Will Forte seems so wholesome and unfailingly polite in person that you’d expect the former Saturday Night Live cast member of eight years to have roots in the Midwest, similar to his breakout dramatic character in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska. But this good-natured 44-year-old hails from Northern California, with hearty family ties, a history degree from U.C.L.A., and a healthy dose of neurosis. This March, the MacGruber mastermind graduates to sitcom star with The Last Man on Earth—a Fox series he created about a temp worker who then finds himself in the titular premise. Come May, Forte will also appear alongside Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston in Peter Bogdanovich’s ensemble comedy She’s Funny That Way, as a playwright who unwittingly casts a call girl (Imogen Poots) to star in his Broadway production. In honor of Forte’s marquee momentum, herewith a distillation of the man who once gave up a post-college job at a brokerage house in hopes of one day entertaining the masses.
BORN ORVILLE Willis Forte IV to his namesake, a now retired stockbroker, and Patti, a former teacher, Forte plans on continuing the family name should he sire a son, reasoning, “I’m not going to be the person to break the chain.” Until then, Forte commemorates his heritage with his Twitter handle: @OrvilleIV.
HE FILMED the births of his niece, Laney, five, and nephew, Alden, four, at the request of his only sibling, Michele, who is two years older. “My brother-in-law is a little squeamish,” explains Forte of being recruited for his directorial delivery-room role.
HE LIVES in a modestly sized Craftsman home, built circa 1913, in Santa Monica that he purchased in 2002, just two weeks before being hired at Saturday Night Live. “It was not the greatest timing,” Forte admits, adding that he never had the energy to decorate during those hectic years. Even now, some rooms “are kind of unfurnished.”
HE UNWINDS by playing games, including Tiny Wings, Drop7, and 2048, on his iPhone 5: “I have achieved Tiny Wings master level, so I am very proud of that.”
ARTIFACTS FROM his S.N.L. years include a “big fake ham,” used in a sketch called “Give Up the Ham,” which aired during the Queen Latifah-hosted episode in 2003. Another S.N.L. keepsake is a copy of Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, signed by nearly every host and special guest during Forte’s Studio 8H days, including President Obama, Robert De Niro, and Bono.
HIS MORNING showers usually last eight minutes, even when he is in a hurry. “I am a little O.C.D., and I feel like if I have any shampoo in my hair, my head is going to explode.” He sudses with Nioxin shampoo (out of habit, not fear of hair loss, he says) and a bar of original Irish Spring soap.
HIS CLOSET is stocked with plaid, Western-style Salt Valley shirts, sizes medium and large, from Urban Outfitters.
HE IS partial to a pair of red-and-blue L.A. Clippers socks that he used to wear every time he took a flight. “It wasn’t for superstition.... They just make a really comfortable sock at the Staples Center,” Forte says, lifting up his pant leg to reveal his favorite pair.
THESE DAYS, the closest thing he has to a superstition is an O.C.D.-related ritual involving checking the sinks, showers, and stove in a specific pattern to make sure they are turned off. “I don’t cook,” says Forte, laughing. “So it is weird.”
HE DRIVES a 2004 silver-gray Honda Civic hybrid. The CD player currently holds The Kinks**Are the Village Green Preservation Society, and the only reason he’d want to upgrade vehicles is to “get a fancier music system.”
HE AND Bruce Dern actually made the road trip shown in Nebraska, from Montana to the Cornhusker State. Alexander Payne followed them in the same R.V. that Jack Nicholson drove in Payne’s previous film, About Schmidt, with a camera mounted on it to capture the action.
MACGRUBER WILL live to see another day on-screen if Forte, who has fleshed out a loose outline for a sequel, has his way. “It was such a fun thing, and we are so proud of that dumb little movie,” the actor affectionately says of the 2010 comedy, which counts Christopher Nolan as a fan. “And it seems like we have a realistic shot of having someone let us make [part two].”
HE ENJOYED growing a beard for The Last Man on Earth for sociological observations alone. “People treat you a little differently with a big bushy beard,” he says. “I had several people cross the street very obviously because they saw me coming at night” and knew that “a person with a good mental makeup would not make that facial-hair decision.”
HIS NEIGHBORHOOD establishment where everyone knows his name is Shoop’s deli, which features a version of his all-time favorite food: breakfast burritos. On a good week, Forte averages seven.
HE RANG in his 40th birthday, in June 2010, at the Gansevoort Turks and Caicos with his former S.N.L. castmate Jason Sudeikis and one of the show’s previous writers, John Solomon. They celebrated by drinking beer on the beach and wakeboarding in the ocean.
CONTRARY TO Internet lore, Forte does not collect construction hats or life preservers. He was, however, presented with one of each, both painted gold, as a birthday present on the trip. The gilded safety equipment did not make it back to Santa Monica.
