-So happy to have you back. -Thank you. Glad to be back.
-It was very exciting for us the last time you were here,
which is the first time you were here.
We, after the show,
we have a party for our show every summer.
And you were a guest that night,
and you came to our summer party.
And it was so exciting for the "Late Night" staff
to have you there. -I gotta tell you,
being a kid from New York City, I mean, from Brooklyn,
and my aunt, God bless her soul, she died of --
She used to always take me to the Rockettes.
You know, Easter -- the Easter show
and the Christmas show. So I always came to this area.
And -- But I never got a chance to go to the roof
of the building to see that view of the city.
So I got up there, and it was just, like,
my face was glued to the glass like,
"I'm at the top of the world!" [ Laughter ]
Like, I guess I should go and mingle and say something.
-Well, it was nice. Thank you for mingling.
And I just want you to know, it was a huge step down this year
with no Michael K. Williams. [ Laughter ]
So we're gonna line you up this year in advance.
-I'll be there. Put in my sked.
-Now we talked, when you were here, about Omar,
one of the great characters of all time on "The Wire."
Just truly... [ Cheers and applause ]
I don't know it you saw this, but, uh, this was --
People put this online about the Mueller investigation.
-Uh-Oh. -It's sort of a meme
that's been floating around called "Mueller Coming."
And this is what... [ Laughter ]
Mueller on Omar's head, which makes sense
'cause it does feel like Mueller's coming.
-Yeah. -The difference is that,
I feel like people hid from Omar,
and everybody in the Trump administration is like,
"Hey, we're over here!" -"Over here!"
[ Laughter ]
"We're doing dumb stuff over here!"
So Omar, again, such a crazy character.
But you played it in a way
that the writers started challenging you as an actor.
And I guess this wasn't originally in the DNA of Omar,
but you were given Briticisms, things that were not true
to what somebody, maybe, in Baltimore would talk like.
-You know, now that I realize
that I was like, you know, "Nice going, Dave."
But, you know, we were kids when we came to that show.
And I know for myself, I was --
Didn't have a lot of success academically speaking.
You know, didn't excel in school and all that stuff.
So, you know, it was like a learning experience.
You know, I came to the show very green
and very immature in a lot of ways.
And, like, David, like, if you give a kid
opportunity to excel, they'll probably rise to the occasion.
So it was kind of like that. And where else would
I get a chance to, you know, to make "Do tell" work
in a sentence than on "The Wire," right?
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
-Quote Greek mythology and really have it sound gangster.
-Yeah. -Only "The Wire."
-Only "The Wire." Yeah, that's true.
"Do tell" was not something... -No.
-...that I feel like was being said a lot
on the streets of Baltimore. -No.
-But Omar said it. -We made it work, right?
-You did make it work. You did make it work.
In "Hap and Leonard," you play Leonard, which is also
a very -- a character with a lot of contradictions.
You are a black, Republican, gay, veteran.
Is it great when you -- -Who likes country music.
-Who likes country music. Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, don't forget that part. -Was that --
Is that an exciting thing, when you get into a script
and you realize all these different elements
of a character that you get to play?
-It's very -- it's very -- it's -- it's exciting.
It's intimidating. It's challenging.
You know, it's -- it's -- you know,
it's out of the comfort zone of what, you know,
we may consider to be normal.
And, you know, who -- which actor doesn't like
those types of opportunities, right?
-Yeah. -But, um, it was -- He's a --
Leonard is a bunch of walking contradictions
and he goes against the grain. And, you know, I love --
But mostly what I loved about this show is the friendship.
I think that Hap and Leonard, they define
what male friendship should look like.
It shouldn't be about race or gender.
If two men love each other and consider themselves
to be brothers and friends and they accept each other,
we shouldn't be judged for that friendship.
And I think that that's the main thing I love to explore,
is reintroducing or exploring
what male friendship is in America
and what that really looks like.
-You obviously have a great partner in this,
which is -- Absolutely. [ Applause ]