Harper Steele hosts her dream dinner party with bestie Will Ferrell. They sit on the hood of their trusty station wagon looking at a map.
Dinner Party

Harper Steele

The comedian and writer from Will & Harper sets the table for her dream dinner party

Illustration by Barry Falls
2 October 20243 min read

Harper Steele has seen America through the windows of her trusty station wagon on many occasions, but the cross-country journey documented in the film Will & Harper is different. The former Saturday Night Live head writer and comedian had recently transitioned when longtime creative collaborator and friend Will Ferrell made an intriguing pitch: a road-trip documentary that explored not only the country but uncharted territory in their friendship.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum (The Short Game), Will & Harper follows the comedic pair as they explore the spaces Steele had grown accustomed to visiting on previous voyages — dive bars, diners, sports bars — as her true self. “It’s really a drag when you are yourself and you can’t be that everywhere,” says Steele. “I know, from the other side of it, the weirdness I felt navigating the country as not myself. I say that everything I do now, I haven’t [done] before — even [if I did it] before I transitioned. Everything’s new to me.”

Steele and Ferrell share quite a few meals throughout Will & Harper, including an assortment of Pringles in the parking lot of an Indiana Walmart, a glamorous feast in Las Vegas, and tzatziki and pancakes at a Greek diner outside of New York City. So naturally, Steele knows a thing or two about how to sustain oneself while on the road. Here, the self-proclaimed vagabond details who would join her dream road-trip dinner party — alongside her and Ferrell — and what’s on the menu.

I would take Carol Burnett because she’s my comedy hero. I would take Imogen Binnie because she wrote one of my favorite novels, Nevada, and I would take Candy Darling because she seems like a beautiful mess of a human being, and I like a little chaos on a road trip. Diet Coke and McDonald’s coffee are what fuel me driving across the country, but I’ll stop for pie almost anywhere. As for cheap snacks usually found in a rest stop or a truck stop, Moon Pies or yellow Hostess CupCakes are my go-tos.