-Thank you for being here.
You know, I've said this to you, but I've said it all day today.
You're one of my favorite guests I have ever had
on the show. -Thank you.
-I love having you on. I love talking to you, and --
[ Cheers and applause ]
I think you have great stories
and I think you have great timing telling your stories.
And the cadence in which you speak is --
-Thanks for the pressure. [ Laughter ]
-You said backstage that you feel a little weird --
You feel a little ill coming on the show
when you do these shows.
You don't like doing -- -You know what?
I wake up feeling a little ill. [ Laughter ]
Truly. -Maybe it's acid reflux.
-I really, truly -- [ Laughter ]
It's definitely acid reflux. -Yeah, yeah.
-And a whole host of other things.
But really, the morning is so horrendous for me.
And I don't mean just, like, you know, early morning.
You know, a lot of people complain about getting up early
or something like that. -Yeah.
-I really --
My window of opportunity for when I'm at my best
is really, like, noon to 2:00, 2:30.
[ Laughter ]
-Two and a half hours of top Spader?
-Well, no, 'cause I'll then --
Like, a meal is nice around 2:00, 2:30.
And then go home to take a nap. [ Laughter ]
And then wake up and you got to recover all over again.
And then, you know, do something nice in the late afternoon
and then go out to dinner around 9:00.
-Yeah. And that's -- that's your --
-Ideal. -Like, right now,
at this time of night, what would James Spader be doing?
At midnight.
[ Laughter ]
You don't have to be that --
Just think, you're on TV as well, yeah, yeah.
So yeah. [ Laughter ]
Not that. Besides that,
what else would James Spader be doing?
Hey, watching "The Tonight Show"? Do you --
-No. [ Laughter ]
I don't -- I -- I don't even get broadcast TV in my house.
-You don't. That's right. -No.
-But do you own a television set?
-I own a television set to watch movies or, you know,
documentaries or things like that.
But, you know -- -TV doesn't do it for you?
-You know, I... [ Light laughter ]
I just -- you know, there's so many things to do.
I mean, to be honest, what I'd be doing is --
if it were a night off, you know, I'd be --
I'm built for night.
You know, completely built for night.
I can drink a lot. [ Light laughter ]
And what I mean by that is over a long period of time.
-Yeah. Oh, I see, yeah. -You know?
-Usually put on a couple jazz records.
-Yeah, and I'll listen to jazz or --
You know, I have a wide range of musical tastes.
I love to cook.
I like to go out and walk around the city.
-You're a longtime New Yorker.
I mean, could you tell everybody who is not
from New York or anyone visiting, why is New York
the greatest city in the world?
-You know, I -- I don't know,
A year or two ago, or maybe it was longer --
No, it would have been three years ago.
Three years ago I was returning to New York
after a trip overseas.
And we're cruising along, and I'm so excited
to be coming back.
I'm so excited.
And yet, I've left, you know,
a few of the most beautiful cities on Earth.
You know? And I'm so excited,
yet we're driving through, you know,
an access road in Queens, you know?
Or, you know, and then -- [ Light laughter ]
And then we arrive in Manhattan through the Midtown Tunnel.
And I'm headed down to Greenwich Village.
And, you know, you get off the Midtown Tunnel there
and it's, you know, sort of -- it looks like, you know,
city infrastructure.
It's not like you're looking at beautiful architecture.
And I'm just staring out the window and thinking,
and I'm looking, and I'm just so compelled by it.
And I realize it's the citizenry.
You know, you've got people who are coming from
all over the world to this city.
Some are first generation.
Some are seventh generation.
But they're all coming here, or their ancestors
were coming to this city to make a life together
and this experiment.
And that's what makes it the greatest --
to me, the greatest city on Earth.
I mean, it's just to me.
-It's a beautiful experiment. -It is an amazing experiment
of people coming together from all walks of life
and making it work together,
which is what they do here. -Yeah.
-And it really is a great experience.
Really. -I love that.
That's a great answer. [ Cheers and applause ]
It is the people.
-And you know, listen, going away from it,
you know, only makes the heart grow fonder.
Really, truly. -Yeah.
But you know, there are people who always say, you know,
"Oh," you know, "New York is a great place to visit,
but I wouldn't want to live there."
And it's only because they don't know how the hell
to visit even, really.
I mean, I feel badly for tourists
when I see them on the streets of New York.
-You feel bad for them? -Yeah, they all look like
they're a wreck after about 2:00 in the afternoon.
[ Laughter ] You know, they're like --
they're up early in the morning and starting the activities.
-Yeah. And the activities go
till like -- You see them in restaurants at, like, 7:00,
and they're yawning.
And you know, and I'm just waking up at 7:00.
-Yeah. 7:00 is when your window is.
-Yeah, 7:00 is just starting. Absolutely.
-One of your active windows, yeah.
-And I feel so badly. They're fitting in, like,
you know, a matinee and an evening performance.
-Yeah, too much. -Way too much.
No New Yorker is doing that. -No.
-New Yorkers are, like, picking one thing.
And that one thing could be, like, work
and maybe the dry cleaners. [ Laughter ]
You know, it really -- it's a very different life
if you live here. -You don't film in New York --
-Yeah. -You do?
-Yeah. -"Blacklist"?
-Yeah. -What?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-All over New York.
-No. -Yeah.
-Well, I'm happy you keep everyone employed
here in New York. -Yeah.
-Hey. Keeping the city alive. [ Applause ]
What's happening now?
What's happening now that we have to know
about "Blacklist"?
About Red, about your character?
-It's the beginning of the seventh season.
-Wow. -You know, it's funny,
we were trying to pick, you know, a clip to show.
And it's very, very hard on our show
to pick a clip that isn't -- spoil something, or --
-Yeah, 'cause there's all these twists.
-There's always something you want to surprise --
But you know, at the end of last season,
he was in dire straits, the character I play,
Raymond Reddington, on the show --
you know, was really --
he was collapsed on the street in Paris, you know.
And it's opened, you know, that way.
You know, it's just his crisis right from the very beginning.