Comedian Will Ferrell is a huge box office draw in movies like Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby but well before that, the 40-year-old played basketball in high school and was a sports announcer - kind of.

His roots are clear in Semi-Pro his new movie set to debut in US theaters on February 29.

Ferrell plays one-hit singing sensation Jackie Moon, who owns and plays on a 1970s Flint, Michigan basketball team.

Moon struts through the film, shooting baskets and even wrestling a bear to draw crowds at Flint Tropics games.

He recently took a few minutes to talk about bears, 1970s cars, and his own path from sports to comedy.

Do you have any advice for people who find themselves wrestling a bear?

Well, just if you are going to wrestle a bear, try to stay away from all fish oil products, you know.

I mean it's tough for me, because I love to rub myself with salmon oil every day - it's a great conditioner for the hair, skin.

Did the bell bottoms and wig you wore when you fought the bear make it tough?

Not so much that as the high-heeled white zipper boots that I was wearing.

Once Dewey (the bear) escapes where I'm running around the cage telling people to run for their lives - I did that so many times that the soles of my feet were on fire.

It was probably the most painful part of the experience - worse than the bear.

You were born in 1967. What was growing up in Orange County California (south of Los Angeles) in the 1970s like?

It was very exciting. Groves and groves of orange trees, later to be cut down for tract homes.

Living amongst the tract home developments - ah, what a life. I remember my mum's Chevy Impala - a massive car.

I remember being really into the Bicentennial. That was huge.

Do you go back often?

No. That was a great safe place to grow up, and yet I think that was the reason why I ended up being funny, just, you know, it was too safe.

It was too kind of plastic, a little bit. So it was a mental exercise to fight against that.

And did it come naturally?

I don't know if I realised I was funny, but it did come naturally to be funny.

I was kind of the funny kid amongst my friends. I liked making my friends crack up.

I wrote an essay in the fourth grade in which I addressed the subject of what do you want to be when you grow up, and I wanted to be a professional soccer player 'cause I was really big into soccer as a kid, and a comedian in the off season.

I wouldn't give myself the benefit of the doubt to be a comedian full time.

But you did work (as a sportscaster)?

I love that it's in everyone's bio that I was a sportscaster for a while.

Not really. I graduated from school (the University of Southern California) and worked for a local cable news show called Around and About Orange County News.

One of the times I was a (sports news) anchor, there was a glitch, and I made a little joke to cover for what had happened.

The producer said, 'Did you see what Will just did here? That's fantastic!'

In that moment I realized, 'Oh, I don't want to be Joe Sports reporter or Dan Rather, I want to be Chevy Chase.

I want to be making fun of things.' And that was kind of the moment where I was 'Okay, I need to be doing comedy.'

Are you still happy with the comedian choice, versus sportscaster or sports star?

I am. But I do have a pang every now and then, I abandoned my best sport - soccer.

In California, basketball and soccer are the same season in high school sports. And I was tall. I was 6'1.5" as an eighth grader.

I played seven, eight, nine years of soccer. I would have played varsity as a freshman in soccer.

I chose basketball because people actually showed up in the gym to see basketball games.

My mum had an old boyfriend who was like - you're too tall for soccer - you need to play basketball.

And why I listened to that, I don't know. Because I could have maybe played college (soccer) somewhere. So yeah, I still do have a pang. I wish I hadn't given up soccer.

Reuters