-Thank you for being here, bud. -Thank you for having me.
-You look great, pal. -You too.
-I want to talk to you about this.
"Rolling Stone" magazine came out with a list of
the greatest TV shows of all time.
And number 1 on the list, "The Sopranos."
[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪
How does that feel? How does it feel to be --
-It's very, very cool. It's been interesting.
Lately, a lot of younger people
are getting turned on to "The Sopranos."
-Yeah.
-Now it's Halloween time, I get on my Instagram --
a lot of my followers send me pictures of them
in their Christopher Moltisanti costume.
-Yeah. -Christopher and Adriana.
-Yeah, and you did this -- So, all these --
like hundreds of people, thousands of people --
-I get lots and then I pick my favorites and then I post them.
And all kinds of people. It's really fun.
A lot of young people, though, predominantly, yeah.
-Is it wild to see people that weren't alive
when the show came out, they'll be giant fans of yours?
-It's very, very wild.
I was in -- I became aware of it a couple years ago.
I was in Central Park shooting something,
and this kid from Scotland comes up to me.
He was like 18. He was with his father.
They were visiting New York.
And he pulls up his pant leg,
and on his calf is a tattoo of me.
And I was -- You know, it was a little bit -- a little scary.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-But he was cool and really nice.
And it just made me aware that,
wow, this whole new generation of young people
have been turned on to the show and really, really liking it.
-And into it.
Yeah, I also think, you know, there was lockdown,
and everyone was looking for things to do and watch.
And everyone rewatched that or, if they hadn't seen it,
watched "The Sopranos."
And you go, "This actually is a phenomenal show.
It holds up even right now."
And it's in -- How many years ago did it start?
-It started -- It went on the air in '99.
-'99. -Yeah. It's a long time ago.
-That doesn't seem like that. Yeah.
-It went off the air 15 years ago.
-Well, your podcast is very great, too.
You and Steve Schirripa. -Schirripa.
We did an episode-by-episode rewatch of "The Sopranos."
And I had not seen it since it went off the air.
So during the pandemic,
I was watching it every week and taking notes.
-And you talk to everybody. It's great interviews.
Steve Schirripa, by the way,
used to book me in comedy clubs before.
-In Vegas, right? -In Vegas.
-Yeah. -That's correct.
-That's right.
-So, thank you, Steve, for booking me,
'cause, yeah, it all led here.
But it's a great thing.
And there's always rumors going around about, you know,
what was the end of "The Sopranos"?
Did Tony get whacked? I mean, you know.
-I still don't know. -Come on!
-I do not know. I do not know. -Come on!
-I've gone back and forth. I thought I knew.
We had David Chase, the creator, on the podcast three times,
and each time, there was little tidbits and different things.
I still don't know what the hell happened.
I really don't.
And now I'm saying, well, the end was the end.
It just ended, and there's nothing after and --
-Yeah, the end was the end.
It went to black, and you kind of go...
-That's it. -I kind of loved it. I loved it.
I wasn't -- I'm one of the people that are a fan of that.
I thought it was great.
-You know, 15 years later, we're still talking about it.
-That's correct, yeah.
-I guess that's a testament to the, you know...
-Can't we call David Chase and go,
"Hey, what's the deal, dude?"
-He'll never -- -Yeah, why would he?
-No. He's not going to give it away.
-Do you stay in touch with him? -Yeah.
-You do. Yeah.
-Yeah, we're writing a movie together right now
for me and Steve Schirripa.
It's a mystery project. -Wait. What?
-I can't talk about it beyond that.
-You and Steve Schirripa and David Chase?
-Yeah.
-What are you talking -- You from "The Sopranos,"
Steve Schirripa from "The Sopranos,"
David Chase from "The Sopranos" are writing a movie?
And you can't talk about what the movies about?
-David and I are writing it together.
I can't say what it's about.
-I know, but --
-But when it comes out, I'm gonna come here.
-Okay. And talk about it.
-Before anybody, I'm gonna come here and talk about it.
-That's what I'm talking about. That's what a friend is for.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you, buddy.
Can we talk about another great show?
Gosh, "White Lotus" was one of the best things I've seen on TV.
I loved it so much. I go, "Oh, my gosh."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Mike White -- brilliant. -Great.
-Brilliantly acted. The whole cast was all great.
And now it's back for a second installment.
And I couldn't think of a better person
to be in the cast than you.
You're going to crush it.
How did you get involved with "White Lotus"?
Can you describe what this installment is about?
-This is -- takes place in Sicily.
So we were in Sicily four months,
which was a dream gig.
I play a Hollywood producer who is taking
his elderly father and his son back to the old country
to retrace their family history.
But his marriage is falling apart because of,
uh, sexual compulsion and infidelity,
and his wife was supposed to come and she didn't come.
-Oh. She doesn't come to The White Lotus?
-She doesn't come on vacation, and I have to...
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ] Yeah.
-That's not what -- No, hey, that's not what he meant.
No, no. That's not what he -- Hey, hey, hey!
That's not what you guys --
-You guys got your mind in the gutter.
What the hell?
This is Jimmy Fallon, for God's sakes.
-Thank you. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, she doesn't travel is what I meant.
-She didn't travel.
She didn't accompany me on the trip.
-Your actual wife in real life was with you, right?
-My wife was with me the whole time.
We were living and working in
the San Domenico Palace in Taormina, Sicily,
which was really fantastic --
until one night when it wasn't fantastic,
because I had to shoot a scene where my character
has a ménage à trois in a hot tub
with two of my great Italian co-stars,
Simona Tabasco and Beatrice Granno,
who are fabulous actresses.
But this is well into the shoot, and it's --
You know, we were friends by that point.
Now we've got to do this sex scene in a tub.
So, we're doing it in a big suite in the hotel,
and, you know, Mike's showing us how it's going to work out.
And we go out to the patio.
And "So, you'll come out of the room
and you'll go in the hot tub
and you'll take your clothes off and you'll --" You know.
And I realize my wife is asleep right above this hot --
My room is right above this hot tub.
And if my wife --
Now, it's 2:00 in the morning we go to shoot this.
If she wakes up, she's going to look out the window
and see me pretty much naked with my two Italian co-stars
messing around in a hot tub.
And I go -- I'm like, "Oh, my God."
You know, these scenes are awkward enough.
-Sure, of course.
-Now I'm worried about my wife looking out the window.
And I get really -- So I'm trying to --
I'm like, "Mike, you know, hot tub?
I don't think Dominic's a hot-tub guy, you know?"
Why -- You know --
-I think he's a guy who has sex with his clothes on.
-Look at that bed. It's a big, king size --
"No, no, no.
You'll come out, you'll get in the hot tub.
It'll be fine. We'll go. We'll put the music on."
"Music?! No! What music?"
"No, we got some house music. The girl --"
I said, "No, Mike. We can't have music.
There's people sleeping right now.
You can't have music."
"We'll have music. Nobody cares. It's just us in here."
So, we do the scene.
I'm, like, looking.
You know, I'm thinking a lamp
is going to come sailing down from the window.
Luckily, we got through it.
-Alright, good. Good, good, good, good.
-But then I'm thinking, "Oh, wait.
She doesn't want to make a scene
because she knows the crew by now.
We've all been there together."
"She's waiting for me to get back upstairs."
Now it's 5:00 in the morning.
I go in the room. It's all quiet.
You know, I go brush my teeth. I'm coming to bed.
She wakes up. She goes, "How was it tonight?"
And I'm like, "Now, should I play this --"
I'm playing it cool. "It was okay.
It was okay." "It was a long night?"
"Yeah, you know. It was kind of long."
-It's work. -"You tired?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty tired."
"Was it hard?" "No. Absolutely not.
I swear. I swear." ♪♪
-It was not! Absolutely not! -I swear on the kids.
And she's like, "What are you talking about?
-Alright, we have a clip.
It's not that clip, but here's a clip.
Here's Michael Imperioli in "The White Lotus."
Take a look at this.
[ Knock on door ]
-Hey. -Hey.
Um, Nonna, fell by the pool. -What?
-He's fine, um, but I think he hit his head.
He could have a concussion.
I'm thinking someone should sleep with him tonight,
keep an eye on him.
-Yeah, good idea. Um, we'll put him in your room.
I got work stuff. L.A. will still be up.
I'm going to be up and around all night,
so let's just, uh -- We'll put him in your room, okay?
-[ Sighs ] Okay.
-Anything else? -No.
-What do you say? Dinner at 8:00?
-Yeah, sure.
-Alright.
-Yeah, that settles it. "He goes in your room."
-And they know now what's going to happen.
-What's going to happen.
I do want to quickly say,
congrats on your band, by the way, Zopa, right here.
And you're currently -- You're playing right now.
You're on tour?
-We're doing a show in Boston and New York in December.
Yeah, two shows coming up.
-Congrats on that. This is getting great reviews.
-Thank you. -Thanks for coming by, buddy.
Michael Imperioli.
"The White Lotus" returns with a second installment
this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.
We'll be right back with a performance from Tegan and Sara.
Stick around.