-My first guest is the star of "The Handmaid's Tale,"
which returns to Hulu April 28th.
Here is Elisabeth Moss!
[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪
-Oh! I'm so happy to see you. Yeah!
Oh! I'm so happy to see you.
Thank you so much for doing our show, pal.
-Oh, my God. Thank you so much for having me.
It's so nice to see you. -I know. It's good to see you.
There's a lot to talk about.
I want to talk about "Handmaid's Tale."
But, first, I know you're a giant Cubs fan,
a Chicago Cubs fan.
And you just finished filming a movie with one of
the biggest Cubs fans I know, Bill Murray.
-Yes.
-What -- Did you guys both, like, go full-on fandom or...
-Bill Murray, for a Cubs fan -- he's like a God.
Like, he's not just a Cubs fan.
He's more important than most players on the Cubs.
-Yeah, they love him. Absolutely. Yeah.
-I didn't have the guts to bring the Cubs up to him
until, literally, I was, like, walking out with my bag,
and I ran into him and I was like,
"If I don't say something to him, I'm gonna regret it."
-Yeah.
-And then I kind of blacked out and I just became a total moron
and was like, "Uh, yeah, uh, Cubs are great.
I'm a, you know, Cubs fan.
Uh, yeah, they're doing good this year."
It was so pathetic.
-He was like, "What's going on? What are you saying?"
-He was so nice.
I'm sure he was like, "What is she talking about?"
-Yeah. -He was so lovely, though.
-You've done high-pressure things at Cubs games,
including something I don't think I would ever do.
You threw out the first pitch.
Talk to me about this. -Yeah.
-Is that nerve-racking?
Why -- I don't understand why you would do it,
because I'm too afraid of -- Honestly, I would --
Questlove's done it.
It was awful.
-I heard about that. -Oh, it was terrible.
Like, the Phanatic was making fun of him.
Everything with the -- But it was like, you know,
Quest is just so lovable.
So, he did it, and that was fun.
But I would be afraid -- I mean, I'd do it at Yankee Stadium.
I'd be booed out of the city.
-Yeah. I think I was just excited
to be asked to do anything by the Cubs.
I would never do it again.
I think they've asked me to do it again, and I won't.
I've sung the 7th-inning stretch three or four times.
-"Take Me Out to the Ballgame"?
-Yes. -That's nerve-racking, too!
I wouldn't do that either. -That's fine.
I mean, I get a little nervous, but you have, like, you know,
30,000, 35,000 people singing with you,
and they don't care.
They don't give a [bleep] about you.
They're like -- Like, they're finishing their beer.
They're thinking about going home.
Like, they don't care. -They're all drunk.
Yeah, okay.
Yeah, "Let's sing a song. Why not?"
That's true. -It's like, "What's happening?"
-Yeah. -They don't care.
So you're kind of just able to, like, enjoy the experience,
but when I did the pitch, I also sort of blacked out.
And I was on "Mad Men" at the time,
so they played the "Mad Men" theme
when I was walking up to the mound, which was so weird.
-Yeah.
-But I didn't bounce it.
-You made it over the plate? Strike?
-Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
-Amazing. Kudos to you. I could never do that.
Seriously, I'm freaking out thinking --
even just thinking about it.
I want to talk to you about "Handmaid's Tale."
Season 4 is it now?
-Yeah, Season 4. Crazy.
-What can everyone expect for this season?
-Again, more laughs, more pratfalls, you know?
-Pratfalls and laughs in this season.
Oh, my goodness. -Yep.
Just a lot of bits. -Wow!
-Surprise celebrity guests coming in.
"Hello!" -Yes. Cameos galore.
-Old car horns. Honk-honk. Stuff like that.
It's "Handmaid's Tale," of course.
-You know, the usual.
Yeah, I mean, I do feel like we have built something
over the past three seasons that quite rightly
needs to be kind of fulfilled,
and I think that we do that this season.
With Season 4, we kind of fulfill a lot of
the promises that we've made over the last three years,
and we really get to see not just June,
but a lot of these characters really go to places
they've never gone before and change dramatically.
And it's a huge season,
which, of course, we chose to shoot during a pandemic,
as you do.
-I was going to ask you about this,
because you made your directorial debut.
You directed three of these episodes.
And you chose the craziest time to direct anything.
Wow! You love pressure. I think you like these things.
You sing "Take Me Out to --" You throw out the first pitch.
I mean, why would you choose now
to direct your first three episodes?
-I do love pressure, but I didn't choose to --
You know, I chose to direct the first --
Episode 3 that was going to be my directorial debut
before COVID and started it.
Then we shut down for the six months, went back,
and then, all of a sudden, I did that episode.
I did two more. I did episodes 8 and 9.
I was like -- Because nobody else
was there a lot of the time, like, the directors.
Like, if a director finished their work and left
and they didn't want to come back
and quarantine for two weeks, somebody had to direct it.
So, all of a sudden, I was, like,
the sort of director on hand.
And it would be like, "Lizzie, we got this, like,
drone shot we need you to do.
Would you mind just, like, running out and grabbing that?"
-Have you ever done a drone -- What does that even mean?
-No. I don't even know. -That's great.
-But by the end, we were joking that I was just gonna be this,
like, journeyman director now, like, off to do my ninth,
you know, episode of "Law & Order"
and just clocking in, clocking out.
-Of course. I could see more of this.
I'm telling you, man.
I want to show everyone a clip
from an episode that you directed.
Here's Elisabeth Moss in "The Handmaid's Tale."
Take a look.
-Well...
it's so wonderful being all together again, isn't it, yeah?
[ Chuckles ]
-♪ All these things into position ♪
♪ All these things we'll one day swallow whole ♪
♪♪
♪ And fade out
again ♪
♪ And fade out ♪
-Yes! That's what I'm talking about!
Come on!
Yeah, that was great! Elisabeth Moss!