-Welcome back to "Late Night". We're here with Pedro Pascal.
And you're recently in this building.
You hosted "SNL". I thought you were fantastic.
-Thank you. [ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you!
My God.
Oh, thank you.
-There were a couple of things I want to ask you about.
First of all, I was so tickled by the sketch where you woke up
in a coma -- from a coma --
and you had a very distinct voice, and, you know,
every now and then, I reach out, and I will say to, you know,
a writer I know there, "Who came up with that?"
And I was told that you showed up with that voice,
which it's very funny to me that you had cultivated
that voice outside of sketch comedy.
-[ Laughs ] -It seems -- Was that
your original voice for "The Mandalorian",
and they were like, "No"?
-[ Laughs ]
[ Imitating L.A. accent ] What are you talking about?
It's perfect.
[ Cheers and applause ]
This is the way.
-[ Laughs ]
-[ Normal voice ] Yeah, I did.
How dare they actually use your ideas?
-Well, there's a really funny thing that happens
where hosts show up and you'll say, like, "You have any things?
You have any funny voices?
Do you do any impressions?"
And, I mean, the greatest thing is when a host brings something
like that and it sparks something.
-Right.
Yeah, we would talk like that on the set of "The Last of Us".
It started with -- -Which I guess you have to do
to, like, deal with what you're processing.
-Basically, yeah.
Deal with somebody dying every episode in front of you.
-Now I'm gonna watch "The Last of Us" with my wife,
and at the end of every episode, I'm gonna be like,
[ Imitating L.A. accent ] That was so sad.
-[ Imitating L.A. accent ] Oh, my God.
[ Laughs ] Exactly. -Those monsters mean business.
-No kidding.
I can't believe he died.
-He was, like, my favorite one!
-[ Laughs ]
-I don't know, what's gonna happen next?
[ Laughs ]
[ Normal voice ] I'm telling you, it's very contagious.
-[ Normal voice ] Very contagious.
I got a little taste.
This is my breakfast club now that I have it.
-[ Laughs ]
It will not stop, it spread like a fungus
amongst the set.
-Yeah, by the way, could you have, like,
a mushroom pasta now after "The Last of Us",
like, could you? -Yeah, I love mushrooms.
-Okay. -All kinds.
-It hasn't put you -- Oh, all kinds?
-Yeah. -Like the kind at restaurants
or the kinds you have to, like, work a little harder to get?
-Yeah, exactly.
The kinds in restaurants,
the kinds that used to come in, like, a little Ziploc bag
in the '90s, and now the kinds that are in these, like,
colorful chocolates. -Yeah.
I will tell you this -- I wouldn't want to have
one of those kinds and then watch "The Last of Us".
-That I would not do.
That might put you off it for good
so don't do that. [ Chuckles ]
-Are you -- I mean, obviously, you knew you were making
a special show.
Are you surprised, taken aback by how, you know,
this has become one of these event shows
that people want to watch when it comes out
so they can talk about it?
-I knew the game was a really big deal.
And I was really scared and just presumed that the adaptation
wouldn't work, not because it's been tricky adapting video games
into television shows or movies or anything like that,
but because, I don't know, everyone loved it so much.
When I saw all of the story illustrations
for "The Mandalorian", I was like, "This is gonna be a hit."
-Yeah.
-No worries.
But, I guess, in this one, you have to see my face.
[ Laughter ]
-I know some people were -- -And there's no...
-I like the idea that your agent's like,
"He would love to wear a helmet in this."
-[ Laughs ] Exactly.
It works, it works!
-You know, obviously, big fans of the video game,
and, I don't know, I feel like it's very well-cast
where people -- [ Cheers and applause ]
-Dude, he's hot. -Yeah.
I know, I think they're both hot.
I think you did a good job. -[ Laughs ]
-All right.
The show's great, and I'm gonna circle back to one last thing
on "SNL", 'cause I do really love when -- especially
when you can tell -- you can tell the cast likes the host,
because the host is sort of with the cast
at a moment where everybody sort of gets the giggles,
and there was this sketch -- "Lisa from Temecula" --
where a girl was having trouble cutting a steak,
and the whole table was shaking.
And you seemed surprised by what was happening.
Now, of course, I know, and I think everybody at this point
knows there was a dress rehearsal.
Was it markedly different on air?
-Yeah, it bombed during dress.
There was a big bone in the middle of the steak
that she couldn't saw through, for one,
and they were just being a little tame
about the table moving.
And it really didn't work.
And we said, "Oh, no, please don't cut it.
If you really, really shake the table
and you give her a steak that she can saw through,"
which ended up in her lap, and the whole table --
It just kind of started to happen.
We felt the note suddenly occur.
And it just -- we all fell apart.
It was really -- Bowen started it.
-Yeah. -And everyone says,
"He never breaks." -You just threw him
right under the bus right then, yeah.
-Sorry, Bowen. -That's all right.
I mean, I will say that was a real moment
where it cut to the wide, and Bowen seemed to have no idea
it was in the wide, 'cause he wasn't even trying not to laugh.
-He tossed his fork and fully gave up.
He was like, "I can't," you know?
It was over.
And when it was on me and I was breaking,
it's because I was, like, turning
every now and then, and -- yeah, I'm throwing him under the bus,
basically. -Yeah.
-'Cause I'm like, "No, no, you never break"
and so we were done for.
-It was really fun to watch.
It was a really special episode.
And, my goodness, it's so wonderful to have you back.
-It's so nice to see you again.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You guys, how about that? Pedro Pascal.
New episodes of "The Last of Us" air Sundays at 9
on HBO and HBO Max.
Third season of "The Mandalorian"
premiers on Disney+ Wednesday, March 1st.
We'll be right back with Taye Diggs.