MacGruber (Will Forte) spends what feels like half of “MacGruber” Season 1 in the buff. TheWrap asked the star and co-creator of the Peacock series if he even recalls how many production days he spent naked.
“I mean, there were some full nude days, for sure, where I was nude from start to finish,” “MacGruber” lead Forte said. “Then there was the day in the desert where I had to disrobe… That was a pain in the butt, because at least with the stuff in Episode 2, I’m just naked the whole time.”
“And the day in the desert, I had to keep putting my clothes back on to take them off again — and MacGruber wears so many different layers,” he continued. “And, of course, you’re getting sand in your Jockey briefs.”
Forte then paused his answer to wonder aloud if MacGruber’s briefs are technically the Jockey brand (“Er, I don’t think they were Jockey. But Jockey is as good as any-“).
Fortunately, co-star Kristen Wiig, who plays Mac’s love interest Vicki St. Elmo, was there to assist, kicking off a comedy bit perfectly suited to a fan of their collaborations on “Saturday Night Live” and in the “MacGruber” movie. “It’s a good brand,” she chimed in. “We don’t know specifically.”
“I just want to be honest about what brand of underwear was on,” Forte explained, probably only half to us (at best) by this point. “It was a Jockey-style underwear.”
“I think it may have been Hanes,” Wiig offered. Another classic choice for traditional tighty-whities.
“I don’t think it was Jockey… They’re all good,” Forte continued. “Fighting the good fight, trying to protect people’s genitals from rubbing against zippers and stuff.”
The improv was an aside fit for “MacGruber” — albeit without all of the cursing, over-the-top violence, and yes, male nudity that comes from the adapted “SNL” sketch. The very prevalent combination of those three key components pretty easily explains why this “MacGruber” is not on NBC’s broadcast channel, and why it really couldn’t even exist on an NBCU cable channel.
“I think it’s barely making a streamer,” Wiig said of their ridiculous (and ridiculously fun) continuation of the somehow-good 2010 movie. The series, like the movie, hails from Forte, John Solomon and Jorma Taccone.
Not that she feels bad for the platforms and their respective censors.
“With ‘MacGruber,’ you know what you’re getting into,” Wiig said.
All eight episodes of “MacGruber” premiere Thursday on Peacock. Watch it this weekend: you know what you’re getting into.