trip Will Ferrell and comedy writer Harper Steele took across various, mostly small-to-medium towns in the United States. What makes this documentary particularly noteworthy is that it’s the first time Ferrell is meeting his friend “Harper,” who recently transitioned from a man to a woman.
Ferrell and (formerly) Andrew Steele met on the set of Saturday Night Live. In Will & Harper, it is revealed their friendship formed as Ferrell perceived he was getting the cold-shoulder from other comedians on the set of the show, who didn’t find him funny. Steele knew he wasn’t “a dud,” and would write sketches tailored to Ferrell’s awkward, stilted, and shouting cadences. He became a fan favorite, and well, his career really doesn’t need an introduction…