-Looking good, bud. Welcome back to the show.
Thank you for coming back. Congratulations.
You and your lovely wife, Claire Danes, are expecting a baby.
-What? [ Cheers and applause ]
-Am I right? [ Laughs ]
I'm surprising you. Yes. -Wow, great.
-Surprise! Yeah, yeah. That's fantastic.
-Yes, thank you. -Third baby.
Are you ready for number three? -No.
-No? -No, no.
I mean, I'm very happy about it. -Of course, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But not prepared. -But not ready.
Are you ever? Are you ever ready?
-No. -I personally feel like in
my limited experience that you can only prepare as far as
the arrival of the baby and everything after that is just --
just a blank.
-How old are your other two kids?
-10 and 4. -Is that correct?
-Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I had him when I was 8.
[ Laughter ] -Exactly.
Do they understand what Dad does for a living or Mom?
-Uh.. [ Laughs ]
No, no. No, no, no. I was thinking, do I understand?
-Yeah, that's kind of -- Yeah. I'm not sure if my kids know.
A little bit. -They don't care.
-Yeah. Have you showed them any of your movies?
-Well, there's not many that would be...
-Appropriate. -...appropriate.
[ Laughter ]
I did show them "Ella Enchanted."
I made one kids movie.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-That's a big deal. -I know. It's a great film.
And people loved it when they were kids.
And now, those people have all grown up.
And that's kind of depressing for me.
[ Laughter ]
-Did your kids know it was you in the movie?
-No. Well, the older one still couldn't care less.
And the younger one, we got halfway through the movie,
and I was watching him.
And eventually I said, "You know, that's me.
That's Daddy in the movie."
He had no idea, which was very sweet,
which was maybe a testament to my acting.
Or not. [ Laughter ]
-No, you were that into the role.
Do they visit you on "Law & Order"?
-No, I was not that into the role.
-You're like a method -- "That's not you, Dad."
-"Shut up, son." [ Laughter ]
Take it in. Take it in. -Daddy's speaking.
Daddy has a monologue. Please.
Do they go to "Law & Order"?
-They have, yeah. -They've been to the set?
-They've been to the set -- not to the iconic --
not to the offices and all that stuff and the courtroom.
But to the -- when we film, you know, the courthouse steps,
which I guess is kind of iconic --
-Of course. -You know, come down the steps.
-Just to go root for Dad?
-No. Just because, honestly, because we have Pop Tarts.
[ Laughter ]
-They love Pop Tarts.
-It dawned on me like the fourth time they came, yeah.
-Yeah. You could just get Pop Tarts for your house.
[ Laughter ] -I could. I could.
But then they wouldn't come to visit me at work.
[ Laughter ]
-Before we talk "Law & Order,"
the Oscar nominations just came out.
And you were telling me that you have a pretty personal
connection to one of the nominees.
-I do. One of the front runners, I think.
Yeah, it's an odd story.
-No, I love this story. Please tell it.
-So, this was several years ago.
I was getting a wig made, as you do.
For professional purposes. [ Laughter ]
And the guy, you know,
they wrap your head in, like, plastic wrap.
It's a whole process.
Anyway, he said, "I don't know if
I'm going to do this in time." He called me back the next day
and said, "Good news.
Your head is exactly the same shape and size as somebody else
that I have worked on, another actor.
And I have the mold of their head at home.
So this is going to be a cinch for me."
And I said, "Who's that?"
And, you know, you're probably thinking
it's Brendan Fraser or whatever.
But it's Cate Blanchett.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-Cate Blanchett has your same size head.
That's fantastic. -It bodes well for me.
-Are you honored? I mean, that's so good, both of you guys.
She should be honored as well. Oh, my God.
I never see both of you in the same room at the same time.
[ Laughter ]
That's wild to know that you have the same size head --
-It's very weird. -Yeah, that's so --
Alright. Let's get into "Law & Order."
This is a big deal.
Did you ever think you were going to be this New York?
-No, I didn't, and I've lived here for 15 years.
And I still didn't feel entitled to that.
-It's iconic, "Law & Order." -Yeah.
-It's very, very New York.
In fact, we found out you're not the first family member
to act on "Law & Order." -Mm.
-Your wife, Claire Danes, this was her TV debut.
-Yeah. -1992.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Isn't that odd?
That was her first -- Now you're in it.
-It's so strange, isn't it? -It's got to be strange.
-Yeah. But then again, it's not because, you know, every actor,
every New York actor that I'm sure that comes through here
or that you see on Broadway or whatever
has been on "Law & Order." -That's correct.
-Literally every actor. Some of them 18 times.
-Yes. -But it's great.
-It's a lot of people's first acting roles.
What was your first acting role? -Some of us, it's their last.
-That's true. [ Laughter ]
A lot of -- Yeah, exactly yeah.
I would love to play a dead body on "Law & Order."
[ Laughter ]
I would love to. -Please.
I think you'd be just right.
[ Laughter ]
-Thank you so much. Wow.
But you -- What was -- Do you remember your first role?
-My first role was in England obviously.
Well, maybe not obviously.
It was on a show called "Trial and Retribution,"
which is like the Anglicized version of "Law & Order."
[ Laughter ]
-"Trial and Retribution."
That just sounds a little bit -- -Donk, donk.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
That's the theme song? -Yes.
-Donk, donk. Yes. [ Laughter ]
It's that much better than our "Law & Order."
Can you tell everyone who you play on "Law & Order"?
-I play Nolan Price.
He's the assistant district attorney...
[ Cheers and applause ]
-...under -- I'm in Sam Waterston's office.
He's my boss now. He's moved up.
It's super cool. -That's the best.
Donk, donk. I'm never going to forget that. That's funny.
I want to show a clip. Here's Hugh Dancy in "Law & Order."
Take a look at this.
-We had a deal.
-I changed my mind.
-You signed a cooperation agreement.
It's binding and enforceable.
-[ Scoffs ]
-There will be consequences.
Do you not understand that?
-Max is willing to plead guilty, reckless endangerment.
-That's not on the table anymore.
You don't seem to hear what I'm saying.
I will revoke your bail, send you back to Rikers,
and move forward on a charge of manslaughter.
-They're just blowing smoke.
-No, we're serious.
-Well, I'm sorry. I can't do it.
-Come on. Hugh Dancy, everybody!
"Law & Order" airs Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. on NBC,
and it's available the next day on Peacock.
More "Tonight Show" after the break. Stick around.
Thank you, buddy.