The actor, best known for his role in Anchorman, recalled the nerves and excitement of being part of a brand-new cast on the show in 1995. He remembered his first time on stage, saying, "I'm sitting there, and they're counting down the show, and I'm looking out. My folks are in the audience, friends and family, and I'm like, 'I can't believe I'm here and I'm about to say whatever line.'"
However, Ferrell admitted that he didn't perform his opening line as perfectly as he had hoped. "A little trivia here: I mess up my line the first time I speak on camera on the show. I flub it," he said. Despite his recollection, Ferrell's debut, which aired as part of the season 21 premiere hosted by Mariel Hemingway, shows him delivering the opening line of the "OJ Today" cold open flawlessly: "The defense rebuts the rebuttal, next on 'OJ Today.'"
Ferrell did stumble on a line later in the show, during the sketch Get Off the Shed, following Hemingway’s monologue. While introducing himself in the sketch with, "Hey there, how ya doing?", Ferrell fumbled his second line: "I don't know we've bee— that we've met before."
It’s possible that Ferrell confused the two moments, or the version of the episode archived on Peacock may have replaced his early mistake with a smoother take from dress rehearsal. Regardless, Ferrell’s memory of the flub was a reminder of the pressure he faced during the live broadcast. "You know how you do the first dress rehearsal, and by the time you do the live show, you're like, 'Piece of cake. I got it,'" he explained. "But I'm sitting there in the chair, and the enormity of the moment hits me, and I start to get a little bit emotional thinking about, 'Wow, this is the thing I've always dreamed about,' and then it was like, 'Five seconds!'"
That pressure led to a mishap, with Ferrell admitting he nervously spouted "total gibberish." His mistake was so noticeable that SNL producer Lorne Michaels came backstage to check on him. "I was like, 'Argh!' and Lorne came back, and he was like, 'Are you okay?'" Ferrell recalled. "I'm like, 'I'm fine, I'm fine. I dunno what happened.'"
Now, looking back, Ferrell sees the experience as an important learning moment. "It was incredibly uplifting and incredibly grounding all at the same time," he said. "It was like, don't take anything for granted. I can't believe I'm here."
