-Our first guest tonight is an
Academy Award-nominated writer and Emmy-nominated actor
who you know from movies like "The Big Sick"
and shows like "Silicon Valley." He stars
in the highly anticipated Marvel movie "Eternals,"
which is in theaters tomorrow. Let's take a look. [ Creature roars ] ♪♪ [ Creature roars,
people scream ] ♪♪ [ Energy hums ] [ Creature shrieks ] [ Energy hums ] [ Creature shrieks ] Please welcome back to the show
our friend Kumail Nanjiani. [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Welcome! It's so good
to see you in person! -Oh, my God!
How exciting! -Human beings.
-Bunch of people! -Human beings.
-It's a bunch of people! -We were talking backstage
that one of the problems -- and there's not many --
but one of the problems -- -Most of the stuff
has been fixed. -From what?
-You said problems. Most problems in the world
have been fixed. -Yeah, we have very few left.
-Very little. Good luck with your show, buddy. You're not gonna
have much to talk about. -I know! Once --
[ Laughter ] You know, you actually --
You and your wife, who I saw, your lovely wife,
Emily, backstage. You guys, early on
in the pandemic, you actually tried to help
people fix their problems by being honest about yours.
You did a podcast. -Yeah, we did a podcast.
It was called "Staying In with
Emily and Kumail." It was sort of when
the quarantine first happened. And she's a therapist,
and I've got a lot of problems, so that was --
[ Laughter ] That was the dynamic.
-Yeah, it's a good dynamic. -Yeah, I was like,
"This is how I'm feeling," and she's like,
"What about this, this, this?" And we really thought --
We were like, "We'll do this for a couple months,
wrap up the pandemic..." [ Laughter ]
"...be out in the world." Nice, tight eight episodes,
you know? [ Laughter ]
And a couple months, like -- We did it for like
four or five months, and then it was like,
"We're out of advice. Good luck, everyone.
We are turtling up." [ Laughter ] "Time to really take care of
what's going on in here." [ Laughter ] You know.
Yeah, but it was good. It was good to,
like, have that -- You know, sometimes it's --
You realize you're not having deep conversations
with the person you're in love with
all the time. So It's good to be like,
"This is how I'm feeling. How are you feeling?"
-It's interesting. -Like, I do feel like it must --
it would be therapeutic even if it was just, like,
"Let's do a podcast just for you and I
that we can listen to later," but I feel like a married couple
forcing themselves to do a podcast
is a good way to listen. -I think the best way to have
a conversation with a person now is just to put two mics in front
of them and not even record. -Yeah.
-I feel like I'm so much more, like, personal on podcasts
than I am just talking to people I'm actually friends with. Like, you take this out of here,
and I'm gonna shut down. -Absolutely.
[ Laughter ] And then,
if it ever gets awkward, you can just do, like,
a sponsor plug. -Yeah, exactly.
[ Both laugh ] "MeUndies --
They're so comfortable. Get them."
Unless -- do you have a rival underwear thing
that sponsors you? -We don't. We've been dying
to get an underwear sponsor. -Today, buddy.
We're just dead-end city. -Well, you just got one today,
buddy. [ Laughter ] -We were saying
one of the tricks of doing press for a movie like this is,
you know, not because people are doing a bad job but they ask
you a lot of the same questions. So I wanted to try to ask you
about something in your life right now that I feel like maybe
no one has asked you about. There is a Cricket World Cup
happening right now. -There is.
-And Pakistan had a huge win. -Oh, we're kicking ass.
[ Scattered cheers ] -There we go.
I feel like that might have been more applause for you
than the actual -- -Well, I want to ask.
Is Pakistan in the house? -Yeah!
-Yes! There it is! -There we go.
-Love it. Yeah, we are undefeated.
We're winning -- -Is it a hard sell
to try to get Americans interested or into cricket?
-Well, I feel like -- You know, people ask me
to explain cricket -- have asked me
to explain cricket to them. First thing you have to do is,
you have to forget baseball. -Right.
-Like, you really have to. What happens is,
whenever I start explaining cricket to them, and I start
using terms like "googly"... -Yeah.
-..."silly mid on," "silly mid off" --
these are real terms. -Yeah.
-They just, like, start making fun of me.
-Sure. -So whenever anybody asks me
to explain cricket, I know about 45 seconds
from now, I'm just gonna get dunked on.
-Right. -It's just a setup
to make fun of me. -[ Laughs ]
-Do you know cricket at all? -I had an Australian roommate,
so I watched some cricket, and I thought
you had to drink a fair amount to care enough to stay.
[ Laughter ] -I mean, those games
used to last five days. -It's not dumber than baseball,
it should be noted. You just grow up with baseball,
so you -- -You're not gonna goad me
into saying anything negative about baseball in America.
-Okay. That's very wise. -I'm just starting to make it.
[ Laughter ] -Very, very, very wise.
-Yeah. Baseball -- what a sport.
[ Laughter ] -Now --
Oh, man, baseball -- that is -- Now that's a game.
-So believable. -I can do compliments without
really saying anything positive about baseball
-Yeah. It was -- -You sold it very well.
-Baseball! Ooh, baby, that's a day!
[ Laughter ] -You should do ads for baseball
during your podcast. -Yeah.
"Baseball -- uh, play it." [ Laughter ] "Baseball -- what do you think
of the number 9? There's gonna be two innings
of those numbers. Have fun."
-Oof. Got a little over your skis -- You got over your skis
on that one. [ Laughter ]
-We can edit it. -No, no, no.
We're gonna leave that all in. In fact,
we're gonna make it longer. We're gonna slow it down
when you say it. -You just lost
the MeUndies sponsor. -Hey, so the "Eternals,"
this is maybe a lesser-known part of
the Marvel Cinematic Universe. -You mean more people
know Spider-Man than Eternals. -I didn't want to say it to you, but I do believe that
to be true. -I disagree.
[ Laughter ] -Now, I think one of
the first times we met -- this is a true story --
was in the basement of a comic-book store.
-Yeah, so I used to do -- that Emily used to produce --
my friend Jonah Ray and I -- hosted in the back
of a comic-book store, called Meltdown Comics. We hosted
a stand-up comedy show. For six years, we did three
seasons on Comedy Central. It was super fun.
So I've been, like, a comic-book fan, nerd fan
since I was a kid, but all the way through.
Like, I never stopped. You're a big comic-book fan.
-I am, yeah. -Yeah.
Did you know Eternals? -I didn't.
I have to admit that I didn't. I grew up more of a DC guy
than a Marvels guy -- Marvel guy -- excuse me.
-Yeah, you don't even know the name of the company.
-Marvels. -Marvels?
It's like "Carvel," right? -It's like "Carvel."
Yeah, we have a -- we have our own whale character.
[ Laughter ] I can't think of it.
-Fudgie the Whale, right? -Marvel must have some--
Like, they have King Shark, DC does.
We have to have some sort of fish-based superhero.
-Yeah, that's true. -Do you edit the show?
I think you might. [ Laughter ]
Just this one. -We've always said,
"No matter what..." and I appreciate that
you're really testing us, but we're not going to.
-Kumail's fish ref that went nowhere.
We're just gonna show all of it. -Kumail, we saw a little
on the clip, but I have to say, you know, I think one of
the most exciting things is you get to cast
in a superhero movie, but then the first time you get
to see yourself in uniform, I mean,
you look outside standing. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah. Look at that. Pretty great.
-Pretty great. -Yeah, it looks good.
You know, you put it on for the first time, and you
stand up a little straighter or you feel cool.
But I put it on -- And, you know,
it's a bunch of pieces. Even though
it is pretty comfortable, it's a bunch of pieces.
People have to help you. You can't just get into it.
-Right. -There's a crime.
Get your team -- Get your wardrobe team
to show up. It's gonna take us
10 to 12 minutes. -So, right.
If they call you and say, "Hey, there's a crime,"
like, what are you telling them? 45 minutes, minimum?
-I mean, depends. How's Uber doing, right?
-Right. Uber's been really slow.
My guy can't fly. Once he gets there, he can
shoot stuff from his hands, but you got to take him
to the location. [ Laughter ] -So, he's -- [ Laughing ] Yeah.
So, he's -- You put the costume on,
you feel pretty great. But, you know,
it's a bunch of pieces, and so you can't really go to
the bathroom once you put it on. So, in the morning,
I would put it on, and if I was wearing it all day,
I would, like, not have water, not have coffee, like,
be careful, right? And then, a couple of weeks,
I've been shooting in the costume, and I was --
my buddy Brian Tyree Henry, who's in the movie, who's
absolutely amazing in the movie, he was drinking coffee
in his suit, and I was like, "How do you -- How do you
deal with the bathroom piece?" And he said, "There's a zipper."
And that's when I found out I'd been putting
the pants on backwards. [ Laughter and applause ] It's my first time
being a superhero. -It's your
first superhero movie. Classic first-time mistake.
-I just got here. -Your --
You wrote about your family in the wonderful film
"The Big Sick," and I'm wondering, has your
family seen this film, yet? -They just saw it Monday night
at a screening in New York. -And I think we've talked
in the past, your parents feel pretty free to give you
feedback, yes? -They do.
And it's been -- It's changed,
because there was -- there was clear feedback,
very honest. And then I kind of
had a talk with them. I was like, "You know, it's okay
if you don't like something. Just tell me you like it.
That's all I want from you." -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -And then sometimes they will be
like, "We are now performing the action
you have requested of us." [ Laughter ]
"It was good." Which I do appreciate.
-Yes. -I do want that honesty, just not from my parents
all the time. -But then, they really,
really love this movie. Like, I didn't have
to prompt them or anything. I finished the movie --
You know, we finished it, and I was just sitting there,
and my mom reached over, and she was like,
"That was really good!" She was like,
"I don't like these movies, but that one was really good!"
[ Laughter ] -That's when it's very nice
that your parents are terrible actors, that
you can tell the difference. -I could tell the difference,
yeah. They were very genuine.
Like, my dad, you know -- I knew my dad
was going to love it. Like, he's sort of all-in on
MCU, but my mom isn't as much, and she really, really loved it. I could hear her laughing
the whole time. They just had a great time.
It was really exciting. -It is fantastic,
and I'm so happy to have you here in person.
Congrats on the film. -It's so good to be here.
My God. -You guys,
that's Kumail Nanjiani. "Eternals"
is in theaters tomorrow. We'll be right back
with Jonathan Majors.
