Will Ferrell attends Kings hockey game dressed as disheveled Buddy the Elf

LOS ANGELES — Will Ferrell appeared at a Los Angeles Kings hockey game dressed as a haggard and burned-out Buddy the Elf on Sunday.

Apparently by Dec. 29, even Santa’s elves need a cigarette and a beer to get through a holidays. Ferrell, in character as Buddy, told the Kings broadcast it had been a “tough holiday season” but that he was hoping for a Kings win.

Ferrell, 57, routinely attends Kings games but rarely ever in character, or in this case a new take on the fan-favorite Buddy from 2003’s “Elf.”

In the film, Buddy is a cheerful, clueless human raised at the North Pole by Santa’s elves, who dashes around New York City to meet his biological father. But on Sunday, Ferrell puffed on a fake cigarette and drank a real beer to enjoy the Kings game alongside his wife, Viveca Paulin, and their 14-year-old son, Axel.

The Kings threatened to ruin the holiday mood by going down 4-2 in the second period, but they eventually stormed back and won 5-4 over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Though Ferrell dressed up as Buddy for the game, he has previously shot down any talk of an “Elf” sequel despite the film’s reputation as a Christmas classic. In 2021, he said he turned down $29 million for a sequel.

“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place, which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money,’” Ferrell told The Hollywood Reporter. “And I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.’”