-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy- and Tony-nominated actor
you know from the hit series "Stranger Things"
and movies like "Black Widow" and "Violent Night."
He stars in "We Have a Ghost,"
which premieres February 24th on Netflix.
Please welcome back to the show our friend David Harbour,
everybody! [ Cheers and applause ]
[ Mid-tempo music plays ]
♪♪
Welcome back! -Whoa! Wow, what a crowd.
-We're always so happy you're here.
-What a crowd. Thank you for having me.
-We were talking backstage, you were here
for when we were in the studio with no crowds.
-Yeah, that was dark times. -That was dark times.
-Just like five producers enthusiastically clapping
like a child's ballet recital. Like, "Oh, my God,
you're doing so great!" -Yeah.
-I will say, after those 12 months,
I'm like, "I'm a very fancy boy."
[ Laughter ] I fell for it.
They convinced me. -You're not wrong.
-Oh, thank you very much. I want to start with something,
I'm just gonna get it out of the way.
You and your wife, the incredibly talented Lily Allen,
you gave a tour to "Architectural Digest"...
-[ Chuckles ] -...of your home.
And it became a lot of -- it sort of entered the discourse.
People wanted to talk about your apartment,
including the fact that you have a carpeted bathroom.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -Listen to the groaning already.
We're gonna talk about this. -Okay.
So, what was this -- Was this a couple's decision?
Did you both feel strongly about a carpeted bathroom?
-No. -Okay.
-I made very few decisions in this house.
-Gotcha. How do you feel about it so far?
-Look, I like it. [ Laughter ].
There's a romance to a carpeted bathroom.
-Uh-huh. -You know what I mean?
-Because you feel like? -Well, like you're in Paris
in the '20s. -Before they invented tiles?
-Exactly. [ Laughter ]
-Smoking Gitanes and inhaling black mold.
-Yeah. Oh, right. This is an era
before people knew that was a bad thing,
where they would just squish out of the tub
and just leave. -Yeah, you just roll out.
Get those wet feet all over there
for years and years and just --
whatever accumulates, accumulates.
I like terrariums. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
It did seem like social media fell, like, very hardly
on the side of "This is not okay."
[ Laughter ]
-I think everybody has become such a nerd after COVID.
You know what I mean? -Yeah.
-We're so -- such squares. It's like, whatever.
A little bit of, you know, mold. [ Laughter ]
-Some might argue it fights the COVID, right?
[ Laughter ] Like, if you have enough --
COVID looks at a house like this and is like, "No, thank you."
[ Laughter ].
-But we pulled some tweets.
You've not seen these tweets yet.
-I have not seen these. Oh, my God.
-Here you go. Do you want to just read it?
-Yeah. I'm sorry.
"I just watched the David Harbour/Lily Allen
A.D. house story. Carpet in the bathroom
should be a cancellable offense."
[ Laughter ]
-I do like -- -I guess that's bad
for the promotion of my movie. Yeah, that's...
-From Prill, "What the [Bleep] do Lily Allen and David Harbour
have a carpeted bathroom?" "Why? Why the [Bleep]."
-Yeah. And then this is nice
because this is obviously a fan of yours.
-"Not even David Harbour can make me feel good
about carpet in the bathroom." [ Laughter ].
[ Applause ] -I don't know. I like it.
I like everything about it. Now, you referred to this --
-Keeping this one. -Okay, good.
You referred to this as a space fridge.
-Yeah. We got to talk about this.
-Okay, so, you called it a space fridge.
People got even angrier 'cause then they were like,
"You got a fridge in your bathroom?"
[ Laughter ] -It's not a fridge.
-Okay. -It's not an actual fridge.
-Okay. -It just looks like
a fridge from space. -Got it.
-Like a NASA fridge. -So it's like a cabinet.
-It's a cabinet where you put, like, lotions in
and things like that. -But you guys wanted,
in that same sort of theme of romance,
you wanted to feel like a fridge was in your bathroom.
[ Laughter ] -Like a fridge from outer space.
Like romance. You know, romance. -You want it to be like
you were both in 1920s France and way in the future.
[ Laughter ] -Exactly. It's like "Star Wars."
"A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away."
-So, that far back. -We carpet bathrooms,
and we keep our products in a space fridge.
-You know what? You guys -- -You get us.
-I get you so much. -I love it!
-Now I want to ask if your kids get you.
They're at the age where they're opinionated,
you were telling me backstage, 10 and 11.
What do they think about the design?
-They've described it as -- they said,
"Mommy, we live in a clown house."
-Oh. [ Laughter ]
-It's not that bad. [ Laughter ]
I mean, there's got to be places for clowns...
-Yeah. -...in this world.
-Right, you can't just expect them to all live in a car.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah, they don't like that. -Are you strict with the kids?
-I mean, I go through phases.
-Uh-huh. -It's getting harder, I think,
that they're getting smarter and older.
It's easier to be strict
when they're younger and sort of dumber.
[ Laughter ] I had a -- This was --
I had an experience where -- it was during the pandemic --
one of them had thrown out a piece of paper
that was really important. It was some kind of something.
I don't know. But it was the whole day
we spent looking for this piece of paper.
And finally, we found it in the trash can.
One of them had thrown it out,
and neither of them would fess up to it.
And we were furious. And I said, I am gonna find out
who threw this thing out."
And I brought in a dish of flour.
[ Laughter ]
And I had them dip their fingers in it.
And I just went away, silent. I went away.
Put it down, I came back, and I said, "Listen,
I know how to fingerprint people."
[ Laughter ]
"Because I've done a lot of cop shows."
[ Laughter ] It's true.
What I didn't realize at the time was
that you're supposed to actually put their fingers in ink.
-Yeah, yeah. [ Laughter ]
You did some of the lesser cop shows.
[ Laughter ]
-You're supposed to dust for the print.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -I didn't do that.
-You did it backwards. -I did it backwards.
[ Laughter ] But they still believed me.
I left, and I came back with a little piece of paper.
And I said, "I have the results of the fingerprinting."
[ Laughter ]
"So if you'd like to tell me now who actually did it,
it'll be easier for you." -Wow.
-Yeah. -Did it work?
-It worked like a charm. -Wow!
-Yeah, they immediately fessed up.
[ Applause ] Thank you! Thank you.
-You won them back after the old carpet in the bathroom.
-[ Laughs ] Once they get to be like 11,
though, they just think you're an idiot
for doing things like that, which you are.
-Yeah, yeah. Trying to get an 11-year-old
to put your fingers in flour, good luck.
[ Laughter ] "Get out of here, old man."
They just blow it back in your face.
-"I've done a lot of cop shows." [ Laughter ]
-I want to ask about your new movie.
We'll be right back with more from David Harbour.