THERE was a time when Zach Galifianakis tried to make people laugh and they'd sit there stony-faced, hoping he'd go away.
Even when he was pitching sure-fire comedy gold, like Will Ferrell getting hot and bothered in Britney Spears' belly button.
Here's his exchange with film site MovieFone:
MF: You wrote for Saturday Night Live for a brief period. Was Will there at the time?
Galifianakis: Yeah. Will was there.
MF: Is that where you guys first connected?
Galifianakis: We didn't really ... It was just 'Hi, how are you, nice to meet you.' Will was at the top of his game and I was at the bottom. Not a lot of people wanted to hang out with me back then.
MF: Did you ever pitch anything for him?
Galifianakis: Yes! And he read it out loud in front of 50 people at one of the famous table reads. I had written a sketch - because Britney Spears was the host - for him; we were going to shrink him through the magic of television and put inside her bellybutton as her bellybutton's bodyguard.
(MF interviewer laughs)
I wish you had been there because there was not one laugh for four minutes.
Spears could have done with that belly button guard - think what it could have prevented.
