-Wow, wow. -Welcome to the show.
I am so happy you're here. You look sharp, as always.
-Thank you. Likewise.
-You know, I am such a big fan of your work for a long time.
I've known you, and I've always run into you.
You're always a nice guy to me and everything.
And I got to say, you did this
"Searching for Italy: Stanley Tucci" on CNN.
I loved it so much. I freaked out.
I -- It's -- I want to get into all of the details.
But I loved everything.
I loved the episode with the hailstorm.
-Oh, yeah. -When everyone was locked in.
-Yeah, yeah. Yeah. -But then I felt inspired.
I felt like I became, like, inspired.
I should be a chef. -Yeah.
-And I felt like, "If Stanley is telling me what to do..."
I thought through the TV, you're talking to me
and saying, "Jimmy, go out and make a pizza yourself."
-Yes, yeah. Yeah.
-"Don't just microwave a pizza. Go make it yourself."
-Yes, do it yourself. -So I did it.
And I did it -- I made it.
I was inspired. I put it on -- on YouTube.
-Yes. -Because I was inspired.
I wanted to show other people how --
that I know how to do it. -Yes.
-And, of course, Jimmy Kimmel,
who really knows a lot about pizza...
-Yes. -...just destroyed my video.
-Yeah. Yeah. He's -- he's tough. He's tough.
-He -- No, he really knows his pizza, by the way.
And he was just like -- He e-mailed me before he did it.
He goes, "Dude, what? I got to respond to this thing.
This is insane."
And I go -- 'Cause I was like -- I was rolling it.
-Yeah. -With a roller.
And he said, "Don't ever do that."
-No. -No, no, I didn't know.
-No -- Yeah.
-Yeah, it was just every single mistake I could ever make.
-But he's -- But he's sort of beyond --
He's not -- I mean -- -He's not normal, is he?
-I've eaten pizza at his house.
-No, he's -- -And it's -- it's incredible.
-No, he takes it to the next level.
-No, and I can't make pizza like that.
No, he's -- I'm not kidding. He really is amazing.
-I think you inadvertently restarted the late-night wars.
[ Laughter ]
That's just it. Just by that pizza thing.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-Yeah, yeah. -But I -- I saw this --
-I felt there was something lacking.
-Yeah, thank you. You're always --
You're always spicing up life. -Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
-I love that. -Yeah.
-But you've inspired people to -- to travel and to cook.
It's a big deal.
In Italy, I've read these articles
where people are having Stanley Tucci tours.
-Yeah. Yeah.
-That must feel good, right? -Yeah, it feels great.
I mean, I'd love a piece of the action, but, you know...
-No, no, no. Yeah, you can't do that.
-No, no, I can't do that. No, but it's wonderful.
It -- Well, you know, look, when the show came out, we were --
You know, it was during, you know, the pandemic.
-Sure. Of course. -During lockdown.
So we had a captive audience, right?
And people were desperate to get out.
And they sort of lived vicariously through us.
-You won two Emmys for it. -Yes.
-For "Searching for Italy." Two Emmys.
-Yes, yes. [ Cheers and applause ]
Yes.
-Well-deserved. -Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
-Will there be a season three? -Yes, I hope there will be.
Unfortunately, CNN has canceled
all of their original programming,
so hopefully we'll end up on another streamer, network.
We don't know. -Wow.
-But, yes, I have plans to do season three and more.
-So, "Searching for Italy" is searching for a new network.
-Searching -- Searching for a network.
[ Laughter ] Yeah, yeah.
Not as appetizing. -No, no.
[ Laughter ] I just love that you did that.
And then I love that.
And then you also posted something on Instagram.
-Yeah. -Of you making a cocktail.
A Negroni. And it went viral beyond belief.
-Yes, I know. -You -- Yeah, and I was like,
"This is -- This is everything.
Stanley Tucci is owning the world right now."
We loved it. It was so good.
I mean, did you know that you were going to go that --
-No, no. -You're just making it for fun?
-No, I did it -- I did it because --
I did it for my agency in England, Curtis Brown.
My wife works there. -Yeah.
-And she said, "Make a cocktail for everybody during lockdown.
It'd be really nice.
And, you know, people -- cheer them up."
-Yeah. -So I did that.
And then she said, "Well, put it on your Instagram."
And then she showed me how to do that.
[ Laughter ] And then I did it.
-Yeah. -And then that happened.
-Yeah.
-And then Chris Evans tweeted it or re-something'ed it.
-Oh, yeah.
-And then it went completely crazy.
-Yeah, Chris Evans. That's right. He loved it.
-Chris Evans. Anything he touches. Yeah.
-Turns to gold, yeah. -It's true, yeah.
-But the big hot drink now is Negroni sbagliatos.
-Sbagliato, yes.
-Sbagliato. With prosecco in it.
-It's all over TikTok. -Yeah.
-And I don't -- I just -- I have two made here tonight.
-Oh, wow. What do you know?
-I did not make these. [ Cheers and applause ]
I thought maybe we could have a taste test.
'Cause when you do a Negroni, just -- you do a normal Negroni.
Is that correct? -I do, I do.
But I -- I like mine up,
as opposed to on the rocks, the Negroni.
But you wouldn't necessarily do that with this.
-Okay, okay. -Yeah.
-Cheers. Let's try this and see how it tastes.
Me and Stanley Tucci trying a Negroni sbagliato
with prosecco in it.
[ Jazz music plays ]
♪♪
[ Laughter ]
-I'd buy that for a dollar. -Yeah.
-Yeah, that's -- -That's pretty tasty.
-That's nice. It wants --
-It tastes a little champagne-y to me.
-It's a little too champagne-y. -Prosecco-y. Yeah.
-Prosecco-y, yeah.
It should have a little more of the harder alcohols in it.
-Right? -Yeah, I think so.
-I agree. I think, yeah.
-It really just needs, like, a little --
It needs to be graced with it.
-Yeah. I think cheers, but this is --
I'm going to go with original Stanley Tucci Negroni.
Yeah, if you're going to go --
Yeah. That's what I would go with.
This came out. This went viral.
And then here you go on the list.
You're one of the sexiest bald men on the planet.
And -- -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-There you go. Number two.
I don't know if you could --
I'm underneath -- -Barely, barely.
-Barely. -Barely.
-6.3. Yeah. -Barely there, yeah.
But, hey, there's always next year, bud.
-Right. There's always next year. Yes.
-You're just crushing it right now.
-Yeah, oh, thank you.
-I want to talk to you about the Whitney Houston movie.
-Yeah. -Gosh, it's beautiful.
It's heartbreaking.
But you play a legendary producer.
-Yeah. -Record legend Clive Davis
who discovered Whitney Houston. -Yeah.
-Who is an actual living real person.
-Yes, still. -Is it hard to play someone
who is actually next to you and go like,
"Well, that's really -- This is how I would do it"?
-No. Luckily, he wasn't on the set when I was filming.
-Good, good, good.
-That would've been disconcerting.
He was -- I talked to him. I saw the documentary about him.
I read his book. And then we had a Zoom call.
I was filming in Turin.
I was doing the episode of Piemonte.
And he -- we talked for an hour, and he was amazing.
And then I met him for, like, a half-hour before --
like, two days before I started filming.
And he was nothing but generous and kind.
And he's fascinating.
We listened to -- The music we listen to today,
one of the reasons is because of him.
-Yes. -It's amazing.
And this is a guy who was a lawyer
and ended up in this job sort of by happenstance.
-Yeah.
-And as it turns out, he's not a singer.
He's not a musician. He's not a --
It turns out he just has this incredible ear...
-Yeah.
-...that now has informed all of our ears.
-Yeah, you're right. -Yeah.
-And who's playing Whitney Houston again?
-Naomi Ackie.
This woman is -- This is an extraordinary actress.
-Naomi Ackie. It's unbelievable. I want to show a clip.
Here's Stanley Tucci in
"Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody."
Take a look at this.
♪♪
-♪ How will I know if he's thinking of me? ♪
♪ I try to phone, but I'm too shy ♪
-Maybe. -Maybe? Why?
-♪ Falling in love is so bittersweet ♪
♪ How will I know if he really loves me? ♪
♪ I say a prayer with every heartbeat ♪
You know?
I could do something with the chorus.
Go up a key there, get more out of it.
-Yeah, but that's not a reason to -- to do a song.
It's gotta have a hook.
-A hook? -Yeah.
-I'll give it a hook.
-Yeah. "I'll give it a hook."
Stanley Tucci, everybody.
We love you, buddy. -Thank you.
-"Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody"
is in theaters December 23rd.
We'll be right back with Michael Che and Sean Patton.
Stick around.