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NBC Insider 50 Seasons in 50 Days

Will Ferrell's Intense "Get Off the Shed" Character Was Part of His SNL Audition

The SNL icon went from 0 to 100 so hilariously as suburban dad Frank Henderson.

By Kaitlin Kimont

In the weeks leading up to February 16's three-hour 50th anniversary celebration on NBC, the team behind Saturday Night Live has selected one sketch from every single season — 50 seasons in 50 days — to reflect the show's rich legacy across five decades. Presenting the sketch chosen to represent Season 21: "Get Off the Shed: Birthday Party” starring Host Christine Baranski along with SNL cast members Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Nancy Walls Carell, David Koechner, and Mark McKinney.

How to Watch

Watch Saturday Night Live Saturdays at 11:30/10:30c on NBC and Peacock, streaming next day on Peacock.

Some of Saturday Night Live’s most memorable sketches leave you with aching abs from laughing, while also wondering: How did they possibly come up with this idea? And, in the cast of "Get Off the Shed: Birthday Party," how did Will Ferrell and Christine Baranski not totally lose their voices as they screamed their heads off in SNL’s hysterical “Get Off the Shed: Birthday Party” sketch?

Ferrell reprised his iconic “Get Off the Shed” character — a suburban dad who goes ballistic at his kids in the midst of having small talk — in Season 21 with Baranski, who hosted the May 11, 1996 episode. 

The sketch kicks off casually with Frank Henderson (Ferrell) and his wife Gail (Baranski) at a young boy’s birthday party. “Johnny, I hope you wished for a high-yield mutual fund,” Frank chuckles. 

RELATED: Will Ferrell's First SNL Sketch Has Two Crazy Connections to The Office

As Frank and Gail look for their own kids to have some birthday cake, they spot them on a shed in the distance. “Hey Brandon, Michael? Wanna do me and mom a favor and get off that shed? C’mon guys, I need ya to be a buddy and get off that shed. What do you say?” Frank calmly yells to his boys.

Will Ferrell and Christine Baranski scream during the get off the shed sketch on Saturday Night Live Season 21.

It doesn’t take long for Frank and Gail to lose all chill.

“I will shove you two back into my womb if you don’t get off the shed!” Gail screams before calmly joining back in some innocent chit-chat. “You know, what a great day for a party.”

The hilarious back-and-forth continues as the Hendersons’ threats get even more intense and more specific. 

“I will drive you out to the desert and leave you there for the entire month of August if you don’t get off that shed!” Frank shouts.  

“If you don’t get down from that damn shed, I will legally change your names to Fruit and Woosey!” Gails threatens. 

RELATED: How Christopher Walken "Truly Surprised" Will Ferrell During SNL's "More Cowbell" Sketch

“I will take you to a dark alley and fight you if you aren’t down in two seconds!” Franks shouts as Gail chimes in at the same octave, “He will do that and I will videotape it and make you watch it every Christmas morning for the rest of your life! Now get off the shed!”

The Henderson boys finally appear and let their parents know they were inside playing Nintendo the whole time. “Oh! Sorry kids, I don’t have my contacts in,” Frank says. “Let’s have some cake, huh?” 

Will Ferrell performed his “Get Off the Shed” character at his SNL audition 

When Ferrell auditioned for SNL in 1994, he improvised a variety of characters including Frank, the “Get Off the Shed” guy.

“It’s a sketch I’d done at The Groundlings to great success where I’m a suburban dad, at a barbecue having banal small talk,” Ferrell said on the Dan Patrick Show in 2017 about his SNL auditions. “Now I’m doing this to an empty studio, there’s no one there but a camera guy and a boom guy. And Lorne Michaels is in the shadows.”

RELATED: Will Ferrell's SNL Audition Showed Off Something "That Rarely Anybody Can Do"

Ferrell said he felt like he was “in a void” as he acted out the intense character and couldn’t hear anyone, including Michaels, laugh or react. “I’m just doing that and thinking, ‘I don’t know, I hope this works,’” he recalled. “But I became known from the auditions as the ‘Get Off the Shed’ guy.”

Will Ferrell’s “Get Off the Shed” idea became his first SNL breakout sketch

Before Ferrell shouted at the Henderson boys to get off the damn shed with an equally intense Baranski, the actor made his SNL debut as Frank in 1995’s sketch “Get Off the Shed: New Friends,” alongside fellow cast members Koechner, Walls Carell, and Mariel Hemingway.

“It ended up being the first sketch of the first show I got to do,” Ferrell shared on the Dan Patrick Show in 2016. 

RELATED: Will Ferrell's First SNL Sketch Has a Crazy Connection to The Office

Those sketches ultimately inspired a new character — Mike, a dad shouting violent threats at his kid’s baseball game in Season 24’s “Get on the Bag, Brandon!” with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Tim Meadows, and Chris Parnell. 

Get on the Bag, Brandon!

“I will chain you to a pipe in a crawlspace if you don’t get on the bag! Now get on that bag!” Mike screams at Brandon in the distance after cracking open at beer at 10:30 a.m.

Ferrell's “Get Off the Shed” dad persona is actually Kenan Thompson’s favorite, with the longest-running cast member describing it in a 2018 video as “the funniest one man skit I’ve ever seen.”