-Our next guest is an Emmy Award-winning actor
you know from his work on "Boardwalk Empire"
and films like "The Irishman," "Ant-Man," and "Blonde."
He stars in "The Watcher,"
which is streaming now on Netflix.
Let's take a look.
-"657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family
for decades now.
And as it approaches its 100th birthday,
I've been put in charge of watching
and waiting for its second coming.
Someone watched the house in the 1920s,
and someone else watched in the 1960s.
It is now my time.
Do you know the history of the house?
Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard?"
-"I wonder what brought you here.
I see already that you have flooded 657 Boulevard
with contractors so that you can finish the basement.
Why was it left that way?
It might not frighten you yet, but it will."
-Please welcome back to the show our friend
Bobby Cannavale, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back. -Hi. Thank you.
-I'm so happy to have you. -Thank you for that.
-We both have three kids. -Yeah.
-We've got a couple that are -- are very similar ages.
You've got a 6- and a 5-year-old.
I've got a 6 and a 4-year-old. I also have a 1-year-old.
You also have a 27-year-old. -I do.
I -- I've mostly been parenting my whole life.
-Yeah. -Most of my life. Yeah.
-Is the -- I mean, it obviously is a big age gap,
and I'm wondering -- You just did a movie
with the incredibly funny Bill Burr called "Old Dads."
-Yeah, yeah.
-So, this is about people who have kids later in life.
I feel like I had kids later in life,
but you also had one early in life.
Have you noticed the difference?
-Oh, yeah, big-time.
I mean, I -- I can't -- We were at the playground yesterday,
and I -- and my -- Both guys were like,
"Dad, you get on the -- on the monkey bars."
And I was like -- I tried.
And I just -- I couldn't do it.
My shoulders just -- They didn't --
They just wouldn't do it. I couldn't do it.
-Yeah. -And I think I can do it.
There's many things you think you can do.
But, you know, the main difference is that, you know,
Jake was pretty much an only child growing up,
and now I have these two animals, you know,
just all over each other all the time.
-Do you ever ask Jake to speak on your behalf
and tell the younger ones that there was a time
where you were an active father?
He's like, "Oh, you should have seen him
on the monkey bars in the '90s!"
-I have. I have. Alright.
Yeah, and as Jake pointed out to me, he's like,
"You know, dad, it's good that you had these kids later and that you had me earlier
so that I could then tell them all about you later."
I'm like, "I'm not going anywhere."
You know? But it's the 5-year-old's birthday today.
-Oh, and by the way -- So 5-year-old birthday.
Is it true that the older one is not enthusiastic
about the fact that you're celebrating?
-He's not. He's not.
He's -- He's advocating to just ignore the birthday.
He's like -- He's like, "I just don't understand."
First of all, he's using -- I don't know if your kids do this,
but, like, Rocco's very into using words incorrectly.
Like, new words that he likes. -Yeah.
-And lately, he loves the word "immediately."
So he's like, "I don't immediately understand
why we have to celebrate his birthday."
I'm like, "That's not how you use the word 'immediately.'"
And he's like, "I don't understand.
We have my birthday in February.
Why do we have to celebrate his in November?
I don't immediately understand."
And I'm like -- So -- -Give yourself time.
You don't have to understand immediately.
-Yeah, yeah. -Give yourself a couple hours.
Family photo right there. There's all three kids.
-Yeah. There we go.
And your wonderful Hulk costume there.
You really -- You put the effort in.
-And then your beautiful wife, Rose Byrne, there.
-Solved the answ-- I solved the question,
"Where does Hulk put his wallet?"
-Yeah. There you go.
-Got a little bag there. -Yeah.
And I think that's why he was mad.
-That's right. -Bruce Banner had to wear
a fanny pack, and then he was so angry about it...
-That's right. -...he turned into the Hulk.
-That's right. That was classic, though.
I wasn't planning on that -- wearing that.
Rose was like, "Well, who's gonna carry the keys?"
And I was like, "I guess I'll put the fanny pack on."
-I know that you are -- you're a pretty good chef, right?
You like to cook. -I do. I like to cook. Yeah.
-And do the kids like your cooking?
-I mean, I'm the only one in the house that does cook.
-Okay, gotcha. -The kids got to eat.
-They do got to eat. Right.
At some point, you got to learn a skill.
-Yeah. -Do they like your food?
Do you like -- -They do. They like my food.
You know, the problem is that they love bread, you know?
-They just love bread, man.
So I'm constantly figuring out ways to just make
bread an interesting new way to eat bread.
-That is a real challenge for a chef, yeah.
-Yeah, it is. So, you know, today was French toast.
We got, you know, Vegemite toast.
We have, you know, bread with cheese on it,
you know, grilled cheese.
But they like my -- You know,
I make a pretty good tomato sauce and...
you know, burgers and --
You know, they're kids, man. -Yeah.
-So it's tough to find things
that they like, particularly at lunchtime.
You know, they go to a school where you have to make lunch,
and I'm just stumped all the time.
-Yeah. -You know?
-Nothing is worse than when they bring home --
I don't know if you've had this, where they bring home
the lunchbox, and you just open it up
praying that it won't be exactly as you packed it.
-Yes. That's exactly right. -You're like, "Just one bite."
-It's the first question I ask. It's the first question I ask.
"Did you eat the lunch?" "I took a bite."
And, like, everything's gone. Like, the Pirate Booty is gone.
The little Bunny Grahams are gone.
-Yeah. -And it's just carrots
and ham sandwich.
[ Laughter ]
-Now, this show we saw a clip from,
it's based on a true story. -Yeah.
-It's a very haunting true story about a suburban family
who started receiving letters like that.
Their house is being watched.
Were you aware of it at all before you took it on?
-You know, I mean, I was just in terms of being turned --
being given the story, the "New York" article,
which was very, very popular.
You know, before the show, there was this one source,
this "New York Magazine" story
that was, like, viewed so many times.
-Yeah, everybody passed it around.
-Everybody passed it around.
So clearly it was resonating for people on some level.
And I think, you know, Ryan Murphy, who's sort of
very good at having his finger on the zeitgeist, just thought,
"You know, that would be a good idea to make a show about it."
But how he initially approached me about it,
you know, it was during COVID, and he was like,
"I don't know about you, man, but COVID made me feel
really powerless to be able to protect my family."
And I think for him, it was more of an allegorical thing,
you know, to tell the story in the guise of, like,
it's about a house and getting these letters,
but really it's about fear and it's about people
being unable to control what they can't control.
And I think that's what people respond to.
It's why, you know, we have such a big reaction to,
like, the ending, which I won't give away.
But, you know, I have people stopping me in the street now,
you know, giving me their opinion
about the ending, you know?
-You were saying -- I mean, this is --
I mean, this has been so popular.
And I think you're an actor
that everybody knows you from a different thing,
but this last month must be crazy
because I would imagine almost everyone
who is approaching you is approaching you
about this one specific -- -About the one thing, yeah.
Usually, it's like -- Yeah, it's --
I can't -- It's different things.
Everything from, "Did we go to high school together?"
To, you know --
Yeah, you know, "Third Watch," "Will & Grace."
There's all these different things.
So this has been pretty -- It's been pretty --
Yeah, it's obvious how popular this thing is.
-So popular that a second season was just announced.
-Just today. -Congratulations.
-Thank you.
-Everybody is going to have more things
to talk to you on the street about.
-The Watcher is still watching. -Still watching.
-Hey. Thanks so much for being here.
It's always a pleasure to see you.
Love to you and the family. Bobby Cannavale.
"The Watcher" is streaming now on Netflix.
We'll be right back with more "Late Night."