-You look fantastic. Thanks so much for coming on, bud.
We have a lot to talk about. -A lot.
-I can't wait to talk about Jacqueline Novak.
I want to talk about "Get on Your Knees."
It's Ahmir's birthday tomorrow.
-It's Questlove's birthday tomorrow.
-Yeah. -Maybe...
[ Cheers and applause ]
Uh, last time you were on,
we were lucky enough to have you on our show.
Thank you for doing our show. -Thanks.
-You talked about, um -- -Very sexy.
"Jacqueline Novak: Get on Your Knees."
-Yes. -It's very sexy.
-Yeah. -Sorry.
-No. Yeah, it is very sexy. -Mm-hmm.
-Yeah. Where was I?
-I'm just trying to tell you.
-I was just -- I'm gonna praise you for your work.
-Like you should. -And, uh...
-That's just the lyric. -I know. I can't think of it.
I know. I couldn't -- [ Cymbal crash ]
-Thank you. -Fatboy Slim.
-Yes. -But I was going to say.
"Poker Face," the last time you were on,
it was about to premiere, and you're like,
"Yeah, I did this thing, blah, blah, blah,"
and you totally downplayed it, as Natasha Lyonne would.
You don't -- You're very humble.
But, man, you knocked it out of the park.
-Ayy!
-Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!
-Hey! -Nomination, nomination,
nomination, nomination. -Boom, boom, boom.
-Golden Globes. What do you want?
What do you want? Emmys. What do you want from this?
And you crush it. And good for Peacock.
-Good for peacock. -I feel like Peacock is having
a little run right now.
-Yeah. Well. -Yeah. Congratulations.
Are you happy with the success of the show?
-Uh, yeah, I -- Yeah, we got to,
uh, number two on Nielsen's, which is impressive.
I didn't even know it was still a thing. Uh...
-Nielsen's -Yeah, because it's 2024.
But it was, uh, a relief to hear that, and --
-It was fun.
-Uh, Rian and I, we're back. We're in the writers' room.
-You are? -Yeah. Them more than me.
Uh, and I, uh -- It's pretty exciting.
-Yeah. -I love it very much.
I'm very grateful that people enjoyed it.
-We loved it. We loved you.
I love seeing you at all these award shows, too.
I think you should be nominated for every award
just so that you can show up.
-Nobel Peace, hopefully. -Yeah. Why not?
I mean, if you're -- -Yeah.
-If you promise to show up. If you promise to show up.
Yes. Natasha Lyonne should get a Nobel Peace Prize.
-Yeah. For what? For cracking the most cases on television.
-Yes. No. How about for, uh, again,
knocking it out of the park on the red carpet?
Look at that. Come on, now. [ Cheers and applause ]
♪ Mmm-mm-mm ♪
-It's Schiaparelli. It's...
I mean, this guy makes knockout things.
I think I look a little like, uh, Bette Davis in
the "Dick Cavett" shows late in life here,
but I think that it was a knockout.
-That is not true. -A knockout.
-Stunning. You are a knockout in this.
Are you kidding me? Come on. On every best-dressed list.
Uh, don't want to say "Vogue," but let's just say maybe...
[French accent] We might talk about "Vogue."
Vogue mentioned you, as well. I do not know. I do not know.
[Normal voice] Do you like getting dressed up
for award shows or dress up in general?
-What do I like?
Uh, you know, I like the crossword.
You know the things I like, Jimmy.
-See, I'm more of a mini crossword guy.
-You are? Can you make a nice time on it?
-No. I take my time. -I can take you back there
and show you a few life hacks.
-Really? -Well, crossword hacks, yeah.
-Do you have crossword hacks? -Oh. Pfft. Come on.
-Yeah. I get, uh -- I get --
I get all, uh -- I was gonna say boggled,
but then it was too wordy, so I was gonna say jumbled.
And that's also another word game.
-Yeah. You get to "Uno'd," and then that's another word there.
"There I am trying to play riffs..."
-"Here I am playing riffs all night."
-"Here I am. I'm playing Triple Simon.
And it's taking forever..."
-Triple Simon. -Mm-hmm.
-You were telling me about this. Can you talk about this?
You had a weird experience the other day, and I don't think
anyone's going to believe it unless you tell it.
-Oh. So -- Okay, so, you're -- I'm from New York.
I think it's subtle. Uh..
[ Laughter ] And, uh...
-Yeah. Me too. I didn't realize. -Yeah, I know you didn't know
'cause we weren't running around these streets
in the '90s or anything. -No. Never.
-But anyway, uh, so there I am
with all their shenanigans and excitement.
And you go to this place, you go to that.
I'm just grateful to be asked. I'll be honest.
There's been rough decades in there.
So I'm grateful for the moment.
And, more globally speaking,
it's a weird world we're in.
So it's sort of tough to make it a total personal win.
Uh, and... -You go to the club.
Or what is this? -Reconciling our larger world.
But, anyway, that aside, I go to the thing.
This is where they've told me my next destination is.
-It's a nightclub. No. -No. I don't go to nightclubs.
-It's a bar.
-But when I arrive, they become nightclubs.
I, uh...
[ Laughter ] I, uh...
So, at this guy's house.
And, uh, we get to the front door.
And, uh, anyway, I look over his shoulder
because, you know, now I'm sort of a Columbo type.
And I, uh --
And I say, "Well, gee, sir, it seems like if maybe you'd,
uh, you know, alphabetize this system,
it would be an easier way to move through the list."
-Yeah, how's allowed in. -Right. A small recommendation,
but this is a real mumbo-jumbo.
And he says, "I've got just the thing for you."
The next thing I know, this guy pulls out
something on his phone.
It's an A.I. bodyguard.
And it runs through. Uh, it brings up my name.
Runs through, like, my list -- I was very flattered.
Uh, director, producer, created shows, did big things.
What a win.
And how disturbing that here we are. I mean...
-So he pulls out a phone called an A.I. bodyguard
to see who is, like, legit at his party?
-Yes, and starts looking up... -And you're on the list.
On the thumbs-up list.
-I mean, I've lived a while,
but, uh, it's a pretty tragic moment
of, uh, you know, the train has left the station.
-That's the most bizarre thing. I've never heard of that, ever.
-Well, it's probably come up, and you just haven't noticed.
And I think that's gonna be the new system.
Much like moving through,
um, any sort of international travel,
I don't even think you really need a passport anymore.
I think they got your eyeballs and the whole thing.
You just... -All you have to do
is hand them your eyeballs and get on the flight.
-You're just like, "Oh, no problem. Here you are."
-The future is here. -Yes.
-And let me -- All aboard this plane.
They don't even ask questions anymore.
-No. That's bizarre. I can't --
But I love that it happened to you
because it's interesting to hear it from your perspective.
-Oh, I mostly just found it --
You know, as a futurist, I...
[ Laughter ]
Uh, you know, who plays sort of a throwback on TV.
I just found it to be a real curiosity that here we were.
-Here we are. And here we were. -Yeah.
-Next time, we'll see if it evolves
and see if I made that list, as well.
-Oh, I think it's all happening. And you're on the list, honey.
-Thank you, buddy. -Yeah.
Can we talk about this? "Jacqueline Novak."
-Please. -"Get on Your Knees."
Man, oh, man, this was a smash hit here in New York.
-Yeah. -In New York City.
Uh, she's an amazing performer, and she's been on the show
and talked about this, but did you --
How did you get involved with this?
Did you see the show first? -Yeah, I saw it.
I think, uh, Fred took me to see it at Dynasty Typewriter.
Is that a place? Right?
-Yes. -Handbag?
Uh, anyway, she came on stage,
and I was like, "Who is this person?"
Because by the time she started talking about,
you know, uh, preferring to call doggy style
"the hounds' way."
I was like, "Excuse me. Ma'am?
What's going on with this, uh, IQ and this character?"
And, uh, then she goes on into, you know, orbs
and what level of opacity she'd like to have as a ghost.
You know, then she's a T.S. Eliot patient
etherized on a table.
And in the middle of all this,
they're explaining to me that it's about [bleep] jobs.
-Alright. Yeah, well, yeah. Okay.
-And I'm like, "I share this with you, Miss Novak."
I, uh -- All things are in question
in this wonderful moment. -Yeah.
Even people that have seen this that are prudish, uh, go,
"This is the most brilliant thing I've ever seen."
-Yes. Tony Kushner, who's very popular, is, uh --
said, "I will never give a toothy [bleep] job
the same way again." [ Laughter ]
So the show has long-ranging impact for all of us, you know?
-Yes, it really does. -Yeah.
I don't like when they say that on TV.
Fred doesn't like this, either.
Like, "Oh, I'll give you a [bleep] job if you do the dishes."
I don't like that.
Just as a sidebar.
-Yeah. You don't like when they say that?
-I think it's a weird shtick. You know what I mean?
It's a very sitcom shtick.
Like, "Well, why don't you do the dishes
and you might get lucky tonight?"
Like... -Yeah.
-Yeah, just do the [bleep] dishes...
[ Laughter ]
-What is happening?
I've lost the show. Goodbye.
♪♪
What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?
♪♪
I want you to come on and co-host with me one night.
It would be really cool. -Can you not say --
I realize I said, like, six things there.
-You said all the wrong things.
Uh, congratulations on the special.
-Yeah. -It's very -- It's brilliant.
You did a great job directing. I want to show a clip.
Here's a little bit of "Jacqueline Novak:
Get on Your Knees." Take a look.
-I'm someone that, for example,
prefers to call doggy style "the hounds' way."
[ Laughter ]
I think the position deserves a term with some gravitas.
I think it's one of our more noble positions.
I feel like any of these positions
where you're staring into the eyes of your lover,
you know, as if to become one.
There's something immature there.
I'm not impressed.
To me, the hounds' way,
it represents a more mature kind of love
where two lovers can look towards the future together.
[ Laughter ]
You know, it's not -- it's not sad.
It's not sad that I'm not looking at him,
that I'm not making eye contact with him.
Because it's more like we're these two pioneers headed west.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah. -Natasha Lyonne, everybody!
-This kid is a genius! You got to watch her show.
-"Get on Your Knees" premieres January 23rd on Netflix.
Watch this. -She's a rock star!
-More "Tonight Show" after the break, everybody.
Stick around!