Will Farrell Meets his Landlord Pearl

The Landlord
Directed by Adam McKay, USA, 2007, 24 minutes
Source www.funnyordie.com
2007: Guy's Choice Awards, presented by Spike TV, voted "Most Viral Video."

The short tells the story of Pearl (the landlord) who is coming to claim the rent from Will Farrell early because she happens to be an alcoholic. This would be mundane event sparked an internet phenomenon of over 60 million views at www.funnyordie.com
The Landlord was an exclusive short for the website and also the website’s first one. The site was founded by Will Farrell and Adam McKay’s production company, Gary Sanchez Production. The uniqueness about the site (when compared to other sites such as YouTube.com), despite having its own creative team (the FunnyorDie Team or FODteam) and exclusive shorts from other well known celebrities such as Ben Stiller and Craig Robinson, is that viewers can decide if the video is funny or not (meaning should it die). This then allows for the videos to get categorized into: Immortal, Walking Tall, Kinda Cute, Uh-Oh, the Crypt and the Chosen One (this category in particular belongs to videos which received no votes at all. The Landlord is considered a Chosen One since it apparently never received any votes despite its popularity.
In the short, Pearl Mckay (who is the daughter of the director who also happens to be the man sitting with the VOGUE magazine talking to Will Farrell) overshadows Will Farrell whom as a viewer would be the one expected to be making the jokes instead of receiving them. Despite the fact that Mr. Farrell does start out as the one making the jokes (i.e. “my dad’s gay; the blood tests don’t lie”), he eventually looses that dominant position to Pearl. The reason for this can be seen in the irony of the narrative of the short. Normally you would not expect Will Farrell to be behind on his rent or have a landlord who is two years old that happens to negotiate the overdue rent with alcohol. But the fact that a two year old happens to be saying phrases like “I need to get my drink on”, “you are an asshole”, and “I’m just buzzed” with an innocent voice and a princess dress makes this mundane event much more enjoyable. Her parents must be proud.