-Welcome back.
-Thank you for having me back. -This is very exciting.
People have already said this film is fantastic,
and we really saw what you were stepping into there in that clip
because there you are with Pesci,
there you are with De Niro.
It's Martin Scorsese directing.
How did that feel?
-So, petrified. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -I was --
You know, I don't do a lot of acting,
so when I got on set, people are, like,
"Oh, are you making jokes since you were the comedian?"
I go, "No, I didn't speak unless spoken to."
[ Laughter ] -Right.
-So, yeah. It was a scary experience,
but every time Scorsese would yell cut,
Pesci, De Niro, and Scorsese
would get in a small huddle and start talking.
So, I'm sitting there, and I'm like,
"Should I be in that huddle?"
[ Laughter ]
Or are they talking about me? "What's he doing?"
So, it was a great experience,
and I had a great time doing that.
-You play a very -- It seems, like, you know,
just from the clip, I'm judging here,
a lot less humor than we are used to of you on stage.
You're play a guy named Joe Gallo.
This is a real guy. -Yeah.
-This is a hit man. This is a bad guy.
Did you know anything about him going into it?
-Yeah. And looking at the performance, Oscar-worthy.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. [ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Boy, that's sarcasm.
[ Laughter ]
Yeah, he's a stone-cold killer. He was a very cocky guy.
Kind of operated outside mob rules,
and, yeah, a serious role.
I thought it was a good challenge for me
to get outside my comfort zone of doing stand-up
and take on something like this, and I was proud of it.
-Yeah, and, you know, it's amazing --
you think of the size rooms you play with stand-up,
some of biggest rooms you can imagine,
and I think, to a lot of people, that seemed to be
the most terrifying thing, but it must actually --
You know, if that's your experience,
to be in a small group of people, filming a movie,
where it's about, you know, being really precise,
that must be terrifying.
But one thing that must've made it easier was, you know,
Martin Scorsese did cast you.
So, here's this guy with this great eye for talent.
What was the first meeting with him like?
-So, they tell me -- obviously, I'm wearing a wig.
-Yeah. In the film, yeah.
-In the film. Sideburns, the whole thing.
-But it looks like your hair,
which is part of the Oscar-winning performance.
[ Laughter ] -Absolutely.
So, they're like, "Listen, Scorsese wants
to take a look at you and your wig.
We're just gonna bring you on set.
He's going to say yes or no." I said, "Okay."
So, I'm just hanging out, but I got brought into an office,
and there's Scorsese, and he shuts the door,
and he's like, "I'm sorry. Sorry I kept you waiting."
I go, "Kept me? I would've waited
for three weeks to talk to you." [ Laughter ]
So, I walk in, and he starts talking about old movies,
and this guy's really knowledgeable about movies,
foreign film. I don't know nothing.
[ Laughter ]
So, I'm trying to figure out, in my head --
You know when somebody's talking to you,
but in your head you're, like,
"How do I get out of this and maybe get it...?"
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-I wasn't even listening to what he was saying.
I'm like, "How do I jump off this
and get into something that we have something in common with?"
So, I start talking about kids. He's got kids.
We're in there for about a half an hour.
I walked out, and the wig people are like,
"What'd he say about the wig?"
[ Laughter ] I go, "Nothing.
We were talking about movies and kids.
I think he thought it was my hair."
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-So, it was a great first meeting.
-You passed the wig test. -I passed the wig test!
-There you go!
-So, it was really, really great.
And then, the first day, we're doing that scene that you saw,
which was actually the Gotham Comedy Club
which they converted into the Copa.
So, the Gotham Comedy Club is the first comedy club
I've ever performed at in New York City.
-Oh, what a trip.
-And now I'm doing a movie in there.
So, it was -- it was great.
I still can't believe -- When I watched it, I'm like,
"I can't believe I was in that movie."
-It's fantastic. I'm really --
It's quite an accomplishment.