Will Ferrell Shows up at NHL Game as a Grumpy, Cigarette-Smoking Buddy the Elf — See the Hilarious Photos

• Will Ferrell gave Dwarf fans a big treat with a rare appearance on December 29 as his character Buddy, this time with a hilariously grumpy demeanor
• The actor and comedian wore Buddy’s iconic costume while watching the LA Kings NHL game with his family on Sunday
• Dwarf last year it celebrated its 20th anniversary

He’s an angry elf!

Will Ferrell was in rare form at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 29, as he was spotted in the stands during the NHL game between the LA Kings and the Philadelphia Flyers in full Buddy Elf gear, reprising his unforgettable starring role in the Christmas the 2003 classic Dwarf.

But this time, instead of being the cheerful Buddy that fans know and love, the 57-year-old actor and comedian looked hilariously grumpy and pretended to smoke a cigarette while watching the game with wife Viveca Paulin and their youngest son Axel, 14.

The moment was especially touching, because in a deleted scene from the movie, Buddy showed himself to be a real pro at ice hockey, defeating a group of elves in the sport.

Will Ferrell December 29.

Ronald Martinez/Getty

Dwarf follows Ferrell’s Buddy, a man who was adopted by elves and grew up as an elf at the North Pole until one day, when he grows up, he discovers his true identity. He then travels to New York during the holiday season to locate his unsuspecting biological father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan).

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Will Ferrell as Buddy in Dwarf (2003).

New Line/courtesy Everett Collection

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Speaking to PEOPLE in the middle of the film’s 20th anniversary last year, Mary Steenburgen, who played Walter’s wife Emily, said her “first day on the job” was shooting the scene where Buddy downs 2 pints of soda, drenches his spaghetti with maple syrup and encourages his family to do the same.

“I hadn’t even seen the design or anything about what Will was going to look like,” Steenburgen recalled of Ferrell’s now-iconic costume. “And then he walks in… I’m tall too, but he towers over me, and he walks in in this elf outfit, and then I have to eat spaghetti with maple syrup.”

“I spent the whole day trying to get my words out without laughing,” added the 71-year-old Oscar winner.

According to Steenburgen, she, Caan, and even Ferrell would sometimes “ruin some time laughing,” because the “visualization” of Ferrell in costume as Buddy “was consistently hilarious.”

“You’re not really used to it,” she told PEOPLE. “I think we’re all more used to it now than any of us were back then, because we never saw it on posters or on the sides of buses or any of that. And so we just enjoyed it so much.”

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Will Ferrell as Buddy in Dwarf (2003).

Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

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Despite the refusal to continue DwarfFerrell will always have a place in his heart for the Christmas comedy, recently telling PEOPLE, “It’s really very special.”

“I mean, it continues to grow in leaps and bounds and it continues to solidify itself as kind of a holiday classic for people,” he explained Saturday night live alum. “I’m so happy to have a film like that in my catalog.”

Noting that the film “really means so much to so many people,” Ferrell continued, “And not just during the holidays, but all year long. People come to me saying, ‘We’re watching Dwarf 4th of July. We just love him.’ ”

“So that’s what’s great about what I get to do,” he added. “You never really have an idea of ​​what’s going to happen to people, and I love the fact that this movie continues to resonate in a pretty amazing way.”

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