-Our first guest tonight is a Grammy-nominated musician
and actor you know from movies such as "Moonlight,"
"Hidden Figures," and "Harriet."
She stars in "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,"
which begins streaming on Netflix December 23rd.
Let's take a look.
-You're a detective, right? -Yes. Um...
-Can you spot the other thing,
the real thing this group has in common?
-Randi, come on.
-Oh, Lionel. Everybody knows who Lionel works for.
That's no secret.
And we know who bankrolled Claire's campaign.
♪♪
But when nobody -- nobody would touch Birdie
with a 10-foot pole because she went on "Oprah"
and compared herself to Harriet Tubman.
-In spirit.
-Please welcome back to the show Janelle Monáe, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Resplendent as always, Janelle. You look like a million dollars.
-It's good to see you in person. Can I touch you? Are you real?
-It is. Last time we were here, we Zoomed.
-We Zoomed. -And, by the way,
you dressed up for Zoom as well, which I really appreciated.
-I did. Because I like you a lot.
-Well, thank you very much. I like you a lot, as well.
And seeing you here in person is wonderful.
And, also, I'm not the only one who likes you a lot.
Congratulations on your Critics' Choice Award nomination today.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Oh. I know. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you so much, man.
-You both got a personal nomination,
which must be so special, but also an ensemble nomination.
-Yes. -And Kate Hudson was here
yesterday talking about how wonderful a group of people this was.
It seems like it was an incredibly fun group
of people to make a film with. -Oh, absolutely.
Like, first of all, they are all icons.
Kate Hudson. Come on. Who kills it in this film.
And Daniel.
It's just been a dream role, a dream cast.
And whenever we're all getting celebrated together,
that always makes me feel good.
Because I got a real opportunity
to, like, make some life-long friendships.
It felt like we were in a theater summer camp repertoire,
and you just wanted to call home and be like,
"Mom, don't come back and get me.
Leave me here for another good month."
-You did that as a kid, right?
Didn't you do sort of -- A theater campy...
-Yeah. -And monologue camp.
What was that?
-Yes, I'm an international thespian.
-Yes, absolutely. -Where are all of my thespians?
-You are.
-I was always in either a Shakespearean program.
I wrote for the Young Playwrights' Roundtable --
short stories.
-At what age did you know
that was the path you wanted to take -- writing, performing?
-Whew. Uh, last week. -Okay.
-Yeah. Last week.
-Well, then, this must be a great week of feedback, yeah.
-No, I mean, my mom -- I had the best parents, you know.
They were working-class.
And even though they were working,
they never missed a talent showcase.
There never was a time in my life
where I wasn't singing or acting.
Like, I was always in the music.
All of it just has felt beautiful.
Storytelling -- I think that's been the common thread.
I love telling stories.
Through music, through fashion, through whatever it is.
-I've really enjoyed this sort of act with you as a performer,
not just musically,
but also, you know, in films and television.
I knew you first as a singer,
and you first collaborated with Ed Norton,
who's in the film, when you were the musical guest
for his "SNL" in 2013.
-I did. Wow. My eyebrows.
Why was I -- -Your eyebrows were very good.
-I'm sorry.
I feel like they are just very strong and arched.
But, yes, that was the first time we met.
He was hosting. I was musical guest.
So it's like a dream to --
-It must've been crazy to be collaborating again.
This is, for those who don't know, a sequel
to the wonderful film "Knives Out."
Daniel Craig is back.
A whole new cast of characters. A murder mystery.
You host -- True story. You host murder-mystery parties?
-Oh, yes. -Always?
-Mafia. Assassin.
Who plays murder-mystery games in here?
Come on. [ Cheers and applause ]
Like, all-out. Family, friends. We love it.
-Now, it does not surprise me, and I doubt it will surprise
anyone else, that you dress up a little bit
when you host a murder-mystery party.
-What is this? -This is a photo.
[ Laughter ]
-That is Sir Hawthorne James.
Wow. -Sir Hawthorne James?
And he had people over for a murder-mystery party?
-Well, actually, that took place in Serbia.
-Okay. -That was a murder mystery
that Rian Johnson,
our writer-director of "Glass Onion," invited us to.
We couldn't go out and party
and be in the streets because of COVID.
Nobody wanted to be the actor
that, like, shut down the whole production because you were,
you know, at a strip club in Belgrade with no mask on.
-By the way, you know,
respect when you're in Belgrade, you know.
It's a bummer to go, then you come back,
and they're like, "Did you go to the strip clubs?"
You're like, "I didn't go to the strip clubs."
-So what we would do is we all stayed at this hotel together,
and they would rent out the top bar part of the hotel,
and we would have murder-mystery parties.
We'd get drunk. You know, we'd have fun.
-That really speaks to --
I'm very impressed that Rian Johnson,
who continues to write these
incredibly well-constructed murder mysteries,
and yet still has time
to put a murder mystery party together for his cast.
-That has absolutely nothing to do
with the murder mystery of the film.
-I think it's very clear to me that
if he wasn't writing these incredible things,
he would definitely be a murderer.
So I think we should be very happy
that he has chosen the path.
-No, listen, Rian is --
I've wanted to work with Rian since I saw "Looper."
-"Looper" is a great movie." -Oh, my God, right?
And I went down this whole rabbit hole, saw everything.
I said, "I don't care if he calls me to do a two-second
lip gloss commercial, I'm saying yes."
-And I hope, and by the way, I hope by bringing it up,
people go back and revisit "Looper."
-I really do, they should. -So you --
It also won't surprise people, Halloween.
These are Halloweens. Are these all Halloweens?
-Yes, those are Halloweens.
-I mean, so -- alright, first of all,
my dad dressed up like the white rabbit for my kids.
-What? Let me see that.
-So he's the grandfather, and I feel bad because I feel
like he did a really good job,
and then I'm going to show yours.
So there's my dad. -Aww.
-I mean, not bad, right? -They're so cute!
-He went out, he got a clock.
But then, there is Janelle Monáe.
[ Laughter and applause ]
It's deeply, deeply unfair.
-That was cool.
Yes, this was my white rabbit, you know,
from "Alice in Wonderland."
I had so much fun.
I'm telling you, living in L.A.,
you just have some access to these movie people.
And I feel like my costumes have gotten better.
It used to be Party City, and now it's this.
-I mean, like this, they were like, "Oh, that's Grandpa."
This, I think they would just [bleep] their pants.
[ Laughter ]
I mean, you do really take care of L.A.
This is "Fifth Element." Is this from --
-Yep, Diva Plavalaguna. -That's insane.
And now is this a hard -- Do you regret this at all over
the course of the night sort of moving around?
-[ Laughter ] -You know what?
Okay. That was five hours... -Okay.
-...of prosthetics sitting in a chair.
And the first -- The head that they gave me, it was too heavy.
So I had to have them lift it up
as I was getting my makeup on.
And then I was like -- I had to do a photo shoot in it.
And then I did this again for another four hours
because I wanted to attend parties.
And I was like -- But I cannot
have that big head holding me down.
And so they re-created it, made it more light.
And I went out and I partied with it.
And it was great. -I'm very impressed.
I mean, by the way, that would be --
If I saw you walking in,
I've never had a Halloween costume
that's not a zero out of 10 compared to that.
-I was like this the whole time.
[ Vocalizes ]
Like, I literally would do that at the Halloween party.
[ Cheers and applause ]
I don't know what's wrong with me.
-I saved this one for last because it's Halloween.
But it's very much in the Christmas season.
I mean, again, mind-blowingly good.
There you are as the Grinch.
[ Cheers ] -That's Johnny Grinch.
-And then, are you eating?
What is that? -What?
That's green eggs and ham. -Okay.
-Yeah. -[ Laughter ]
-I mean, that's a different book, okay?
-[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
-Like, I'm in the thick of it right now,
so don't go crossing your Seusses on me.
-I know, but it's Seuss.
You know, it's Seuss. Seuss food.
-You have a Grinch idea. -I do.
Ooh, I do.
So, first of all, those were the lashes from Jim Carrey.
-Really? -As Grinch.
Those were a replica of those lashes.
I just want that to be known. -Okay, great.
-Jim, you are the GOAT. I do have an idea.
I think if you go on my page, you'll see the Johnny Grinch
is like this sort of hipster.
Like, you know, vegan and green eggs and ham or wait.
-Not a great vegan. -No, not really a good vegan.
-[ Laughter ] -Anyway, forget that,
forget that, forget that. I'm off course.
But the pitch is what
if the Grinch had an illegitimate child.
-Okay.
-Like he didn't know that he had Johnny,
and she somehow brings him back. -Alright.
And this is Grinch -- where does this Grinch,
where does the illegitimate Grinch land on Christmas?
-I think that she doesn't like Christmas.
-Yeah.
-And she starts to uncover the why.
And then maybe they both -- he likes Christmas now, right?
-Obviously.
His heart is three times bigger. -Exactly.
And then like somehow you go a day in the life with her.
Like she is in college, maybe she is in med school.
Maybe she is in a rock band.
Like she lives this really cool life.
Like you want to hang out with her.
She drives an electric car, and she has to go meet her dad,
who is Jim Carrey, the Grinch.
-This seems like a drama, but -- -You think it's a drama?
Okay, yeah, you're right.
But maybe they don't like each other.
Like she just does not like her dad, because you left me.
-Yeah. I also want to hear this story
about how he's like, "I had no idea."
I'm like, "Alright, Grinch.
You lived alone in a cave.
And you're like, 'I don't know how I'm a dad.'
You know." -Right.
-I'll tell you where he went when he was in Belgrade.
He wasn't doing murder mystery parties.
Hey, thank you so much for being here.
It's always so great to see you.
-Thank you, my friend. I adore you.
-Janelle Monáe, "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery"
begins streaming on Netflix December 23rd.
We'll be right back with Paul Dano.