-Our first guest tonight
is an Emmy and Academy Award-winning
writer, director, and comedian
behind films such as
"Get Out," "Us," and "Wendell & Wild."
His critically-acclaimed film "Nope"
is now streaming on Peacock.
Please welcome back to the show, our friend,
Jordan Peele, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Welcome back!
It is so lovely to have you here.
Last time you were here, I was lucky to have you
with the entire cast of "Nope." -Yeah.
-This time I'm very happy to have you to myself.
You know, we've known each other for a very long time.
-Yes.
We've come some far way, my old friend.
-[ Laughing ] Yeah.
We met each other about 20 years ago.
We worked for an improv comedy theater
in Amsterdam called Boom Chicago!
And I know we've talked about that before,
but it's still, you know, I can't believe it.
I can't believe I was lucky enough to know you then.
I can't believe how incredible your career has been since,
and it's really cool to be able to sit here with you like this.
-And we had some wild times. -We had some wild times.
-In Amsterdam. -In Amsterdam, we did.
[ Laughter ]
Mostly legal.
[ Laughter ] Yeah, right?
-I mean, everything is legal there.
That's the problem.
-Well, I was thinking because there's a really cool thing,
which is the amusement park in the film "Nope."
Jupiter's Claim. -Mm.
-Is actually being recreated at Universal Studios.
-Yes.
-One of the wilder times we had, and more than once,
was we would go to a Dutch theme park
called Efteling.
-Yes. "Elfland." -Elfland, yeah.
You just translated the Dutch. It's called "Elfland."
And it's a wonderful place. -Yeah.
-And even though there's not a sign outside that says
"Do drugs here"...
[ Laughter ]
...I always felt like it was implied.
-It was implied. -Yeah.
-And somehow accepted, like,
the staff would walk up to you with shrooms
is kind of the feeling. -Yeah, exactly.
They didn't have, like, cotton candy.
Not, like, high-calorie foods that American..
-Children running around and they look like fawns.
[ Laughter ] Yes.
-Dutch fawns.
-And it's interesting, because the Dutch are a very --
very blunt people, they're very honest.
They'll walk up to you and say, "How nice to meet you.
I don't like your shirt." You know?
They'll say things like that.
And I feel like there was one moment
where you sort of adopted that sort of tone.
-I think because we were in the Dutch culture
and maybe I had overserved myself.
I became very honest.
-To be fair, we had had a long bacchanalia.
-Yeah. -Of sorts. A long party.
And I remember you saying to a group of us --
-Dear friends of mine. -Dear friends.
Just straight up, "I don't know, man.
I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to.
I'm tired of hanging out with
the people I'm hanging out with."
[ Laughter ]
And we're just watching you
feel comfortable telling us that, you know.
-It was a very supportive group of people.
I think what had happened is, I had gone to get a water
and I was standing in line, and very amusement-park-y,
someone had won, like, a stuffed lizard
and a child was holding a stuffed lizard
and the stuffed lizard was looking at me.
-And you had a meltdown.
-And I had a moment where I'm like,
"I gotta go." -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
And then we grow up. -And then we grew up.
-And now we're...
-But I didn't know this, of all these years I've known you,
I did not know that your first major in college was puppetry.
-Yes. -Wow.
I mean, it does feel like the good first building block,
but what was the decision to choose that?
-Well, yeah, so I went to Sarah Lawrence College
in part because it was mostly female.
-Mm-hmm.
-Then I immediately took away my advantage
by declaring myself a puppetry major.
[ Laughter ]
To balance things out. -Yeah, right.
You don't want to make it unfair.
-I don't want to make it unfair.
But no, I was in love --
I grew up and I loved "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
growing up,
and how that film by the great Henry Selick,
whom I've had the pleasure of working with...
-Yeah, you just did a film,
"Wendell & Wild" with Henry Selick.
-"Wendell & Wild," which is the type of film that,
if I had seen when I was a kid or if I was 12 years old,
I think it would have changed the way I feel about
my place in the industry and in puppetry.
And so, very proud of this film
and it's really -- it's wonderful, yeah.
-I think one of the cool things
is watching you get to collaborate with people
that I know you've loved forever and I've loved forever.
You're an EP on this wonderful show,
"Hunters" is coming back for a second season.
Al Pacino is one of the people in "Hunters."
-Oh, yeah. -I mean, a legend.
-Legend.
-How was your time with Al Pacino?
-Well, admittedly brief.
I've been in the presence of this man only briefly,
and he's hilarious.
I mean, first of all, you are in the presence of a guy
who is essentially a made man in terms of cool, forever.
-Yeah.
-And he an actor's actor.
He's the consummate actor.
And so he's, you know --
[ As Al Pacino ] "He's always -- He's fascinating."
[ Laughter ]
I don't really have a good Pacino.
-Mine is very good, I should warn you.
-Okay, yeah.
-Mine is based entirely on the fact that he was nominated,
I believe maybe for "Hunters."
He was nominated for an award in the first COVID year.
And my favorite thing that happened during COVID
was seeing Al Pacino in a Zoom room.
-Okay.
-Because even in that little box
where he didn't know where to look
and it was not well-lit,
still the coolest dude in the world.
-That's right.
-And so my new Al Pacino impression
is entirely based on that.
You ready for it? -Yeah, okay.
-[ As Al Pacino ] "Hey, I'm in the Zoom room!"
[ Laughter ]
-That's good. -I know, right?
-That's good.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you.
-Very good. -Thank you.
-Yeah, there was a moment there in his career
where I feel like he started chewing gum.
And he got a little Black.
[ Laughter ]
A little bit Southern, a little bit Black.
And it was like he was honing his Black --
'Cause from "Scarface," he already had us.
-Yeah. -From Michael Corleone,
he already had us.
But I feel like he's committed to his Blackness.
-And it's really fun when somebody like that --
because they can make those choices
and they've gone past the point
where anybody's gonna go over and be like,
"Maybe just bring it -- Dial it back."
-He can get away with anything. -He can just get away with it,
and so those people, those icons, those legends,
those are the fun ones to keep an eye on,
'cause you're like, "Never know where this is gonna go."
-He could come in full-on Foghorn Leghorn
and fool everybody. -Yeah.
-But no, he's a genius.
And "Hunters," man.
The season is incredible.
Incredible cast.
I'm so proud of the show.
It's crazy and it's wild. -That's great.
I want to ask you a bunch more about "Nope."
We'll be right back with more from Jordan Peele!