-It's so good to see you. -Much love, much love.
-Is this true, by the way, that you started --
Before acting, you started doing stand-up?
You were doing comedy? -Yeah, I was doing comedy.
But, I mean, I was doing comedy even back in junior high school,
'Cause -- I don't know -- I got beat up a lot.
I was a beat-up magnet for bullies.
-Oh, really?
-Oh, my God, they were always after me for something.
They were like, "Yo, John, give me your sneakers."
Yo, John, give me your lunch money."
And I was like, "Come on, man.
What if I do a voice for you, and you stop beating me up?
How about if I do, you know, Ricky Ricardo?"
[ As Ricardo ] Heh-heh-heh!
Don't beat up, John. You don't do that, please."
Heh-heh-heh!"
-No, no, no. -Yeah, yeah.
Or how about Jerry Lewis?
"Don't hit me, don't hit me, Crazy Louie."
You know, and then I'd be like, "Whoa, whoa, Dean!
Whoa, whoa. You won't hurt John, would you?"
-"You wouldn't do that to John."
-"Oh, my God, he does it well." -"You do it as well, too."
-"No, not as good." [ Laughs ]
-Oh, my God.
-Oh, my God, did they beat you up, too?
-Yeah, of course. I got bullied all the time.
But you have one of the coolest first roles ever
that I think anyone that's ever been on the show.
You were an extra -- an extra extra extra.
-Oh, you've got a picture? -Oh, yeah.
You were in Madonna's "Borderline" video.
-Well, barely.
I'm so in the background, I'm blurry.
-Yeah, so, you're --
-In the red tracksuit. -Wow! That is rad.
-Oh, my God, I was so excited to be there
because I had heard that Madonna liked Latin guys.
So this is like Latin Tinder back in the day.
You just show up to a Madonna music video...
-And hope for the best.
-...and, you know, maybe you'll be in the limo and whatnot.
-Did it happen? -No, man.
The producer came up to me,
"No, John, you're not going over there."
Gave me a sandwich and a pat on the back,
and I went home.
-You didn't even get paid? -No, I didn't get paid.
-At least you got a sandwich out of it.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah, something.
-Does Madonna -- Have you seen her since?
-Yeah, I've hung out with her a little bit.
Yeah, she's mad cool. Yeah, yeah.
She comes here all the time, right?
-She does. But, so, does she remember you from this video?
-Hell no.
No, no. I don't even try to bring it up.
I was an extra that nobody remembers.
-Now you're John Leguizamo.
You're like, "Oh, I would never do that.
Please." Exactly, yeah.
"I won a Tony.
Please, yeah, I don't do that stuff."
-I didn't start as an extra. What are you talking about?
-No, I've never done that. Well, now Madonna will see this.
-Oh, you blew up my spot. Thank you.
-Why not?
-That's what I get for coming here.
-Can we talk about the show on MSNBC,
"Leguizamo Does America"?
-Yes, sir. I'm going to go around America
showing what Latin people are like,
because we're basically invisible everywhere,
even though we're the largest ethnic group
and the oldest ethnic group in America.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Oh, yeah!
That's right. Represent. -That's right.
-You know, and that's what's up.
We're everywhere, but not, you know,
in the media, not in movies.
We're less than 2% of the leads on film.
So I'm going to talk about all these topics
and about our food and our dance and our music and all that.
Yeah, celebrate Latin culture. Yeah, yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] -"Leguizamo Does America."
-Yes, sir. -On MSNBC.
And are you adventurous with eating?
-Oh, my God, I'm Johnny-try-anything.
-You will? -Oh, my God.
I've eaten snake, which tasted like cat food.
Don't ask me how I know what cat --
-I was going to say, how do you know that?
-And turtle tastes like throw-up from snake.
And then I had cobra blood.
-What? -Cobra blood. I had cobra blood.
-Cobra blood? -Yeah, in Thailand.
It's supposed to be, like, for, you know, virility and whatnot.
It's better than the Viagra. Your nose doesn't swell up.
-Does it -- It works?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. It did work.
You seem surprised.
-Well, now I'm thinking about it,
I go to the bedroom and get a pint of cobra blood.
-Come on, baby.
-Yeah, yeah. Oh, my God.
-I mean, not that. That's a snake. That's a snake.
-He was doing the cobra. -Oh, my God.
-He was doing the cobra.
-Get your minds out of the gutter.
-I mean, please. -Geez. Frightening.
-Could we talk about "The Menu," by the way.
-"The Menu."
-You were phenomenal in this movie.
-Oh, thank you, man. -The cast was great.
The movie was great. -Thank you, thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ] -The script was great.
-Oh, it was amazing. Amazing script.
The cast -- I mean, some of the greatest actors
in American theater, in American film --
Ralph Fiennes, Janet McTeer, Reed Birney, Judith Light.
Oh, my God, it was incredible.
-Were you all in the same room just acting?
-It was like a stage play. We were always there 24/7.
I mean, you got to see everybody act.
And it was like a master class in acting.
-I think you did a master class.
Watching you -- I want to zone in and focus on you.
-Oh, please do. I'm not complaining.
-I loved because you start off so cocky and confident.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-You know, no spoilers, of course.
But then, you kind of get a little gross.
And then it's like -- Then you kind of get scary.
Then you're almost the hero.
But you're so real and so good in this.
I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it.
It is so well done. -Now I want to watch it again.
-Yeah, yeah. You were really great in it.
-Yeah, I've got to see that.
-I just want to say thank you so much for coming on.
And you were phenomenal.
Anyone who hasn't seen John Leguizamo in "The Menu,"
watch this right now.
I want to show a clip. -Oh, yeah, show a clip.
-Here's John Leguizamo in "The Menu."
-Do you need assistance finding your seat?
-There's a finger. The finger. There's a finger right there.
-The man is screaming in pain. What's...
-Please, sit.
-[ Laughs ] -It's not funny, lady.
Jesus Christ! -It's all part of the menu.
-Oh, my God. -This is real, isn't it?
I can't do it. I can't -- I can't do --
-Then why don't you go talk to him.
Go talk to him, because you know him, right?
-I made that up.
-Why?
-Because I'm a name-dropping whore.
That's why, okay?
-John Leguizamo!
"The Menu" is available on Blu-ray and digital.
We'll be right back with a performance from SG Lewis.
Stick around, everybody. -Yeah.