Will Ferrell took a trip to Wales to meet Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s Wrexham football club — and made some jokes at the Deadpool star’s expense in the process.
“Do you guys like Ryan and Rob or not really?” Ferrell, 54, asked the football players during an episode of Welcome to Wrexham season 2, which premiered on Tuesday, October 17. “You can be honest. Rob is good. Ryan … dodgy Canadian.”
While taking a tour of the stadium, Ferrell called the players “famous” and also commented on one’s “beefy thigh.”
“You need a rub down?” he asked one Wrexham player. “These hands … These are magic hands.”
Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson referred to Ferrell’s appearance as “surreal,” noting that they just hung out and “had a chat.”
Throughout the rest of the episode, fans watched as Wrexham competed in nine matches during a month-long period as part of their quest to be promoted up a level to the English Football League. At the end of the episode, it’s revealed that they secured a victory in seven of the nine matches.
“After surviving nine matches in 28 days, Wrexham holds a four-point lead over rivals Notts County with just 10 matches to play,” text running across the screen read. “The next six weeks will determine whether their promotion dream becomes a reality or if 15 years of National League pain continues.”
Spoiler alert — this past April, Wrexham was promoted to the English Football League for the first time in 15 years.
“Rob and I kinda blacked out during this moment, but somehow we’ll never forget it,” Reynolds, 46, captioned an Instagram post at the time.
Their eventual promotion came with the help of 40-year-old goalkeeper Ben Foster, who came out of retirement in the second Welcome to Wrexham episode released on Tuesday.
Aidan Davis, Wrexham goalkeeping coach, likened Foster’s addition to the team as if Reynolds and McElhenney, 46, were “signing the Tom Brady.”
“Every once in a while, over the course of a season, or a career, there are those people out there that get that extra little bit of magic,” McElhenney shared in his confessional. Reynolds added, “Ben Foster, he is that player.”
When Wrexham signed Foster, Reynolds and McElhenney faced public criticisms from football fans who claimed it was all about the money. However, Foster made it clear that he just wanted to help Wrexham get promoted to the next league.
Ahead of his first game, Foster admitted that he was “nervous” with the number of eyes on him. However, Wrexham beat York City 3 to 0.
“I started my career here and then, I’m gonna finish my career here,” Foster said in a post-game interview. “That’s the full circle of football.”
New episodes of Welcome to Wrexham premiere Tuesdays on FX.