-My next guest is one of the stars
of the blockbuster television show "Stranger Things."
He's also the host of the series "Prank Encounters"
with Season 2 now streaming on Netflix.
Please welcome Gaten Matarazzo!
-♪ Gaten Matarazzo, bet you didn't know ♪
♪ That the name Gaten is short for Gaetano ♪
♪ Gaten Matarazzo, be careful what you do ♪
-Thank you, bud!
Always come through for me. -Thank you.
It's always such a pleasure to be here.
-I always love seeing you, pal.
We have a lot to get into, buddy.
You got a job... -I did.
-...during the pandemic, and not an acting job.
-Not an acting job, no.
-You got a job at a restaurant.
-Yeah. -Explain this to me,
and why did you do that?
-So, well, over the summer during the pandemic,
there were a couple of restaurants
near where I live in New Jersey
that were open because they all had outdoor seating.
And so, both of my siblings got a job at this place,
a couple of my friends did, some of my cousins,
so everybody I've ever hanged out with --
everybody I've ever known and met and talked to.
And I was sitting on the couch one day,
and my brother was like, "Going to work.
I'll see you at like 11:00." I was like, "Okay."
And he leaves, and I'm playing "Mario Kart"
and I'm still playing "Mario Kart."
-Yeah. -And then after a while,
I'm still playing "Mario Kart."
And so, I got really good at it
to the point which was just -- I knew it was sad.
[ Laughter ]
I'm like, "Wow, I'm good.
I need to stop." -I got to stop, yeah.
-And so I was like, if they're all leaving
and they're the only people I know, I might just follow them,
might just go with them, and so I did.
-So you got a job at this restaurant?
And what did you do? -I was a food runner.
I literally -- I stood at the line,
and then, when orders were up, I just brought them to tables.
-And did people freak out?
-Sometimes, yeah, which is pretty fun.
-"Gaten Matar-- What's going on?"
-Well, I had, like, a disguise.
I was, like, incognito, which was fun.
I had, like, the restaurant shirt on.
I had a hat that was for the restaurant.
I got to tuck all my hair into it.
And I had one of the sleeve masks,
the one you pull over your whole face.
And I just tucked that into the hat, so just my eyes --
It was just my eyes, and people still recognized --
I would go to tables and, like, drop food
and be like [Deep voice] "There you go. Enjoy."
[ Normal voice ] I wouldn't even let them hear my voice.
And people would just look at me for a second, squint like that,
and be like, "Are you Gaten Matarazzo?"
So, 3-year-olds, like, toddler people.
-Wait, 3 -- -Yeah.
-I'm so sorry. 3-year-olds...
-Yeah. -...follow you?
-There are, like, toddlers who love "Stranger Things,"
who are just -- Yeah, they think it's like the bomb.com.
-But it's a little scary.
-It's a little scary.
-Yeah, for a 3-year-old.
-Sometimes it's like, people who don't speak most words
will look at me and just be like, "Dustin."
I'm like -- [ Laughter ]
-Like, wow, that's your first word, is Dustin.
-There it is. It's great. It's really cool.
-'Cause I get scared. I'm way old.
And -- But let's talk about "Stranger Things,"
'cause you were shooting Season 4.
Then, obviously, COVID. You shut down.
Are you getting back? Are you back?
-We're getting back.
-But you told me that this season
that you know of that you've shot so far,
you told me it might be the scariest one.
-Oh, yeah.
That's the one thing that I've noticed.
I was reading it, I'm like,
"They're going for it this year. That's pretty cool."
-Oh, really? -Yeah.
So I don't know if the toddlers are going to enjoy it as much
this time going around. -Yeah, okay, alright, so, yeah.
But maybe, you know -- Yeah.
Maybe you would release it in segments.
By the time they get to see it, they'll be 4 or 5 years old.
-Yeah! I think it'd be great.
At the rate we're going, they might be like 12.
-Yeah, perfect, alright, good.
I want to talk about this show on Netflix
that you executive-produced. -Please.
-"Prank Encounters." -"Prank Encounters."
-I remember a show growing up called "Candid Camera."
-Ooh. -And it was a fun show.
It was family-friendly.
It's, like, an old woman would be sweeping.
Then you'd walk by, and she'd, like, tap you on the butt,
and you're like, that happened?
People would laugh, and it's great.
-It's great. -What you do...
-Is not like that. -No.
No, it's scary,
and it's hilarious to watch people's reactions
getting scared. -It is.
-Do you get scared, in a way,
that people might hit you or something?
-Every time I get up and know I have a prank later that day.
They take sometimes two, three hours to film the whole thing.
So you're waiting there for a while,
and then you go in for like a two-minute reveal,
which is like 30 seconds of, "That's cool,"
and 30 seconds of, "Dude, please don't deck me in the head."
Because I'm so scared, 'cause I think if I get punched,
I don't really have a defense.
I kind of deserve it at that point.
-No, no. -Well, if I'm scaring
the actual crap out of like a bunch of people,
which I've done a bunch on this show,
if I were to go in there and just [Pops lips]
I'd be like, "Fair." -"Yeah, I saw that one coming."
But, I mean, dude, what are people's most common reaction
when -- 'Cause I've seen a few episodes,
and there's giant reactions.
-Mm. Usually, the reveal is great.
It's big. It's lively. But throughout the prank --
We condense them down to like 20-minute, half-hour episodes
but of like a three-hour prank.
You're getting the highlights pretty much,
because it's a lot of waiting around,
especially because we prank two people in one prank.
That's what we do. We get two people.
We see how they interact with each other
while the actors around them are as useless as possible
to a really scary situation.
We like to see if they step up and try to be leaders,
and usually, they do, which is really cool.
And I think it says something.
Yeah, usually, if there's no other options,
people will step up, and I think that's really cool.
-That's right. -But for the majority
of the time, it's like -- They're like,
"If I don't move, they won't see me."
-[ Laughs ] -And we don't want that!
Like, that's not fun to watch. You want someone to move around,
and you want somebody to interact.
And so that's the biggest challenge
for a lot of our actors, who are incredible,
incredible improv actors who work on the show.
-Very funny. I want to show a clip.
Here is Gaten Matarazzo in Season 2 of "Prank Encounters."
Take a look at this.
-Okay.
Okay.
Mr. Timms?
-[ Groans, gasps ]
-Aah!
-[ Grunting ]
-Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
-[ Hissing ]
Aah! -[ Screaming ]
-[ Hisses ] -Bennett!
Wait, Bennett!
Come back!
Bennett!
-Oh, he's making a run for it. He's making a run for it.
We have a runner. We have a runner.
-[ Hisses ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah.
[ Both laugh ]
-Oh, he just took off. It's fantastic.
-It's amazing. -Gaten Matarazzo, everybody!