-Our first guest is an Oscar-nominated actor
who stars in the new movie, "Mainstream," which is available
digitally and in select theaters this Friday.
Please welcome Andrew Garfield!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Oh, that's what I'm talking about!
Aaah! Oh, my goodness!
Ah, I miss you, buddy. -I miss you!
I love you! I'm hugging you.
Tariq is the greatest rapper alive.
Happy Teacher Appreciation Day. -I mean --
[ Cheers and applause ]
You summed it all up right there.
We have all amazing teachers here.
While we're speaking of that, do you have a teacher
you'd like to give a shout-out to?
-Yes, Mr. Tong. Mr. Philip Tong.
I would not be anywhere without his brilliant
drama teaching when I needed guidance in my life,
'cause my previous drama teacher had thrown a chair at my head,
and that was the extent of my relationship with him.
[ Laughter ]
-Wow! That's -- That's crazy.
In drama -- So that's a lot of drama.
[ Laughter ] -That's a lot of --
I brought the drama. -You really did.
-[ Laughs ] No, like, so Mr. Tong,
he came into my life when I was really kind of lost
as a 15-, 16-year-old.
Didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life,
and I had kind of given up on everything.
It was kind of like "The Truman Show,"
where you feel like there's something else out there for you
but you don't -- you haven't got the courage to get on the boat
and go through the kind of cardboard sky
at the back of the lot.
And Mr. Tong came around, and he arrived at our school,
and he saw me do a school play,
and it was like a moment of mentorship,
which we all need at some point in our lives
to put us on our path, our kind of deepest path, I think.
And he had the generosity and the foolishness
to come up to me and say, "Hey, I think you have talent
in this, and I'd like you to study with me next year,"
and then he introduced me to theater,
and he introduced me to the arts.
And it was like I finally was Jim Carrey
walking through that door in the sky.
And I entered my life. And so, Mr. Philip Tong,
in Surrey, you changed my life and to all the teachers
who are devoted teachers, oh, I just bow.
I bow deeply out of camera to you.
-I love that. [ Cheers and applause ]
Obviously, this past year, everyone was just like,
"Oh, my gosh, what teachers do, it's just above and beyond."
You go like, "Wait. We have to just appreciate them
every single day."
But also the front-line workers, as well,
and people that are out there, just making everything happen.
I know your brother,
you'd like to give a shout-out to, who's a doctor.
-Yeah, Ben. Benjamin Garfield.
He'll be very upset that I'm mentioning his name.
-That's what brothers are for. -Yeah, that's true.
But he's also, you know, he kind of exemplifies what it is to be,
you know, to be of service to people.
He's a lung doctor. He's a pulmonary specialist,
so he's been on the front lines of this and, you know,
moving ventilators, deciding where vent--
It's just been -- you know, been the most intense
thing in the world for him.
But he's the guy that you want there.
He's the guy, like most front-line workers that I know,
they're the people that spend, you know, three hours too long
at work because they're just so devoted and, you know,
I've seen him in such a new light this year.
I always knew he was heroic, but he doesn't try to be heroic,
and that's the difference. He just --
He's called to what he does.
He just wants to help people and heal people.
So I love you, Ben, and everyone that you work with
at the Brompton Hospital.
Thank you for everything you've done this year.
-Ben Garfield. [ Applause ]
Thank you, Ben. -He'll get a kick.
He'll get a kick out of you mentioning his name, man.
That's awesome. That's awesome.
-I know you just wrapped a movie
with our friend, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
-Yes. -"tick, tick...Boom!"
And Lin, this is his directorial debut.
-Yeah. -How was he?
Was he nervous? Was he excited?
Was he -- -Dude, you know Lin.
He's like this crazy mixture of the most precocious 8-year-old,
like, genius student of life... -Yeah.
-...like, that won't stop talking and has a reference
for everything, and, simultaneously, he's maybe
one of the ultimate creative geniuses of our time.
It's this weird combination of having, like,
the most precocious 8-year-old around,
like, running around your ankles,
while also having written "Hamilton."
-Yeah, exactly! The guy's a genius.
-But like -- -But he also has, like...
-Yeah, like every moment. -...deep cuts, and, like,
he'll make a reference.
It will be like, "Wait. Did you just say that?"
-Yeah. Like, at the Oscars,
when he made a reference to the
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" theme song.
And I was like, "No one's going to understand this, maybe."
So I text, it was like, "Whoa!
You just referenced 'TMNT' theme song!"
And he was like, "I know who the true nerds are in my phone book
because it was you and one other person
that just texted me this."
No, I love him, man. I love him.
Like, to get to work with him on this was just --
Oh, man, it was a privilege.
And I got to work with Tariq for a day or two.
I don't know if I'm supposed to say that, but I just said it.
And I got to witness the genius in the flesh.
-Yeah, he's pretty amazing.
Well, I want to talk about your new film, "Mainstream."
This is a very interesting idea for a film, and this is from --
Is it Gia Coppola? -Yeah, Gia Coppola.
She's made one movie previously, called "Palo Alto,"
which you should check out. -Oh, yeah.
-She's just a really sensitive, tender artist.
And Nat Wolff was also in our movie, was in that movie,
just amazing actor.
And we have Maya Hawke in this movie,
and Johnny Knoxville and a bunch of social-media influencers
and some pretty wild stuff. So, yeah.
And we've all been friends for a while, so it was kind of
like this experimental family,
kind of fun hang that we happened to be shooting.
-You play a YouTube vlogger in the film,
and there's one scene where your character
has to streak down the street in daytime, in broad daylight,
and you shot this -- really -- in front of strangers.
What goes through your head?
And here's what would go through my head.
"Can Andrew Garfield do this scene for me?
Because I can't." [ Laughter ]
But I mean, do you go, "I'm just gonna --
I'm an actor. I'm going for it, and just run"?
-Dude, I don't know, man. It's like, life's short.
If this year has taught us anything,
it's that life is short, and if I get an opportunity
to streak down Hollywood Boulevard
without getting arrested, I'm gonna take it.
It's -- [ Laughter ]
It's kind of that simple. [ Applause ]