-Our first guest tonight is CNN's
chief Washington correspondent
and the anchor of "CNN Tonight with Jake Tapper,"
which airs weeknights on CNN through the midterms.
His first cover story for "The Atlantic,"
which I've got right here... [ Laughter ]
..."This is Not Justice: The Story of C.J. Rice,"
is out now. Please welcome back to the show,
our friend Jake Tapper, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back. -Thank you, thank you.
Don't -- Don't ignore the kicks.
-I like that you took advantage of the fact that
we're a little more casual here now to wear your --
Those are Phillies kicks.
-These are Philadelphia Phillies kicks.
You may have heard, they're in the World Series.
-They're in the World Series. [ Cheers ]
Pretty nice time to be a Philadelphia sports fan,
I would say, right? -It's great.
Yeah, the Eagles are 7-0.
There's something going on with soccer.
-Yeah. And there you go.
Now, I want to ask, because you have moved to --
through the midterms, you're doing your show
at 9:00 p.m., a prime-time show. -Yes.
-You used to do your show at 4:00,, a perfect time
to wrap up your day's work and then watch baseball.
This is terrible timing.
-For the World Series, yes, it's bad.
I mean, I do have the MLB app on my phone, so...
-Yeah. I've noticed during a lot of your interviews,
you're definitely watching something else.
[ Laughter ]
-If you turn on and I seem distracted
or I'm like, "Yes!" then it's not about the economy.
-Right. I'm like, "Wow!
He's really psyched about inflation," yeah.
-"He seems to be supporting higher crime numbers?"
-So that's interesting. So during a commercial break,
you're not asking people for scores.
You're fully looking down. -MLB app.
And, in fact, like, I have found it so much easier
to be a sports fan now because of my phone.
-Yes. -Like, the MLB app,
Sunday Ticket -- like, it makes it much better.
You get alerts. -I used to, in college,
go to a pay phone and call just to hear what the scores were.
[ Laughter ] -That's at least technology.
I used to just wait for the newspaper to come in...
[ Laughter ] ...turn to the sports pages.
"Oh, Schmitty."
-Speaking of Mike Schmidt... -Yes.
-I know that you -- -Mike Schmidt, the greatest
third baseman of all time, in case you don't know.
[ Cheers and applause ] Yeah.
-So, by the way -- so this is modern Mike Schmidt.
-That's me and Schmitty, yes.
We went to a game in July. A dream.
-And a true gentleman.
Now here's the thing I want to ask you.
Mike Schmidt, he famously had a mustache when he played.
-He was a redhead with a mustache.
Very iconic look.
He looks very different. -My dad has a mustache.
Still has his mustache. -Yeah.
-And a lot of people, when I was growing up,
a lot of people told me my dad looked like Mike Schmidt.
You're a Phillies fan.
I'm gonna show you three pictures.
You have to tell me, is it Mike Schmidt,
or is it my dad? [ Laughter ]
-Now, just so you know,
I actually literally collect Mike Schmidt baseball cards.
-Right. -So I have seen all of these
cards before. -So you'll have an advantage,
but it's still pretty tricky. -You think so?
Okay. Okay. [ Laughter ]
So that -- that looks like Mike Schmidt.
-Okay.
-That looks like the actual Mike Schmidt.
-That's the actual Mike Schmidt. -Okay.
That is definitely the actual Mike Schmidt.
I have that card. -There we go.
And...
[ Laughter ]
Don't -- Don't answer right away.
[ Laughter ]
-That's -- That's -- That's fake Schmidt.
-That's fake Schmidt.
And when you see it like this, you really do think,
"Did he ever look like Mike Schmidt?"
[ Laughter ]
-That's like Mike Schmidt
if you put Mike Schmidt, like, in a microwave.
[ Laughter ]
-Mike-rowave Schmidt. -Nice.
-There you go, yeah. Not really that nice.
-Well, I didn't mean like --
Your dad's a very handsome man.
-Oh, nice save, Jake Tapper. [ Laughter ]
-I just mean it's off from -- -No. That's always --
There was a slang when Jake and I were growing up.
You would say, if a man was really handsome,
you'd be like, "Ooh, look who just got out of the microwave."
[ Laughter ]
-It's an '80s thing. -You wouldn't understand.
-It's when microwaves were new.
-It's why you didn't get the "Cocoon" joke.
[ Laughter ]
So, your son, Jack, is 13 now.
-He's 13, yes. -So during the pandemic,
I would imagine that was probably a sweet-spot age
to go back and watch -- did you watch a lot of TV?
Did you introduce him to a lot of stuff?
-I did. He's a tough customer.
We watched "Band of Brothers." -Perfect show.
-He's really into police,
and he's really into World War II victories.
-Yep. Okay, gotcha. He doesn't like the losses.
-No. I just want to make sure he's rooting for the right side.
-Yeah, yeah, exactly. -So, yeah, we watched all of
"Band of Brothers," and then we got really into the show called
"The Rookie", which is a Nathan Fillion
police procedural on ABC, and it's a great show.
It's a lot of fun. -And then I guess Nathan
must have found out you were a fan of it.
-We tweeted. I tweeted to him a thank-you.
I'm sure you all remember looking for any sort of comfort
during the... -Of course.
-...the unpleasantness. And that was something
we could do, and it was a nice little time,
and we'd watch the show.
So I -- yeah, I tweeted Nathan Fillion.
I think my son actually asked me,
"Can you please let them know how much we love the show?"
-That's great. -So I tweeted Nathan Fillion.
He was very nice. He wrote back.
He sent my son a care package full of "Rookie" stuff,
and then he said when COVID clears up,
we can visit the set sometime.
-So you did, and not only did you get to visit the set,
he gave you -- obviously, you're very comfortable
in front of the camera -- a cameo, but also Jack.
Was Jack at all hesitant? -No.
Oh, my God, he was very excited.
He was very excited, and I was trying to think what --
and let me just also say, Alexi Hawley, the showrunner,
and everybody there, Nathan Fillion,
they were so nice. And I can't imagine --
I don't know what shows you were into when you were like
12 or 13, but for me, this would've been like
meeting the Six Million Dollar Man,
hanging out with Lee Majors or hanging out with Alan Alda
at the set of "MASH." Like it was a dream for him.
He loved it. -That's amazing.
And now we're gonna review his acting performance
'cause I think he did a pretty good job.
-I think he was pretty good. -I think he did a great job.
Let's take a look at the Tapper boys
here on an episode of "The Rookie."
-Oh, that is a brilliant costume, young man.
You too, slightly older man.
I don't see many Philly fans this side of the Rockies.
-You from there? -Foxburg, actually.
Just moved here a few years ago.
-God, you look remarkably like that fellow from CNN.
What's his name? -Jake Tapper.
-No, that's not it. -Yeah, it is.
Here, you guys want some candy?
-Thank the nice people. -Thank you.
-Roger that. [ Laughter ]
-I think he did a great job. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Isn't he cute? -He did great.
-He's such a -- he was so appreciative,
and this is something that you're able to do,
I'm sure, because -- with your kids, too.
But, like -- we were driving back from the set,
and he actually was weeping out of happiness,
which I've never done in my entire life.
I don't know if any of you have --
-See, I'm not gonna do it for my kids.
[ Laughter ]
-It's a tough world. -You gotta earn it.
-It's a tough world. -No free cameos.
-If you want to be on "The Rookie,"
you have to go through the audition process
like every other kid. -Everybody else.
They were like, "Will you tweet Nathan Fillion?"
I'm like, "You get a Twitter account, and you tweet him."
-Right. [ Laughter ]
"Dad, can I have money?
Can I have money for a head shot?"
You're like, "Just use this picture
of my dad as Mike Schmidt." [ Laughter ]
-"Here's your grandpa as Mike Schmidt.
That's your gift for the day."
I have a million things to ask you about,
especially with the midterm and the world at large.
Will you stick around for it? -Yes, of course.
Thank you so much. -All right.
We'll be right back with more from Jake Tapper.