Will Forte, Phil Lord, & Chris Miller on Being "The Last Man on Earth"

Will Forte, Phil Lord, & Chris Miller on Being "The Last Man on Earth"
About this video
YH sits down with "The Last Man on Earth" himself, Will Forte, along with the producers of the hit Fox series, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, at SXSW in Austin to find out what THEY would do in the event of a real-life apocalypse! They also reveal what sorts of things they do when no one else is around, and Will treats us to a tearjerking rendition of the National Anthem!
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You put boogers in your pocket?
I put boogers in my pocket because I don't want to leave them on the seat.
Do you when you Okay, when you're washing your pants
I don't want to leave them on my finger.
Do you pull your your pockets out so that you can
It all comes out in the wash.
Welcome to the Shakeweight show. I'm Nikki Novak and I'm here with the last man on Earth. You might be the last man on Earth.
If we keep this up, yeah.
Congrats on the show coming out. People the buzz is huge, enormous about this. I read that I'm not sure which one of you said that a lot of your films and that come out of bad ideas and they turn into something fantastic. Are you suggesting that this is a bad idea for our TV show? The last man on Earth, a hilarious virus that wipes out all of world's population. Does that sound hilarious?
That sounds like a comedy to me. Yeah.
You have the weight of the world on your shoulders because acting and keeping things compelling and you don't have anyone to act off of. I would imagine that that's a difficult thing to do.
It was it's obviously challenging to come up with scenarios to keep people interested as they're watching but there were so many very smart people involved in the making of the show. These two uh you know, are are you know, we we
Oh my God, absolutely.
The three of us were in it from the get-go and just having fun all day thinking about different things they would want to do if uh it was the end of the world. Hey, what's up? Just had to get out of the house. Been a rough day. Hey, you want a whiskey? You want a whiskey, Gary? Whiskey? You sure? How about you, Jimmy? No? Okay, well, does anyone want a whiskey? Huh? Greg? Kevin? Anton? No, really? Nobody? Trevor? Terrence? Tran? Darby? Bryce? Marshall? Peter? Thomas?
I also think that because the premise of the show is so risky that it just makes everybody more creative.
I read something about this is a cable show that's going to be on a network. How do you get away with things you want to get away with?
For the most part, what's crazy is that Fox has left us alone and allowed us to make the show that that we all wanted to make. They've been really supportive and let us do everything. I mean the only thing so far
No F-words.
No F-words.
Yeah, I mean there was a there was a
That's the one thing.
You can't even say F.
You can't even say F.
You can't say F. It's a letter in the alphabet.
No words that start with the letter F. That is ridiculous.
You could be meaning food when you say the letter F.
Food, but I'm eating OOD. You're meaning OOD instead.
Literally no letter F is not possible.
We're on the Ox Network.
Yeah.
Yes. No, you have to say Ox.
No, we can say F.
Yes, Fox. They just left after they put that Fox bug on there.
Have you guys ever in your life personally outside of work, had a bad idea? Thought this is a really bad idea and it turned out to be fantastic, like skydiving or something crazy?
Yeah, I go way more the other way thinking things are going to be a good idea and then they're really bad. Yeah.
One time I ate sushi at an airport.
Oh. Always a great idea.
Oh, it was very delicious and was a great idea. So that was yes, yeah.
Yeah. A funny twist. A lot of great stories start they take that trajectory. You think it seems like it's going to be a bad idea and then it turns out great.
Best sushi you ever had.
Yeah.
I'm surprising quiz anybody could have come up with. If you were the last man on Earth, what's the first thing you're doing?
I'm stealing the Mona Lisa.
I don't know how I'm getting to Paris. You're going to get to Paris. How would you get to Paris? That's the interesting thing. It's like we
We're going to talk about it. That's the whole idea of the show. It's kind of fun thing that happens in the writers' room going like how would you? You don't want to like, you don't want to risk it with like learning how to fly a plane. You're not a navigator.
Use the stars.
Yeah. There's no internet. You'd have to go to a library and read a bunch of crap.
So what would you do? What would be the first thing you would do? Cuz I'm sure you've had time to ponder this.
I actually have an answer. I mean, a lot of the things that I would do wish fulfillment-wise are are in the show. Like that's been the most fun part of the show is thinking about these dumb things that get to do bowling, using a flamethrower on a bunch of wigs, stuff like that. That's just fun stuff that I would want to do.
A steamroller was like the passion of yours.
Yeah, a steamroller. What happens if I've been trying to use a steamroller in things forever. Casey's B and a steamroller, what happens?
Where did the wigs come from?
Yeah. That's something we've never actually talked about. They're all inflammable. So he sets up about 10 to 12 different wigs on headstands and then uses a flamethrower and came from logic. You know? It was just a logical thing to do.
I love the national anthem in the ballpark. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Was that your voice?
Oh, yeah.
He's an excellent singer.
Well, I don't know. You know, sometimes people want to have
Did you have auto-tune for that? Cuz that was great. She
No, I didn't have auto-tune. I had Forte tune on that.
Auto-tune. Without some auto-tune.
Jumping back into the answer, the first one of the first things I would do would be to go and just uh unearth all the conspiracy theories, JFK assassination, um Area 51, you know, stuff like that.
Have you been to Area 54? It's like a club.
Yeah, it's like a club. Andy Warhol.
It's a secret government club where everybody kind of hangs out. Is it really? Is it in Disneyland?
It's studio
It's club
No, that's Club 33.
Oh, okay. Anyway, fun facts to know and share. You see how I yes, and did Everything turns into a fun fact.
Fun fact.
Such a good. This is chaos.
I could back it up.
Oh, yeah. You can do the backup singer. There we go. Sometimes just by itself is really good. It's delightful. That was really good. Okay, last but not least. You're the last man on Earth. You're there alone. But I'm telling you, you could have one companion come with you.
Mhm.
You can choose anybody alive or dead. It can't be friends or family. Who are you picking? Oh, and it can't be a friend or family. No. No one you've ever met before.
Jimmy Page.
Jimmy Page. Interesting.
Oh, yeah.
Phil.
Uh David Byrne.
Oh, that's a cool answer.
I'm a musician. What are you going to
I'm Yeah, but you gave me the musician idea. Maybe I should get a non
No, I'm just going to go with like Albert Einstein or something so I can feel smart.
He's dead, dude. He said living or dead.
I'm just going to go with this course.
Oh, living or dead? Yeah. You missed the whole, yeah, you got.
Yeah. Jimmy Page. Still Jimmy Page.
When people are alone, as you are in the show, what is one thing you can reveal that you do when you are alone? When no one
I get that nose.
What are your favorite things to do?
I get that nose picked. Thank God I cleared it out. So much better to breathe. I got to say that that's something I do in public kind of all the time. If you sit behind me in a movie theater, get ready to watch somebody pick their nose. Man, I tell you what.
Do you leave it on the seat?
No, I I this is crazy. Sometimes I put them in my pocket so I don't
In your pocket?
Put them in my pocket. But I like to generally is, uh, wait a second.
Clean out Phil's pockets when I get there. You put boogers in your pocket?
I put boogers in my pocket because I don't want to leave them on the seat.
Okay, when you're washing your pants.
I don't want to leave them on my finger.
Breaking news, guys. Do you pull your your pockets out so that you can
It all comes out in the wash.
Have you heard that phrase? It all comes out in the wash. It's giving it a new meaning. Wow. I can't even answer this question on television. You know what? I was joking. I don't pick my nose.
Oh, was it a
You failed. You failed. Do you really put them in your pockets? You really put them in your pockets?
Yes. You know that you're at this interview, dude. Man, what? That's what that's for. The key pocket. I'm not talking. We should not have had dark and stormy's right before our interview. Oh my God.
Would you like to take us out with the end of the National Anthem?
Yeah. For the land of the free And the oh, the police are coming. Home of the brave.
Timestamps are approximate — click one to jump the player.
PEOPLE MENTIONED
- Will Forte
Actor and star of "The Last Man on Earth"
- Phil Lord
Producer of "The Last Man on Earth"
- Chris Miller
Producer of "The Last Man on Earth"
- Nikki Novak
Interviewer from Young Hollywood
- Andy Warhol
Mentioned in discussion about Area 54
- JFK
Referenced in discussion of conspiracy theories
- Jimmy Page
Chosen as ideal apocalypse companion
- David Byrne
Chosen as ideal apocalypse companion
- Albert Einstein
Chosen as ideal apocalypse companion
FAQ
Who stars in "The Last Man on Earth"?+
Who are the producers of "The Last Man on Earth"?+
What is one thing Will Forte would do as the last man on Earth?+
What network airs "The Last Man on Earth"?+
Where was this interview conducted?+
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