[HIP-HOP MUSIC]
Yo, coming to the table, we got the homie.
Yeah.
He's the always-illustrious guest on this show-- you know,
the number one show on late night.
His biggest hits have made billions.
Billions.
With a motherfucking B.
Yeah.
Of dollars at the box office.
You might know him as Black Panther, Jackie Robinson,
you know what I'm saying?
All the shit that he's done that's very
important and canonical.
He was sincere in Belly. Give it up for Chadwick Boseman.
- That's right. - Yeah.
[APPLAUSE]
MERO: Yeah.
Hey, yo.
My guy.
Good to see you, man.
Hey what's up, man?
Woo, yeah.
Chadwick in the house.
Yes, sir.
Before we start, do the Wakanda salute.
Fuck.
[LAUGHTER]
It's Showtime, so you can play the fuck out of here.
I am not tap dancing.
Are you-- so, like, OK, you have a new movie coming out,
"21 Bridges."
there is no salute for it.
Does that feel better?
Because I know I remember when you were doing
the "Black Panther" press run. - Yeah.
I seen your eyes and you was like, help me, brother.
[LAUGHTER]
You was like, if I do this salute one more fucking time.
Did you have to get Tommy Jones surgery after that shit?
No, it wasn't--
it wasn't that I was doing the salute,
it's the people, they were like, do
that-- do that Wakanda thing. DESUS: Do that.
Dance, boy, dance! - Do that.
I was like, nah, man.
I ain't doing this shit for you.
Just do it.
Like, to me, it's always cool, because I'll
just be walking by somewhere and people
just go, yo, just like that.
MERO: Yeah.
And that's the best different. DESUS: That's different.
When they look away.
It's just like-- it's just like giving somebody a head nod.
- Yeah, like a real quick thing. - You know, like, what's up?
Yeah. That's it.
- OK. - It's the same thing.
- We X all day. - Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
So all right, new movie, "21 Bridges."
You were in "Avengers," you were in "Black Panther."
Those movies are fucking huge, crazy rollout, big budgets.
Why are you even working anymore?
You rich, though.
You rich, rich, rich, rich, rich.
Wait, hold on. Hold on.
OK, that's not where I was going with that question,
but handle that. - I got a lot of cousins.
You got a lot of cousins?
Don't say that.
Don't say that. [LAUGHTER]
DESUS: You're like, I'm not rich, rich, rich like that.
I was watching--
He's like, I'm little R rich.
I was watching this show that says you
rich, rich, rich, rich, rich.
Like after they seen the movie, they're gonna--
MERO: He's like, no, motherfucker, I'm Chadwick.
What's the difference in this movie and, like,
working with, like, the huge budget of like "The Avengers"
and all that stuff?
Like, do you have-- is the press run the same
or is it just smaller and more?
Is it--?
Press run is longer.
DESUS: Yeah.
You know, it's harder.
DESUS: Right.
Because you have to sell it it more.
DESUS: Got to sell the movie. They don't know.
You know?
Yeah, it's like Marvel movies, it's like hotcakes, you know?
People are--
They're going to come regardless.
They're coming to-- yeah.
Yeah, so this is a little bit harder.
Mm-hmm.
So the premise of the movie is, they shut down the 21 bridges
and tunnels in New York City.
Well, I shut them down, not they.
- Oh, you shut-- pardon. - Not they, they.
I do it. - Oh, OK.
I'm sorry.
I apologize for that anti-blackness.
- Yeah, OK. - You know?
Yeah.
You know?
So you shut down the bridges and tunnels?
I shut down the bridges because eight
cops have been killed.
I've been brought in to find the killers.
DESUS: Right.
And so we have to go to drastic measures to catch them.
That's how it is.
DESUS: How different was this from, like, "Black Panther?"
Because this is a serious movie.
Like, you've being very--
well, I mean, you were serious in "Black Panther."
Yeah.
But you were also a Black Panther, like.
Yeah.
MERO: You have, like, money and shit,
and you can fly and shit like that.
Yeah. Yeah, I think--
Jumping over cars?
This is grounded in, you know, more of a reality, you know?
Yeah.
We had real cops on set all the time, and they were like--
we were doing scenes with them, like,
so we're clearing the rooms with real cops, you know?
And they were always present as consultants.
I spent a lot of time with them before the movie, just
prep time.
And so this is just grounded in, like, you know--
- Mm-hmm, actual-- - Yeah.
This is real.
DESUS: There's no heroes or nothing?
There's no-- no.
So Chadwick-- and I mean, I don't want
to approach this subject.
You hung out with cops.
You made a cop movie.
Are we going to see you in "Law & Order: SUV?"
MERO: Yo, listen, because-- yo, listen.
Ice T's time is ticking, bro.
DESUS: That's it.
MERO: That little ponytail, yeah, he
let go of the ponytail.
DESUS: I'm watching the other day,
and like, 20 minutes into the episode,
like, he's not the suspect. - Who's that?
Hey--
I did my "Law & Order" already.
I think I'm probably done.
DESUS: But are you gonna-- the detective?
You know what?
Were you Thug #2?
I'm one of the only black people
to ever do a crime on "Law & Order" and get off.
Really?
- He beat the-- you beat it? - I beat the case!
Yeah.
Give it up for my man right here.
[APPLAUSE]
Falsely accused.
DESUS: So you were in a "Law & Order" episode in 2004?
- Yeah, there you go. - OK.
How did you-- like, was that just, like, a casting decision?
Yeah, I went in and, you know, I booked the audition,
you know? DESUS: Yeah?
MERO: Was that like a right of passage?
I was real happy, that was like--
You remember your lines?
That was, like, rent for like--
You remember your lines?
No.
I had one eye.
MERO: I didn't do it!
DESUS: OK, now I gotta go watch this.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN: I had one eye.
MERO: Look, I didn't see shit!
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
Exactly.
That was it.
That's it.
Oh my god.
CREW: --stop you, I apologize.
What?
What happened?
CREW: We have a little audio issue.
I apologize.
Dang.
Do you all want to hear me?
DESUS: Well now that we're not recording,
how are we getting in "Black Panther 2" brother?
Nice, try that.
[LAUGHTER]
Oh my god, we can't stop Thanos!
We need The Bodega Boys!
I'm like, yo.
Yo.
Know what I'm saying?
Don't stop wiping away half of humanity, you bitch ass nigga!
Yo.
Yo Mero, get his rings!
Are we rolling right now?
I don't even know.
I just hold my arm up and shit and Timberlake come in.
Yo.
To get superpowers, you gotta put on black Air Force Ones.
You're like, oh shit, they in trouble now.
He ain't playing.
Wow.
He didn't even tie his do-rag.
He means business.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm dying, but I find, like, half a Newport on the ground.
I'm like, [INHALES] I'm back!
[ROARING]
I'm back!
Yeah!
It's not going to make as much money as--
No.
We're gonna use some of those ideas.
I'll be at the movies.
I'm like, oh, Mero, the Newports!
The Newports, the Newports! Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
You won't see Captain America pick a Newport up
off the ground, like [INHALES]. - The Newports, the Newports.
He's like, it's the freedom. It's the menthol.
It's the menthol.
It's the menthol that does it.
- OK, anyway-- - Sorry.
- Yeah, yeah. - You save that for me, though.
You save that for me. - We'll be your third eye.
DESUS: So there was advanced screening for "21
Bridges" at Howard this week.
Yeah.
What was that like?
Uh, it was--
they watched the movie like it was a concert.
DESUS: The black people did? - Yeah.
They watched it.
It's like every little, oh, ah, ah.
DESUS: Talking to the screen? - Yeah.
DESUS: Don't go in there! - Don't go in there!
I was, wow, it feels like I'm--
DESUS: That bridge is closed!
No, he's a cop!
[LAUGHTER]
Yo, yo that motherfucker police!
It was crazy.
DESUS: Yo, watch out, Black Panther!
[LAUGHTER]
Yo.
It was amazing. DESUS: It was amazing?
Yeah. Yeah.
DESUS: Oh my.
Your face is everywhere in New York City right now--
everywhere.
What does it feel like to go around just be like--
DESUS: You on subway platforms and the little
annoying TV ad on taxi cabs.
On taxi cabs and all that shit.
DESUS: You're everywhere, bro. - You're like, yo, what up?
I'm Chadwick Boseman.
This is the first time I did a movie and face
was actually on the poster.
DESUS: That's true.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, like, this is the first time, actually.
Wow.
You know, in Europe it's happened
before, but not in the States.
DESUS: Not in the States?
So that's what's weird about it, is like, I was like,
do I feel comfortable with this?
You know, do I feel comfortable seeing myself?
Even seeing your name on the poster, it's so weird, so--
DESUS: What do people see when they see you in the street?
Are the like, Chadwick, or are they like, Black Panther!
MERO: Yo, Jackie!
DESUS: Jackie!
They-- no.
DESUS: Yo 21 Bridges!
They either say-- [LAUGHS]
DESUS: Yo, George Washington!
Yo, Tappan Zee!
They usually-- they say--
[LAUGHTER]
DESUS: Yo, Verrazzano!
MERO: Yo, yo, better get G Dub!
G Dub, what up?
Y'all must know all of the bridges, huh?
DESUS: We do. [LAUGHTER]
MERO: Yo, Whitestone, Whitestone, yo, I see you!
DESUS: That's the most New York moment we've had.
No, what they say-- they say T'Challa.
They say-- they say, Black Panther.
They say my name. They say all of that, but yeah.
DESUS: That's cool, man.
Do they call you Chad?
Or do they properly give you the whole Chadwick?
- Chadwick. - Chadwick.
Yeah.
Nobody come to you, hey, Chad?
No.
But that's-- you know what?
I usually know-- the people that I know, I know their voices,
and they can do that.
Mm-hmm.
Other people, I'm like,
MERO: I don't know you.
What the fuck did you just call me?
[MUMBLING] be like that, yo?
[LAUGHTER]
DESUS: Ain't no, just Chad.
Calling me Chad.
So you worked with Spike Lee in Thailand
this Spring for "The Five Bloods?"
Yeah, "The Five Bloods," man.
Talked to Spike, the homie.
He was-- he came by here when they finished?
MERO: Yeah. DESUS: He did.
He came by here.
We talked about the Knicks, how the Knicks are terrible.
You know, the usual shit.
MERO: Usually we're regular.
Uh, you know, it was a dream come, man, shooting with him.
DESUS: Damn.
It was like I--
you know, and I sort of--
I geeked out a little bit.
DESUS: You have to.
Just watching him.
Usually, I don't, but just watching him behind--
behind the screen. DESUS: The camera?
Yeah. - Oh my god.
MERO: That's the guy, cuz. That's the guy.
Yeah.
He just, he know.
The thing about it is, he knows exactly what he wants.
Like, he doesn't shoot extra stuff, like, so he saves
your energy by doing that.
DESUS: Right.
And he knows exactly when it's right.
He knows.
A lot of times, directors are waiting until the editing room.
He, like, sees the movie as he's doing it.
It was-- it was masterful.
So you said you geeked out when you saw Spike Lee.
Has there been any other moment in your life
where you've get out meeting another celebrity?
Because you're out there.
You're working with major celebrities, right?
Is there any time you--
Well, I had met him before, but I geeked out watching him,
you know what I'm saying? DESUS: Mm-hmm.
Just sort of like, oh, this is--
DESUS: Because he's a master crafter.
Because he's also so excited when it's right.
Yeah.
He's grumpy when it's wrong, and he's
excited when it's right.
So you can-- - Oh yeah.
MERO: Little Yankee hat dancing on top of his head.
He's like, do that shit again!
Oh, man.
He's funny.
You want to do that shit, do that shit again.
Is he that type of director, or is he
like, Chadwick, look, I want you to do brothers
like, you know what I'm saying?
Drink the glass of water like this instead of like this.
He's definitely not like that.
[LAUGHTER]
DESUS: I don't know who that was.
I don't know who that is.
I don't want to work with that guy.
Yeah.
I was like, can we get a new director in here?
Oh, man.
Call Ryan.
Oh shit.
Right.
South Carolina, born and raised?
Yeah, man.
Oh shit.
Did you grow up with Charlamagne?
No.
[LAUGHTER]
DESUS: Hey, I just gotta ask. MERO: That's funny, no.
I just gotta ask.
He's in a different area than me.
Because he's all, Moncks Corner?
Yeah.
MERO: So that's the thing.
So explain, as a South Carolinian?
Linean.
What is Moncks Corner?
Because he keeps shouting it out.
That's where he's from.
Is there really, like, eight people there?
Is it just the Charlamagne family
that lives in Moncks Corner?
Wow.
It's not a place that I know.
I know it, but I don't know it well,
so I can't really speak to it.
I can't vouch.
But no, look--
MERO: He's like, they don't got an exit on the highway.
[LAUGHTER]
You gotta go--
DESUS: Well that's a very--
that's very high level diss.
Y'all don't got an exit on the highway!
MERO: Fuck!
That is the countriest diss I ever heard of, actually.
You gotta go through our exit to get to your down!
That's right.
Can't make no left turns in that county.
You're like, oh, OK.
Oh my gosh.
Oh man.
How's your life changed since "Black Panther?"
You know what?
It's still sinking in, like, how-- like,
I was having a conversation with some friends
and even my brother yesterday, and I realized
how much it affects, you know, the people
that are connected to me.
DESUS: Oh, OK.
Like that--
I didn't realize how much it affected them.
DESUS: How's it affecting them?
Well--
MERO: Did you see Chris Evans drunk the other day?
And people ask you shit, like, people that you're working with
and shit like that?
No, no, I'm talking about family.
His family members. Yeah.
I'm talking about family members.
Yeah, I didn't realize that it affected them in a way they
that, you know, they have to adjust.
DESUS: Yeah.
And so, now I can't even say that,
but that's the part that it hits you like, oh man,
like, I have to make sure that I keep
my connections in a way where I'm taking into account
how this is--
Right.
And no man's an island. - Yeah.
Yeah.
So like, everything that affects you also
affects your family and your friends.
Yeah.
It's actually deep.
So it's beyond, like, people, you know, recognizing you out
in the world.
It's like, you have to keep track,
make sure this isn't messing your life up,
you know, in some sort of way.
Yeah, you got to check with your sister, like yo,
you all right?
Because then people are like, hitting her up on Instagram.
Like, yo. - Yeah, exactly.
People are hitting them up too. - Yeah.
People are, you know, asking them for things.
Yo, give your brother this script.
Yeah.
Like yo, I'm just trying to order some fucking
jalapeno poppers, my guy?
That's the part.
MERO: Do people recognize your family,
like, out on the street, and be like, yo?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN: No.
DESUS: Yeah, because when the family
be in Applebee's, they go like.
No, no, no.
We will have the appetizers.
No, no.
[LAUGHTER]
Loaded potato skins.
No, that's--
Where did we get the accent from?
We're imagining your family is your family from "Black
Panther," by the way.
We clearly have no point of reference.
So you watch basketball.
You nice at basketball?
I'm all right, you know?
MERO: Well now your voice got a little high pitched, bro.
You got high pitched with me, and I was like, oh.
- He's like, I'm all right. - You good?
No, no, no. I play.
No, no, we not challenging you.
I'm pretty sure that I could, you know--
Because like, you've seen us play Cory Booker.
We can't play for shit.
Oh, you know what?
I saw that.
- Yeah. - Yeah, no.
[LAUGHTER]
But you seen the game, though?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN: Man.
DESUS: But to be fair, we didn't warm up,
and actually-- no, I did warm up by drinking a beer.
Were you-- that was a seriously--
that was you that was--?
Bro, I wasn't-- MERO: Fam.
Bro, I'm playing ball against Cory Booker.
What do I care?
MERO: And I had my hat on the whole time.
We wasn't ready for that.
DESUS: Also we're playing with, like, mics on,
and also it was his gym.
We were in Newark and everyone's rooting for him.
- You know what I'm saying? - I was like, I don't care.
It was a home game for him.
Also we got winded after three minutes.
Yeah.
OK, OK.
Also, he plays that old school '90s where you
just play with you your ass.
Yeah, yeah, he would back you down.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, with the ass cheeks.
I was just like, yo.
Also, we smoked a wild blunt before we played, like--
You shouldn't be good at that. [LAUGHTER]
Like, they were like, y'all already?
We was like, [INHALES], yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, let's go. Let's get it.
[COUGHS]
No, I saw that episode. That was funny.
That was hilarious. - That was a moment.
That was a moment, but you know what I'm saying?
Maybe we get you to play Cory Booker.
Can you take Cory Booker?
Yeah.
DESUS: Which presidential candidate you know you could
drop at least 30 points on?
Are you--
DESUS: I'm asking right now.
Bernie Sanders, because he got the mean gene?
Absolutely. DESUS: What?
Absolutely. Go through them.
DESUS: Can you cross off Elizabeth Warren?
- Let's-- - We'll do a list.
We'll do a rundown.
- Can I cross off-- - Andrew Yang.
You cross him off? - Yeah, absolutely.
OK.
Elizabeth Warren, you can put her on skates?
For sure.
OK.
[LAUGHTER]
Julian Castro.
You right in his face to choke.
Uh, yeah.
DESUS: OK.
MERO: You hitting Joe Biden with the post move, the dream shake?
DESUS: He might-- he might catch me.
Yeah?
[LAUGHTER]
He might catch me.
All right, so that's where we stop.
No, no, no.
Yo, this is a fun interview.
We could stay here all day and talk you.
We've got things to do, big things going on.
We got the bodega.
You know what I'm saying?
Every bodega has a neon sign.
Oh boy.
What would you like your neon sign to say?
Hmm.
Congratulations on season two, by the way.
Oh, thank you.
Hey.
[APPLAUSE]
That's high praise right there.
Yo, congratulations.
Thank you, my guy.
You know, I'm an old school fan.
Mm-hmm.
All right?
So it should say, let the sequel be
better than the original for me and you, season two,
part two, from glory to glory.
Woo.
Aah.
[APPLAUSE]
Boom.
That's spoken word right there.
That is spoken word right there.
Yo, thank you, Chadwick Boseman.
"21 Bridges" opens tomorrow.
Go see it.
Support the homie.
This is our guy right here.
[CHEERING]
Chadwick Boseman in the building.
Holla!
[HIP-HOP MUSIC]