-Raymond Lee, welcome to "The Tonight Show."
Thanks for coming on.
-Thank you so much for having me.
This is a dream come true. I'm so excited to be here.
-Oh, you're a good man. Come on, this is --
[ Cheers and applause ] You had a great year.
Not only are you starring in the big new show, "Quantum Leap,"
you also were in "Top Gun: Maverick."
Look at this right there.
-Yeah, there's Miles and there's my buddy, Jake.
And there's Manny. -Yeah.
-Yeah. -Not too shabby, huh?
-Not too shabby.
-What is the audition process like for this?
-Well, I thought -- I thought my read went okay.
But I had just gotten back from a trip to Hawaii,
where I rented a surfboard.
And I went out, and about five minutes into
paddling -- It was low tide.
The reef was exposed. -Yeah.
-And, so, I'm getting out there and I realize that I felt
a sharp pain in my right hand.
And I had slapped a sea urchin,
and there was about 50 spikes in my hand.
And at that point, I decided I could do one of two things.
I could paddle back to shore and just eat
the cost of the surfboard that I've had for about five minutes
or I could just go out and keep surfing, and I did.
And it was -- It turned out to be a great day.
I had a bloody hand. but I came back,
and the very next day was the audition for "Top Gun."
And I had a bandaged hand. They had asked me about it.
So, I thought my read went okay.
But it was that story, I think, is what sold them,
because here they was trying to cast a pilot,
a daredevil pilot.
And here I was, I did something daredevilish.
And maybe they were like...
-"Oh, he's got something right there." Yeah.
-..."Yeah, he's got something.
He took a risk."
-"He took the risk." He got a bloody hand.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
Did your family freak out that you were in "Top Gun"
or that you're in billboards all over the place?
-Yeah, totally. -They love it.
-They love it, yeah. -Look at this billboard ad here.
-It's so big. -I like this ad.
This is you, basically, leap--
quantum-leaping through a building.
-Yeah. -A giant, giant building.
-A huge building. -Yeah.
-Yeah, they're really proud. -Yeah, good. They should be.
-They're -- Yeah, they're really supportive.
They've always been very supportive.
I got a call from my uncle,
who is very withholding in terms of any term --
like, words of congratulations or praise or anything,
but he told me that, "I'm very proud of you."
He said, "I'm very proud of you."
I got very emotional.
-Yeah, and he doesn't normally give you praise.
-He doesn't normally give me praise.
And I asked him.
I was like, "Is this because I was in an ad or is this --
Did you watch the episode?"
He's like, "No. You were in the Korean newspaper."
And for us, if you make the Korean newspaper,
that is all that really matters, so...
-And then here's what I love is that he actually
sent you the newspaper of you.
-He sent it to me.
He's like, "This is what I'm reading right now,
and I'm so proud of you."
And that's that. -Come on, buddy.
[ Cheers and applause ]
That's fantastic.
Uncle, he's doing pretty well,
so, yeah, you don't have to worry about him.
Yeah, he's doing alright.
I've got to say, "Quantum Leap" --
This is a big, exciting thing for "Quantum Leap" fans.
You must have been a baby when
the first "Quantum Leap" came out.
Yeah, it wasn't a show that you watched growing up, right?
-Yeah, no.
I watched it the second time around,
when it was in syndication.
It was my best buddy in sixth grade --
this was his favorite show.
David Kelegian, if you're out there,
thank you so much for introducing me to the show,
because prior to that, it was just, like,
cartoons and "Ninja Turtles."
-Yeah, what children should watch.
Yeah, yeah. Of course. -And then he introduced me --
-Yeah, you shouldn't be watching "Quantum Leap"
as a child, as a baby.
No, no, no, no. -No.
-You watch cartoons, yeah,
and then you grow up to be in "Quantum Leap."
-That is right. -Exactly what you did.
-Come full circle. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Can we set up the show and who you play?
-Yeah. It's been 30-some-odd years since
Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the quantum accelerator
and vanished forever.
And now, a new team has been assembled
to restart this machine and uncover the mysteries behind it.
I am part of that new team. I play Dr. Ben Song.
And I have taken an unsanctioned leap
into the past for reasons unknown.
And my team is left to figure out why
and to try and bring me back.
-Monday nights, 10:00, NBC.
I will say I heard this --
that, you know, you were a little nervous
when you're the number 1, you know, on the call sheet.
You have to go to set.
And to calm you down, you will sing a song.
-I do.
-Yeah. Do you know what song I'm talking about?
-I know what song you're talking about. Yeah.
It's a song by Hoobastank.
-Okay.
-Yeah, and to calm my nerves --
You know, I don't like awkward silences.
Like, I don't like sonic voids.
And so I just -- I hum things.
And this is -- this is -- So, right now,
it's pretty quiet, so I'm getting pretty nervous.
♪ I'm not a perfect person ♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪ There's many things I wish I didn't do ♪
Sometimes, like, the crew that I'm working with
likes to join in at this part or they just wait until
the chorus, because everyone eventually starts to sing.
♪ But I continue learning ♪
-We always have microphones here, by the way.
-Oh, that's what I -- I thought it might have been...
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪ I never meant to do those things to you ♪
I never said I was a good singer.
♪ And so I have to say before I go ♪
[ Laughs ]
-♪ That I just want you to know ♪
♪ I found a reason for me ♪
♪ To change who I used to be ♪
♪ A reason to start over new ♪
♪ And the reason is you ♪
-I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Raymond Lee in "Quantum Leap"!
Take a look at this.
-You in there, David? -Yep, yep.
Just, uh -- Can't rush this sort of thing.
-First time is always a little tricky.
-Mm-hmm.
Oh, thank God.
-Are you okay?
-I'm in a space shuttle. [ Laughs ]
-I know.
-I thought I was supposed to get pulled back to 2022 when I left.
-Yeah, that didn't work.
-Do we know why?
-We're working on it.
However, the team is fairly confident
we should be able to get you back on the next leap.
-Well, I'd might be more upset,
but...space shuttle.
It's very cool.
-That's Raymond Lee, everyone.
"Quantum Leap" airs Mondays at 10:00 p.m. on NBC.