'Between Two Ferns' Creator Says Hillary Clinton's Episode Was 90 Percent Improvised

Hillary Clinton's 'Between Two Ferns' appearance was a hit. But how did Zach Galifianakis and company pull it off?

Clinton does 'Ferns'
Image via Funny or Die
Clinton does 'Ferns'

Hillary Clinton, improv superstar? That's the word on the street following the Democratic nominee's hilarious appearance on Zach Galifianakis' Funny or Die series Between Two Ferns. The episode, released this week and stacked with sick Trump burns, has many comedy nerds (it me) wondering just how much of it was meticulously rehearsed and, more importantly, how much of this instaclassic Ferns episode was purely off the dome.

"When we did the Obama one, what was going to happen was pretty vetted," Comedy Bang! Bang! host and Between Two Ferns co-creator Scott Aukerman told the Wall Street Journal Thursday. "We had a longer prep time and did more of a dance about what was going into the video and what wasn't. Generally, we like them to be improvised, so we threw that out there for this one and, to their credit, the Clinton campaign wanted it to be as much like the normal experience for us as possible."

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The whole "normal experience" vibe worked out quite nicely, as Clinton and Galifianakis were able to pretty much keep the shoot entirely improvisational. "I'd say 90 percent of the questions we asked and the conversation that was had was totally improvised," Aukerman said. "That's impressive to me because I didn't think that would happen."

In fact, the Clinton campaign didn't even make any special editing requests after shooting wrapped. "We're not playing a prank on people, and we want them to like it when it comes out," Aukerman, who also directed the episode, said. "So occasionally someone will say 'that's too mean' and we'll gladly cut it out. In this case, the campaign really wanted the video to be authentic, so all of the stuff that's in there is our favorite stuff."

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As for the possibility of a Trump appearance on a future episode of Between Two Ferns, Aukerman is the exact opposite of optimistic. "I just can't imagine a situation in which that would ever even occur," Aukerman told the Wall Street Journal. "I just can't see him subjecting himself to that."

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