Jan 25, 2012

  • Michael RothsteinESPN Staff Writer

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    • Previously covered University of Michigan for ESPN.com and AnnArbor.com
    • Also covered Notre Dame for Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- As a career and a way of life, Mike and Chris Farah bring the funny. The Ann Arbor natives spend their days and nights helping to run the successful comedy website Funny or Die.

They are serious about one thing, though: Michigan football.

Last month, the Farah Brothers dished about their love of Michigan football, how that fandom eased their transition to Los Angeles, and how their movie, "Answer This!," gave them the chance at a career highlight.

WolverineNation: How did you guys become Michigan fans? Was it growing up in Ann Arbor? Something else?

Mike Farah, president of production, Funny or Die: "It's all those classic things. Both of our parents went to Michigan. They met at Michigan. So going to games, watching games, they were both huge fans. I loved Michigan football ever since we were kids. Moving to LA was also nice because we didn't know anyone or anything, and having Michigan football games on Saturday was a very familiar feeling. It was very nice to have all these different things going on and it was nice to have a little bit of an anchor with Michigan football. You can build a community around that. It's kind of intrinsically in us."

Chris Farah, producer: "(Mike) went to Indiana. Not only is he a Michigan fan versus an Indiana fan, but he's a bigger Michigan fan than I am. Even though I went to school at Michigan and was born and raised here, I'm not naturally a sports kind of guy. I went to a few games as an undergrad, but it was always with a friend who had season tickets. I never had student tickets. So I really wasn't like the vast majority of fans. I think it's fair to say I didn't give a rat's (backside), for the most part. Then something happened. It's a really good question. A big part of it was moving out to Los Angeles and being with my brother, who is such a huge fan, and also kind of like what he was saying. It's one of those things about not really being able to appreciate the specialness of home until you leave. So football and watching those games became a very big touchstone for me, a way to get back to my roots. A really big year was 2006 when we were undefeated going into playing OSU. We lived together in a condo in West Hollywood and we put a really big Michigan banner..."

MF: "I bought a really big Michigan flag."

CF: "We put it outside."

MF: "It was really big. You don't realize how big they are."

CF: "We draped it over the balcony, and our balcony was right in front of the apartment. We got all these complaints because people think it is their home, too, and for whatever bizarre reason they weren't big Michigan fans like we are. But the guy who runs the place is really cool, and he let us keep it up through the game, which unfortunately did not end the way we wanted it to. That was a turning point, and the hiring of Rich Rod was a real turning point for me, also, because I was so used to thinking of Michigan football in a certain way that just going into a year where it was, 'What will this be? What will happen?' It just made for a very compelling story."

WN: You guys work with a lot of sports fans, including Will Ferrell, who is a giant USC fan. Do you ever talk trash with people you work with?

MF: "Not with Will necessarily. Will knows I'm a big Michigan fan, but we haven't had much trash to talk to USC recently. I haven't gone out of my way to do that. But there would be nothing more that I'd love, now that Matt Barkley is staying, if Michigan and USC could play in the national championship game, nothing would be better than that. Yes, I would talk a lot of trash then, but USC has just owned us so hard so you can't say anything because he's my boss and because they've dominated. I don't really know how you start. But within Hollywood, because so many people come from different places, when you get out of school and are finding your way, it helps to have this identity that you can latch on to and find other people who like the same things and really build a community out of that. Where we watch Michigan games in LA, which is the official alumni bar, they get hundreds of people there every week. For the Ohio State game, it starts at 9 a.m. in LA, people were waiting in line starting at 6:30."

CF: "That was not us."

MF: "We thought we were getting there early at 8:20, 8:25, and there were no seats. We had to cobble together chairs."

CF: "We live by this other sports bar, which is the PSU sports bar, which is why we had to stop going there because it was obnoxious. Penn State is a big football school, but it is a combination of how many Michigan people are out in LA and Michigan has a really solid alumni base. The level of fans we attract to our bar is not even close to what Penn State attracts to their bar. Probably double."

WN: Do you havegame day traditions? Does that flag make an appearance every time?

CF: "If we were undefeated and playing OSU, we would definitely put it up again."

MF: "Game-time tradition is waking up at 7:45 a.m. on a Saturday to see a Michigan game. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is."

CF: "I actually like the morning games because I like watching a football game and having an egg-and-cheese sandwich. It's just great to have breakfast over it. Iced coffee. Egg-and-cheese sandwich."

WN: When you did the Mott video (Eds. note, Funny or Die did a video with Michigan alumni on the Michigan golf course for Mott Children's Hospital), was that like a crazy day, like 'I wanted to do this?'

MF: "That was a crazy day but a crazier day was being able to shoot a scene in the Big House for 'Answer This!' That was as good as it gets. We were the first people ever allowed to shoot a scene from a movie during an actual Michigan football game. We got NCAA clearance, clearance from Dave Brandon and everyone else. That was surreal. That word gets tossed around a lot, but that was surreal, going in there, setting up the camera and getting the wide shot. Nothing will top that, as nice as it was to help out Mott Children's Hospital. Not to take anything away from that experience."

CF: "The Mott Children's Hospital, we're shooting on the golf course and you get to work with great personalities. But there is nothing like a game day and this was the first game of the season, also, so it was huge.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports for WolverineNation. He can be reached at michaelrothsteinespn@gmail.com or on Twitter @mikerothstein.