Will Ferrell probes his inner elf in comic take on Christmas

"I mean, come on -- me in an elf suit?" chirps Will Ferrell. "Forget about it, right?"

The sight of 6-foot-3-plus Ferrell cavorting in a pointy hat, green doublet and curled-toed slippers should be enough to make even a pro funnyman like Ferrell laugh, shouldn't it?

"Well, no, I wouldn't go that far," says Ferrell, whose holiday-themed comedy opens in theaters Friday. It seems the downside of making a living by making people laugh is that one doesn't get to enjoy one's own talent.

"I'll just laugh at the ridiculousness of the context of the situation as opposed to, 'Boy, I'm so funny as a performer,' " says the "Saturday Night Live" alumnus by phone during a publicity stop in Atlanta. He claims that comedians and comic actors are "usually tortured."

"The most you enjoy yourself is, 'Pshew, that wasn't too bad,' " says the 36-year-old. "I'll always see the mistakes in areas that I probably could have been a little better at. That having been said ... I still have fun doing it, and I don't become brooding because I'm always in judgment about something."

"Elf" tells the story of Buddy, a human reared among Santa's helpers at the North Pole who doesn't realize he's not an elf till he's 30 years old. After learning that his birth father lives in New York, Buddy sets out for Manhattan and tracks down Walter Hobbs (James Caan), a businessman who barely has time for the wife (Mary Steenburgen) and son (Daniel Tay) he knows, much less a giant son who dresses like a freak.

Working with Caan, the acting veteran who earned an Oscar nomination for playing Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather," was somewhat intimidating.

"(He) kept telling me how un-funny I was," recalls Ferrell. "In a joking way -- at least, I think. He was like, 'I'm still waiting for you to be funny. Where are the jokes?' I'm like, 'I don't remember jokes. I don't know what to tell ya.' "

Caan didn't blow anybody away, but "he did throw me up against the wall, though," says Ferrell. "I got to look into the eyes of Sonny there for a second. It sounds like a musical. Maybe that's the next step -- me and James Caan, a musical: 'Looking Into the Eyes of Sonny.' "

The cast includes TV icons Bob Newhart, who plays Leon, Buddy's adoptive elf father, and Ed Asner, who plays Santa.

"Those guys ... were so passionate about the work and really wanted to do a good job," says Ferrell, a University of Southern California native. He discovered during filming what an idol Newhart was to him.

"I don't know if I was conscious of it as I watched him do his shows so much as when I was with him how much a fan of his style I am," says Ferrell. "I think he's such a master of subtlety in comedy, which I think is the hardest part, in a way. It's easy to do a pratfall or that sort of thing, but to be as subtle as he is and be just as funny, it was really great to work with."

Ferrell, who left "SNL" last year after a seven-year stint, was beloved on the show for his impersonations of George W. Bush, Janet Reno and Alex Trebek. But he has gained a cult following from "Old School," the irreverent hit comedy in which he starred with Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn as discontented adult friends who form a fraternity.

He's hoping the "Old School" fans will warm to "Elf" as well, even though the new film is PG-rated and aimed more at the family audience.

"It's obviously a radically different film, but that's the reason why I was excited to try to do it," says Ferrell, who this fall goes from shooting Woody Allen's new movie to co-starring with Ed Harris and "Elf" leading lady Zooey Deschanel in "Winter Passing."

Ferrell, who is carrying a film solo for the first time with "Elf," wants to show his diversity as an actor.

"That's kind of the game plan, in a way, to be able to show as many different sides as you can," he says. "It seems like it's always a game in Hollywood, especially, of trying to stay one step ahead of being pigeonholed. ...Sometimes it's unavoidable, but a lot of times you can fake 'em out here and there."