-It is so lovely to see you. -What happened, Seth?
-I know. Well, we have known each other for a very long time.
-We were hanging out in our 20s together.
-We were. -And now I look up,
and you're on the cover of "Time" magazine.
It's like -- What happened? -Yeah, a lot happened.
Because we were in our 20s.
We weren't doing much that you would have thought
would be on any magazine. -No, I was positive
you would never be on the cover of "Time" magazine.
-It was like some police-blotter [bleep],
I would say, more than anything. -Yeah, there was some stuff.
-But you -- You hosted "SNL" in 2005.
That's when we got to know each other. You had a place.
You had a really nice apartment in New York.
-Yes, I decided to move to New York
'cause I had such a great week hosting "SNL"
and I shot a movie here.
And then I had -- This is the greatest thing ever.
You move to New York. I invited Seth over.
And he said, "Hey, can I bring some friends?"
And it was like half the cast of "SNL."
-Yeah, when anybody with a nice apartment invited us over,
we had to bring everybody we knew.
-I just couldn't get -- My first night in New York,
and it's, like, Amy Poehler is doing impressions.
I had, like, a karaoke machine.
Horatio Sanz is doing, like, his Elton John impression.
-He was scream-singing Elton John.
-That was like, you know, "Welcome to New York.
This is the dream."
And then like a month or two later, I saw you at a party,
and I was with, like, a platonic girlfriend of mine.
She said, "Oh, my God. I have the biggest crush on Seth Meyers."
I'm like, "I know him. I hosted 'SNL.' I know this guy."
So we went over to say hi to you,
and you were really nice to her, and then you said,
"By the way, Topher, you were, like, the greatest host ever."
I was like, "Oh, well, I mean, maybe for the season,
but not for, like, the whole -- Not ever."
And you go, "Oh, my God. No, I meant at your house that time.
[ Laughter ]
You were actually not that good a host at 'SNL.'"
[ Applause ]
-I value one so much higher than the other.
By the way, man, congratulations on this movie.
-Thank you. -It's fantastic.
The reviews are wonderful. And you had not an easy task.
And for those who haven't seen this film,
there is a strange lightness to this story.
I mean, it's really told in a really unique way.
But you have to play this,
you know, horrifying person, David Duke.
-Yeah. -And there are times
which I would imagine it's intimidating enough
working with a director like Spike Lee,
but he would give you notes on how to perform David Duke.
-Yeah, just taking the role and the research I had to do --
I mean, I've done research on roles before,
but this was, like, the worst research imaginable.
So it was, like, a terrible month, and then I showed up,
and we did all the Klan rally stuff first.
And this is why you have to work with a great director like Spike Lee.
So, you know, he kind of takes care of you
and makes you feel better, but every once in a while, he --
You know this -- In comedy films,
he'll kind of run in
and give you something to improv at the end.
Like, at the end of the scene or if they have an idea,
they'll kind of whisper something in your ear and say,
"Try throwing that in," so none of the actors will know
about it, none of the crew or anything.
And on this film, Spike would run in and say in my ear,
like, the most racist thing I'd ever heard.
And I'd go, "Hey, man, like, no need to whisper it to me.
Like, I don't want the credit when I say it."
[ Laughter ]
The whole crew is like, "Uh, did Topher come up with that?"
So I made him announce it.
I was like, "I'll repeat what you said to the entire crew."
-And then you -- I know you watched --
you listened to early radio of David Duke,
you watched old video.
-When I got the call -- Spike Lee called me himself.
He said, "You're my guy." It's great day in your career.
I could tell it was just going to be a great movie.
And then I realize, "Oh, this is going to be worst month of my life."
I read his autobiography, which is called "My Awakening."
It's kind of like his "Mein Kampf."
It's, like, horrible.
And I watched old filmed interviews.
And there were actually some -- In the early '80s,
he did some episodes of "Donahue."
-Oh, wow. -And that was where I really
drilled down on what made him so evil.
It was a studio audience like this, and they all hated him.
You know, he was the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
So they're all booing at him.
And by the end of --
It wasn't that he flipped the crowd,
but by the end of the show,
they had a different attitude towards him.
I thought, "Oh, this guy is truly evil in a really..."
-And he has a charisma about him.
You know, that's a thing that... -Yes.
-...is the scariest in the hands of the truly evil,
is people are charismatic.
But how do you even get your hands on the David Duke book?
-Well -- [ Laughs ] That was, like, terrible.
First, I went to Barnes & Noble.
I wasn't even thinking. I was like...
[ Laughter ]
"Hey, I need 'My Awakening' by David Duke."
And they're like, "Sorry. We don't carry that."
And then I went on Amazon,
and, you know, they ask you a couple times,
like, "Did you mean to order this thing?"
And then since then, I've been getting,
like, the weirdest recommendations.
-[ Laughs ] Yeah.
You were also in a fantastic Netflix film earlier this year,
"War Machine" -- Or I guess last year now.
But you got to work with Brad Pitt.
-Yeah, I'm so excited.
'Cause there is a little bit of a buzz around "BlacKkKlansman."
And I made a deal with Brad on the set.
By the way, Brad didn't want to hang out with me,
I'm sure, as much as he had to.
But it all took place in the desert, so it was like...
-Yeah.
-..."Sorry, man. Just you and me."
We'd be in a Black Hawk helicopter
for, like, you know, the whole day.
So, anyway, after a long period of time,
I got the courage to ask him what I wanted,
which was at an Academy Award thing --
We don't go to the same parties, me and Brad.
But I was like, "If I get into an Academy Award-type movie,
I want to be at that "Vanity Fair" after-party,
and I want you to come up to me
when I'm talking to someone important."
He promised me he'd do this.
And be like, "Topher, good to see you."
And I want to be like, "Brad, not now."
[ Laughter ] -This is your opportunity.
I think "BlacKkKlansman" is going to be it.