Will Ferrell reveals how his dad's 'anti-pep talk' led him to wild comedy success

Will Ferrell is one of the most celebrated and successful comedians in the world, with several years of making audiences laugh on Saturday Night Live and decades of making popular comedies on the big screen. From Anchorman to Elf, Ferrell’s work has and will continue to stand the test of time.

One would figure that his success comes from constant encouragement from his family and belief in himself, but he actually had the complete opposite happen to him. In an interview on Off Camera with Sam Jones, Ferrell shared that before he started breaking into comedy, his dad offered him some pragmatic wisdom that could leave others bewitched.

“He said, ‘You know, if it were only about talent, I wouldn’t worry about you,’” recalled Ferrell. “‘But just know there’s so much luck involved, and that if you go down this road and it’s starting to feel like you’re not getting anywhere, it’s okay to quit.’”

On the surface, this sounds like discouragement, but to Ferrell it was a relief. The comedian credits his dad’s “anti-pep talk” for helping him get out of his own head and pursue comedy for fun, rather than thinking quitting equated to failure.

“I just approached it with, like, ‘this is probably not gonna happen,’ so I might as well just have a blast,” said Ferrell. “Because I gave myself that break internally, I think it, unbeknownst to me, opened all these doors because people could read that I was so free with what I was doing.”

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Ferrell’s dad made a great point. Research from Cornell University suggests that luck is a larger factor in success than hard work or merit. In fact, the pressure to succeed leads to burnout and compromises mental health, especially among young people. Knowing that he could quit whenever he wanted to—and that success was primarily out of his hands—allowed Ferrell to focus on the work rather than “will it work?”

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Since the pressure to succeed was off, he was free to have fun in his desired vocation, and that, along with a ton of luck, got him to where he wanted to be. However, even if he didn’t become a superstar and wasn’t afraid of quitting if things got hard, he could look back at all the fun he had without kicking and screaming if things went downhill. While comedy is different from other jobs, Ferrell's focus on having fun probably made his work better, much as it does in other workspaces.

It goes to show that following your dreams doesn’t require the stress of success as additional baggage. If you do what you love, luck might be on your side. At best, you might go semi-pro or continue your chosen vocation without making it a job. In any case, you will have had a great experience that leads to a great career or an enlightening experience to treasure as you pursue other adventures. It’s a win-win.