The Karate Kid himself.
Yeah, kind of.
How are you?
I'm great.
[cheering, applause]
- Welcome to The Daily Show. - Thank you.
Thanks for having me. Great to see everyone here.
It's awesome.
[applause, cheering]
You are somebody who has defined a generation.
You are somebody who now is in the next phase
of defining a new generation on streaming, on Netflix.
Your face became synonymous with a move.
You've got that on the book.
And you wrote a story that, I'm going to tell you,
is one of the more honest accounts of anybody's life.
I would love to know why you chose to go into the depth
that you went into because you could have kept it safe.
But you tell everything.
You know, it's very specific.
I walked in the shoes of this character that
has been so impactful and so inspirational, aspirational,
wish-fulfilling, for decades.
You know, I was the lucky guy that got the part.
TREVOR NOAH: Right
But I-- so I wanted to be honest about
what that journey has been.
It's never gone away for me.
It's always been a part of me.
The fans give so much back for 38 years.
Yes, I said it out loud.
[cheering, applause]
But there's such a-- it's such a two-way street
of inspiration.
And now with the Cobra Kai show exploding the way it has
and opening up for the next generation, I mean,
I have 12-year-old kids that know who Mr. Miyagi is.
TREVOR NOAH: Right.
You know, you think of this legendary actor, and you go,
he was always Mr. Miyagi.
And yet, you talk about how when Pat came
in for the audition, everyone-- before he auditioned,
everyone was like, I don't know if this guy
will be Mr. Miyagi.
Well, they didn't-- they didn't want him for--
some of the studio and the producer
didn't want him for the role because they were looking more
like Toshiro Mifune, some of these Akira Kurosawa,
the Seven Samurai kind of actors.
And so Pat was-- and he was Arnold from Happy Days for me
as well. TREVOR NOAH: Right.
I mean, he was part of my Tuesday nights.
I mean, I watched Arnold.
You know, so I was-- we all kind of questioned the depth
and breadth of his chops.
He came in there.
We-- I can only explain it as soulful magic, which
is what I titled his chapter.
TREVOR NOAH: Right.
And it was instantaneous.
It was a give and take.
A great deal of that goes to the writing.
But it was elevated by the two guys that were
meant to play those parts.
TREVOR NOAH: And that's what I love
about how you tell the story is that I
can't imagine another one.
I can't imagine Mr. Miyagi being,
like, this buff Kung Fu.
What made him so special was that he--
- Well, he was a-- - --was surprising.
It was-- - He was a human Yoda.
Exactly.
That's exactly what it is.
That's exactly it.
[applause]
You-- you're also really vulnerable in the book,
which I appreciate.
Because as you said, many people looked at your life
and went, man, this guy is lucky.
And in many ways you were.
You were the Karate Kid.
It was a massive blockbuster.
It was all over the world.
And then because of that, your career was essentially done.
You talk about how you couldn't get
another job because people said,
well, you're the Karate Kid.
You can't be anybody else.
Yeah, it started to--
I had two things working for and against me.
One, I was associated with a role
that was famous for being an iconic character right away.
And two, I decided to age very slowly.
You look great, by the way. I'm just going to say it.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
[cheering, applause] Thanks.
No, you actually do.
So now I wasn't able to graduate sort of out of it.
And then I had missed opportunities
because I was locked into a three-picture contract.
So that made it-- when there were
certain other projects I wanted to be involved with,
I couldn't.
You know, the thing that I've been able to do is-- and I
write to this in the book--
I've always kept one foot in and one foot out of it.
And therein lies, for me, the balance.
There you go.
That's a Miyagi-ism.
But it is-- there are lessons in life from that film
that I use in my own life and share with people.
So it's-- with readers-- it's about how to navigate through
that and keep your focus.
And so-- and then stuff came back around.
Always through those dry times, I kept myself creative.
I jumped back to writing screenplays, shooting films,
doing guest spots here and there.
And then somehow the universe has me on Netflix
on a big TV show right now.
On a massively successful TV show, with people loving you,
a whole new generation loving you.
And can I just say, if--
I don't know who's working in ad
agencies for anti-aging creams and all these other.
If they do not design a line around you
and they call it "Wax On, Wax Off"--
There you go.
--they're wasting their money.
- That's right. - You are the face of it.
Congratulations on everything. - Thank you, brother.
- Thank you. - Happy to be here.
Thank you for everything you did for all of us.
Thank you.
Waxing On is available now.