Cross & Crescent

Recently, I met with Will Forte (California-Los Angeles 1989) for coffee in New York City; he was on his way to rehearsal for “Saturday Night Live,” where he has been a featured cast member for the past seven years.

We met at a local hotel dining room and as he looked out over Times Square with childlike wonder, I was struck by his amazement at the site even though he lives in New York City and works just two blocks from this sea of humanity.

Forte is a busy man. Most of this native Californian’s life is spent on his demanding work schedule associated with the show: Monday and Tuesday are taken up with all-day writing sessions, which can regularly stretch into Wednesday morning; followed by Wednesday’s table reads, which determine the best skits that will probably air on the Saturday night show; rehearsals on Thursday and Friday; the actual taping of two “Saturday Night Live” shows on Saturday night; and on Monday, the grind starts all over again.

Forte has been a cast member since 2002, and is known for his many impressions, including favorites like McGruber, political candidate Tim Calhoun, The Falconer, and as the failed basketball coach who shares a pep talk with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.

This past fall, in addition to spoofing the presidential candidates, “Saturday Night Live” became a newsmaker and witnessed an elevated place for both candidates to be seen. Forte suggested that he has met more Secret Service agents this past fall than in any previous season. He went on to say, “I like the Secret Service.”

California Dreamin’

While New York City has been his work setting, he is still very much a Californian at heart; when not rehearsing or taping the show, Forte often returns to the Los Angeles area, where he stays in close contact with his Lambda Chi Alpha brothers.

He initially joined a fraternity to help lessen the size of the big University of California-Los Angles campus. Forte thought he would find a place to live and socialize; what he found instead was “a family, an amazing extension of family.”

Initiated into Lambda Chi Alpha in 1987, a history major, Forte graduated on the “five-year plan,” and followed his father’s footsteps into finance. After a year he felt “something tugging at me and I had to try out the comedy thing.”

He auditioned for the Groundlings, an improvisational comedy troupe based in Los Angeles. The Groundlings sees over 1,000 students per year go through its program. The competitive program consists of four levels: basic, intermediate, writing lab, and advanced.

Participants must be successfully advanced from each level by the instructor. After completing the advanced level, Forte was voted into the Sunday Company, which performed on Sundays.

Members of the Main Company are selected from members of the Sunday Company. Forte compared his experience with the Groundlings to that of joining Lambda Chi Alpha, suggesting that you work and play together as you strive for similar goals. Today, Forte has merged his Lambda Chi brothers with his Groundlings friends, indicating that they probably enjoy each others company when the actor isn’t around.

He left Los Angles and headed to New York City to write on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “That ’70s Show.” Forte also wrote the 2007 film “The Brothers Solomon,” in which he stars opposite Will Arnett (husband of former SNL cast member Amy Poehler).

He is currently writing a script to the movie “Parental Guidance Suggested” with fellow SNL cast member Andy Samberg.

Fears and Heroes

I asked Forte about the pressures of doing a live show, and particularly if he still got nervous. Reflecting on his first appearance on SNL he acknowledged that he was petrified and that it was one of the “scariest things ever.”

But gradually the fear has gone away and his concerns have transferred to a desire to play the role well for the writers, “I want to do well for them…to honor their work.”

When asked if he took exception to being cast as the SNL member who tends to play characters who appear to be out of the main stream or “off,” Forte responded by saying, “I am totally normal — I am a normal person,” however, “when I put on a mustache, certain cast members think I look like a disturbed person.” He has no qualms about playing these characters.

He lists as his heroes: Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, and David Letterman. He describes working with Martin as one of his all-time favorite memories, finally working up the nerve to ask the actor questions about his comedy and his work on various roles in film and on television.

Forte spoke warmly about a memorable and enjoyable Lambda Chi Alpha undergraduate experience. Often he cited continued close relationships with his fellow UCLA brothers and remarked on his attendance at the 1992 General Assembly held in Orlando, Florida.

Forte remembered singing in the Fraternity chorus (off key) and that his main role for the chapter was to go out on the balcony of the massive atrium in the Stouffer’s Orlando and make really loud noises in the courtyard: “I think I annoyed more than a few brothers at that gathering.”

I asked if he recalled any General Fraternity figures from that event and he did recall meeting former Executive Vice President George Spasyk (Michigan 1949). He says, “I still have a George Spasyk T-shirt. I need to find it and wear it on the show.”

UCLA Re-Colonization

In closing, I asked Forte if he had any thoughts regarding the upcoming re-colonization effort at his alma mater. He thought a moment and replied:

“I am very excited about the return to the UCLA campus because it was such an amazing part of my life, and a part of my life that has not ended. I still hang out with Lambda Chi brothers all the time and they are some of my best friends. So, I really hope that others get a chance to experience that. It is such a unique experience, one that you can’t explain unless you have been a part of it.

“Especially in the theater community, sometimes when you bring up that you were in a fraternity, you can get knocked a little bit; but it is something that you have to go through to understand. It is a part of my life that I am very happy about, and it really helped me grow as a person and inform me as a person. I am very thankful for it and happy that others will get that same opportunity.”