-When "Bird Box" came out, you weren't even here.
You were on vacation, right? -Well, when it came out,
I went on vacation. I was in Maui.
I took a trip by myself. I did a "Eat Pray Love."
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You did an "Eat Pray Love?" -I did an "Eat Pray Love" trip.
-And how was that? By yourself?
-It was great, man. I was -- first of all,
everybody was worried about me because I wanted to go alone.
They were like, "Why you're gonna go by yourself?
You don't know nobody." I'm like, "Yes, I'm good.
I just want to go by myself." [ Laughter ]
I spent a lot of time in the ocean by myself
letting the waves hit me. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
-Just me lined up on the beach with a bunch of kids.
[ Laughter ]
-"Is he okay?"
-"Who's this grown man here?"
Come on, he's having a good time.
So, man, I took the trip.
But it's like when you're by yourself,
people always find a way to like -- It was families.
It was not like that. Black and white people,
we different on vacation.
White people are really nosey. "So you're by yourself?"
[ Laughter ]
I'm like, "Yeah, I came alone." "Right..."
I mean, you can hang out with us."
And they start telling me all their business.
I'm like, "That's too much." -Yeah.
-But then, the black families you see,
they'll just whisper to me.
"Hey bro, we know who you is.
We ain't trying to blow up your spot."
-Yeah. "We'll leave you alone."
-"We see this family adopted you.
But if you need some help, just..."
[ Laughter ]
-Blink, blink, blink three times.
-That's a true story, too. After the luau, they was like,
"Look, when the fires comes out,
if you need help, just do your glasses like this."
[ Laughter ]
-They want to help you.
-Man, that's a true story. -Really?
-Yeah. [ Laughs ]
-When "Bird Box" -- When they premiered,
it was on your birthday.
-Yeah, we did a premiere in New York on my birthday
on the red carpet. I've never --
I don't know if I'll ever have a birthday like that again.
It was one of the greatest birthdays,
like a red carpet premiere.
You've got Sandra Bullock there.
And she's telling everybody it's your birthday.
She bought me some cupcakes.
Every place we did press at, they gave me cake.
So I had like a room -- my hotel room was full of cakes.
[ Laughter ]
Every interview I did had a cake for me.
-Is that right? -I'm not lying.
I had like six cakes.
Whoever cleaned up my room afterwards was like,
"This dude is either a serial killer or it's his birthday."
[ Laughter ]
-His birthday or a serial killer.
-Yeah. I was like --
-Well happy, happy, happy birthday.
For those of you who haven't seen "Bird Box" yet,
how do we set it up? How do we talk about it?
-Oh, we got a clip? -Yeah.
-Oh, that's cool. I think --
I've always want to do that on a talk show.
Oh, I get to explain the clip. -Yeah, exactly, yeah.
We'll do it. -This clip is pretty much me,
my character Charlie,
explaining to everybody what he think this is.
He's been one of those conspiracy theorists --
-Yeah. -That just look up stuff
for no reason. -Yep.
-He worked at a grocery store. He's really --
Listen, I had to turn into this dude.
So I kind of lost my mind for like two months.
[ Laughter ] -Oh, you did, right?
-Yeah. 'Cause I had to believe --
-Yeah. -What I was saying.
Now when I first -- I had to do it twice.
First time I did it, I did it as an actor.
And I said everything. And it was cool.
And then, Susanne, our director was like,
"no, you have to -- you have to have feeling.
We have to feel this." I'm like, "All right. Cool."
Man, I was like, "All right."
So John Malkovich and his wife helped me study this.
I know that's so random.
John Malkovich is in the movie. -Yeah.
-And he helped me -- his -- I didn't understand
what I was talking about.
He was like, "Hold on, let me call my wife.
Baby, Rel doesn't understand some of the things he said.
Could you explain it to him?
And she just started breaking everything down to me.
I'm like, "Yo, who is your wife? Are y'all spies?"
You know what I mean? [ Laughter ]
-So you got real method. -Dude, they got real.
And I ended up learning what it was.
And then that's how this scene happened.
-Oh, it's fantastic. I want to show everyone a clip.
Here is Lil Rel in "Bird Box." Take a look at this.
-You've got world religion and mythology.
And it's full of mentions of demons or spirit creatures
that takes on the form of your worst fears
or your deepest sadness or your greatest loss.
-Man, that is religious talk. -It's real talk.
It's facts. They come in all different forms.
Right. You've got the Surgat
from ancient Christian occult beliefs
that made pregnant women
encounter their unborn children
as other creatures such as lobsters or spiders.
You've got the huli jing from China.
You've got the púca from Celtic mythology.
All different names, but the same thing.
-And what's that?
-The end of us.
-Charlie? Did you learn all of that working at the supermarket?
-No, I've been just studying it for years.
-In college? -Not college, per se.
But I mean the Internet.
I mean that's where you get all your information from.
I'm working on a novel, guys. [ Laughter ]
-Come on, guys. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Lil Rel Howery, everybody.