Will Forte reveals playing ‘awful’ prank that he continues to regret: ‘It was the worst thing’
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Before landing roles on 'Saturday Night Live' and 'Last Man on Earth,' Will Forte was already testing out his sense of humor — sometimes with consequences.
Forte recently opened up about one childhood prank that went too far while appearing on 'Hot Ones' with Sean Evans.
Will Forte faked his death at age 14
Will Forte was asked to name the best prank he ever pulled on his parents. But instead of sharing details, Forte recalled a deeply regrettable moment from when he was 14.
"I have an awful one," Forte said. "Ugh. I’m not even going to tell it."
After some encouragement from host Sean Evans, he agreed to reveal the story, though reluctantly.
"It’s awful," Forte warned. "It’s horrible. You’ll see why. Please feel free to cut this out."
He explained that he once saw his mother driving through the neighborhood and decided to play a dark joke.
"I wrote on a piece of paper, I’m like, 'I'm so sorry, Mom.' And then left that at the front door and then laid down on her bathroom floor as if I was no longer alive," Forte said according to Entertainment Weekly.
Will Forte realizes 'not everything is funny'
The prank, which involved pretending to be dead, immediately backfired.
"Hearing her scream, it was the worst! It was the worst thing," Will Forte recalled. "And I immediately popped up — 'Mom I’m kidding!'"
Looking back, he shook his head in disbelief, saying, "Little s**t freakin’ 14-year-old thinking it's funny."
Though the prank was a failure, Forte said it taught him a lasting lesson about comedy and its impact.
"It did teach me, like, 'Oh, not everything is funny. There are things that hurt people,'" Forte said.
He added, "And, you know, I certainly look back at my own work and there are regrets I have, but I don’t love comedy that hurts people or makes fun of people."
Will Forte once gifted '12 bathrobes' to his father
Not all of Will Forte's pranks had such serious results. In 2015, his 'SNL' co-star Rachel Dratch shared a lighter story with Vulture about a Christmas prank he played on his father.
Dratch said Forte asked his father what he wanted for Christmas, and he replied, “Anything but a bathrobe.” In response, Forte gifted him nearly a dozen.
"So Will went out and bought like 12 bathrobes and put them in different-size boxes so it didn’t all look like bathrobes. He [put] one in a little teeny box and one in a giant box," Dratch said.
Each time Forte's father thought he was getting something different, it turned out to be another bathrobe.
Forte confirmed the story and shared his golden rule when it comes to gifts.
"Never tell me there’s something you don’t want for Christmas, because that means for sure you’re getting that — and not just that but a bunch of them, probably," he joked.
