-You are hosting "Saturday Night Live"
for the first time. -Yes.
-This is very exciting for you.
-I'm literally -- I-I'm upstairs.
-Yeah, you're two floors away.
-I've come down from rehearsal...
-Yeah.
-...where I was wearing rather filthy dungarees --
I have to tell you. [ Laughter ]
I was rehearsing, and -- and they said,
"Hey, it's time to do 'Fallon.'"
so I just glammed up, came down two flights,
and, well, it's extraordinary. -Yeah.
-Those people -- how do they do it?
-It's amazing, right? Isn't it fun?
-I mean, I used to write sketch comedy,
but, I mean, I did it over months and during the day.
So maybe that's why it didn't work out.
-It didn't work out? [ Laughter ]
You -- Yeah, you had a show called "Thompson."
-Yes, I did. I did.
-How many episodes were there?
-There were six.
-That's good. [ Laughter ]
-Six half-hours. -Yeah, that's more than --
more than five. -It is more than five.
Yes, absolutely.
-And -- And less than seven, yes.
But what was the -- what was the show about, really?
-It was --
Well, it was all the things that I had ever thought about.
I mean, my -- the first sketch was about autocannibalism,
which was my not -- last word on dieting.
You know, so you kind of ate yourself
to within an optimum body weight.
[ Laughter ] -That's kind of genius.
-And so, some people would, like,
cut pieces off -- off themselves,
the pieces they didn't like, and eat them.
-Yeah, of course. -So, yeah, it was kind of weird.
-Kind of dark. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, sort of dark. Absolutely. -So, yeah.
-But, anyway...
-You also did stand-up comedy, as well?
-I did. -How was that?
-Um. Well, um, it depended on when I did it.
Now, for instance, at the time, a lot of my material
was about herpes and Margaret Thatcher.
-Wow. [ Laughter ]
Who were both very big at the time
and kind of similar.
[ Laughter ] You know?
-That is really good. -But, I mean,
I did stand-up at political rallies, so...
-Oh.
-I did stand-up on Nelson's Column.
-Really? -In front of 64,000 people at --
get this -- a Reagan Out Rally.
-Wow! -Yeah, yeah.
I'm that old, James. -No, no.
[ Laughter ] I mean, no.
I mean, what a gig that is to do stand-up there.
-Yeah, it was a terrible gig.
I died a horrible, horrible death.
-Really? Just... -No, no.
'Cause you don't -- you mustn't ever do jokes
at a political rally. -Yeah.
-'Cause everyone's so cross. -So serious and so mad at you.
-Just mad, mad, you know, and people come up and just say,
"Why don't you just shut up?!" -Yeah.
-"Stop -- you're just stupid! Just shut up!"
You know, and I've got -- -And you go, "Hey, anyways..."
-"I'm not Ronald Reagan," I say. -[ Chuckling ] Yeah.
-I know we want him to leave the country,
but please don't get cross with me.
-Well, you -- you just got a big honor.
You just became a dame. -Yes.
-That's a -- That's a -- Congratulations.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you.
-Look at you. You look fantastic.
Look at you right there with Prince William.
I think that's pretty cool. I want to --
I want to talk about your movie. -[ Gasps ]
-I'm very excited about this. -I know.
-"Late Night." -Yes.
-Very interesting to me. Yeah.
-Just playing a late-night talk-show host.
-What's that all about? -I don't know.
[ Laughter ]
Everything I know about talk-show hosting,
I learnt from you. -Thank you!
Oh, my goodness! You heard it here first.
[ Cheers and applause ] You heard it here.
I cannot wait.
I mean, this is written by Mindy Kaling, right?
-Yes. Wonderful, darling, brilliant Mindy Kaling,
who -- who wrote to me and said, "Could I meet with you?
Because I've written something for you,"
at which my heart, frankly, sank
because when people write things for you,
it's often not a good idea. -Yeah.
-But if something's designed for you, it often doesn't --
I just thought, "Oh, God. Okay." And then I read it.
And it was one of the best scripts I have ever read.
-It's getting rave reviews. Congrats on that.
-Well, thank you. Thank you.
-But, I mean, what -- what is it basically about?
I mean, I know you play a talk show host, but...
-I play a talk show host who's been at the top of her game.
And of course, as you know,
there are no female late-night talk-show hosts at all.
So she's -- she's held on to that --
that crown with fierceness and -- and commitment.
But she's kind of lost her edge, and she's got a bit complacent.
And she has no women at all on her writing team.
And it's about this young woman who is a great fan
and wants to write
in a writers' room like, you know, "SNL" upstairs.
I mean, I've just seen it all, the real thing.
-Yeah.
-You know, absolutely extraordinary.
-Amazing. -And -- And it's so the same.
It's so the same. And like, you know,
everyone sits in their own particular place,
and there's all sorts of strange undercurrents
going on between people.
I'm saying nothing. [ Laughter ]
And -- And Mindy's just -- she just is so brilliant.
And the -- it -- it's very smart.
And it makes a lot of very good points without making points.
-Yeah. -Do you know what I mean?
-Yeah. Of course I do. Yeah. -I'm very proud of it.
And everyone in it is so good. -I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Emma Thompson in "Late Night."
Take a look at this.
-I came to tell you this year is your last.
-What?
-This season is your last.
-You're canceling the show? -No, I'm canceling you.
The show is irrelevant -- the ratings reflect that.
Do you know who Jimmy Fallon had on last Tuesday
when you had Doris Kearns Goodwin?
Robert Downey Jr.
They washed a sheepdog together.
It was [bleep] glorious.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-That's right!
That is right!
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Laughs ]
-Oh, gosh.
-Ah!
Emma Thompson, you know,
there's only one thing left to do.
-Yeah, you can see it coming. I can feel it.
-Would you like to wash a sheepdog together?
-Yes, yes, yes! of course I would!
-Come on! [ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Hi, buddy.
Hi -- Hi, buddy. Hi, pal.
Hi, buddy. Hi, hi. Oh, what a good boy.
-Oh, look. -Oh, what a good doggy.
-Are you loving this? Look. -Good boy.
[ Laughter ] -Do you know what?
This actually is [bleep] glorious.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-Emma Thompson, everybody! [ Cheers and applause ]
"Late Night" is in theaters June 7th.
See her hosting "Saturday night Live"
this weekend.
We'll be right back with Sophie Turner.
Stick around, everybody. [ Cheers and applause continue ]
-Hey, buddy. -Baby.
-You're a good boy.
[ Applause continues ]