What drives Will Ferrell?

ATLANTA

In the NASCAR comedy “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” opening tomorrow, Will Ferrell plays the title role: a loud, fast-driving, slow-thinking race-car champ who undergoes a crisis of faith in his high-mph skills.

The raucous comedy co-stars John C. Reilly as Ricky Bobby’s equally clueless pal Cal; Leslie Bibb as his hot-trash wife, Carley; Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G) as his gay-and-French racing rival; and Amy Adams as his assistant.

We banked some turns with the fearlessly goofy comic recently on a variety of topics and learned a few surprising things, such as:

Will Ferrell isn’t so funny

At least off camera, that is.

“People are always, continually let down by meeting me and talking to me,” Mr. Ferrell admits.

Unlike some comics, he isn’t driven by inner demons, didn’t survive hungry years in stand-up. He’s not always “on” like the kind of manic performer whose name might start with Robin and end with Williams.

“I’ve always kind of hidden off to the side and watched, and picked and chosen my moments in terms of being funny,” he says in a voice closer to the light, earnest tones of Buddy in “Elf” than of the drunk, shouting streaker of “Old School” — or, well, the rowdy character he plays in his new movie.

“Even as a kid I was considered funny,” Mr. Ferrell says, “but I was not a class clown by any means. I never pushed it.”

He did try stand-up for a year or so, putting together 20 minutes of material. Then he fell in with L.A.’s improv troupe, the Groundlings.

“I just loved ensemble more.” Not for unselfish reasons: “If you failed, you all failed — as opposed to just you.”

An accident waiting to happen

Mr. Ferrell and director and co-writing partner Adam McKay are not geniuses for thinking up the why-didn’t-anybody-else-think-of-that? concept of a NASCAR comedy. Just lucky.

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