The idea crossed his mind because he was interested in doing a part that’s “broad and physical.” Then his girlfriend independently came up with the idea, and that solidified the notion. He liked the visual humor of a “large woman manhandling people.”

“I originally wanted to do this thing where she was almost like a bodyguard for President Clinton,” Ferrell says, “and they’d be in Cabinet meetings and she wouldn’t say anything, and then if Clinton didn’t like the person she’d be like, `Bill, do you want me to get rid of him?’ ”

Instead, he and co-writer Scott Wainio came up with Janet Reno’s dance party. In these segments, Reno is shown in trademark blue dress, partying in her basement, introducing guests mainly for the sake of humiliating them, quizzing teenagers and then telling them to shut up. “We just kind of created this, like, tough woman who lives in this make-believe world,” he says.