John C. Reilly | with GOP Infighting After Scott Colom Wins Mississippi, Dems Miss Hegseth Impeachment Vote: A Closer Look

0:03The Associated Press has projected that Democrat Scott Colombe has won Mississippi Senate race, which will make him the first black senator to represent the state since 1881. Oh, that was a tough day, said Mitch McConnell.

0:22I can't believe it happened twice in my lifetime.

0:31From 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, please enjoy this podcast edition of Late Night with Seth Myers. On today's show, Seth talks to actor John C. Reilly. But first, a closer look.

0:49Democrats notched another huge victory by flipping a Senate seat in Mississippi. Meanwhile, House Democrats expressed frustration at their colleagues who missed a vote To impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth For more on this, it's time for A Closer Look

1:06Leading up to the midterms, the polls consistently showed That a blue tsunami was well on its way Democrats were leading by significant margins Everywhere from Texas to Ohio And Trump's approval ratings were record lows But Republicans kept insisting the polls were wrong I have been all over the country, my friends And I'm feeling really good right now I'm telling you, the polls are wrong, okay? I've been doing this for almost two years, and I'm telling you the polling is wrong. I'm telling you the polls are wrong. The polls are wrong. You can dismiss the polls, okay? The polls are wrong. Now, you might think he's in denial, but remember, this is a religious man who wakes up every morning and tells himself, I think Donald Trump and Jesus would get along.

1:47What a fun conversation that would be to overhear. We're quite a pair. Your dad created camels, and I have to identify them on cognitive tests. And the best part is I don't even have to do a Jesus voice because I don't think he'd get a word in edgewise. Just do a lot of polite praying. In reality, the polls underestimated Democrats, as evidenced on election night, when the results were so shocking, NBC's Steve Kornacki could only muster a one-syllable reaction. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow Okay, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow Oh, wow, wow, wow, wow Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow Wow, wow That's how crazy the results were They turned Steve Kornacki into Owen Wilson Wow Poor Kornacki They had him in that room for 10 hours straight.

2:57They basically turned him into a sim. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Fun fact, our editor Tony made that montage on his own in his spare time and then sent it to us, which is a testament to how incredible our staff is and how sad their lives are. When he sent it to us, he said, check out this cool montage I made, and I wrote back, Tony, it's Saturday at 3 a.m. I know what you're thinking, but I was up at 3 a.m. for a good reason. You see, I saw a spider, and I tried to swat it, but it got away, and I didn't see where it went. And what, I'm supposed to sleep after that?

3:33The results are so overwhelming, Republicans had no choice but to admit defeat, although some of them are trying to be Weasley about it. I don't think the Democrats realize that they didn't win. Republicans lost. No. That's not how it works. When the Chiefs play the Jets, it counts as a win for the Chiefs. The Jets don't get to say, Okay, but that's on us. We get credit for that one You sound like a bummed out Little League coach Giving a post-game speech Look, they didn't win. We lost And Mitch, buddy, you gotta swing the bat up there I am swinging

4:25So some Republicans are trying to claim this actually wasn't a mandate for Democrats. Others are being more realistic about it. Republicans lost. Democrats won. The American people have decided.

4:48This was not a normal midterm election. If you have concluded otherwise, congratulations, you're stupid.

5:09Good to see he's taking it well. But I'm happy he said that, because now I can finally use those balloons I ordered. But as shocking as the results were on election night, the results that came after election night were even crazier, because on Wednesday, Democrats again made history in Mississippi. CNN is now projecting the Mississippi Senate race, and CNN is projecting that Democratic candidate Scott Colombe will win that race. Democrats now gaining their 55th U.S. Senate seat with a Scott Colombe victory over Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. Holy s***, a Democrat won Mississippi.

5:47I wish I had a succinct one-syllable word to express how crazy that is. Wow. Thank you, Steve. Scott Colombe is the first black senator to represent Mississippi since Reconstruction. In fact, there's a truly incredible tidbit from the vote tally that underscores just how historic this victory was. History is ever-present in Mississippi, and we got an example of that today. As Colombe expanded his lead by 40 votes with a new drop from Jefferson Davis County, which is named for the president of the Confederacy. In fact, at this point, Colombe has won about 3 ,000 out of 4 ,500 votes cast there A black senator won a county named after the president of the Confederacy And this is cool They dug up Jefferson Davis' body just so he could see the results I'm not Jefferson Davis I'm still alive And I'm up

6:54Seriously, think about how amazing this is. This is the biggest upset since I won the vote for best talk show host in my dad county. I'm just with you. My dad loves this show, but don't get him started on the other hosts. A lot of opinions. Not all of them nice. But this story keeps getting better because not only is it a historic accomplishment, it's also payback. This is such a fascinating story because the history is he was nominated to be a federal judge by Joe Biden. And Cindy Hyde-Smith was the person who blocked him. And he had the support of everyone else. She single-handedly blocked him.

7:32Cindy Hyde-Smith is someone who blocked Cologne from being a judge and him coming back and running. It's an amazing irony. The story that, like, how did she just let him be a judge? Maybe we wouldn't be here talking about Mississippi at this point. She blocked him from becoming a judge Then he ran against her and won This election is an incredible story Perseverance, racial progress, a testament to those who fought For decades to expunge the evils of the past But it's also a beautiful story of revenge I mean That sounds like something George would do In an episode of Seinfeld Mr. Kruger fired me So now I'm gonna become his boss You're gonna out-boss the boss I'm bossing the boss, Jerry Now that's boss In fact, Hyde Smith was so proud of blocking Colom She bragged about it on election night Before it became clear she would actually lose We've been a great team together I blocked Scott Colom from being a federal judge And you blocked him from being a U.S.

8:39senator Actually, he blocked you from being a U.S. senator But if you're interested, there's still an opening for a judge. But as crazy as that story is, it's not the only example of payback from election night. Democrat Nancy LaCour has been elected to the U.S. House in South Carolina's first congressional district. Democratic candidate Nancy LaCour served in the Navy for 35 years, most recently as a three-star admiral leading the Navy Reserve with 60 ,000 sailors across the globe before being removed by the Secretary of Defense. I was put into that job in August of 24. Normally, it's a four-year position, but in August of 25, I was removed from my position by Pete Hegseth.

9:21Pete Hegseth fired her, and now she's in Congress. That's the kind of revenge story everybody dreams about. To this day, I fantasize about taking over SNL, but only if Lorne agrees to join the cast, just so I can say to him, um, actually, you're the one that's not good at impressions. And then he'll say to me, You know what? That's a pretty bad impression. Yeah, I think you're right, sir. I apologize. But it just goes to show you how much people hate Pete Hegseth. People hate him so much, he's actually even less popular than Donald Trump. You want to know how unpopular Pete Hegseth is? He's somehow even less popular than Donald Trump is.

9:57And, of course, Trump was the least popular president of all time heading into a midterm election. I mean, my goodness gracious, look at this. Hegseth at minus 29 points on his net approval rating. That's actually worse than Trump was at minus 24 points That's a five point difference of Hegseth being less popular than Trump That actually makes me think Trump will just keep Hegseth around So he looks good by comparison You know, like a guy who goes to a bar to pick up women And brings Stephen Miller as his wingman I guess I don't seem so creepy now, do I? Do you have any hot friends?

10:36Are they American citizens? Naturalized doesn't count

10:44Seriously though, how can the Secretary of Defense be less popular than the President? Why do people hate him so much? Is it because he says stuff like this? Why do the Democrats and the deep state radicals really hate us? Because we tore down their sacred cows one by one and without apology We're gonna go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct. We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that. No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Oh, cool. Dr. Seuss, if he was an ass...

11:30Seriously, did you think people were gonna love your incel poetry? Did you workshop that at the coffee house before you brought it to the Pentagon? At least add some bongos next time. No beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. You heard it, Hegseth. The woke radical left is trying to get rid of him. Let's see the crazy socialists behind the Hegseth impeachment push. Articles of impeachment have officially been introduced against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Outgoing Republican Congressman Thomas Massey, long a critic of Hegseth, unveiled the articles earlier today. I hope he addresses the eight articles and doesn't get up and misquote the Bible in Quentin Tarantino fashion and do some pull-ups and, you know, call everybody fat and gay, like, for being for this impeachment.

12:21Like, I may have just given you half his speech. I don't know. That's right, he's a Republican, and not just any Republican, a sassy Republican. Also, it probably was half of Hegseth's speech. I'm guessing he had a whole paragraph setting up rhymes for fat and gay. We will have an army willing to go to the mat every day, and we have critics who are, oh, he did take half my speech. So a Republican filed the impeachment articles against Hegseth. All Democrats had to do was show up, and on the heels of a historic victory fueled in large part by anger over the Iran war, that should be pretty easy, right?

12:58And that is the sound of renegade Republican Thomas Massey's effort to impeach Secretary Hegseth failing. 211 Republicans tonight killed it. 11 Democrats, including House Speaker Emmer than Nancy Pelosi, did not vote. Democratic leaders, when they came off the floor, they were uncertain why some of their members didn't make it. Sometimes members are doing other things and they just simply don't make it to the floor in time for a vote. At the end of the day, we're here to do a job. And the same way I had a clock in when I worked at a restaurant We got a clock in and do our work here We knew that this vote was coming So people should have gotten their raggedy selves up the steps to vote If one of your own colleagues calls you raggedy That's how you know you f*** up You never want to see the word raggedy in a company slack Can someone make copies of the sales team's quarterly reports for the morning meeting?

13:46Actually, we didn't do the quarterly report Ah, I see Well, I'll be conducting performance reviews with our independent contractors, but in the meantime, get your raggedy ass in gear and do the quarterly report, bitch. Seriously, Democrats, what the hell? If you want to vote yes, vote yes. If you want to vote no, vote no. But just missing a huge vote a week after Americans gave you a historic mandate is insane. If you think that's why they sent you to D.C., then... Congratulations, you're stupid. Voters handed the GOP a historic drubbing. A drumming so bad They're all flailing to make sense of it But now it's on Democrats to do something With their newfound power That's how it works The voters elect The GOP gets wrecked Now you just inspect and eject The guy who said Violent effect Not politically correct This has been A Closer Look

14:48Our guest tonight is an Oscar, Grammy, a Tony and Emmy-nominated actor and musician. You know from Chicago, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, Walk Hard, The Dewey Cox Story, and Boogie Nights. You can see him next in How to Rob a Bank, which opens in theaters Friday, November 13th. Please welcome to the show our friend John C. Reilly, everybody.

15:14All right. Oh, God. We did it, Seth. We finally did it. You finally did it And let me just say Thank you for wearing A corduroy suit I've always wanted You're just pulling it off So well I don't think I can Pull it off And I've always I've always aspired To be somebody Who can own a corduroy suit Well you know I like to overdress It's good for my self esteem Yeah Well it's good for My self esteem To have you here And we The last time we were In this building together Was when you hosted SNL You did a digital short We talked about it I do a podcast With those dudes Harpoon man Yes And Harpoon Man Do you get stopped on the street much for Harpoon Man?

15:51Never Never stopped for that It didn't quite catch on Yeah, these guys do ones that people still talk about By the way, they would say, to no fault of yours, John They say basically the concept for Harpoon Man Was the problem It was a little crazy It was no lazy Sunday It was no lazy Sunday But you were dressed like a Harpoon Man walking around New York City Yeah, that was an odd day for me You know, I didn't realize I went into the restroom out here in the hallway I forgot how close SNL is to this stage You found your forever home when you were I worked on the same hallway for 25 years That's crazy It's wild I did not realize one of your great collaborations Was via Molly Shannon That she introduced you to Will Ferrell when she was working here You knew Molly first Well, yeah, Molly and I did a movie called Never Been Kissed.

16:46Oh, fantastic. Of course. Wow. A lot of things that would be. That's surprising. Yeah, she's like, you know, I think Molly's so funny. It's a very good... You have a Molly. I do want to say it right away. Everyone's got a Molly that knows her. You did? You met them? You would love my friend Will. And I was like, okay, cool. So I met Will here in New York, actually, the first time. And I remember looking into his eyes and being like, I feel connected to you already Yeah It was like a brotherly thing right away It was strange, it doesn't happen very often, you know No, and it's really lucky when I mean, if you're going to connect with anybody It's really nice when they're that talented Yeah, yeah But again, you've had a start I've been riding those coattails for years But, I mean, again, I think other people You know, obviously he's looking into your eyes And connecting with you as well He's lucky too And how young were you when you first met Paul Thomas Anderson?

17:40Oh, gosh. I don't remember how old I was, but I'd done about 12 movies at that point. Who does that put me in my linear timeline? I've done 80-something at this point. I'm pretty young. Pretty young, pretty young. And so Boogie Nights was the first time you worked with Paul. No, I did Paul's first movie. Oh, you did Heart 8. Of course, I apologize. Which is actually called Sydney. Yes. But the distributor changed the title. But yeah, before we got the money for Boogie Nights, though, and after we made Heart 8, We were just kind of like really stir crazy in L.A. And like that show Cops had just come on the air.

18:15Yeah. And we were fascinated, like many people, by it. Now the whole world has become cops somehow. It used to be novel, the idea of cops. Yeah, now they're everywhere. Yeah, we became obsessed with that show. We would call each other and just be on the phone like, can you believe it? He's running away again. And you're like... And at that time, Paul and I were really close friends. and I had this goatee at the time. And he's like, what is that hipster? Shave that thing off. You look stupid. And I was like, no, it's cool. It's cool. It's like distinguished. And then finally, one day, his peer pressure got to me and I started shaving it off.

18:52And I was like, well, I shouldn't shave the whole thing off. Like, I, you know, took all this effort. And so I trimmed it up to a mustache and I suddenly looked at myself in the mirror and I was like, I look like a cop. Right. Cops. I called Paul right away. You won't believe what I look like. I look exactly like a cop. He's like, we have to make our version of cops. And so he got an LAPD uniform, which is a felony, by the way, to wear, to impersonate a policeman is a felony. I wish there was an episode of Cops where a cop was chasing a cop and the felony was dressing like a cop. Exactly. Yeah.

19:29Well, we just thought it was so funny the way they would always be chasing people and clanging other stuff and copping over fences And, like, we loved the exertion and the craziness of that show. And so we started just calling up friends. We realized, like, we shouldn't do this with strangers because we could actually get shot or something. Yeah. But we would drive around in his car, which you can't even tell it's not a police car from the inside, you know? And I would have these Oakley sunglasses, you know, and I would just kind of make all these speeches about being a cop. And people don't understand how hard it is.

20:00And after we got bored with that, we'd start calling actor friends of ours, It was like Phil Hoffman. Yeah. And we'd say, we're on our way over. John's a cop. Someone called the cops on you because you were throwing rocks at someone's window. We'll be there in 10 minutes. And we'd go over, and then we'd just improvise, you know? And Paul would follow me around with this video camera, and it would eventually end up in one of these foot chases and jumping over fences and whatever. So you would be... There was footage of, like, you chasing Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Thomas Anderson recording it.

20:33All over Studio City, yeah. And at one point, you know, Phil, like, faked a heart attack at one point. And I was like, oh, I have to call 911. And while I took my eyes off him, he jumps up and runs away. And I was like, God damn! And so I was thinking in my improv mind, you know, like, well, at this point, a cop would pull his gun and be like, get on the ground. Yeah. So I reached for my gun. I realized, oh, no, it was a felony. It would be a worse felony if it had a gun. So we decided not to have a gun. But I'm still on camera improvising, and I go to reach for the gun, and I go, I lost my gun.

21:12I lost my gun. That's one of the worst things that can happen to a cop, is losing their gun. And then, Paul, eventually, we made Boogie Nights, and then after we made Boogie Nights, he was trying to figure out, like, what to do for Magnolia, his next movie, and he went back to these videotapes, and he used a lot of the stuff that happened in those tapes. He made it more serious and more dramatic. And one of the central events in Magnolia of my cop character was that he loses his gun. And I start crying. It's like this big emotional thing. But at the time, it was just me trying to explain why I didn't have a gun in my cop.

21:48It really speaks to collaboration. It speaks to the magic of improv. And also having a long collaboration with somebody that you can do a crazy bit, and then like five years, six years later, it's in a major motion picture. Yeah, also be careful what you do on videotape around Paul. He will turn it into a scene. That was great, but stick around. I have a lot more to ask for you guys. It's John C. Reilly.

22:14Welcome back to Late Night. We're here with John C. Reilly. I'm out of Robbink. You play an FBI agent in this film. Yes. And there's actually some practical, what looks to be practical driving in this film. Yeah, yeah. This was a great part for me. It's my first kind of like grown-ass man part. You know, like a lot of gravitas, like I'm the guy in charge. And for some reason, David Leitch, the director, who's very good at stunts, he used to be a stuntman, decided I should do a lot of the driving. Gotcha. And when he comes to you with this, are you excited about that? Yeah. You know, like you're going to block off the streets and let me go mental in a Grand Cherokee?

22:55You know, like it had very bad suspension, by the way. So it was really like, I'd be going around the corner. Were you the only one in the car? No, no. Zoe Kravitz is my, kind of my partner in the movie. She plays this hacker. Yeah, how about that, Zoe? And yeah, there's one, there's a little bit in the movie where they're like, okay, we got the camera on the car. All right, John, go. Action. And I go, and I look over at Zoe and she's not wearing her seatbelt. Yeah. And I was like, put on your seatbelt. But that's just John telling Zoe Put on your seatbelt You get into this magical thinking when you do movies You think, well, the script doesn't say We get in an accident So we won't get in an accident But you will get in an accident If you don't be careful That's good, that's why 80 plus movies You've learned You can't have magical thinking Eyes on the road I want to ask as well about Mr.

23:53Romantic This is a show you're taking on the road This is you, Alter Ego, is that? Yeah. And singing some American song standards. That's right. You know, it's kind of loosely based on my character from Chicago, the musical, Mr. Cellophane, except it's all songs about romance. Oh, thank you.

24:13They love the jazz hands. I do, too. Yeah, I grew up doing musicals. And anyway, I created this kind of mythical character, Mr. Romantic, because I wanted to do all these songs. And I also wanted to kind of like give back to the audience a little bit Like I've had a great career and I thought What can I do for people that would make the world like a better place A little more empathy Yeah, that's really sweet A little more love in the moment about it And so I created this character, Mr. Romantic So I have four amazing musicians behind me And the mission every night is to get someone to fall in love with me forever Oh Oh, so you don't want them to fall in love with someone they're with You want them to fall in love Yeah, okay Me, yeah, yeah That's really good It's really fun.

24:53We're doing it at Town Hall here in New York. Oh, fantastic. Next Friday, the 20th of November. That's great, but that's very exciting. Equally exciting. Just announced today. Yes, this is a bombshell, folks. This is a bombshell. Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, directed by Hamilton director Tommy Kail, John C. Reilly, and Steve Carell in The Odd Couple. On Broadway. I mean, this is one of the great comedy plays of all times You must just be so excited Yeah, it's kind of like the Holy Grail It created a whole kind of way of being funny And it's big shoes, Walter Matthau You know, like Art Carney did the original production And I have to say, I've never worked with Steve Carell before And I am so excited I'm a huge fan of his from all of his movies And of course The Office But, yeah, we get to chop it up with each other.

25:50And I play Oscar, the slob. I don't know why they did that. Got a corduroy suit. That's insane. Come on, man. Maybe I'm compensating. But Steve plays Felix, the super neat, you know, very neurotic one. I can't wait. Congrats on that. Thanks so much for being here, John. Come back soon. Don't be a streamer. Thank you.

26:13Late Night with Seth Meyers airs weeknights on NBC at 1235, 1135 Central. Original music on the Late Night Podcast is by the HE Band. Don't forget to follow the handle LateNightSeth on social media and tell your friends to subscribe to the Late Night Podcast wherever they get their podcasts.

26:38Thank you.