Will Ferrell (Sort of) Brings Exotic and Endangered Animals to Stephen Colbert's Post-Super Bowl 50 Late Show

Who needs to promote Zoolander 2, anyway?

By Zach Johnson Feb 08, 2016 1:16 PMTags

An animal expert he is not.

Will Ferrell visited Stephen Colbert on The Late Show's post-Super Bowl episode, sporting the kind of khaki ensemble Jack Hanna might wear. "Did you get a chance to watch the game backstage?" the host asked. Ferrell hadn't, because "there was a three-hour Downton Abbey."

Colbert then addressed the elephant in the room. "I'm curious about your outfit tonight, what that's about," he said. Ferrell said he had noticed Colbert's Late Show is "kind of new," and it doesn't have a regularly scheduled animal expert. "So, I thought I could step in and fill the gap."

"I thought we were going to talk about Zoolander 2, though," Colbert told his guest. Ferrell said he was "not really focused on that right now," s the segment would be "all about the animals."

"You're the guest," Colbert said. "Whatever you want to do."

"We brought some of the rarest and most endangered animals in the world," Ferrell said as one of his assistants brought over the first critter. "Mulan is...well, I wouldn't 'ooh' and 'ahh' when you hear about what she is," he told the crowd in mock seriousness. "She's a short-spined Peruvian mongoose. And she looks so calm and cuddly, but she can be very aggressive, and she will charge, so please, no sudden movements."

"That really—and I could be wrong—that really looks like a kitty kat," Colbert said.

"Uh, Stephen, who's wearing the vest?" Ferrell asked. "This is a highly endangered species."

"I didn't know there were any mongoose in Peru," Colbert said.

"No, there's just one. This one," Ferrell explained. "You know why? They're just so damn delicious. But we're hoping to get it into our breeding program."

"I don't know a lot about breeding programs, but how do you breed it when there's only one?" Colbert asked. Ferrell replied, "Well, we're going to have to cross it with something. Something cool like a wolverine or possibly a dirt bike."

Ferrell then introduced Colbert to another animal. "This is Kayak. This is a Mongolian bush tiger. You can tell it's a boy. He's got a huge strip sack," he said. "He's just a year old, believe it or not. He's going to grow to be 11-feet-long. He's going to weigh over 600 pounds. A Mongolian tiger can take down a full-grown moose."

"I was not aware that there were moose in Mongolia," Colbert said.

"No, in my backyard," Ferrell said. "I shipped in couple of moose to see if they could do it, and I won a whole of money."

Heather Wines/CBS

Colbert tried in vain to discuss Zoolander 2 (in theaters Friday), but he did succeed in finding out why Ferrell had a gun on him. "If the bush tiger escapes—this one—I gotta take it down," the actor said. "There's only one of these, too, so it's got nothing to lose. It's a desperate, desperate animal, ready to rip your face off."

Ferrell's assistant traded Kayak for Cilantro, one of Ferrell's feathered friends. "I'm sure you've heard of a duckbilled platypus, right? This is a duck-bodied platypus. They're so rare. There's only one left, right here," he said. "This platypus ahs the duckbill and the duck feet and also the duck body. And I got this one down in Chinatown. I won him off a rooster playing tic-tac-toe."

Colbert was confused when he saw the next animal. "Now, what is that?" he asked.

"Haven't you ever seen a chicken before?" Ferrell asked.

"Why do you have a chicken here?" Colbert asked.

"We're feeding this chicken to the next animal right here," Ferrell said, handing Colbert protective glasses. "We're going to feed the chicken to this upper Nile skull badger. This badger is going to eat this chicken." When the rodent didn't comply, Ferrell scolded his assistant. "Did you already feed him backstage?" he asked. "I told you not to."

Colbert then asked, "Why do I have to wear the goggles?"

For safety. Duh. "Given half the chance, this thing will burrow through your eye socket and nest in your brain," Ferrell told him. "They lay eggs in your brainpan and when they hatch, they eat their way out through your mouth and scream for you."

"Because they've eaten your tongue?" Colbert asked.

"Exactly," Ferrell replied.

"His name?" Colbert asked.

With a smirk, Ferrell replied, "Peyton Manning."

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35.

Latest News