-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy-
and Golden Globe-nominated actor
you know from shows such as "Black-ish."
He stars in the 21st season of "Law & Order,"
which premieres -- Wally?
You know what I'm going to say?
Yeah, how'd you spell "twenty-first"?
Show everybody on the card.
"Twent."
[ Laughter ]
"Twent." You used the old English spelling.
-Yeah.
-"'Twas the twent-first.
Oh, I remember it well.
Four days before Christmas, it was."
[ Laughter ]
He stars --
He stars in the 21st season of "Law & Order,"
which returns February twent-fourth.
Oh, my God.
No, I know, you got that one right, which is weird.
You would think it would be the same on both.
[ Laughter ]
At 8:00 p.m. right here on NBC.
Let's take a look.
-Where were you last night, 10:00?
-At a bar in Red Hook called Ray's.
Talking to the bodyguard, trying to work things out.
-You make a deal?
-No, he offered me 50K.
Told him he can go to hell.
-Dumb move.
-Why is that?
-King's dead.
-For real, he gone?
-Somebody shot him.
-I needed that money, man.
-Well, unless he named you in his will, you're out of luck.
-[ Chuckles ] We'll be in touch.
-Please welcome back to the show Anthony Anderson, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back!
-Thank you for having me back. Now, before we get started --
-Yes. -Before we get started...
-Okay. -...you just saw in that clip
from the twent-first season of "Law & Order"...
-Yeah. -...my co-star Jeffrey Donovan.
-A great actor. -Yeah.
-Massachusetts guy.
-Yeah, he doesn't think you like him.
-What?
-Because he's been trying to get on this show.
And you guys keep telling him no.
-No, that's not true.
-You just said it. -I said it's not true.
-Oh, okay. I'm just letting you know.
-Okay. -So I'm --
Jeffrey, you heard it.
He does like you, and he may not need you on the show now
because I'm here, but I put a plug in for you.
So hopefully you can come on here.
-Now, of course, I'd have to say it
the way I just said it, right? -Yes.
-I mean, if I didn't like him, I'm not going to admit it here.
-No, you're not. -Right.
-No. -So really, I think,
the proof will be whether or not he's ever here.
-Only time will tell. -Yeah.
-Okay. -This is like a cliffhanger.
-It is. It is.
-But I do. I love Jeffrey Donovan.
He was fantastic -- He's been fantastic in a million things.
But he was fantastic in "Fargo," fantastic in "Burn Notice."
And I'm so happy to see the two of you together.
We were talking backstage, I'm so happy "Law & Order" is back.
-No, so am I, man.
I didn't realize that people really missed the mother ship.
-They do. -Yeah, yeah,
the way that they did, man.
So, you know, people have been stopping me on the street.
It was like, "I can't wait."
I was like, "Yeah, season finale of 'Black-ish.'"
Go, "No, not that."
I was like, "What, the season premiere
of 'To Tell the Truth'?" "No, not that show."
"What, me hosting the Image Awards?"
"No! 'Law & Order.'"
I was like, "Oh, I forgot."
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-I also cannot believe --
'cause you were on the last 2 1/2 seasons
of the mother ship.
It's been 10 years.
I can't believe it's been 10 years.
-Yeah, it's been a 10-year hiatus, man.
And the appetite for the show is still there.
And that's why we're back.
So I want to thank the fans for sticking around.
-Fantastic. -Yeah.
-And you get to be back in New York City.
And I would imagine that --
You know, I think that also "Law & Order" feels like a show
that New Yorkers believe they have an ownership stake in.
-Yeah. -I would imagine that
when you're shooting, because, again,
you're shooting in the streets, you're out and about,
people must yell at you guys all the time when you're shooting.
-All the time, man.
People try to get in the scenes
when we're working on the street.
You know, because we can't block off the streets in New York
like we do in L.A. or anyplace else.
-Yeah.
-So people just walk through the crime scene.
It's like, "Hey, man, hey!
You're destroying evidence! Wait a minute!"
They walk through.
There's a photographer here that works for the trades or whatnot,
man, who got into it our very first day
of our very first episode with the AD.
Because we're trying to shoot a scene,
and this guy just comes in with the camera
and starts taking pictures as if he's a part of production.
He's just some dude -- He's just some paparazzi dude, man.
Yeah, but it's crazy.
People yell things, ruin takes, walk through the takes.
-Yeah, everybody in New York City
also thinks they're the star of their own TV show
at any given moment.
They're like, "Oh, yeah, you got a show.
I got a show, buddy. I got a show too."
This is very exciting. Now, be honest.
-Yeah. -I know you grew up out in L.A.
-Uh-huh. -Are you a real Rams fan?
'Cause you were at the Super Bowl, I know.
-Okay, I'm going to start off by saying I'm a sports fan.
-Okay, we appreciate your honesty.
-I'm a sports fan.
I grew up wanting to play football for the Dallas Cowboys,
'cause I thought I was going to play football.
Yeah, and then --
Because my dad's from Little Rock, Arkansas.
That was his team.
And then I got older and I gravitated towards the Raiders.
-Okay. -And then I had friends
and family who played in the league.
So I had a bunch of friends who played for the Rams, as well.
So I've always been a Rams fan. It's an L.A. team.
And then they moved away to St. Louis and they came back.
So I am a Rams fan.
-So that's wonderful.
Obviously you not only had tickets,
but there you are with Matt Stafford.
-Yeah, on the field. -On the field after the game.
-Yeah, right after the game, yeah.
-A little -- A little sweatier than him.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
You know, 'cause I had to --
I had to work my way to get down onto the field.
-Right, right. He was just there.
-You know, he was just effortless doing his thing.
That's why they're the champions, man.
So, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was shvitzing.
-There you are with OBJ.
I mean, you're with the A-listers here.
-This is in the locker room right after the game.
-Then with this guy right here, Aaron Donald,
arguably as good as they come.
And that's Cedric, right? -Cedric the Entertainer, yeah.
-That's fantastic. And just the lack of security.
Here you guys are fully --
I mean, 'cause I was like, there's not --
There are no Rams in this photo.
-Yeah, yeah. No, no.
That's my best friend Skinny Boy,
Ced the Entertainer, myself, and the Lombardi, man.
That's how you know you're a real fan,
when they let you in the locker room
and hold the championship trophy.
I'm just not no bandwagon fan.
I've been there all season.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-Genuinely I'm curious.
How great is the vibe when you are around a group of gentlemen
who have just won the Super Bowl?
What is it like?
-Man, they were like kids in the candy store.
You know, just -- And Ced and my buddy Jerry and I,
we were the only civilians in the locker room, literally.
After the whistle goes off,
they do the on-field presentation of the trophy.
Everybody's back in the locker room.
And it was just us, man.
And it was just crazy seeing these champions, man,
and guys that I know,
friends of mine, you know, hoist this trophy, smoking cigars
and having fun.
So, yeah, you can't describe it.
Words can't begin to describe that.
-Yeah, 'cause it's that moment
where you're around a forever thing, right?
They're just going to be champions forever.
And what cool thing to be around.
-Yeah, so I want to shout out my boy O'Malley
and Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Rams,
for giving me that access.
I appreciate you guys and I love you.
-Very smart. I saw what you did there.
That was very smart, 'cause they're watching right now
like, "Why were they in the locker room?"
-They know why I was in the locker room.
But I just want to shout them out on national television,
let them know that I -- Thank you. I love you guys.
-Hey, congratulations, as well.
We're talking about a new beginning with "Law & Order."
Congratulations on "Black-ish."
What an incredible run. What a very special show.
-Thank you. [ Cheers and applause ]
-And, you know, we recently --
we recently had Tracee Ellis Ross here,
and, you know, you guys are obviously such a --
you know, the leads of that show,
and you play such a believable, loving couple.
What was it like when you guys first met?
Did you have chemistry right away?
-Ohhh.
We had chemistry like oil and water.
-Alright. That's interesting.
-Yeah, we were hosting something called the Vibe Awards
like 17 years ago.
-Oh, that's a while.
-Yeah, we were co-hosting it together.
And it was my first time really hanging out with Tracee.
And for the first half of the show, we were great.
We came back from a commercial break.
And we're walking downstage and you hear [Revs]
And I'm with the mic.
And I just turned and said, "Tracee, did you just fart?"
[ Laughter ]
See, you laughed. It's funny, right?
I thought it was a funny joke.
We know she didn't fart. We know it was that --
She hated me for 15 years. -Yeah, well...
-She almost didn't come in to read for the role of Rainbow
because of her disdain for me.
-Wow! -Yeah. Yeah, but she came in.
And it was magic, and I had no idea --
I had no idea until the second season
that she really hated me for all those years.
-Really? -I had no idea.
-She waited a full season before she came clean?
-Yeah, we were sitting there talking and just sharing.
And she came across a picture.
I wish I had known.
I would have brought this picture.
It was a picture of us. And I'm happy after the show.
After the -- the award show, the Vibe Awards show.
And I'm hugging Tracee and I'm just cheesing.
And the look of disgust on her face.
And she's holding my wrist like,
"Get off of me, you disgusting man."
And she showed that picture and she told the story.
And I was like, "Wow, for all these years,
I thought we were friends."
-Well, now you are again, full circle.
-Now it comes full circle.
-And "To Tell the Truth" is back.
And one of the greatest elements about this show --
talk about real chemistry -- your mom.
-Me and my mom. -Your mom makes a frequent --
frequent appearances on the show.
-We can't do the show without my mother.
-Does your mom enjoy her time on-camera?
-She does.
Little known fact -- My mother always wanted to be an actor.
-Okay. -Yeah, she's horrible.
That's why it never happened.
But she -- you know, she put her dream of being an actor on hold
to raise an actor, not knowing that's what she was doing.
So for me to be in the position that I'm in today
to allow her to blossom and live out her fantasy and her dreams
is truly a blessing.
-And I know that she's always been intensely proud of you.
Is it true that she used to hand out,
like, signed headshots of you?
-Used to? -Okay.
-She still does, Seth.
-Now, are these headshots that you have signed?
-No, Seth. -Okay.
-Yeah, back when there was a Kinko's,
my mother would go in and forge my signature on a headshot
and go get a gross made.
For those of you who don't know what a gross is,
that's thousands of pictures.
And so she would spend all this money.
So she has boxes of forged autographed pictures of me
in her house that she just walks down the street --
"Anthony wanted you to have this."
She just hands them out to strangers still to this day.
-I can't believe that --
All you had to do was sign one once
if she was taking them to Kinko's.
-Yeah, no, she did it because --
She's, "Mm. Mm."
She calls me "Antny."
So she didn't even write "Anthony."
She wrote "Antny." "Antny Anderson."
So those are collector's items, guys.
-If you have an original Antny Anderson, that is --
get that on eBay today.
Hey, congratulations.
We're so happy to have you back in New York City.
Thank you so much. -Thanks for having me, Seth.
Pleasure. -Anthony Anderson, everybody.
"Law & Order" returns February 24th
at 8:00 here on NBC.