By Kurt Schlosser
NBC News

Zach Galifianakis warned Brian Williams that viewers would turn off a long interview piece with the actor if it aired on "Rock Center." But after watching several candid minutes with the comedian and "Hangover" star on Friday night, it was hard not to be left wanting more.

Galifianakis, the bearded comic turned reluctant big-time star, opened up to Williams about more than just the buddy-movie trilogy that has made his extended Greek moniker a household name.

They talked about life on the North Carolina farm where Galifianakis, 43, and his wife Quinn Lundberg spend part of each year. "I have donkeys. I have blueberries," Galifianakis said. "But enough about your Brooklyn apartment," Williams countered. "I asked about North Carolina."

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Cue the whistling: Galifianakis says a 6th grade visit from the man behind the iconic theme song of "The Andy Griffith Show" convinced him he should go into show business. "I remember being affected by that whistler, thinking I could maybe try to do something like that with my life. Not whistling ... but telling diarrhea jokes."

But it's no joke that life at home on the farm has framed Galifianakis' view of Hollywood and all that comes with being a celebrity. "It's not for me. I'm not into that scene," he said. "It's so stupid. It's all so dumb. It's so weird to me."

And for a man with the last name Galifianakis, there's a punchline waiting in the wings. "If I've always wanted to have my name up in lights I would have changed it to Don't Walk." Nod. Wink. Cheers.

Starring roles on television aside, it's the "Hangover" movies which did put Galifianakis' name in lights. Alan -- the portly, man-purse carrying sidekick to Bradley Cooper's Phil and Ed Helms' Stu -- is back in theaters May 23 in the third and final movie.

And any interview with Galifianakis wouldn't be complete without actually being interviewed with ferns for a backdrop, something he's turned into comedic art with his fake Internet talk show "Between Two Ferns." Williams brought the two ferns to the interview and Galifianakis was game for a lengthy chat among the plants.

"This is the longest conversation I've had with anyone in, like, seven years," Galifianakis said, contradicting his earlier directive to Williams to "do a couple of jokes and then get out."

Patti Perret / Warner Bros. Pictures

Zach Galifianakis as Marty Huggins and Will Ferrell as Cam Brady in "The Campaign."

REVIEW: Call it "Meet the Candidates." Considering he struck comedy gold with "Meet the Parents"/"Meet the Fockers" before successfully entering the cable political arena with "Recount" and "Game Change," director Jay Roach would seem to have been the ideal guy to be steering "The Campaign."

More from THR: Photos -- 'The Campaign' premiere, Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis celebrate their political comedy

But while leads Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are amusingly on point as a pair of mud-slinging contenders for Congress, the platform is a wobbly political satire that flip-flops chaotically between clever and crass, never finding a sturdy comedic footing.

With its election-year timing and the scarcity of R-rated fare that at least looks like it should be fun, the Warner Bros. release might encounter some initial traction, but, clocking in at a tellingly insubstantial 85 minutes, it likely will see sharply falling approval ratings.

Ferrell’s Cam Brady is a slick, incumbent Republican congressman who’s fully expecting the upcoming election to be yet another cakewalk, given that he’s running unopposed.

But when Brady dials a wrong number, leaving a crude message meant for his mistress, a pair of corrupt power brokers called the Motch brothers (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd) see an opportunity in the widely exposed gaffe.

More from THR: Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis attend patriotic 'Campaign' premiere

Looking to get the necessary tax-exempt backing for their insourcing scheme -- importing cheap Chinese labor to work in their North Carolina factories -- they find a patsy in the form of naive tourism center director Marty Huggins (Galifianakis) to run against Brady on a family values manifesto.

Taken under the wing of Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott), a highly disciplined, black op of a campaign manager, Huggins is transformed from fey family black sheep to tough-talking, viable opponent, setting the stage for a no-holds-barred, mean-spirited race.

On paper, given the players and the potent milieu, "The Campaign" should have been a slam dunk.

Unfortunately, to borrow Huggins’ campaign slogan, “It’s a mess!”

The script, by Chris Henchy ("The Other Guys") and Shawn Harwell, from a story also contributed by longtime Ferrell collaborator Adam McKay, is lazily hit-and-miss, neither sufficiently sharp nor substantial to bring anything fresh or consistently entertaining to the political satire genre.

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While it probably would have made a terrific series of Funny or Die shorts, the film comes up notably short as a feature proposition with an abrupt ending that smacks of last-minute cutting.

And though Ferrell and Galifianakis make for lively opponents, it’s not like we haven’t seen them play these guys before.

Will’s Cam has more than a bit of the smugness of his famed George W. Bush impersonation (with a smarmy John Edwards-type overlay), while Zach’s Marty is a very slight variation on his twin brother Seth Galifianakis character he often has portrayed in short segments and onstage.

Providing reliable if under-utilized support are Sarah Baker as Huggins’ sweet, shoved-to-the-sidelines wife, Mitzi, and Jason Sudeikis as Brady’s long-suffering campaign manager.

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Cody Delistraty

Will Ferrell randomly rearranges coffee cups as Zach Galifianakis talks to a barista at the Local Color coffeehouse in Seattle.

Sitting down at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle, Wash., Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis wiped their brows and sunk into their chairs. Their promotional tour for “The Campaign,” a satire of the political campaign process, has been a tiring whirlwind. Their Thursday engagement at Seattle’s Local Color coffeehouse near Pike Place Market was, to put it lightly, an overwhelming experience for the duo.

“I can’t even speak about what just happened,” said Ferrell, shaking his head. “It was crazy.”

Their 11-city public relations tour has led them to throwing the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game, speaking at the Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, Texas, and handing a giant cup of coffee to smiling, camera-ready supporters in Seattle. They still have a few cities left, but the PR campaign has so far successfully done double duty by poking fun at the photo-op culture of politics while promoting their upcoming film. However, the crowds and craziness wherever they go has begun to take its toll.

“It’s obviously extremely nice and flattering, but then we felt guilty that we were just whisked into a coffee place and really only made contact with maybe 25 people,” Ferrell lamented. “It’s almost like you want to take a full-page ad in the newspaper tomorrow saying, 'Sorry.' ” He paused. “I won’t actually follow through with that.”

Their guilt aside, the tour is still worth it for them, if only to elucidate the banality and emptiness of real–life Congressional campaigning.

“When the approval rating of Congress is below 10 percent (editor’s note: it’s nearer to 17% on average), like nine out of 10 people don’t think Congress is doing a good job, that gives you the impression that they just have these cushy jobs and just care about staying in office and not really doing any work,” said Ferrell.

“I’d love to know who those 10 percent are,” Galifianakis quipped. “Like, ‘They’re trying hard.’ And they still think it’s the 1960s or something, probably.”

While Ferrell and Galifianakis feel strongly about the ridiculousness of much of American politics, “The Campaign” wasn’t their first idea for a movie together.

“The beginning of it was Will and I went to lunch and were trying to figure out like what could we do together,” said Galifianakis.

“At first it was centered around the boy pageant circuit,” Ferrell said, cracking a grin. “It doesn’t even make sense. Two Southern guys …”

Galifianakis interrupted, laughing. “... on the boy pageant circuit.”

“We’d figure out the rest,” said Ferrell.

Their PR tour parodying PR tours will continue until "The Campaign" is released on Aug. 10.

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"Hangover" star Zach Galifianakis is reportedly off the market, according to Celebuzz, which obtained a copy of a wedding invite for the Aug. 11 nuptials to his longtime girlfriend Quinn Lundberg.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Zach Galifianakis.

According to the site, the invites have the standard formalities, including the full names of both bride and groom: Zachary Knight Galifianakis and Mary Quinn Lundberg. But the invites weren't all business; they "included a drawing of himself and his bride-to-be. He made sure he looked like a little troll, while Quinn was a stunning tall blonde princess," Celebuzz reports.

There's no word on when exactly the couple engaged, which is not surprising considering the level of privacy Galifianakis and his girlfriend have aspired to achieve. The couple live far from Hollywood on a farm in North Carolina (referred to as "Farmageddon," in GQ). "We put some barriers up," Zach says. "We're too connected, normally. I mean, I can't believe these comics who, like, Twitter their every thought," he told the magazine.

As for wedding gifts, the couple is not going the Kardashian route, and establishing a registry for more than a hundred thousand dollars in gifts. Instead, Celebuzz reports that "the couple has asked guests to donate to the non-government organization (NGO) Growing Voices, which Lundberg co-founded."

No word on whether there will be a bachelor party.

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Accustomed to being in the driver's seat on the Awkward Express that is his ongoing Funny or Die web series "Between Two Ferns," Zach Galifianakis met his match in the sharp wit of Jon Stewart and Tina Fey.

The actor and comedian's faux-talk show, which aired ahead of Sunday night's Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, saw Galifianakis conduct interviews with both the "Daily Show" and "30 Rock" star. Two clips from the episode made it online, and the Emmy-winners showed no mercy. 

STORY: Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell Skewer Political Ads in The Campaign Trailer

Stewart mocked Galifianakis's acting talent -- yes, he was in the hit "Hangover" movies, he said, but Stewart insists the success was all about the film's signature tag-along baby and monkey. Fey is even harsher, deconstructing the entire affair.

"There is a level of malice to your whole behavior and questioning style, while kind of humorous, is actually very cowardly," she charged. "It's almost like you're being willfully obtuse in these questions to make some kind of vague point of the fatuous nature of celebrity interviews, which is a pretty well-trod observation. Yes, we all agree, celebrity interviews are vacant and empty, but at the same time, you asked me to come here."

Don't think too hard about it: Given that this was all actually a scripted comedy routine, your head may explode.

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