Daniel Radcliffe Reveals Jonathan Groff’s Backstage Antics, Talks Unhinged Tracy Morgan Moment

0:00 -Nice to have you here.

0:02 You're obviously working. That's why you're in New York.

0:04 But you get to do a Thanksgiving in New York.

0:05 -Yes. Yeah. My girlfriend and I are hosting.

0:07 -Is that something you've done before?

0:08 -No. -No? First time.

0:09 -I've never done that before.

0:11 So, uh, yeah, I thought -- I'm just going to make myself...

0:13 You know, I can't cook.

0:15 I'm gonna just make myself as useful as humanly possible.

0:18 I thought I was going to be doing some

0:19 maybe chopping of things.

0:21 I found out yesterday I'm not going to be trusted

0:22 with chopping, but that's probably a good decision.

0:24 -Because chopping is the lowest as far as...

0:26 -No, no, no, stirring is the lowest.

0:28 -Stirring is. You're right. Stirring is lowest.

0:30 -Stirring is lower.

0:31 -So, are they going to have you doing a little stirring?

0:33 -I'm going to be stirring.

0:34 I'm going to be maybe crushing things.

0:36 -Oh, that's good. -If that's required, yeah.

0:38 -And how many people are you hosting?

0:39 -Um. Uh, nine. -Okay.

0:43 -Some families will laugh at that paltry amount of people,

0:45 but like for me, that's more people than I've,

0:47 you know, had in one group. -Yeah.

0:49 -Outside of this kind of room in a long time.

0:51 -Uh, turkey, though?

0:53 -Yep, turkey and then a bunch of sides.

0:54 And, uh, yes, we've got a vegetarian,

0:56 so we've sorted them out.

0:58 They've got an option.

0:59 I've got a friend who's allergic to nuts.

1:00 They're sorted. So, yeah, I've really just been...

1:02 It's been a week of finding out everybody's

1:04 dietary restrictions.

1:05 -Yeah, that is the new problem in this day and age.

1:08 It just makes -- it raises the level of difficulty.

1:10 And will you watch --

1:12 We've talked before. You became a football fan,

1:13 an American football fan. Will you be watching?

1:15 -Absolutely. Yeah.

1:17 That'll be the sort of the soundtrack to the day.

1:18 And my girlfriend's from Michigan,

1:20 so there's always a Lions game on Thanksgiving.

1:21 -Oh, that's good.

1:23 -With the misery or joy that that entails.

1:24 -Yeah. More often than not misery.

1:26 -It has been. -Yeah.

1:27 But, you know, I feel like there's a certain,

1:29 you know, heartbreak is part of being a Lions fan in a way

1:33 that it is sort of about like a lot of, you know,

1:35 being an English football fan is also sort of in some way.

1:38 Well, growing up was, you know,

1:39 mixed in with a lot of heartbreak and missed penalties.

1:41 -Yeah. -Yeah.

1:42 -And was the World Cup exciting for you?

1:44 I know in the end it ended in tears.

1:47 -But that's the furthest they've got in my lifetime.

1:48 That was amazing. - [ Laughter ]

1:49 -Don't laugh at that,

1:51 just because you're America and you win stuff all the time.

1:53 [ Laughter ]

1:54 I remember, like, the first time --

1:56 we were in Germany, and, like, the date

1:59 that everyone in England grows up knowing is 1966.

2:01 It's the year that England won the World Cup.

2:03 And, like, that's ingrained in all of us.

2:05 And I remember the first time I went to Germany

2:07 and realized no one there has any idea

2:08 that's what happened that year or in any other country.

2:10 It's not famous.

2:12 It's just we, like, really hang on to that.

2:13 And I was like, "Oh, no, you've won it so many times,

2:15 you don't hang on to the one year

2:16 that you won it 50 years ago."

2:19 -And it gets sadder with every year that passes,

2:21 because the thing that you're proud of gets a year older.

2:23 -Further and further away. Yeah.

2:24 But I was in Germany this year for the World Cup,

2:26 which was great because, you know,

2:28 they got knocked out kind of early and we did really well.

2:30 So...for once!

2:31 -There you go.

2:33 That's something to hang your hat on.

2:35 So, this show... -Yes.

2:37 -This is a play where you play a fact-checker.

2:38 -Yes.

2:39 -And you're dealing with a reporter

2:41 who maybe doesn't have the same love of facts

2:42 that your character does.

2:44 -I should say

2:45 he's not so much a reporter as he's an author.

2:47 He's written kind of an essay,

2:49 and he deals in the sort of -- it is about fact-checking,

2:52 but the thing that you can't...

2:54 We're not a particularly political play.

2:56 You can't say the word "fact" at the moment

2:58 without it kind of becoming a political statement.

3:00 And this is -- and that is obviously, like,

3:03 we're very topical in that way,

3:04 but we're not dealing with like Trump

3:05 and that stuff and fake news.

3:07 We don't kind of get into all that,

3:09 but it's more about a kind of a debate about artistic license

3:11 and how far you can push something as a writer.

3:13 But all that other stuff is encompassed, as well.

3:16 And it's 85 minutes long and really funny.

3:19 So, yeah, that's me selling it to you.

3:20 -That's a good sell. [ Cheers and applause ]

3:24 You actually went

3:26 and worked a job as a fact-checker

3:28 at The New Yorker.

3:30 -Yeah. Very, very kindly The New Yorker

3:32 invited me to, like, spend a day with their,

3:34 or a few hours with their fact-checking department

3:37 and who were all, like,

3:39 amazing and just like these super-bright young people who,

3:41 you know, I'm very grateful for existing.

3:44 I didn't really take it in when they said,

3:46 "Oh, you're going to come,

3:47 and we'll make you fact-check an article."

3:49 I was like, "Okay, cool. Yeah, I'll come and see stuff,

3:50 what's going on."

3:51 And then I went, and they were like, "No,

3:53 you're going to like get on the phone to somebody

3:54 and actually fact-check this restaurant review."

3:56 And I suddenly -- I did. I got way more nervous about that

3:58 than I do about doing the play every night or anything,

4:01 just because suddenly you're on the phone

4:03 with somebody who expects you --

4:05 Like, he knows he's getting a call from The New Yorker.

4:07 He doesn't know it's an actor playing around

4:09 at being a fact-checker.

4:11 He's expecting a level of professionalism

4:13 that, like, I didn't know if I had in me.

4:15 -How do you fact-check a restaurant review?

4:17 Do you call up and say, like, "Was the soup cold?"

4:21 -Yeah. -You do?

4:22 -You literally -- you check every...

4:24 That's when I started underlining the article,

4:26 which is what you do when you start checking something

4:28 and underline everything you think is a fact.

4:30 I was like, "Oh, every ingredient counts as a fact.

4:32 So I guess I've got to ask him about,

4:34 'Do you put all these things in?'"

4:39 My big moment was finding out that something was not,

4:42 in fact, seasoned with Old Bay.

4:44 It was seasoned with adobe and chili.

4:46 -Wow! -Yeah.

4:49 You don't know

4:50 how much satisfaction I got from then seeing

4:52 that restaurant review with the correct information.

4:54 -Yeah.

4:56 -Knowing that I had been a part of that.

4:58 -That is thrilling.

4:59 I mean, that's a fact-checker's dream is to catch one.

5:01 -Oh, God! -Yeah.

5:02 I mean, I would have gotten off the phone,

5:05 and even though it doesn't make sense, I would have screamed,

5:06 "Stop the presses."

5:08 [ Laughter ]

5:09 -"Quickly!" -Yeah.

5:10 -"We can't run it like this."

5:13 But yeah, no.

5:17 I don't know. There was something really inspirational

5:19 about going into The New Yorker and seeing how it's all done.

5:20 And also I did almost feel like saying at the end,

5:22 "You know,

5:24 if you've ever got any really low-stakes articles

5:25 that you need checking, I'm happy to do that."

5:26 I'm happy to call, like,

5:28 the guy I had to call was a very, very nice chef

5:30 who made my job very easy.

5:31 I wouldn't like to be doing that job if I did have to call,

5:33 you know, Sarah Sanders or somebody who's, like,

5:35 does not want to hear from you.

5:37 -Yeah. That's true.

5:38 She might not want to hear from anybody, though.

5:40 So, there are certain people that just don't like it

5:42 when the phone rings.

5:43 -Yeah, that's fair enough.

5:44 -There is a show on Broadway right now.

5:46 You're very familiar with the origin story of one

5:49 of the characters.

5:50 There is a Harry Potter show on Broadway.

5:52 My question is, are you going to see it?

5:55 -I've been asked this a lot, and I feel like I,

5:58 you know, always give a really boring, terrible answer.

6:01 I'm probably not going to see. I don't have plans to.

6:03 Not because I think it would,

6:05 you know, throw me into some sort of existential crisis

6:07 of like, "Oh, is that what happened?

6:09 Should I be...what?"

6:11 But more so that just I feel like

6:14 it would not be a relaxing evening

6:16 at the theater to be watching.

6:17 I feel like I would be being watched for my reaction.

6:19 And maybe that is completely conceited and egotistical

6:21 and people wouldn't care.

6:22 But, like, I do feel like it might

6:24 if I was just surrounded by Harry Potter fans,

6:26 I would feel like it would be a little odd.

6:27 -Yeah. And I think it's fair to say

6:30 that if someone's a super Harry Potter fan

6:32 and they want to go see that play,

6:33 if they're sitting next to Daniel Radcliffe,

6:35 that's going to be a distraction from the art.

6:36 -Yes, I think so, as well.

6:38 Like, yeah, I mean that's true, as well.

6:40 Yeah. There's many reasons to not go in.

6:42 -Have you considered going in disguise?

6:44 -The thing about a disguise is that if it stops working,

6:49 then you're just a dude who wore a disguise.

6:50 -Yeah.

6:52 -And, like, I remember there was one...

6:55 There was one year when me and Rupert Grint ended up at...

6:58 we were at Reading Music Festival together and, like,

7:00 for whatever reason,

7:01 because we were young, cool, and edgy,

7:03 we had somebody like --

7:05 we had access to old World War II gas masks.

7:07 So, we, like, put them on,

7:09 and we're like running around at a concert.

7:10 And then it got really hot very quickly,

7:12 and it was very hard to breathe in them.

7:13 So, we just took them off.

7:14 And then everybody went from like,

7:16 "Who are those two idiots in gas masks?"

7:17 to "Oh, look who that is."

7:18 It was not a good feeling.

7:20 So, that's sworn me off disguises.

7:23 -You have all this energy.

7:24 And then right after this, you have to go

7:26 and do your Broadway show. -I know, yeah.

7:27 -Conserve your energy, Daniel.

7:28 I don't need to conserve my energy.

7:30 It's really, uh,

7:32 when people come and see the show, they're like,

7:33 "Oh, you must be so tired."

7:34 And I'm like, "I'm really not." Like, it's very...

7:36 I think if I was doing a show that I hated for a long time,

7:38 that would be very draining.

7:41 But, like, we really -- we love it a sickening amount.

7:42 -And I imagine, too, there's an excitement

7:44 from the audience that you feed off when you walk on stage.

7:47 -Absolutely.

7:48 I mean, we are so lucky to have the kind of crowds

7:51 that we've been getting, and the responses from audiences

7:54 have been just, like, amazing.

7:55 So we are -- we are very, very spoiled.

7:57 -This is a, at the time, when it first came out,

8:00 this was a play that did not work,

8:02 a Stephen Sondheim musical that did not have a very long run.

8:03 -Yeah. -Um, and now this is working

8:06 this time, and it must be you all must feel, um, I don't know,

8:09 it must feel like an honor to have made this Sondheim, uh,

8:12 musical that deserved better actually

8:14 finally land with an audience. -Yeah.

8:16 I mean, there's a fascinating documentary

8:18 that I would recommend everyone watch called

8:20 "The Best Worst Thing That Ever Happened"

8:21 about the original show, um,

8:22 which is a really great, like,

8:24 insight into why things went the way they did.

8:26 Um, but yeah, we're just -- I don't want to, like --

8:30 because I think there's a lot of recency bias in

8:32 how we talk and how this show is talked about.

8:34 And everyone's like, "You're the definitive version."

8:35 It's like, well,

8:37 there's going to be other great versions of the show.

8:38 And if we can be a part of showing

8:40 that this show is wonderful and is a great thing,

8:43 that, you know, many people can do many great versions of,

8:46 and that's -- we're very happy to be a part of that.

8:47 -It's a friendship between three people told

8:49 in reverse over 20 years. So it does have, I mean,

8:51 the entry point of it

8:53 does immediately sound a little confusing.

8:55 -Yes, I guess so.

8:56 Although it doesn't, like, when you --

8:58 It's the one thing I tell everybody before they come

9:00 is it goes backwards.

9:02 Because if you don't know that piece of information,

9:04 you'll pick it up

9:06 but -- but they might have the first few

9:08 like the first few scenes maybe going, "Wait.

9:10 They seem to just be really angry with each other.

9:12 Why are they all friends again now?"

9:13 Um, so and I did -- I did have one friend

9:16 who apparently was sitting in the audience

9:17 and heard somebody in the row in front of them

9:20 when they got to the last scene of the play go,

9:24 "It's going backwards," which I did --

9:28 I felt what a -- what a bewildering two hours

9:31 it must have been for that person.

9:33 -Uh, this -- before I,

9:35 uh, ask more about the show, I do want to --

9:38 yesterday was your day off, Broadway's day off.

9:40 -Yes. -And I'm wondering if you

9:42 caught a peek at the eclipse.

9:43 -I did, yes. -You did?

9:45 -It was very exciting. -Alright. I'm glad to hear it.

9:46 -I was actually,

9:48 I was doing the -- am I allowed to say

9:49 that we do pre-interviews? -Yes.

9:51 -I was doing the pre-interview for this show

9:53 and then I said -- No, no, no, we don't.

9:54 This is all --

9:56 And then -- and then I said, like, we've got to go.

9:58 We both have to watch the eclipse.

9:59 Um, and yeah, it was great. It was I, um, well...

10:03 I had stupidly not realized that I kind of saw

10:06 where the path of the totality was, and I was like, oh,

10:08 well, we're not in that.

10:10 So I guess we don't see any eclipse,

10:11 not realizing that we still get like 95

10:13 or whatever percent it was.

10:15 So yeah, it was really -- it was really cool.

10:16 -I'm a completist.

10:17 If it wasn't 100%, I wasn't interested.

10:19 -No, no it's not -- it's not an eclipse.

10:20 -95% to me is like all sun.

10:22 -Yeah, I'm all about... -That's the whole sun.

10:25 -I can't wait, South Dakota 2042 or whatever the next one is.

10:28 -Let's do it. -We're gonna be there.

10:30 -You -- you'll be doing regional theater.

10:32 -Yes. We do "Merrily We Roll Along" there.

10:34 -You, between Off-Broadway and the Broadway run of the show,

10:38 um, your child was born.

10:40 -Yes. -Very exciting.

10:42 [ Cheers and applause ] Thank you, thank you.

10:45 -Based on that, I'm assuming Sondheim

10:48 has been a big part of their lives.

10:49 -It has, yeah.

10:51 Um, it's, you know, I --

10:53 I have one song in the show which is like a patter song

10:55 and it's very fast and lyrically kind of intricate,

10:57 called "Franklin Shepherd, Inc."

10:59 And my philosophy with that song has always been

11:01 that I need to learn it well enough

11:02 that I could do it standing in a hurricane

11:04 with people shouting at me.

11:06 And a good simulation of that is,

11:07 can you do it while holding your newborn child?

11:09 -Yeah.

11:10 -Um, and it was actually there's a lot

11:12 of weird noises in the songs.

11:13 So he actually really, like, enjoyed that I think

11:15 or he, you know, enjoyed it as much

11:17 as he enjoyed anything at four months old.

11:19 Um, and then, uh,

11:21 and the true challenge though was there's a song

11:23 at the end of the show which is called "Our Time,"

11:25 which is just an incredibly beautiful song,

11:27 and it is impossible to sing that with your newborn son

11:31 without bursting into tears several times.

11:33 It is, uh, but yeah, it was -- it's lovely.

11:35 And I and, you know, I think he's, you know,

11:37 you start him young on Sondheim.

11:38 So he's going to grow up with it.

11:40 -I -- I worry that when he goes to like the first

11:42 baby music class and they're doing like "Old MacDonald,"

11:44 he's like, "This song sucks."

11:46 -This is, uh... -"The song is very repetitive,

11:48 nothing new, there's no new information."

11:51 -He -- he -- he loves "Old MacDonald."

11:52 He just got into "Old MacDonald."

11:54 And he does -- he does a really good, like,

11:56 ♪ E, I, ah, ah ♪

11:57 Um, at completely the wrong moments. It's great.

12:00 -Never does it at the right time.

12:01 -Never does it at the right time.

12:03 -We start saying, oh, MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-O,

12:05 and then we do the -- we start to get into what the cow does,

12:06 and he's just going E-I-E-I.

12:08 It's rough. -We had to go in the other day

12:10 where my 2 1/2-year-old,

12:11 it was the 6-year-old's birthday,

12:12 and she was singing "Happy Birthday"

12:14 but never getting to the name.

12:16 So, it was just like, ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

12:18 and then just that over and over.

12:21 And we're like, "Somebody unplug her."

12:22 -See, these are the -- these are the moments that,

12:24 like, it sounds terrible, but at the time

12:25 you're like, "God, you're adorable."

12:27 -Oh, it's the best. -Yeah, it's the best, yeah.

12:29 -Now, but you also -- your parents played Sondheim for you,

12:31 which is a little uncommon. -Yes, I guess so.

12:33 I didn't realize that not everybody

12:35 was listening to Sondheim on road trips.

12:38 Um, but I, yeah, there was a lot of Sondheim in the car.

12:41 Not particularly "Merrily We Roll Along"

12:42 because -- because of the way that show started,

12:45 it didn't get the kind of cult status in England

12:47 that it did over here, I think.

12:49 But "Company" was played in the car constantly.

12:51 I -- and I love that score. Um, "Company," "Follies,"

12:54 I mean, also just a lot of like Kander and Ebb,

12:56 a lot of "Chicago," a lot of "Cabaret."

12:58 Um, "Chicago" terrified me as a child

13:00 before I had seen it. Um, "Cell Block Tango."

13:03 I was like, "These women are going to kill me."

13:05 Um, and but it's -- Yeah, I feel very fortunate.

13:09 And it is a very cool thing to now be doing Sondheim

13:12 on stage and they've come and see me in the show and yeah,

13:15 it really is lovely.

13:17 -You -- you like to know when your parents are coming.

13:19 -Yes. -But you don't like to know

13:20 when, say, a friends or celebrity guests,

13:23 I guess, are coming. -Celebrity or even, like,

13:26 generally, I don't like to know when friends are in

13:27 if I can avoid it,

13:29 but there's normally a practical reason that you have to

13:31 because you're going to see them after.

13:32 But with, like, we had Martin Short and Meryl Streep

13:35 came to the show the other day and every time,

13:37 like a joke didn't land, I was like, "Martin Short

13:38 just saw you blow that."

13:40 Um, so, like, I really prefer to --

13:42 I prefer to not know when people are in.

13:44 But when my mom and dad are in, it's like, I can't --

13:46 I can't screw up. They're going to love it.

13:47 I could be -- I could do my worst show ever

13:49 and they will love it.

13:51 -That's the best kind of parents. You need that for,

13:52 because then, you know, then they can go tell Marty Short,

13:55 "You know, it usually goes better."

13:58 -It's funny because sometimes -- sometimes,

14:00 uh, my dad, like most people say,

14:03 if you say to them, "Oh, the audience tonight

14:04 was like a little bit, like, not as vocal,"

14:06 people kind of go, like, "Oh, no, they were great.

14:08 It was great. People loved it."

14:09 And the last couple of times ago,

14:11 my dad came and I said, "The audience seemed to not be

14:12 as into it tonight."

14:14 And he was like, "No, they weren't, were they?

14:15 It was weird."

14:17 -I have both a supportive dad and also one

14:19 who would say exactly that.

14:20 -Yeah, yeah. -"They were a little soft."

14:22 I'm like, "Uh-huh?" -Yeah.

14:24 What about -- your director told you,

14:26 uh, suggested, I should say, you make eye contact

14:28 with audience members.

14:30 -Well, this was particularly -- so the first number

14:32 of the show we all come out,

14:33 and it's one of the only songs that

14:34 the whole company is on stage,

14:36 and we are singing at sort of facing out to you, the audience.

14:38 And, um, when we were off-Broadway,

14:41 it was a 200-seater house.

14:43 So the front row -- I'm here, the front row is there,

14:45 and you would sometimes come out

14:48 and start making eye contact with people,

14:49 and you see people being like, "No, I don't -- I don't --

14:52 I don't -- I don't want to see that."

14:54 Um, but I think that I enjoy doing now

14:55 because it is inherently awkward to like sing at somebody,

14:59 I find.

15:01 I like to -- and also when you're in a bigger theater,

15:03 you can't really see past a certain point.

15:05 But what you can see is binoculars.

15:07 You can see just the reflection or the rims of binoculars.

15:10 So I love finding one pair of binoculars in the balcony

15:13 and just making constant,

15:15 uncomfortable eye contact with them through.

15:16 And the other day I did.

15:18 I felt like this was a real -- some sort of victory,

15:21 and I'm sorry if you're that person watching,

15:22 but I stared at them and I just saw the binoculars go,

15:25 oh, like get lowered gradually.

15:29 -It's like a sniper rifle.

15:31 All the sudden somebody turning and going...

15:33 -Yeah! [ Laughs ]

15:36 I so enjoyed before you guys opened,

15:38 the press about this show was so lovely

15:39 because it was the three of you

15:41 and you could tell you genuinely got along,

15:43 delighted each other and made each other laugh.

15:44 There's a scene where Jonathan Groff is typing

15:47 something on a typewriter. -Yes.

15:49 -And he has admitted that he writes something obscene

15:51 in efforts to make you laugh.

15:52 -Yes. Often obscene.

15:54 I literally can't tell you what he writes.

15:55 It's really -- It's very inappropriate for TV often.

15:58 -There's something extra funny about something obscene

16:00 on an old-timey typewriter.

16:02 -I know, it really is. Yeah.

16:03 It's often -- Sometimes -- it won't always be that.

16:06 Like, I'm typing on the typewriter,

16:07 and then I leave and he comes over for two seconds

16:09 and types something on it very quickly.

16:11 And then I throw the paper at him afterwards.

16:12 But it's -- sometimes it'll be just like a comment on

16:15 like somebody in the audience will have like a crazy laugh.

16:17 And it was like, "crazy laugh" or whatever.

16:20 But recently, when we're -- at the moment,

16:22 we're doing auctions,

16:24 so we often auction off the piece of paper

16:25 and we very explicitly have been told by our producers

16:28 that we cannot auction off the obscene ones

16:30 because it is for charity. [ Laughter ]

16:31 And yeah, and it's also,

16:33 you know, there are some kids in the audience.

16:34 [ Laughter ]

16:36 But yeah, generally speaking, it's one of the --

16:37 it's just one of the -- I mean, Jonathan

16:39 delights in screwing with me for most of the show

16:43 in a way that I find, like -- I mean,

16:45 I adore him, and I just -- I don't know how he does it,

16:48 frankly, because, like, there's one scene,

16:50 probably one of his most intense scenes in the show.

16:53 By the end of the scene, he is full-on,

16:55 like, on the floor, sobbing, crying like, you know,

16:57 it's very, very intense.

16:59 Most actors before that scene would be, you know,

17:02 taking a moment to be quiet or get into it

17:04 or listen to some music or whatever. He is --

17:06 We are off stage together before that scene starts,

17:08 and he is sometimes literally tickling me.

17:10 [ Laughter ] Or just like trying to --

17:12 And I'm like -- I have a very specific entrance to make.

17:15 So I'm just like, "I need to hear this cue."

17:16 And he is just --

17:18 Yeah, but they're both like, yeah, him and Lindsay.

17:20 I truly, you know, I want to find things

17:22 to work with them on for the rest of my life.

17:24 Like, they're both just the absolute best.

17:26 -And Lindsay said a very sweet thing when she was here,

17:28 that there are people you can tell that show up

17:31 because they are Harry Potter fans,

17:33 but they leave Sondheim fans.

17:35 And that just must be...

17:36 -Yeah, I mean, that's always been like a really nice,

17:39 like, offshoot thing about my career

17:41 is that -- I remember when I did "Equus,"

17:43 there were -- people would be like,

17:45 "Do you feel weird about people coming to see the show

17:46 just because you're Harry Potter?"

17:47 Like, I mean, not really,

17:49 because they're going to see "Equus" eventually.

17:50 You know, I don't, you know,

17:52 with that, with "Swiss Army Man,"

17:53 with -- absolutely with this show,

17:56 like, it's really cool to bring some people

17:58 who might not otherwise have wanted to see a show

18:00 to see that show.

18:01 -I'm going through a really nice thing right now,

18:03 which is my kids are the age

18:04 where they're really into the books

18:05 and they're watching the movies,

18:07 which, you know, I was at the age when they came out

18:08 that I didn't see them.

18:09 And I just want to say, you're very good.

18:11 -That's not true. [ Laughter ]

18:12 But thank you. -I'm not just saying this.

18:15 I think it's going to work. [ Laughter ]

18:18 -I mean, thank you.

18:19 I disagree with you about many of my performances

18:21 in many of the films, but I thank you for that.

18:23 That's very kind. -Oh, that's right.

18:24 I will say I --

18:26 So, I said to my kids today you were going to be on.

18:27 I said, "Do you want to come?"

18:29 And the speed in which they said no,

18:30 because -- [ Laughter ]

18:31 But let me explain.

18:32 I've shown them times,

18:34 you know, people who've been on the show

18:35 that have been in something they've loved.

18:37 And I'm like, "Look, Daddy talked to" and they hate that

18:39 it's not the character. -Yeah.

18:40 -So I would imagine when people -- when kids meet you,

18:43 it probably sways wildly between overwhelmed

18:46 and wildly disappointed.

18:48 -Yes. I mean, it often tilts wildly disappointed.

18:51 I mean, it -- especially because they're being --

18:53 if they're very young kids, they've probably only seen

18:55 maybe the first one or two films.

18:57 And so then they have a parent who's my age,

18:59 who's like, "It's Harry Potter," and the kid's like, "It is not."

19:03 [ Laughter ]

19:04 This man is old."

19:07 Yeah, so I definitely -- There was a -- yeah,

19:09 I think I probably have that effect on a lot of kids.

19:11 -Well, of course, for example, so this is my son

19:15 and he is obviously closer to the age of Harry Potter

19:16 than you are now. -Yeah.

19:18 -But this is him. When I read him the books,

19:21 he dresses up. [ Audience aws ]

19:22 -Does he get fully dressed up every time you read it?

19:24 -Well, he just got his Gryffindor, whatever,

19:26 cloak, so that's a big part of it.

19:28 -"Whatever." -He woke me up.

19:29 [ Laughter ] Look, I'm just going to say it.

19:31 I don't think there's a difference in the houses.

19:32 [ Laughter ] I think there's way too...

19:35 He literally came to him in the middle of the night

19:38 because he had this logic problem.

19:40 He came to me. He's like, "Dad, Dad." I'm like, "What?"

19:42 He goes, "How do they -- When they show up,

19:43 they're wearing the cloaks." I'm like, "Yes."

19:46 He goes, "But the Sorting Hat hasn't picked the house yet.

19:48 So how are they wearing the Gryffindor cloaks later?

19:51 When do they get the new cloaks?"

19:52 -I don't think -- I think if I remember and it was a while ago,

19:55 I think we are in sort of neutral cloaks

19:58 when we first come in. And then, you know, magic.

20:01 [ Laughter ] -That's what I told him.

20:03 -I mean, you can fix a lot.

20:05 -I like, by the way, you're giving me a hard time

20:07 and you're like, "Magic."

20:08 -One of the questions we always had on set

20:11 because we would look around these beautiful,

20:13 amazing sets we were on and be like, "It's really dirty."

20:15 Like, why is it -- That's an aesthetic choice.

20:18 When you've got magic, to have like a rustic, dirty look,

20:21 that's a choice you're making. -Right.

20:22 -Yeah. -Yeah. You want it to be dirty.

20:25 -Yeah.

20:26 -Lastly, I think we showed you this,

20:29 but this is, because again,

20:30 you said young kids have only seen the first two.

20:32 They do get scarier, right? -Yes.

20:34 -But this is the end of the first one.

20:36 And this is my son Axel.

20:37 And he is so scared.

20:40 And this made me so happy.

20:45 -You liar!

20:46 -Kill him!

20:48 ♪♪

20:53 -[ Gasps ]

20:54 ♪♪

20:59 -[ Snickering ]

21:01 -It's so good. It's so good. -It's so good.

21:04 I'm really enjoying it. Congrats on the show.

21:06 -Thank you so much. Such a pleasure.

21:08 -It is always so great to have you here.

21:09 Daniel Radcliffe. [ Cheers and applause ]

21:11 -It's very exciting to have you back on Broadway,

21:12 the same theater you did "Merrily."

21:14 -Yes, yes. Very nice. -Are you --

21:16 Sometimes I will go to a theater where I've seen a different play

21:18 and I cannot believe how different it looks.

21:20 -Yes. -Even as now a Broadway vet,

21:22 are you also surprised when you walk in

21:24 and see what they've done with the same space?

21:26 -Particularly for this show,

21:27 we have really changed the space entirely.

21:29 We've kind of -- The stage has steps now

21:31 that go into the audience because there's a lot of,

21:33 as we will talk about,

21:34 there's a lot of audience interaction in this show,

21:36 and the audience is also on stage with me.

21:37 So there's sort of three sides.

21:39 So it's kind of in the round.

21:40 So we've done a lot to it.

21:41 But the Hudson is also, for anyone who has been,

21:43 it's a beautiful theater. Like, it's a really great --

21:45 So I'm very, very happy and lucky to be back there.

21:47 -And it's a -- You mentioned the audience participation.

21:50 This is a show where basically, if you show up,

21:53 if you buy a ticket for this show, there --

21:54 you might be actually speaking in the show.

21:57 -There is a chance. Yes. So there's like --

21:59 There's two sort of grades of audience participation.

22:02 There's a sort of low-impact, low-pressure one,

22:04 where I give you a card which has a number

22:06 and a thing on it, and I say the number in the show

22:08 and you shout the thing back at me.

22:09 And then there are five people

22:11 who will be playing parts in the show that night

22:13 when they come to see it.

22:15 They don't know that when they walk in and I kind of --

22:17 [ Laughter ] But I --

22:19 So half an hour before the show,

22:20 I start the show in the audience

22:22 before the show begins every night.

22:23 And I'm kind of chatting to you

22:24 as you come in and trying to figure

22:26 out who is going to play which parts.

22:27 I think I might have roped Seth into playing a part

22:29 when he came to see the show. [ Laughter ]

22:31 So, like, it's a -- you know, it's a very unique thing.

22:34 -Do you have, like, a plan

22:36 or are you looking for something in an audience member

22:38 that makes you think they'll be good for this

22:40 or they'll be good for that?

22:41 -Not particularly.

22:42 I mean, it really is just

22:44 you go on kind of vibes and connection and hope.

22:47 And, you know, we've been pretty fortunate so far.

22:49 We have not had anybody get up and do anything like crazy.

22:52 So you're kind of trying to look for that

22:55 as a bit of a radar,

22:56 but, like, generally speaking so far --

22:58 -Would you say, like, if someone's too eager,

23:00 you tend to, like, if they're... -Yeah.

23:02 I mean, I have had at least one, like, slightly -- very nice man,

23:06 but, like, a little bit drunk maybe,

23:08 be like, "Hey, use my wife." Like, "Just get her up there."

23:10 And I'm like -- [ Laughter ]

23:12 And a lot of people want me to humiliate their relatives.

23:13 They're like, "Hey, here's my dad. Embarrass him."

23:15 I'm like, "That's really not the point of the show."

23:18 It's not the feel.

23:19 It's like we want everyone to have, like, a nice time

23:20 when they're up.

23:22 -You also -- There's a thing where critics come to a show

23:24 and they review a show and they're also in the audience.

23:26 And there was a very positive review of the show in Vulture.

23:29 Literally Sara Holdren wrote,

23:31 "Daniel Radcliffe and I are married now."

23:33 -Yes. [ Laughter ]

23:35 I get married to Sara Holdren on stage.

23:37 -But you did not know that this was a critic.

23:39 -I was informed moments after I finished the performance,

23:42 that I had picked a major critic

23:44 to play my love interest that night.

23:46 And then I immediately started kind of backtracking in my mind

23:48 to like, "Well, she seemed to be laughing.

23:49 She seemed to be having a good time.

23:51 I guess she was -- I guess it was going well."

23:53 So yeah, but fortunately she -- thank God she liked the show.

23:56 And yeah, it's been -- it's wonderful.

23:59 Like, the great thing about the show

24:01 is that I think people worry that when we get them

24:03 up on stage that they have to be like super smart

24:05 or super funny or whatever.

24:07 And if you are those things,

24:08 then that's great and that will be cool.

24:10 But really the only thing

24:11 the show needs to succeed is kindness.

24:13 And I think I'm pretty good at spotting that in people now,

24:16 particularly if you get like --

24:17 if you get a family and you're like,

24:19 "Hey, is your mom a very kind person?"

24:21 They'll be like, "Yeah, yeah, she's the kindest in the world.

24:22 Get her up, get her up." It's very, very sweet.

24:24 And so yeah, I like to think nobody

24:26 who has come up to the audience participation has left,

24:29 you know, regretting.

24:31 I think everyone has had a really nice time, hopefully.

24:32 -Yeah. That's lovely. -Yeah.

24:34 -I mean, the only thing I would regret is if --

24:35 [ Applause ] If you ask somebody

24:37 "Is your mom nice?" and they were like, "Nooo."

24:39 [ Laughter ] -Yeah, that would be --

24:40 -That is not good casting.

24:42 -I did -- There's also -- There has been a couple

24:44 of, like, supremely awkward moments

24:46 when I approached people and asked them, "Are you a couple?"

24:48 And the other day it was like, "No, we're mother and son."

24:50 -Oh. -I was like, "Oh, God, I'm sorry.

24:52 I don't know who I feel more sorry about.

24:55 I'm so sorry."

24:57 But yeah, so there's some awkward moments,

24:59 but like fun stuff. -Well, the real awkward moment

25:01 is when they drove home. -Yes. Yeah.

25:04 I didn't have to be there for that, thankfully.

25:05 -Yeah. That's nice. You had our friend,

25:08 your current co-star on "Reggie Dinkins" --

25:10 Tracy Morgan was on the show,

25:12 and he said he was going to come.

25:13 The great Tracy Morgan. [ Cheers and applause ]

25:15 And he said he was going to come support you on Broadway.

25:17 Did he show up? -He absolutely did.

25:18 Yeah. Him -- We've had him, Erika Alexander,

25:21 Precious Way, and Bobby Moynihan

25:23 all like -- so many of the cast of the show have come.

25:25 Tracy I was like, "I need to give him something to shout out."

25:27 I landed on -- Number 24 of the show is

25:31 "spaghetti Bolognese." [ Light laughter ]

25:33 And so -- The people who laughed know immediately

25:35 how that will sound coming out of Tracy's amazing voice.

25:38 And he absolutely nailed it.

25:40 -Now, could everybody in the audience see it was Tracy Morgan

25:42 or when they heard it, were they like, "Oh, Tracy's here"?

25:45 -I imagine that. [ Laughter ]

25:47 I imagine some -- The people sitting on stage

25:48 might have been able to see him.

25:50 But, you know, it's a pretty inimitable style he has.

25:53 So I feel like anyone and especially maybe,

25:55 you know that I'm on a show with him currently.

25:57 So people would have just been going like, "Wow,

25:58 if that's not Tracy Morgan,

26:00 it's a very good Tracy Morgan impression."

26:02 -It is very funny. Like, at this point in my life,

26:03 I've not met a second person who talks like him.

26:05 -No. Yeah. -So it would be very weird

26:08 if they were at a Broadway show of somebody

26:10 who co-starred with him.

26:11 -Yes, actually, yeah, yeah, yeah.

26:12 No, he was amazing.

26:14 -Your parents are very supportive, if I recall.

26:15 Have they come to see this show?

26:16 -They -- Yes.

26:18 They are batting about .500 in terms of

26:19 how many shows they have come to see right now.

26:21 They're at about 50%. -Of this show?

26:22 -Of this show. -Oh, wow. So they come a lot.

26:24 They've come a lot. They come a lot in previews.

26:26 They were there for I reckon about half the shows.

26:28 It does -- It bears rewatching more than most shows

26:30 because so much changes every night.

26:32 But they are also just very proud, supportive parents.

26:34 And there is one bit in the show

26:36 where I have to reference an old couple in the audience,

26:38 and it's much nicer to do that with my own parents than to --

26:41 than to approach an otherwise like, you know,

26:44 a well-meaning older couple and be like, "Hey, do you mind

26:46 if I call you old in the first five minutes of the show?"

26:50 So it's easier to do that with them.

26:52 -That's very nice. Your Broadway debut was "Equus."

26:54 -Yeah. -What was your first experience

26:56 doing a Broadway show in New York?

26:57 -Well, I had -- I mean, it was amazing.

26:59 Like, I was working with Richard Griffiths

27:00 and all these incredible actors

27:02 and it was, you know, a very intense show to do.

27:04 This one's a lot more sort of fun in many ways.

27:06 But there's -- I had this amazing experience of just like

27:10 what a theater-centric town New York is

27:12 because I was running in Central Park

27:15 and I just thought that I wouldn't --

27:16 I would know my way home.

27:17 And I got incredibly lost.

27:19 And I exited the park miles from where I was supposed to be.

27:23 And I was like, "Right, I don't know."

27:24 And, you know, I know it's a grid,

27:25 but I hadn't figured that out yet.

27:27 And I was trying to work out how to get home.

27:29 And I was like, "Oh, there's a fire truck

27:30 and some firefighters.

27:32 They probably know their way around."

27:34 So I just went up to one of them and I was like, "Hi.

27:35 Do you know how I get to like West 66th" or wherever

27:38 I was staying, and the guy, the firefighter I talked to was

27:41 like, "Hey, you're doing that horse play, right?"

27:44 And I was like -- I don't know. It just -- It was very cool,

27:47 the fact that it was like everyone in New York,

27:48 like, knows about theater

27:50 and knew about like "Equus," of all the plays to know about.

27:52 Like, it was very cool.

27:54 -It is the most horse play of all horse plays.

27:56 -It is true horse play. -It is true horse play.

27:57 -Yeah. -I got more to ask you.

27:59 We'll be right back with Daniel after this.

28:01 [ Cheers and applause ]

28:02 -Okay. Yeah.

28:05 I wanted action. I am getting it.

28:07 Finally literal conflict.

28:09 For the past two months, I have done nothing but eat,

28:12 sleep, and breathe this documentary.

28:13 And now look, we're out in the world.

28:16 Sun is shining, blood is pumping,

28:18 and something is about to happen.

28:20 I can feel it.

28:23 -What you doing? -I'm just doing my thing.

28:25 I'm the director in charge of all this. What you doing?

28:29 [ Laughter ]

28:30 -We're here with Daniel Radcliffe.

28:32 That was a clip from "The Fall and Rise of

28:34 Reggie Dinkins" and Megan Thee Stallion.

28:37 -Yeah. -And did you direct Megan here?

28:40 -I did not. No, no, no, I -- Megan Thee Stallion

28:44 is a guest star in the first season of our show,

28:45 which is like we -- I think we were all just incredibly lucky

28:48 that somebody as famous and cool as her was like,

28:50 "Yeah, we'll dive in on."

28:51 I feel like people normally wait for a show to become like a hit

28:53 before they get involved.

28:55 And no, she was like -- I guess she -- Tina knows her.

28:58 -This is Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, Sam Means.

29:01 There's an incredible team of people, all of whom...

29:04 [ Cheers and applause ]

29:05 All of whom worked on "30 Rock," obviously.

29:08 "30 Rock" -- Was that a show --

29:10 When did you become aware of "30 Rock"?

29:11 -So actually, when I came to New York to do "Equus,"

29:13 a friend of mine was visiting from the UK and he was like,

29:15 "You're in New York.

29:17 You need to watch like the best New York show

29:18 that is, like, current."

29:20 And he gave me a box set of "30 Rock."

29:22 And so that was my first introduction to it.

29:25 So the idea that then like 15 years later,

29:26 I would be working with that team

29:28 and with Tracy is just like, you know, mind-blowing and so cool.

29:31 And yeah, the show is great. It's really funny.

29:34 Like, Megan was so, like, up for playing

29:37 and was really, really fun and just awesome.

29:39 And yeah, the whole cast, like, you know, Tracy, Erika,

29:41 Precious, Bobby.

29:43 -We talked last time you were here.

29:44 We were talking about "Merrily We Roll Along."

29:46 We were talking about how you now know Tracy

29:48 and how you can hear stories about what Tracy is like.

29:51 But until you work with him, you don't fully...

29:53 -Yeah. -You don't fully appreciate

29:55 how much he is Tracy Morgan.

29:57 -Yeah, you really don't.

29:59 And it's a lovely thing when you watch other people meet him.

30:02 You just see people have the same face of like, "Oh, right.

30:05 It's just Tracy. Tracy Morgan, Tracy Jordan.

30:08 There's a very thin line." -Yeah.

30:09 [ Laughter ]

30:11 -Like, after you meet with Tracy, you're not like,

30:13 "How did you get into character for Tracy Jordan?"

30:14 [ Laughter ] -Right.

30:16 -Do you have a favorite thing he said to you?

30:18 -I mean, I can't possibly narrow it down.

30:21 Like, can I swear? Can you bleep it?

30:23 -You can. Yeah. -He said at one point

30:26 and this is as much context as I had for this comment.

30:28 He said, "I told Flavor Flav you take that [bleep] clock off."

30:31 [ Laughter ]

30:33 Like, uh... [ Cheers and applause ]

30:35 I think that was just like...

30:36 I think that was like between turnover and action.

30:39 Like, there was no -- it came out of nowhere.

30:41 He like -- I've been to Tracy's house.

30:43 -Now, that I'm so jealous of

30:45 because I've known Tracy for like 25 years.

30:47 Never got an invite to the house.

30:48 I love talking to him about the house.

30:50 -Yeah, it's everything you think.

30:53 So it's -- He does have a shark tank.

30:55 He has, I think -- I think that's the big one.

30:57 Then he's got like 11 "smaller" fish tanks,

31:00 but, like, he does have a pool table

31:03 with piranhas in the bottom.

31:04 He does have like a cone snail,

31:08 which is the deadliest creature in the world by weight.

31:10 It can kill a blue whale.

31:11 He has a glass from the Titanic.

31:13 He has one of Michael Jackson's gloves.

31:15 He has a basketball court. Like, it's just -- It is --

31:18 Yeah. It's like if you ever get a chance,

31:20 if your life ever -- [ Laughter ]

31:21 If your life ever takes you to a place

31:23 where Tracy Morgan is inviting you to his house,

31:25 you just have to go. -Yeah.

31:26 [ Applause ] I would imagine, too, like --

31:29 Also you want -- I would imagine you want

31:31 the tour with Tracy.

31:33 You don't want to be there, like, when Tracy's out of town.

31:35 You don't want somebody else explaining it to you.

31:37 -I did get some of the tour from his assistant, Lucas,

31:40 and that's also a very fun person to get the tour from.

31:42 I will say because, like, he knows --

31:44 I'm like, "Wait, how is this happening?"

31:46 Like, it's a good -- Yeah, it's a good sort of

31:48 behind-the-scenes look at things.

31:50 -Once after an Emmys, it was like all the New York people

31:53 who were at the Emmys were all flying back on the same redeye.

31:55 And I just remember it was like sort of all of us

31:57 and, you know, on the plane and Tracy --

31:59 You know, everybody wanted to go to sleep.

32:01 And then Tracy was just talking about like,

32:02 you know, his fish tanks.

32:04 I remember John Slattery was like, "I want to sleep

32:06 but I also feel like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

32:08 -Right, yes. -Yeah.

32:09 -There's a lot of -- Yeah.

32:11 I mean, it is just, you know,

32:12 and I went to a Knicks game with Tracy,

32:14 which again is like going to the Knicks game

32:15 with the mayor of New York.

32:17 Like, he's just -- He knows everyone.

32:18 He's -- Yeah, he's truly -- he's an amazing character

32:21 and kind of like particularly at MSG,

32:24 he feels like, you know, it's him and Spike Lee.

32:26 They are like the guys who are there every day and like, yeah.

32:30 -And, you know, I think people love a Knicks fan

32:32 who is authentically a Knicks fan.

32:34 -A genuine Knicks fan. Like he is not -- he's not...

32:36 -He didn't come to it.

32:38 It's almost like he wanted to be famous so he could sit there.

32:40 -And he like -- He shouts at the player.

32:42 He kept telling me he was gonna make LeBron James give me

32:45 one of his shoes.

32:47 And I was like, "Please don't.

32:49 I'm sure he doesn't want to do that."

32:50 -By the way, I can't remember who did it,

32:52 but Tina went to a game with him and he was kept --

32:55 He pointed out a player, not even someone on the Knicks.

32:57 He's like, "I'm going to give --

32:58 He's going to give you his shoes."

33:00 And Tina's like, "He gave me a shoes."

33:01 -And it was his -- And I believe it was that player's first game.

33:04 -It was. They just traded for him.

33:05 -Right. And Tracy was like, "Yo, give Tina your shoes."

33:08 And he did. -He did.

33:09 And it's really funny because Tina has a great picture,

33:11 which is like if you said like, "What's this a picture of?"

33:14 You're like, "That's Tracy asking a man

33:16 to give you his shoes." [ Laughter ]

33:18 Because it's like him talking

33:20 and the guy's sort of looking over at Tina and, and it worked.

33:23 You also -- We've talked in the past,

33:25 obviously grew up in England,

33:27 but now NFL fan. You love American football.

33:29 -Yes. -You've got a child.

33:31 Are you trying to get them into football

33:33 or trying to keep them away?

33:35 -No, I'm trying to like -- I hope he enjoys it.

33:37 I hope he likes watching sports. So I feel like one of the --

33:39 We're pretty good on like screen time,

33:41 but we let sports -- we're just like, "Hopefully

33:43 subliminally you'll just be into this."

33:44 So like football, the Olympics.

33:46 He was watching a lot of that.

33:47 And yeah, I'm raising a little American.

33:49 He's got like a very -- He's got an incredibly cute voice, right?

33:52 When I hear him -- When he's on his own,

33:55 I don't think of him as having a weird accent.

33:57 Then I meet him with, like, other American kids.

33:59 I'm like, "No, you have a bizarre little voice.

34:00 You have like a very -- You're right in the middle."

34:03 But like the other day,

34:04 I've left -- I've been working more recently,

34:06 so I've been away from home a little bit more.

34:09 And his accent has become like 20% more American

34:11 in the last few weeks.

34:12 So it's very strange, but it's very -- it's very cute.

34:14 He says Saturday with like five R's.

34:16 He goes "Saturrrday." Yeah. -It's cute.

34:18 Do you think it's healthy that you get away

34:20 so he can actually, like, have the accent of his home nation?

34:22 -No, I'm going to keep trying to infect him with Britishisms.

34:26 Like, he says trousers in a cute, little voice still.

34:28 So like -- -He's like, "Oh, the game's on.

34:30 I'm gonna put on my football trousers."

34:32 [ Laughter ] -Yeah, yeah.

34:35 -Congrats on the show, both shows and thanks for being here.

34:38 It's always the best. [ Cheers and applause ]

34:39 Daniel Radcliffe, everybody.