-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy Award-winning actor,
writer, and co-creator of the hit series "Ted Lasso."
The season two finale premieres Friday on Apple TV+.
He'll also be making his return to "Saturday Night Live,"
this time as host,
with musical guest Brandi Carlile on October 23rd.
Please welcome back to the show
our very good friend Jason Sudeikis.
How are you, buddy?
-Hi, Seth.
-It's so good to see you.
-Nice to see you, too.
This doesn't -- it feels like...
I can't believe this is on television.
-Yeah, right?
It seems, like, very shaggy for a network television show.
-Hey.
-The standards are just dropping by the day, my friend.
-It's fantastic. It's great.
And then it'll all come back around.
It's fine.
-Now, I will say one of the nice things about this year's Emmy,
not just the fact that you guys won so many deserved awards,
but it did kind of feel like a party again
after a year where it sort of had a more maybe funereal vibe.
And you looked like a million bucks, my friend.
I mean, I was happy to see you win,
but I was even happier to see you in this tuxedo.
You got some real good feedback.
-I mean, yeah.
I mean, starting right there with Kate Winslet.
She walked by me at some point,
and just, like, rubbed my shoulder.
And I didn't know if it was 'cause of me
or you know, the couch I was wearing or what it was.
But whatever worked. You know, it worked.
-This photo -- this grabs a moment
where a woman is just turning to go like, "Bugga-wha?!"
[ Laughter ]
-I'll take your word for it. Yeah, I hadn't seen that photo.
I remember that moment happening
from the first-person perspective,
but that lets me know that I was right.
It really did happen.
-We had your wonderful co-star and fellow writer on the show,
Brett Goldstein here last night.
He was talking about, you know,
it was the first time he had been at an Emmys.
And how much dread he had when the music started
and there was an expectation of dancing.
You were a little bit more familiar
with what a room like this would be like.
You're a man who's not afraid to dance.
But were you aware of how much you'd be on camera
over the course of the evening?
-Absolutely not. No, when we got there, like,
our table was front and center --
or, it was in the round, but we were right there.
And then my seat was literally right up in front,
which has never been my move.
I'm much more of a back of the classroom, you know, whispering,
passing notes, you know, doing shenanigans.
And to be -- it felt, yeah, a little bit like
I was, you know, mayor for a little bit.
Or, you know, like some sort of where they usually put royalty.
And, so, yeah -- I mean, even the fact that I had to --
I mean, I joked around.
I was sitting at the table, and the stage was behind me,
and I was like, "What if I just sat like this the whole time
and just didn't even turn around?"
Just ate my little box of food and...
But, yeah, we had no idea.
I mean, Brett's already reticent
because he's, you know, British and a writer.
But then to ask him to be at his first fancy thing like that.
'Cause all the other ones, we've been doing in this setting.
-Yeah. -We open up laptops.
And now here we are around a bunch of fancy folks,
and they want us to dance right away.
And Rita Wilson set the bar.
You now, and too high, in my opinion.
-Too high. It's going to be a very hard bar
for the rest of us to meet, not just for next year's Emmys,
but I think for all in the future.
-Yeah, indeed. Yep.
-I want to ask about what must be very nice for you
is the feedback, not just from fellow actors,
from fellow comedians, but so many in the world of sports
are huge fans of "Ted Lasso."
Ted Heads, I believe, is the terminology.
What are the coaches that you've been lucky enough to talk to
about your show?
-Well, I mean, early on, you know, Jim Harbaugh.
He was helpful.
I mean, I actually reached out to him,
'cause I met him years ago
when he helped us out on "Detroiters,"
the show that Sam and Tim did with Joe and Zach,
and we stayed in touch.
And asking him, "Hey, what do you wear on game days?"
Like, "Do you show up, do you bring a little duffel bag?"
And he's like, "No, I just show up in khakis and a sweatshirt."
I was like, "Okay, well, that's what I'm going to do."
So, you know, I feel like there's part of him
that feels ownership over the character.
But heard back from him.
But then some, like, some really fun ones, you know,
being a basketball fan but Steve Nash and Steve Kerr.
Steve's son Matthew actually was
one of our writer's assistants last year.
And this season we name-checked him in the same episode.
Our little homage to that father and son duo.
But yeah, we also heard Juergen Klopp was a big fan.
You know, the Liverpool coach. -That's a fan.
I mean, the coaches who have engaged with it are exactly
the coaches you want to have engaged with it.
-100%. -And that must be the best.
-Oh, especially when you know,
Steve Nash is a huge fan of soccer.
Knows the game really, really well.
He really liked the commercials too.
So he's been a fan for a spell.
But, like, when you have people from the soccer/football
community embrace it, you know, like Thierry Henry --
or, you know, who else?
Oh, I just met Abby Wambach.
Her and her wife Glennon -- or her girlfriend -- I don't know
their relationship status, but they were holding hands.
You know, scuttlebutt. You heard it from me.
[ Laughter ] I don't care.
I'll put anybody on blast.
Together. Ladies too. I mean, there you go.
-You're in the public eye.
If people want to hold hands around you,
that just goes out to the public.
-[ Laughs ] That's right.
-You have the eye of the public.
[ Laughter ]
-But the fact that, like, Abby gave --
Glennon told me that she gave a standing ovation when we won.
I was like, "That's great."
So that's great when we're even
pulling the wool over actual footballers' eyes.
-You gave a nice shout-out to our former boss --
I guess my current boss, who am I kidding? Lorne Michaels.
You got out. I'm still here.
-Not in two weeks.
He brought me right back in, the son of gun.
-He did. That's true.
-Oh, boy. -But have you heard from
Lorne since you -- I mean, I guess you're talking about
the fact you're going back to host.
You must have heard from him.
-I saw him after that night.
But, yeah, man, I didn't know. That was a fun thing.
Bill Lawrence, you know, who does the show with us was like,
"When you looked over there and gestured to him,
did you know he wasn't there?" I go, "No, no.
That was real time."
Like, I brain-farted a few people that I wanted thank
because I riffed on him not being there.
I was like, "Well, you know, we'll make some toilet humor.
Make my folks proud and move on."
After that he, you know, he gave some pearls of wisdom
and was just excited about --
We hadn't announced who the hosts were coming up,
so he was playing it cool there.
-Was one of his pearls of wisdom don't go to the bathroom when
one of your former castmates is likely to win an Emmy?
-I mean, yeah, you know, 2021 hindsight we call it now.
-Exactly.
-No, he's always learning. He's constantly learning.
He's a work in progress.
He'll tell you that first and foremost.
[ Laughter ] -That is Lorne.
[ Laughter ]
He's always like, "I'm not there, Jason."
[ Laughter ]
-"I got so much to learn."
-He always -- Yeah, he goes, "I don't come into work
because I know who I am.
I come into work because it's 11:30."
[ Laughter ]
Hey, I've seen the trailer.
I'm very excited about this film that I believe is out on Friday.
"South of Heaven." -Yeah.
-Very not "Ted Lasso."
It must be fun to sort of do something noir-ish,
because I feel like I haven't seen you do that before.
-I know. No, it's not really a spoiler just 'cause I won't
tell you when I do it or who I do it towards,
but I shoot a shotgun in this movie.
-[ Laughs ] Right.
-Yeah. Yeah.
But, no, it's great. Yeah. It's me and Evangeline Lilly.
A bunch of other folks.
But, yeah, it's like in that style, like, '70s noir.
You know, when Walter Matthau would play like a badass
in the movies in the '70s.
I'm looking forward for folks to see it.
It is very different than "Ted Lasso."
Even though I have a Southern accent in it,
but, yeah, there's no soccer
and, you know, not as much hugging and forgiveness.
-Yeah, less rewarding arcs.
I'm guessing the arcs are less rewarding.