Welcome back, everybody. My first guest tonight is an Emmy Award-winning star of stage, television, and film. He now stars in The Blacklist. Now, given the publicity surrounding the assistance I rendered to Special Agent Elizabeth Keen during her recent stint as a fugitive, I understand where one's suspicion may come from, but it is unfounded.
And before this dinner is over, I will not only prove that I have not betrayed us, I will identify the person who has. Save your breath, Radianton. Your grave's already been dug.
I'm sorry, but been dug? Is that correct? That doesn't sound correct, Marcus. I think it's dig.
It is dark. I'm fairly sure dig does the archaic past tense. I suppose they're both grammatically correct. Sounds funny either way.
I'm sorry. You were saying. Please welcome James Spader. That's very nice. Do you and John know each other?
No, not at all. Not at all. Not at all. You are a great, great band. You are amazing.
Incredible band. Thank you. That was a very...
That was a very friendly thing to do. I don't think any of my guests have ever gone. Has anyone else hugged you, John?
Uh...Oprah. Oprah. You remind me a lot of Oprah.
That's probably a better hug than mine, but, you know. You have been one of the reasons I'm excited to have you. is that you have been called the strangest man on television.
Do you like that? Do you like that moniker? Yeah.
I'll take that. What do you think it's from? Is it the parts you get or the way you do them? I think that there's a search engine in me for that. I think that's what I...
You've got a filter process that only the weird gets through? I think that's... Well, I've been with the same agent for decades and decades and decades.
And so I think, at this point now, I'm sent those things. But... No one sent you like, Oh, he's a perfectly normal suburban dad and a really nice guy.
There was a film I did years ago called Secretary that was a very sort of... You were not that normal in Secretary. I saw that.
I'm not popping that in with my 14-year-old. Okay. You'd be surprised at the people who have come up who say they love that film.
Really? No, I love that film. I'm not surprised they loved it.
No, but I just mean very, very stayed and sort of... Which I guess is appropriate, considering that content. Exactly.
You never know what goes on behind closed doors. You never know. Thank goodness. Exactly. None of our business.
Right. None of our business. Well, it's nice to hear about it every so often.
I love that. Yeah. But that's what James Spader parts are for. Yes, yes.
But I think there's been... I look for that in my life, in my personal life. I'm always drawn to the eccentric and the strange.
Really? You do eccentric things? Or you just like to be around eccentric people? Yeah, I like that a lot. And I like when I...
I'm definitely one of those people on the street when there's something strange and maybe even disturbing. Going on in the street, I tend to be drawn to it. So, John, it's not that much of a compliment that he came over to you. I think John and I are doing just fine. Really?
I think John and I are doing just fine. Okay, good. I think we're going to do just fine.
Do you ever get, like... But what I'm getting back to that is I think I've looked for that with my friends. My family were very eccentric. And the ones that are still alive still are quite eccentric. And I think that, ultimately, I probably...
I actually had never really thought about it until just now. But I think probably I have looked for those characters to have as my friends as well in the work that I do. And I can't help myself in the things that I play.
-...allowing my peculiarities to be the peculiarities of the character to be the thing that is most compelling and interesting to me. The character I play in that show is a very peculiar guy. -"Raymond Red Reddington."Yeah, exactly. He's, for the people who don't know, he is an informant.
He is a former criminal. He's a criminal, really. He's a criminal who has turned informant for the FBI.
Yes, yes. It's funny, though. He is a criminal.
Funny ha-ha? Or funny odd? It is sometimes funny.
It is funny ha-ha. That scene was funny right now, but also threatening at the same time. Yes.
And sometimes funny odd. That's James Spader, threatening and funny at the same time. I hope so. Yeah.
I hope so. So you like discomfort and... I'm perfectly comfortable with that.
You're comfortable with discomfort and awkwardness. Yeah. And I think that's something that's very important about that character, for instance.
Mm-hmm. It was something that I saw immediately when I read the pilot, is that, put in the most chaotic and extreme set of circumstances, he's quite comfortable in that. And I think that part of it is a lack of fear, which I wish we had more of in our society today, is a fearlessness in that... Where do you think that fear comes from?
Where do you think that fear comes from? Insecurity, I think, to a great degree. And also insecurity is provoked by people in the media and spokespeople for politicians and so on and so forth, depending on how it can serve them.
That fear can be commodified. There's a way to make money off of, you know... Without a doubt. Fear is a currency.
And also fear also comes from the fact that we hear about things that say, when I was a child, you wouldn't necessarily hear about because of the amount of access that there is with, first it started with television, and then it only blossomed with the Internet, that if there was an argument between two neighbors somewhere decades and decades ago, it was between the two neighbors. And those two neighbors can be countries with one another or communities with one another. if there was an argument or a disagreement between the two of them, it was between the two of them.
With the advent of television, suddenly third parties were brought into the mix to try and influence an outcome. Now you tweet your argument. And, yeah, and now it's, now it's, now with the Internet, it's exploded. You Instagram how they raked their leaves onto your property. Yes, yes, yes.
Do you do any of that? Do you share yourself intimately on the Internet or anything like that? I bet you get a lot of followers if you did, James Spader.
Wouldn't you follow him if you had any? I, right now, I, right now, am the devil on your shoulder. Right.
Telling you to join the great sharing economy. I think the devil probably has much more interesting things to try and motivate one to do. Really?
Than tweeting. I doubt a more interesting target than James Spader. Maybe. He'd be quite a catch for our infernal father below.
I just don't know where the time in the day comes from for that. I just can't imagine. I don't have any time.
I don't know how time people have for, like, you know, alcohol, drugs, or affairs. There's just no time for that kind of stuff. Not if you've got a full-time job.
If you've got a full-time job, there's no time. One has to make time for certain things. Fair enough.
Sound advice. Sound advice, James Spader. Well, the Blacklist is on Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC and streaming on Netflix.
James Spader, everybody. We'll be right back.