-That's got to feel good.
A little standing ovation for you, buddy. Welcome back.
You know this is your 10th appearance on our show?
-Yeah, I was joking, you know, trying to pick a shirt to wear.
I had on a shirt and I was like,
"I think I've worn this on the show."
Five times, I had an emergency change.
-Yeah, well, you look good in whatever you wear, bud.
I want to congratulate you on the book.
Look at this right here, come on.
"The Ravaged."
[ Cheers and applause ]
You know what? I was going to ask you, because we've been --
I've asked you every single question,
but you've been in a bunch of music videos
with some major people.
I mean like Keith Richards, Lady Gaga -- I love that one.
Bjork. -Bjork, Radiohead, Orville Peck.
Yeah, a whole bunch of them.
-Do they come to you or do you find them?
How do you get in all these cool music videos?
-You know, when I first -- I lived in downtown L.A.,
where nobody lived down there,
and they kind of all new each other -- all these directors.
And they kind of passed me around.
So I did a bunch of them, but --
-What was Keith Richards like?
-Keith was cool. He kind of singled me out.
And he goes, "Come with me," to his trailer.
And I was like, "Oh, my God. It's Keith Richards."
And I'm sort of sitting on the sofa like that,
and somebody is doing his hair.
And he goes, "Norman, you know how I got this haircut?"
And I go, "No." And he goes, "My mom gave me
money as a kid to get a haircut,
and I kept the money and cut it myself.
And it's been like this ever since."
And I was like, "I love you."
-That's a rad Keith Richards story.
I want to talk about "The Walking Dead."
I know you just finished filming the final episode.
[ Cheers and applause ]
They're going to air this fall.
How was it the last day on set?
Was it emotional? -Yeah.
There was a lot of drinking.
There was confetti cannons.
-Confetti cannons are good, yeah.
-They hand me the mike.
I don't know. It sort of felt surreal.
And then a friend of my mine, Jess, she taught me a phrase.
"Is the juice worth the squeeze?"
And I love that phrase.
And I kind of said it to the group.
I was like, you know, "'The Walking Dead' juice
has always been worth the squeeze."
Then I realized how perverted that sounds.
[ Laughter ]
-No, but I understand. -You know what I mean?
-Yeah, "Is the juice worth the squeeze?"
That's a lot of work to do these shows.
-Oh, my God, it's a ton.
-And you've been on for was it, 11 seasons now?
-11 seasons, 12 years we've been on.
I mean, wait. Yeah, 12 years, 11 seasons.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah, you know, this last season, too, was a full year,
which was exhausting. -Yeah.
-And you're in the woods and you're crying
and you're killing and you're screaming and fighting.
You know, you've seen the show. -Exactly.
-It's not "Succession" where
you're, like, on a yacht having caviar.
[ Laughter ]
We're eating squirrels and killing each other.
-Yeah, that would be a little disappointing.
-"Succession," call me, by the way.
[ Laughter ]
-This is you right here on your first episode when Daryl --
[ Cheers and applause ]
You survived. -Yeah.
-It's also been announced that
you're going to have a spin-off series.
Daryl is having a spin-off series.
Do you know anything about that? Do you have any details?
-Yeah, I know it's going to be much different than the show.
You know, it was originally Carol and I --
Melissa McBride and I. -Yeah.
-And she's taking time off.
Like, you know, 12 years is a grueling schedule,
and she wanted to take some time off.
So she's doing that and she deserves it.
And they kind of came to me -- I imagine those characters
are going to meet back up at some point.
And I might even meet up with some other characters
down the road. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Alright. So good. -But she's taking time off.
In the meantime, they're like,
"Hey, do you want to go on a mission?"
And I'm like, "Yeah." -"Yeah, let's do it."
Speaking about going on a mission,
congrats on this novel, bud. -Aww, thanks.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-This is a real book.
I mean, this is a real novel.
This is like -- I put out kids books.
[ Laughter ]
This is my book. It's like that.
That's my books there.
And then this is -- Look.
It's almost the same thickness really if you think about it.
Yeah, that's yours.
-I'm stealing yours on the way out.
-[ Laughs ]
What made you want to write a book?
-You know, I've been approached a couple times
about writing books about my life.
But I don't want to get beat up, so I'm not going to do that.
Maybe later on down the road.
-Yeah. I can tell you have too many stories.
-Yeah, I don't want people knocking on my door.
But, you know, I have a production company,
so I'm always looking for stories
to make into TV shows or whatever.
And I took a bunch of different stories.
And they all kind of have the same theme of finding family
along -- you know, along the road, in,
like, the weirdest places.
Kind of like "Walking Dead" I guess in a way, in hindsight.
But there's a friend of mine who used to hop trains.
I kind of took his story, and I kind of created that.
I was shooting "Ride," and I was on an airplane
coming from Uruguay to Costa Rica.
-I love "Ride." -Yeah, it's fun.
And we're about to start another one.
Keanu and I are doing Utah.
-No way. -Yeah, next week.
But anyway, I'm sitting next to this businessman on a plane,
and I'm covered in dirt and I smell really bad.
And I have a backpack at my feet
and sand is coming out of it.
And people are coming by going, "Can I get a picture,
an autograph," or whatever.
He goes, "Who are you?" And I said, "I'm on a TV show.
That's what that's about."
And he starts talking to me,
and he runs one of the largest Fortune 500 companies
in the world. Don't ask which one.
But he had a series of events happen,
and he found himself kind of out in the world traveling.
So I go, "You should go to Chile."
He'd be like, "Yeah, okay."
He was bouncing around trying to find himself kind of.
And he's looking at me with tears in his eyes,
and he's like, "I've spent my whole life making money.
I've wasted my whole life."
And it just hit me,
and I sort of ran with a story sort of based on that.
A whole bunch of different things.
-That's the best. Take those stories
and make them into a nice novel.
Congratulations on this. It's a great book.
Norman Reedus, everybody. Check out "The Ravaged,"
which is available on May 10th.