-I'm gonna geek out a little bit.
-You are? -He knows I'm a big fan.
-Really? -I'm a huge fan of The Roots.
I'm a huge fan of you. -Oh, my God.
-I'm a huge fan. -Thank you very much.
[ Cheers and applause ] I'm a huge fan right back!
-But it's been -- it's been a long time.
I've always wanted to come on here,
and this is my first time, and I'm really happy to be here.
-I'm happy to have you. Welcome.
[ Cheers and applause ]
I knew you were a big -- -Huge "SNL."
-You're a giant "Saturday Night Live" fan.
-Giant "Saturday Night Live" fan.
-Really? -Yeah.
And I almost, like, gave up acting
just so I could come here and struggle
and try to get on "SNL." -Oh, really?
-Yeah, and then, I got "Game of Thrones,"
so it kind of went out the door. -[ Chuckling ] Yeah, that --
-But... -Yeah.
But that "Game of Thrones" -- come on.
Now you can go host "SNL." Yeah, exactly.
-Hopefully, some day. -Absolutely.
-Maybe. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Well, I heard that -- Is this true that,
after you -- you got -- you did "Game of Thrones" --
I know -- he just looks awesome whatever he does.
Yeah, it's like... [ Cheers and applause ]
-I -- I brought this for war. -[ Laughs ]
-I'm dressed for war. -You're dressed for war.
-I'm dressed for war. -It's gonna go down later, man.
Yeah. -[ Laughs ]
-I just -- I'm having a hard time,
'cause it's like looking in a mirror.
And that -- it's just... [ Laughter ]
That's -- I'm just sorry, just so we can understand.
I heard that, after "Game of Thrones,"
you had a hard time auditioning. -Yeah.
Not a lot of people thought I spoke English.
It was very challenging. [ Laughter ]
-What?! I mean...
-It's like, what do you do with Drogo?
I mean, you're not gonna put him in a comedy.
You're not gonna put him in a romantic --
You know what I mean? Like, there's --
It's really -- He's -- You're pigeon-holed.
-Yeah, they do that. -A little bit, so...
-Yeah. So, no comedies for you.
-No, and, actually, the first person that really made me --
I guess I was bummed out a little bit --
was Fred, your buddy -- Armisen.
-Fred Armisen? -Fred Armisen.
I met him, and my stepdaughter, Zoe, did "Portlandia."
-Oh, yeah.
-And he was so excited to meet me.
I said, "Oh, my God!" He's amazing.
And then he was like, "I didn't even know you spoke English."
[ Laughter ] And I was just --
It was heartbreaking. -Fred says that --
-I was like, "That's why I'm not getting any jobs."
[ Laughter ] -But then -- But then you do --
Then you got Aquaman, and that's crush--
I mean, you crushed as Aquaman. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah. [ Cheers and applause continue ]
-I mean, I want -- I want to see you in a romantic comedy.
-That -- That -- Yeah, that whole --
that whole audition process was pretty crazy.
I mean, Zack was a huge fan of "Game of Thrones."
A lot of people are huge fans of "Game of Thrones," and...
[ Cheers and applause ] -Yeah, totally.
-And Zack was the one that -- you know, I couldn't get a job,
and Zack called me in, and he was a huge fan,
and he wanted to take Aquaman, who --
it was funny,
because I had no idea what I was gonna be playing.
He just called me in.
I had to audition -- it was for Batman.
But he was like -- Obviously, Ben was cast.
And I'm like, "What am I coming in..."
-It's like, there's gonna be two Batmen?
-Yeah, I'm like, "I'm just gonna basically be the bad guy.
I'm going to fight Batman and Superman."
-Yeah, you don't know what villain you're going to be.
-Exactly. I'm gonna play the villain.
And he's like, "Wait, no. It's Aquaman."
And I was like... -"I can't swim."
-I'm like... -I get it.
-I'm like -- blond -- -"I don't know how to swim!"
-Blond, shaven. -Yeah.
-Yeah, and it was --
-Wow. -Yeah.
-I mean, that's the way to do it right there.
-But now it's like, "Yeah, thank you, 'Game of Thrones.'"
-Yeah, exactly. Now you're crushing it.
-Now I'm Aquaman. -Well, I mean, I feel like --
[ Cheers and applause ]
-And now I'm gonna play "Water Wars" with Jimmy.
-Yeah, I mean -- I know. I'm a little scared.
-Yeah. -Yeah, I know.
Don't -- Don't make that face. [ Laughter ]
I'm excited to do it. I think it's gonna be fun.
I think -- you know what it is?
I watch -- I follow you on Instagram,
and I see you posting things that --
and they're funny -- they make me laugh.
[ Laughter ]
Because the one I'm talking about
is the rock-climbing one. -Yeah, yeah. Why?
-Because you're afraid of -- you're afraid of heights, right?
-Yes, yeah.
I'm afraid of heights, but I love doing it.
-Me too. I'm afraid of heights, as well.
So I would -- but I would do this type of rock climbing.
I want to show a clip of Jason rock climbing.
Check this out.
-[ Grunts ] -Yep, look at that.
-[ Grunting ] -Yeah.
-Yeah, boy! -[ Laughs ]
-That's amazing.
Then, you realize...
he's 4 feet off the ground.
[ Laughter and applause ]
That was the best! Dude, it was the greatest!
That was the -- It was the best thing.
I loved it, dude. I loved --
I go, "That's how you do it right there, man.
That's how you do it right there."
Do you have to do --
Do you have to do stunts in -- in "Frontier"?
Do you do all your own stunts, or, no, you got a...
-No, not anymore. I'm old. I'm getting old, Jimmy.
-[ Chuckling ] Oh, please. -I'm getting old.
-No, you're not. -I -- You know what?
I've done a great deal of all of my stunts,
and unless it's a train wreck, I'd like to do them.
But after "Aquaman," I'm like, "Whew."
-Yeah.
-And I met some really great stunt guys,
and right now they're -- -It's what they do.
-It's just hard meeting a big guy that can move very well.
And so I found some really great --
I've found some really great guys, Jimmy,
and they're taking care of me. [ Laughter ]
-That's good. You need it.
-And my mom -- and my mom and my -- and my wife love them
because I'm gonna live a longer life because of them.
-See? Exactly. That's what I'm talking about.
Yeah. [ Laughter and applause ]
Congrats on "Frontier." Season 2 is on right now.
Can you explain to people what it is, if they haven't seen it?
-Yeah, it's around the 18th, 19th centuries.
It's all about the fur trade
and what's happening up in Canada with HBC.
So it's the Hudson Bay Trading Company
versus my group's --
they're called the Black Wolf Company,
and it's kind of made up
of the French and the Métis and the Cree,
and, basically, everyone that's not British, right?
-Yeah. -Against them.
And my character is half-Irish and half-Cree,
and, you know, his family was taken away from him and murdered
by the man who kind of raised him, who is with HBC.
Now it's me avenging my -- my family.
There's many other stories to that,
but it's based around the fur trade in the 18th century.
-It's a good -- It's a great show.