-Our first guest tonight is a four-time Emmy Award-winning
actor you know from his work as Sheldon Cooper
on "The Big Bang Theory" as well
as "The Normal Heart" and "The Boys in the Band."
He stars in "Spoiler Alert," which is in select cities
December 2nd and opens nationwide December 9th.
Let's take a look.
-Okay. You can come out now.
[ Chuckles ] Ta-da!
Our very first Christmas tree decorated by yours truly.
-Uh-huh, yes. It's, um -- -What?
-A lot of tinsel. -There's tinsel on there, yes.
-Uh-huh, and I see a Smurf or two.
-There are some Smurfs. -Yes.
And an entire solar system.
-That's a pretty star.
You hate it. -I don't hate it.
-No, you hate it. -It's very you.
-Please welcome back to the show
our friend Jim Parsons, everyone.
♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back. Very happy to have you here.
-I'm very happy to be here. -Before we get to this wonderful
film, Thanksgiving, you and your husband
are hosting his family. -His family.
-Have you done this over the years?
-How did you know that? Oh, I told people.
Yes, we've done this. -Okay, gotcha.
-I'm not scared. -Oh, that's wonderful.
-No, it is. It's really wonderful.
-Who is in charge of putting the meal together?
-Well, it will be mostly a reheating situation
since we ordered from a restaurant.
-Oh, you ordered from a restaurant.
-Yes. -Just one restaurant,
or do you sort of like -- -One.
This one's only from one restaurant.
-Okay. -You know, I have shows.
I'm working. -Yes.
-You know. -I am very --
I'm very pro ordering out. I'm not judging or shaming.
I think that's a great plan.
-It's such a nice way to spend the day.
It's so much better to get to sit around and drink with people
as opposed to slaving over a turkey.
-Yes. -That's my feeling about it.
-And there's just the risk of getting it wrong.
I feel like a turkey --
-You may end up ordering something anyway.
-Yeah, right? You might as well skip the line.
But then you are -- it should be noted you are --
The tables are turning for Christmas, right?
-For Christmas, my family is -- You know a lot about my life.
[ Laughter ] Yes, my family is
coming for Christmas. -My apartment's right
across from yours, so I'm watching.
-Binoculars at work, yes.
Yes, they'll be out for Christmas.
-You and your husband, Todd, have been together 20 years.
-Yes. -I know I keep dropping details.
-No, I don't mind. I don't mind.
[ Cheers and applause ] Thank you.
-You had an anniversary.
That's a big anniversary. -Yes, it was huge.
May I say, kind of related to that -- I was going to say this
earlier is that Jenny's speech, so beautifully put.
And I feel like for anyone who doesn't understand the impact
that some of -- I don't know what to call it --
negativity or bias that gets pumped out there can cause,
a 49-year-old man in a 20-year relationship, out,
proud with a successful career, is still moved to near tears
at hearing someone like that say,
"I see you and you're great just as you are."
I -- I don't -- I don't think you can ever oversell
how impactful it is, those messages of negativity,
and that doesn't -- it doesn't --
it doesn't really go away. You just learn how to --
where to put it and how to own it for yourself.
So thank you, Jenny.
-Well, we're very lucky to have her.
-Yes. [ Cheers and applause ]
Sorry to sidetrack. -No, no.
-I didn't know that was going to happen.
It was just very well done. -Thank you for saying that.
I had nothing to do with it. -I believe that.
-You -- How did you guys meet 20 years ago?
-Blind date. -Oh, wow!
-His boss and a woman I went to grad school with were very close
friends, and they just set it up, and they went with us.
And I remember we went to a pool hall, and -- which I --
I enjoy playing pool. He hates it.
So we went from there to karaoke,
which he enjoys and I hate. [ Laughter ]
And then finally he was like, "I have to go.
I have a friend who's having a birthday party
at a gay bar across town.
You want to come?" And so we finally ditched them,
and we went to this gay bar for this birthday party together,
and that was where it was like,
"Oh, we're going to do this again."
And we did. And you know what our first date alone was?
Was watching "Bowling for Columbine."
-Really?
-Yes, which I never found strange.
He still finds it -- He's like,
"I cannot believe that was the suggestion."
But, I mean, you know -- -You got to see movies.
-You got to go to a movie. -So do you --
Has karaoke and pool halls become a part of
your relationship over the last 20 years, or --
-Not in a good way, no. [ Laughter ]
I mean, no, we hardly ever go.
I've gone to karaoke a couple times and stomached it,
but I just, you know. It's not my thing.
-I am very much one of you. -You're not loving karaoke.
-I am not, and my wife loves karaoke.
-Well, we -- Look, in their defense, we have --
I don't know what your wife does necessarily --
but we have a chance to perform. -That is true.
-We don't need the time in the room
with the microphone in that way.
-That is a very nice observation.
-I get that out of my system otherwise.
-Yeah. Now, I should note back in my "SNL" days,
sometimes the after-after-party would be at a karaoke bar.
-Oh. -And that would be a time
where my fellow castmates, who I had to [bleep] watch
all week onstage -- -They would sing then?
-They would do it again, and I'd be like --
-The majority of the people there enjoyed doing karaoke?
-Yeah. -So telling. So telling.
[ Laughter ]
-Criminal! One would say maybe criminal.
-No wonder you left. -I had to, yeah.
That's why I left. [ Laughter ]
After 12 1/2 years, I'm like, "I've had it!"
[ Laughter ]
Do you have a 20th anniversary --
Do you do something grand? -No, we didn't.
I'll tell you -- Well, sort of.
Like, I mean, we were in San Francisco
for a special screening of "Spoiler Alert" on Monday,
and Tuesday was the anniversary.
So we were on an airplane,
and then I came home and went immediately to the show,
and then we went to bed, so that was how we "celebrated."
But I will say since Todd was -- My husband was the first one who
said we should adapt "Spoiler Alert" and get the rights
and we did and we saw it through,
it was kind of like a really nice present.
-That is really nice. This is a very --
This is based on a wonderful book by Michael Ausiello,
who is an entertainment reporter
who we've both been lucky enough to meet over the years.
He wrote this very moving book
about his partner who passed away.
-Yeah. -And his relationship with him.
And this is a -- How did you first come to read the book?
-Michael asked me to host a Q&A at a Barnes & Noble for him,
and he sent me the book, and I sat there for --
I said, "Of course I will," but I hadn't read it yet.
We were taking a vacation, Todd and I, and I read it, and Todd
watched me read it, and I just was like -- [ Cries ]
And he said, "Do you think it would be a good movie?"
I went, "I don't know." So he read it, also on a plane
somewhere where the stewardesses were like, "Are you okay?"
And he said, "We should option this if he'll let us."
And so at the Q&A, he went up to Michael and said,
"Can we option it?" And ball rolling.
-Obviously Michael held you in some regard
to ask you to do the Q&A. -Yeah.
-But you still now are --
You know, you're sort of the steward of his story.
Do you feel an added pressure
when you play a real-life person on-screen?
-A little bit.
Mostly I take it as a real gift because there's so much rich
information that you wouldn't get from a fictional character.
And especially with a book like Michael had written, I mean,
he poured so much of himself into it and he was just --
It was very clear.
The part of the pressure would have been worse, but Michael was
so sane about -- He said a thousand times,
"I understand that what's being portrayed in the movie
isn't identical to my life, and I don't expect it to be."
And I think everyone needed to hear that, though,
because it's such a deep tale.
It's such a -- There's so much heart and tragedy
and joy in it that, um -- Yeah, you don't want to --
You don't want to get it wrong.
-You let the audience know in advance
what kind of movie they were seeing.
You were handing out sort of branded tissues.
-I didn't personally hand them out.
But, yes, I did see them.
There's these little packs of tissues.
Yeah, there's some tears.
I said I cried when I read it.
If we didn't make anybody cry, we wouldn't have done our jobs.
-Yeah. You're also back onstage.
-Yes. -Doing a revival,
"A Man of No Importance." -Yes.
-You play a Dublin bus driver. -Yes.
-That means accent work.
-[ In Irish accent ] Indeed it does.
-Oh! Really good. [ Laughter ]
-I swore I wouldn't do it on TV, but here I am.
Givin' ya me best Dublin accent I can.
-That's very good. -Thank you, but no, Seth. No.
[ Laughter ] You're very polite.
-Oh, my God. Jim, bring Jim back!
-It's a completely different pairson.
[ Normal voice ] Alright. I'm back. I'm back.
Oh, God. -A completely different pairson.
[ Laughter ] -Parsons. Pairsons.
-Oh, that must be tricky with your last name being Parsons.
-Yes, awful. -Yeah, yeah.
This is very lovely as well.
And very sweet of you to do -- everyone in the audience tonight
will be getting vouchers to go see "Spoiler Alert."
-Yes. [ Cheers and applause ]
-We really appreciate it.
Oh, there's one -- Again, very moving story, real life,
not my place to be critical of any part of it.
I do have a very small cameo in the film.
-Yes, you do!
And what's funny is I never knew it was going to be there
because I was acting to a blank TV screen.
And when I first saw the cut, I was like,
"Ah, that's brilliant." You're talking about somebody
smuggling Xanax into a doughnut.
-Yes, but you don't stay till --
You show the beginning of the joke.
-I turn it off. -You turn off the TV.
-I don't want to distract from the story
with your good punch-- or whatever punchline.
Maybe it was good. Maybe it was mediocre.
-That's very kind of you to say
that it was going to be a good punchline.
But it makes me feel better knowing that you, a dear friend
of this show, didn't know when you were filming it that
you were going to turn the TV off on me.
-Yeah. No, of course not.
I would have picketed.
[ Laughter ]
-Hey, it's always such a pleasure to see you.
-It's great to be here. -Have the happiest of holidays.
-You too. Thank you. -And congrats on the film.
You guys, that's Jim Parsons. [ Cheers and applause ]
"Spoiler Alert" opens in select cities
December 2nd and nationwide December 9th.
We'll be right back with Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar.