Zach Galifianakis reveals that Hillary Clinton’s team initially attempted to block jokes about her email controversy before her appearance on his Between Two Ferns show ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Negotiation Over Interview Terms
During a recent episode of Conan O’Brien’s podcast, Galifianakis explained how discussions about comedians challenging politicians led him to recount the tense setup. He noted that Clinton appeared reluctant, stating, “I remember when I interviewed Hillary Clinton and I could tell she didn’t want to be there. And I totally get that.”
Her team contacted him with instructions: “you can’t bring up those emails.” Galifianakis responded firmly, “well, we don’t have to do the interview. That’s fine, we won’t do it.” Surprisingly, the team agreed to proceed on his terms. “They were like, ‘OK, we’ll do it.’ Well, you can ask, because it’s not that important to me to do it the way they want to do it,” he said. “You have to, if you’re going to come in a comedy, you got to, the way we want to do it.”
Memorable Moments from the Interview
The interview featured sharp humor targeting Clinton’s email scandal and her roles as former First Lady, Secretary of State, and Senator. Galifianakis quipped about her title, asking how President Obama liked his coffee—”like himself?…. Weak”—and inquired about her typing speed.
He also pressed her on mirroring Donald Trump’s tactics and posed a hypothetical: “When he’s elected president and Kid Rock becomes secretary of state, are you going to move to Canada? Or one of the Arctics?” Clinton replied quietly that she would stay in the U.S. to “try to prevent him from destroying the United States.”
Galifianakis followed up: “So you’re going to lead the civil war?” She denied it, adding, “I wouldn’t take up arms. I think that might be a little extreme.” He joked, “Oh, right, because you were saying before we were rolling that you wanted to take away everyone’s guns.” Clinton responded, “I really regret doing this.”
Behind-the-Scenes Insights
Producer Scott Aukerman shared that Clinton pitched the idea herself, inspired by President Obama’s successful appearance to promote Obamacare among young voters. “It was actually her idea, strangely enough,” Aukerman said. “She told her team she wanted to do it and that she really liked the one with President Obama, so that kind of made the process really easy.”
The segment was largely improvised, appealing to millennials—a key demographic for Clinton’s campaign. Despite the gamble, she lost the election to Trump.
Galifianakis expressed a wish for more comedians to challenge figures like Trump rather than “suck up to him,” adding that participating in self-deprecating humor can be “humanizing.”
