Will Forte is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his surreal absurdity across eight seasons of Saturday Night Live, the cult comedy MacGruber and the post-apocalyptic sitcom The Last Man on Earth. His fearless, off-kilter humour has earned a devoted following. His laid-back style is often finished with casual sunglasses.
Will Forte has spent a career making comedy that is fearless, deeply strange and often shockingly moving. During eight seasons on Saturday Night Live he became one of the show's most distinctive voices, creating characters and sketches defined by an off-kilter surrealism that frequently left audiences unsure whether to laugh or wince. His willingness to commit completely to the absurd, no matter how ridiculous the premise, became his signature and earned him a devoted following that has only grown since.
MacGruber, his hapless action-hero parody, epitomised that approach. What began as a throwaway sketch grew into a cult film beloved for its gleeful stupidity, and Forte's total investment in the character's spectacular incompetence made it one of the most quotable comedies of its era. But his greatest achievement came with The Last Man on Earth, a post-apocalyptic sitcom he created and starred in. As Phil Miller, the final surviving human navigating loneliness, he turned what could have been a gimmick into one of the most inventive, unexpectedly tender comedies on television.
That blend of the ridiculous and the heartfelt is the essence of Forte's gift. He can reduce a room to tears of laughter and then, without warning, land a moment of genuine pathos, a balancing act few comedians manage. It has made him one of the most respected and original voices in American comedy, an artist whose strangeness is matched only by his fearlessness.
Forte's personal style is as unpretentious as his comedy is unhinged. He favours laid-back, comfortable clothes and keeps everything refreshingly low-key, which makes sunglasses a natural fit. Casual frames in classic shapes add an easy, off-duty cool to looks that never try too hard.
Whether he is on a press tour, at a premiere or simply out in Los Angeles, Forte wears his sunglasses with the relaxed good humour of a man entirely at ease with himself. They are the perfect finishing touch on a style that, like his comedy, works because it is genuine, fearless and completely its own thing.
That refusal to chase convention, on screen and off, has made him one of comedy's true originals, and his devoted audience would not have it any other way. In a landscape full of imitators, there is still only one Will Forte, and that has always been more than enough.
