Steve Carell recalls awkward first date with wife Nancy Walls

Steve Carell, looking back at the awkward beginnings of his love story with wife Nancy Walls, admits his approach to asking her out was anything but smooth.

Speaking on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast, Carell revealed the couple first met when Walls was a student in his improvisation class at The Second City in Chicago.

The actor admitted he initially misread her reserved demeanor in class. “I thought she hated my guts,” he said, explaining that Walls appeared distant during sessions — something he later learned was due to nerves rather than disinterest.

Their connection grew outside the classroom when Carell would visit a bar where Walls worked as a waitress, leading to long conversations that eventually built toward a first date — albeit in an unconventional way.

Recalling the moment, Carell described a hesitant and indirect exchange. “If I were going to ask someone on a date, it would be somebody like you,” he said he told her, to which she replied that she would gladly accept if someone like him asked.

After a brief pause, Carell finally asked her out directly. “It was so lame. It was so super uncool,” he admitted, adding that the pair then went to another bar nearby — marking the beginning of their relationship.

The couple’s romance quickly progressed. Carell revealed they were engaged just before Walls landed a role on Saturday Night Live, prompting a move to New York shortly after their honeymoon.

Carell and Walls married in 1995 and have since built a life together, raising two children while maintaining a lasting partnership that began with what the actor now fondly describes as an awkward, but memorable, start.