-It's nice having you in New York.
You guys took advantage of being in New York.
You threw out the first pitch last night...
-I did. -...at the Mets game.
-I did. I'm very athletic. -Yes, everybody knows that.
-Yes, exactly. Uh, no.
I was always picked last in gym class.
So when this sort of e-mail came through, I was like --
immediately, "Yes," as a child.
The 8-year-old me was like, "Absolutely want to do this."
Followed by terror, because I know
what it's like being picked last in gym class.
I was, like "There's tens of thousands of people there."
-How much time did you have between getting asked
and doing the actual pitch? -Three weeks.
And I hired a pitching coach. -Okay.
[ Laughter ] -Because I'm that kind of nerd.
-Yeah. -And a really nice guy named Zach in L.A.,
who, like, showed me how to throw a baseball.
-I would imagine one of the problems would be overthrowing
over the course of the three weeks.
You don't want to end up with, like, a sore arm.
-No, no, and there are plenty of celebrity videos
of people who have thrown badly, which is, like, the nightmare.
-And lot of them in New York. -Yeah, no, I know.
And the coach says to me,
in the third training session we had, he's like,
"You know what? Your body is not gonna perform
the way a pitcher needs to perform."
[ Laughter ] It's like, "Sweet.
I'm glad you're telling me this in my third session."
He goes, "Why don't you just perform
as though you're confident?" -Oh!
-It's like, "Oh, thanks. Now, it's acting-lesson time."
-So, he said, "You can't be a pitcher,
but you can be an actor playing a pitcher."
-Yes. [ Laughter ]
-We're going to show it.
Before we show it, how do you feel you did?
-So, I did an Insta story
where I sort of bragged about throwing strikes.
In reality, it's a little high and outside.
-Okay. -But it went across the plate,
he didn't have to chase it, and it didn't hit the ground.
-Alright, let's take a look real quick,
and let's see if you would call this a strike.
-Ha! -And... [ Chuckles ]
[ Laughter ] He had a -- You had a very...
[ Applause ]
I like that whoever was catching for you
did that very nice thing. He didn't panic.
He just very calmly stood up. -Yeah.
-It was like, "I was getting up anyway."
-Exactly, exactly. [ Laughter ]
And I was, like -- And in my head I'm like,
"The actor can talk a mean game,"
but clearly the pitch was what it was, guys.
-So, "Sunnyside." This is a show
you've had an idea for, for a long time.
You created it with Matt Murray, who's a wonderful writer
who used to be my officemate at "SNL."
And you play, from the clip, a disgraced councilman
who is now helping immigrants pass their citizenship test.
-Yeah, yeah. Five years ago,
I was on a show that got abruptly canceled,
and kind of thought, "Well, what's your dream project?"
And I love making people laugh.
I love the patriotic comedies that we grew up with --
stuff like -- I know it doesn't sound patriotic,
but, like "Fresh Prince" and "Seinfield."
Basically, stuff that makes you feel good
at the end of the night, you know?
You feel like you just hung out with a group of your friends.
So we thought, "A teacher is kind of a cool idea.
Maybe it's, like, maybe teaching,
like, a chocolate-making class.
It went through all these different iterations
until we sat down with Matt and Mike Schur
and thought, "A citizenship class is kind of cool --
one that takes place in New York City,
because there's a lot to choose from.
And the sort of hijinx, each episode, is a nice runner.
-It's also, you know, a very diverse cast,
as sort of the plot would necessitate.
And everybody has very interesting backgrounds,
which is a really cool part of it.
You recently got to do -- and I did this season, as well --
Henry Louis Gates. -Oh, "Finding Your Roots"?
-"Finding Your Roots." -Okay.
I did do "Finding Your Roots" recently.
-Yeah. -And I said yes to it
because they hire these fancy genealogists
and then do a DNA test, and I've always thought it was cool
that when you watch those commercials,
someone's like, "I found out that I was like
a half Scottish." -Yeah.
-And, like, I've always been super jealous
of people with, like, their coat-of-arms tattoos.
-Sure. -I've always wanted a tattoo.
So I'm like, "Alright, I'm going to do this show.
I'm going to give them my DNA, and I'm going to get a tattoo."
-Really? -Yes.
-So, it was basically, whatever they find out.
-Whatever they find out, there will be something,
because it's permanent and it's real,
and I know it's based on DNA and history.
And so I did it, and we're going through the book,
and they go, "Turn the page now for your DNA mapping."
And I turn the page and it says, "You are 99.99% South Asian."
[ Laughter ]
And I was like, "Oh, my gosh!"
And he goes, "How do you feel, Kal?"
I'm like, "I feel disappointed." It just came out of my mouth.
[ Laughter ] So, he turns the page again
and he goes, " This is called a haplogroup."
And it was this number "R1a" that, in fact, I got the tattoo.
So I'll show you. -Okay.
[ Crowd cheers ] Wow. Wow.
[ Laughter ] See? Throw out a first pitch.
[ Laughter ] "R1a-M147."
-So that's your haplogroup? -That's my haplogroup.
There's a map. It goes from Africa,
like, through the Caucasus, into India and South Asia.
And I then asked for more DNA. They wouldn't give in to me.
They're like, "No, that's our intellectual property."
I was like "No, guys. R1a-M147.
I want to know what else is there."
So then I was like, "I can just buy a kit myself."
-Sure. -It was 300 bucks.
I waited for the holidays, when it was on sale for $99.
-Yep. [ Laughter ]
-And then bought it. Did the same thing.
I'm on the computer. I'm like, "Alright, haplogroup."
I click on it. "R1a-M417."
And I was like, "Wait a second. The tattoo I got is R1a-M147.
Why is the computer telling me that my haplogroup is M417?"
And I realize there has been a phenomenal error.
[ Laughter ] This is not my haplogroup.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-And did you get confirmation? -I got confirmation.
I e-mailed them. I e-mailed them and I said --
I said, "What's the deal, guys?" They e-mailed back.
-You e-mailed PBS, basically? -I e-mailed the producers.
And two days later, like 18 executives e-mail me
and say, "We're so sorry. A P.A. swapped two of the digits
when they were putting the screen up.
But, by the way, don't worry.
We'll correct it in post-production."
And I sent them a picture of this tattoo, and I was like...
[ Laughter ]
..."You gonna correct this, too, guys?"
Come on. -You gonna CGI out my tattoo?
-Yeah. They said they'd pay for fixing it,
but I figured this was a better story
to tell on a late-night show one day.
-Absolutely. Thank you very much
to Henry Louis Gates for the story.
-Thanks, man. -Kal Penn everybody!