(upbeat music) (audience applauds)
- [Kelly] You're here in person.
- Yes, I am, I am.
I think the last time I was here, I was on...
- [Kelly] You were on Zoom.
- I was on the big, I was on the big screen.
- Okay, but I need to talk about it real quick,
because you were my favorite Zoom,
because of your, you.
And also, your library or wherever the hell you were.
- [Seth] Right.
- [Kelly] Your den, your Batman den.
It was like, amazing.
- Yeah, yeah. - Yeah.
- I think I was in the, I think I was in the library.
- [Kelly] The library with the candle stick.
- Yes, that's right.
- [Kelly] No, it was beautiful, it was so cool.
- Well, thank you.
- I just remember your background.
I was like, "Why do I want to live in that library?"
It was nice. (Seth laughs)
Anyway, but it's good to have you here in person.
- Thank you for having me, appreciate it.
- [Kelly] Absolutely.
So, you seem like someone who might never take a break.
Is this true?
- Hmm-mm. - Okay.
- This is very true, yeah.
I don't even know what I'm here to promote.
(audience laughs) - I don't, I can't remember.
You're like, you're promoting several things.
I love this, but you have a lot of jobs,
I think more than me.
- If you told me I'm here to promote "Grey's Anatomy",
I would believe it.
- You would be like, "Yes, my song in Grey's Anatomy".
You're like, no, it, it is a, an amazing thing, though.
You're so talented.
You have an album out, you have...
And it's like your seventh album.
You work on TV, you do movies, you do everything.
You're like one of those people that likes to do everything.
So you, do you have to keep busy?
Do you like doing that? Do you get bored?
- Yeah, I mean, I must be compensating for something.
Like, there must be some deep-seeded...
- [Kelly] I'm in therapy, just so you know...
- Sense of insecurity that I'm,
(Kelly laughs)
I'm, I'm just trying to erase from my mind.
- [Kelly] I know.
They're like, "Why do you like to be so busy?"
And I'm like, "I don't want to stop
and be still and notice what's happening".
(Kelly laughs)
- Yeah, that's, that could be part of it.
- [Kelly] Yes, it's probably true.
So wait, one of the things that you're promoting,
is your seventh album.
So, what sets this one apart?
Because I feel like every album I've come out with,
it's very different, I'm in a very different place.
- [Seth] Yeah.
- [Kelly] So, what is this one?
- [Seth] That's a nice candid photo, I had no idea.
- [Kelly] I love it.
(audience chuckles) I love it.
- It's, it's...
- You like classic songs, I love that.
- [Seth] I do, I do.
I love, I love orchestras,
I love the sound of great arrangements.
Great orchestrator, Andrew Cottee,
terrific producer, Joel McNeely,
who writes a lot of music for me,
both worked on this album.
It's, it's an uptempo, swing album.
That's, that should, should make people feel pretty happy.
- Yeah, that's what I love about this show.
You get to do different songs.
- [Seth] Yep, yep.
And, but I think that's what I love.
I think you, like Robbie Williams has done it a bit,
like, it's like, I like that people do that throwback sound.
It's, I mean, God, Amy Winehouse made a whole career...
- Absolutely, yeah.
- Off of like, doing a throwback vibe to that.
So, it's really cool.
I don't think enough people appreciate,
those orchestral arrangements and how beautiful it is.
- Yeah, well I mean you,
you listen to the Sinatra ballad albums,
like "Only the Lonely" and "Wee Small Hours".
And, and you know, as great a vocalist as he was even,
you take the vocals out of it
and you listen to what's going on.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- With the orchestra,
there's really nothing like that today.
- [Kelly] It's beautiful.
One of my favorite songs of all time is "Somethin' Stupid".
Like, I love you, he did with Nancy Sinatra.
- Sure, sure, yeah.
- So, if you ever cover that song and you're like,
"Who will sing this with me?", I will.
- Okay, all right, all right. (audience applauds)
- [Kelly] Because I love that song.
(audience applauds)
And I listen, I listen to Sinatra all time, I love it.
It's just such a peaceful vibe and it's so pretty.
And it, I get, I think old music like that too,
like older music gives space.
It gives space to breathe.
And now we're trying to fill all the moments, you know?
- It does, and it's, and it's, and it's roboto,
which means there's not always a tempo.
- [Kelly] I know.
- The orchestra and the singer in the same room, yeah.
- I have my own tempo. - Yeah.
- This is a joke in my band for like 20 years.
(Seth chuckles)
They're like, "This is Kelly time".
(audience laughs)
It's like, because I'm, I'm, it's like singer time.
It's like I just want to hold this out
as long as I want to,
and then, come back when I want to.
- Yeah. (audience applauds)
- You've recently announced that you're doing a TV series,
based on the movie "Ted", which everybody loves Ted.
(audience applauds) - [Seth] Yes, yes, yeah.
- [Kelly] It's so funny.
(audience applauds)
So, what made you want to do the TV series of it?
- It helped that the studio asked.
- [Kelly] Yeah, that's good. (audience laughs)
People are interested.
- That was a, that was a helpful,
that was a good place to begin.
- But do you get nervous about that?
Because it's such a pop culture, it's such a huge thing.
Do you get nervous?
- You know, it's a combination of nerves,
because we set a pretty high bar with the,
with the films and,
and you know, but at the same time,
it's, it's a comfortable space to work in.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And it's a prequel, it takes place in 1993.
So, we're kind of digging back into the...
- [Kelly] I love it.
- Pop culture of that era.
- [Kelly] I love that.
Okay, did you have any favorite like Stuffies
or toys when you were a kid?
Mine were Care Bears.
- [Seth] Care bears?
- Loved care bears.
- [Seth] You liked the Care Bears.
- Wouldn't have you liked to have seen
a care bear speak like Ted? (Kelly laughs)
- Yeah, yeah.
That, that was the whole idea behind the movie.
- [Kelly] Sunshine Bear, yeah.
- But the whole, the whole theory behind Ted,
was let's ruin everything. (audience laughs)
- [Kelly] Let's ruin Care Bears for everyone.
(audience and Seth laugh)
But anyway, is it true that you built...
Because I love, I'm a Treky, like next generation,
like Jean-Luc Picard Worf, I loved "Star Trek" so much.
And I heard that you built a replica,
when you were a kid of, did you do the Enterprise?
- I did, you know, my sister went,
went off to Japan as an exchange student
and her room was vacant for the summer.
So, I was like, "Oh, this would be kind of fun".
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Yeah, I think I built the, built the...
She went to Japan, yeah.
- She got to go to Japan.
- [Seth] Yeah, she did.
- Did you get to do anything like that?
- I didn't, I didn't.
I would've loved, I still have never,
that's one place I've never been, is Japan.
I'd love to go.
- I love Japan. - Yep.
- Yeah. - Yep.
- The temples are really cool.
- Yeah, people love it.
- Because the city's so crowded,
but you get to the temples and it's like so beautiful.
- Yeah, and the cell phones are like the size of like,
you know, they're like that big.
- Oh, I don't... - It's like the future.
- I love that, I love anything that's futuristic.
- I don't know, somebody, somebody told me,
I don't know if that's true.
(audience laughs)
- Oh, I was like, "I don't remember the cell phone moment,
but maybe you'll have yours". (Seth laughs)
No, but I, I love that you built it,
was it like cardboard or like, you built it like?
- Yeah, it was like cardboard and Christmas lights.
- [Kelly] Love. (Seth laughs)
Who was your favorite character?
Like, Lieutenant Riker, I know them all.
- My, my favorite, you know...
- Geordi La Forge, reading rainbow guy.
- I, I loved them all.
Jonathan Frakes is, is the best guy to have a beer with,
I'll tell you that much. (audience chuckles)
- [Kelly] Okay, okay.
I wouldn't know that,
but I'm going to take your word on that.
- [Seth] Highly recommend it.
- Okay, sounds like a fun time
or maybe one that I might be scared of.
(audience and Seth laugh)
But you're, let's talk about it though.
Because your, your show "The Orville" it's set in space.
Did you do that on purpose?
Is this like a, kind of a tribute to that?
That you loved it?
- [Seth] Yeah, you know, what what's interesting is,
you know when I was, and you know,
you, you are talking about a specific genre of sci-fi,
you know, it, it, at the time,
there was a very optimistic, forward-looking viewpoint
from the creators of sci-fi and Hollywood.
And that's kind of disappeared in the wake of, you know,
things like "The Hunger Games" and, and whatnot.
That kind of show us, you know...
- If you don't win, you die. (Kelly laughs)
- [Seth] If you don't win, you die.
A cautionary tale and what was kind of missing,
was the kind of blueprint
for what we could have if we succeeded.
No one was really doing that.
They hadn't really done it since the nineties.
So, that's kind of why we started doing "The Orville".
It's like, well, this is a great space for us to live in,
because nobody's going there right now.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- [Seth] And that's kind of, that's kind of the,
sort of the mission statement of the show.
- [Kelly] I, I love that and I love all those.
I like "Star Trek", "Battlestar Galactica",
all those things.
I love like, anything futuristic and like,
just the stories that come into that, I'm such a nerd.
I've never like, been to like Comic-Con recently,
but I would go, but none of my friends will go.
So, how important, how important is it for you
to get the science right on "The Orville"?
I feel like you're one of those guys
that doesn't want to get it wrong.
- [Seth] Yeah, it's, it's, it's very important.
I think people watching medical shows,
or forensic shows or space shows,
think that Hollywood writers
have done all their homework all the time.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Which is not always the case.
In fact, there's a wonderful organization,
called the Science and Entertainment Exchange,
that was started by Jerry and Janet Zucker
that connects Hollywood writers with scientists,
that's how I met Neil deGrasse Tyson.
- Oh, that's how you get it right?
- [Seth] Yeah, and, and so you pick up the phone
and you say, "Hey, this"...
Because it's in the interest of both parties.
You know, scientists want proper science
to be communicated to the public
and entertainment writers don't want to look like idiots.
So, it's, it kind of works out both ways.
So yeah, we have a, we have a science consultant,
André Bormanis, who actually consulted
for "Star Trek" for many years,
who works on "The Orville".
If we get really stumped, we'll pick up the phone,
we'll call Neil.
- Yeah, I love Neil.
- [Seth] He's great, he's great.
- Now, he is a guy that like, you have a talk with
and you either leave like,
so excited that you learned something
or we're all going to die. (audience chuckles)
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Kelly] Like, one time we had a conversation
about black holes and I was like, "Oh, my God".
Like, yeah. - Yeah, yeah.
I, the last time I had lunch with Neil,
I left feeling a whole lot smarter
and noticing that my fries were gone.
(audience and Kelly laugh)
- You were just like... (Kelly laughs)
It's a distraction.
- He knows what I'm talking about, he knows what happened.