Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham may have shoved Will Forte in the face to sing Shallow on stage with Jason Sudeikis, but it was all for a good cause.

Waddingham spoke to AP Entertainment about the viral moment.

The actress said, “We were literally going to sing something else. And then we went like two days before. We were talking about it. And Jason was like, ‘That's too high for me.' And I was like, ‘Yeah, but if we do it in that key that's too low for me.'”

“And d'you know what? I said to our MD, the head of the Steps of Faith charity Billy Brimblecom, I was like, ‘Why don't we just do – I know that Jason has sung Shallow at Thundergong before,” Waddingham said, referring to Sudeikis and Forte singing the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper duet three years ago.

“I know it. Could we just do that? That's how it came about,” she concluded.


According to its website, the Steps of Faith charity is a “non-profit public charity dedicated to providing prosthetic care, hope, and comfort, to amputees needing financial support.” And Thundergong is a concert meant to benefit the charity. Sudeikis explained it as, “if your most clever friend made you a mixed tape… It's an evening of that great, eclectic mixed tape.”

Waddingham added in the interview, “And I'm so thrilled for the Steps of Faith charity that we raised $800,000 on the night. And since then, tens of thousands of dollars more in merch because of that video. So that's what it's all about. It's hunkering down with your pals and creating things for the greater good. You know? So I'm thrilled. It can go viral up the wazoo for me. Fabulous.”

Sorry, Will Forte. Shallow (Will and Jason's version) is so 2019. It's Shallow (Hannah and Jason's version) now.