Shaquille O’Neal and Will Ferrell are two legends hailing from the city of Los Angeles. Apart from the legendary work in their respective fields, Shaq and Ferrell are known for their comedic geniuses. And once the duo combined to prank the whole Staples Center in 2013. Speaking to Kevin Hart on his show ‘Hart to Heart,’ Ferrell revealed how he staged as security personnel to escort Shaq out of the Arena from the courtside.
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Shaq is known as a big prankster in the NBA circles and has pranked several superstars and other personalities. One of his favorite targets is Charles Barkley, who he often finds himself pranked while shooting their TNT show together. With Will Ferrell, Shaq tried to take his pranks to the next level, one which the Lakers fans weren’t ready for.
Will Ferrell admits to Kevin Hart of pranking the Staples Center audience along with Shaquille O’Neal
When it comes to having some fun or pulling goofy pranks, Shaq is always up for it. And with actor and comedian Will Ferrell, Shaq pranked the whole Staples Center in 2013. Staging himself as on-court security personnel, Farrell shocked the audience by escorting Shaq out of the Arena during a timeout.
Speaking with Kevin Hart on the ‘Hart to Heart’ show, Ferrell admitted that it took him a lot of guts to pull this prank. The security guard outfit was given to Ferrell by Adam McKay and Chris Henchy. Ferrell gathered the guts to appear as a security guard in a Lakers game for a whole season.
When he finally appeared at Staples Center, the audiences were rather amused to see him standing on the sideline with his get-up. Shaq was particularly humored seeing Will Ferrell in the outfit and thought he could use him as a perfect excuse to prank the audience. Describing the experience, Ferrell said:
“Shaq happened to be at the game. He’s sitting baseline over in the corner. And one of his guys is like ‘Shaq thought that was hillarious. Do you, during the next timeout, do you wanna throw him out of the game?’ Holy s**t. ‘Because he’s ready to leave.’ ”
Ferrell thought this was a genius way to do justice to his look. Elaborating on the prank further, he said:
“So the next time I stood up, I keep looking over at Shaq. We’re like 30 ft away from each other. And he’s looking. And I’m like ‘uh,uh, please.’ And then I keep, he keeps getting my attention, he’s not doing anything. And then finally, I’m like ‘That’s it, let’s go.’ I throw him out of the game. And then, Shaq and I are hugging each other. He’s like ‘That’s so funny that you….anytime, you can throw me out anytime.”
Will Ferrell and Shaq’s genius prank definitely caught the eye of everyone at the arena, even Kobe Bryant who was then playing the game for the Lakers. Surely, everyone, including Kobe, was amused by the way Shaq and Will Ferrell outwitted a full-house arena during a Laker’s gameday.
Will Ferrell had a deep influence over Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson
Besides amusing and humoring everyone with his comedic genius, Will Ferrell also had a deep impact on Warriors’ Klay Thompson’s career. One of Thompson’s dreams was to warm up with Ferrell. Thanks to head coach Steve Kerr, the Splash brother finally found the opportunity to realize the same in 2022.
Klay Thompson is a huge fan of Jackie Moon, a character played by Ferrell in the movie Semi-Pro. The influence of the character is evident on Klay, given he had even dressed up as Jackie Moon for Halloween 2018. In a post-game interview, Thompson admitted how Semi-Pro and Ferrell’s character had helped him through tough days during his rehab period.
