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Plus, the two open up about their documentary's "delicious" awkward hug with "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels.

For a documentary that takes place almost entirely on a cross-country road trip, Will & Harper is chock-full of cameos by comedy legends.

In the beginning of their 16-day journey, Will Ferrell and Harper Steele — who became fast friends nearly 30 years ago when they both started at Saturday Night Live at the same time — stop by their old Studio 8H stomping grounds at 30 Rock. Before they even enter the building, they casually run into Tracy Morgan on the street, then they share an awkward three-way hug with famously stoic SNL creator Lorne Michaels, before watching a cast read-through with host Travis Kelce.

They then head to a dinner with friends and legends of the sketch comedy series, Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, Tim Meadows, Colin Jost, and writer Paula Pell. Later in the film, the duo spend some time in a hot air balloon with Will Forte. Kristen Wiig appears via FaceTime to write a theme song for their trip. At the end of their journey, Ferrell and Steele get pedicures with Molly Shannon in Los Angeles. Oh, and there is a quick clip of the pair at an outdoor gathering with Fred Armisen during the end credits.

Related: Will Ferrell and BFF Harper Steele go on emotional road trip after she comes out as trans in Will & Harper trailer

It all leads to comedy gold in the film, which follows Ferrell and Steele as they push past their comfort zones to re-examine their relationships to different parts of America, and to each other, after Steele came out to Ferrell as a trans woman. But, according to the longtime friends, there was so much footage from all of the encounters — especially the SNL alum dinner — they could have created a whole new movie.

"That whole dinner was recorded, and as Will and I were driving away, I think we both were sort of in awe of how smart everyone was," Steele tells Entertainment Weekly. "I think because of our nature, [we thought] how did we get to be a part of that, you know? That dinner itself would make a fascinating discussion on gender — Paula Pell is queer and other things came up of course — but also, it was intensely funny. These people are very fast and very funny, but that's a different documentary for another day."

Ferrell adds, "We probably sat there for at least two hours and we both left going, 'That was just a fantastic dinner and it's probably going to be cut down to two minutes.'"

They weren't wrong — the whole dinner scene accounts for almost exactly two minutes of the film. According to Ferrell, there was close to 250 hours of footage taken on the entire trip, but "just at the SNL part alone, we have enough to make an entire film."

Related: Kristen Bell recalls sneaking into SNL after-party and pretending to know Will Ferrell: 'He's the nicest guy'

He and Steele didn't divulge particulars of what didn't make the cut, but Ferrell did say, "There were different interactions and just us kind of reminiscing and going from place to place and telling stories and this and that. So, that was fun and interesting to start our journey there."

An interaction that did make the film in all of its comedic glory, though, is the forced hug between Michaels, Ferrell, and Steele. Before the two stop at the offices where their friendship began, Ferrell jokes in the doc, "By the way, when we see Lorne, let's both hug him like way too long." Steele at first says she won't do it, but ultimately acquiesces.

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When asked if the hug was actually as uncomfortable as it looked, Steele laughs. "Yeah, of course it was. I don't think I've ever hugged him in my life, so Will forcing that on us, that was bad," she says.

Related: The 15 best Will Ferrell movies, ranked

"We had so many serendipitous moments that happened throughout, and that was just such comedy gold, I had to take advantage of it," Ferrell admits. "I had to take it back. But it's also a little bit of a full circle moment in the sense that Harper, as her dead self, hated being hugged. And I would make a point to always walk up to her and go, 'Hey, Steele, come in here. I'm going to give you a hug."

"I should have Me Too-ed him," Steele jokes. "You should have been canceled."

Jokes aside, Ferrell says he's glad the moment happened for all of them. "So now here we are, and having that exchange with Lorne, and all hugging — yeah, that was delicious. A delicious moment."

Will & Harper is now streaming on Netflix.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.

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