James Spader on His Owl Fascination and the Final Season of The Blacklist

Our first guest tonight is an Emmy-Award-winning actor you know best from his roles in shows such as “Boston Legal,” “The Office,” “The Practice,” and, of course, “The Blacklist.” The 200th episode of “The Blacklist” airs this Sunday, March 19th, here on NBC. Let’s take a look. -Why are you in my home at this hour? This is not okay.

You’re right.

It’s not. I understand that. And under any other circumstances, I wouldn’t have imposed. -Did you sleep here?

A very quick catnap, just on the bench over there. Truly a half-hour at most. And then the time it took to put together breakfast. You see, I was at Mount Vernon, playing a very small part in a Revolutionary War reenactment when I got to drinking quite late with the 1st Delaware Regiment. One thing led to another.

Those Blue Hen boys really know how to hold their whiskey. -Please welcome back to the show our friend James Spader, everybody! That’s James Spader. Guys, it’s very — It’s very rare to get exciting news from the guest while you walk from there to here. But you just whispered to me some exciting news.

I did. No, I saw Flaco live in the park. I was walking one day, and there were all these people crowded around the base of this tree.

And then also lenses like this. -Yeah.

You know? And they’d been parked there, obviously, for some time. And he was up in the tree. And I saw him up there. I will say this, though.

You know, I mean, I don’t want to, you know, send any shade… -Right. Is this going to be anti-Flaco? -…on your bet. No, no.no. I just — I — Really. I’m, you know, in my — I’m 63, and just this year for the first time, I heard, in multiple — from multiple sources, like, reading it in all — in several different articles just this year, including an article about Flaco, that owls of the bird species are actually incredibly stupid. -Alright. -So that expression… -Okay. -…of Flaco, who is like… -Yeah.

You’re saying that maybe he wasn’t like, “How dare you guys,” and that’s more just how — That’s how he looks all the time? -He certainly — He certainly wasn’t like, “What, do you think I’m an idiot?” No, it wasn’t that. -Okay. -It was like, “Yeah?” -Well, thanks for — Thanks for setting’ us straight, James.

I like that, like, all of a sudden, what are you — what are you — Did you just start reading bird books at 63 that you’re like — “Now I can’t stop reading how dumb owls are.” -Yeah, I really — I don’t know how it came about, but it’s amazing how there’s been such, you know, a dichotomous narrative about owls, like, particularly — I mean, even the little pictures you showed is like the owl as a teacher. -Yeah.

And, you know, it must be their sort of furry eyebrows or something.

Yeah, but when you think about it, I mean, obviously, everybody I know — every person I knew who slept all day and was up all night, they were dummies, too, so — -Yes. Amazing hearing. -Yeah. They — It’s very nice for you to end this on an up note. -Yes.

I mean, they don’t understand a thing they hear. -Just doing my part. -So, 200 episodes. This is the final season of this incredible show. Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you. And — I mean, shows don’t run like this anymore. You received a — This is lovely. There was — You know, sometimes I think people might not know this.

When you hit a milestone, the show will give out sort of a crew gift to everybody. -Yes, I mean, there’s enormous amount of gift-giving, you know, around the corporate culture of all kinds, you know. -Yeah. -But — And on sets, too. You know, and it’s a very strange thing, I think, in that — You know, every — everybody earns a good living on our show, you know?

And — But, like, we’ll give the cast, and the producers will give the whole crew, you know, a Christmas gift. -Yeah. -This year, it was an electronically heated vest. -Very nice. Very thoughtful.

But, you know, we all know each other really well, you know? We all work together every day and so on and so forth. So, it’s a different thing. You know, so whoever it is who’s in charge of, you know, picking out corporate gifts from the studio or the network to the cast members or the crew, you know, they don’t really know anybody at all.

Yeah.

And they’re getting presents for people that, as I said, you know, can afford their things. The only person who probably can’t very well is the person who’s having to decide on that gift. -Right. -You know, that’s probably — -The one person who can actually use the gift, right. -The one person who could really use the gift, you know.

Anyway I remember I did a show for some time for ABC called “Boston Legal.” -Of course. Of course. -And, you know, it was a fairly successful show. It won a whole bunch of Emmys, and, you know, it did very well.

And I remember once, sort of late in the game, I got a gift at one point from ABC, and it was a Tiffany box from Tiffany’s store.

And I was, “Oh, great. This — What’s this going to be?” And I open it up, and it was a bracelet. Yeah.

A silver cuff. -Yeah. -Bracelet. -And did you immediately think, “I’m never going to wear this”? -Well — I mean, I didn’t really even know what to do with it.

.. -Yeah. -…let alone wear it. But — Anyway. Yeah, so this year — Well, for the 100th episode, our entire cast and crew got TVs.

Alright.

Well, that’s — that’s very nice. -Very nice. -Yeah. -I mean, they were small black-and-whites with antennas. Sure.

A separate VHF and UHF. -Of course. Yeah, well, I mean, they’ve got to get it for a bunch of people, you know? -A TV, nonetheless. -Yeah.

No. We got really nice TVs. -And that’s a, you know, thoughtful gift. Everybody needs one.

You know, that was the 100th episode.

So then, now think like a hundred episodes later, so that’s several seasons, right? So, my gift arrived in my dressing room, but it was… I always think of the — You know, I’m — I’m – I earn a very respectable salary, you know?

And I feel like, you know, you — The salary that you earn is based on, you know, how much they like the show… -Sure. -…and how successful the show is and, you know, how much they like your contribution to the show and everything. And I feel like the gift that you get is how much they like you. -Uh-huh.

Yeah, yeah. -Wouldn’t you think? -I see. Right. So the salary is for the work.

For the work. -The gift is personal. -And then the gift is — Yeah, because it’s gratuitous. -This is James, the person. -It’s completely gratuitous.

I don’t need a gift really, you know? -Yeah. -It’s a — It’s a gesture. It’s how much we like you. My agents, they always give me wine.

-Yeah. Do you like wine? -I love wine.

-Perfect. So, this came in an Hermes bag.

-Okay. -And I thought, “Wow.” -Yeah. -“They really like me.” -Yeah.

This is an expensive store. And I took it out, and it was just a square of leather. Uh-huh. -Which I’ve seen before, you know? I — You know, like, when — We just did a renovation at our house, and I was sent the same thing as a sample to what we might want to cover the couch with.

Okay. Gotcha. -You know? -So it was like — it was like a leather sample? -It was like a leather sample.

It’s Hermes. I thought maybe it’s a sample for what’s possible to make a saddle out of.  Okay. -I really didn’t have any idea what it was. -Gotcha.

So, I called my friend Laura who works upstairs, literally and figuratively. And so, she came to my dressing room, and I said, “What the hell is this?” Because I was about to go downstairs…

Yeah. -…to — There were going to be people there that — -That had given it to you.

Not really. -Yeah. Anyway, I said, “What is this?” And she said, “Oh. Yes.

I got the same thing. It’s a mouse pad.” I mean, I — Truly, I didn’t even really know what she meant. I don’t own a computer. -Right.

You know, I thought it was the place where your domesticated mouse goes to the bathroom. I didn’t know — True story. Backstage in your dressing room, I said, “Oh, I’ll send you a link to something.” And you looked at me — You gave me a real Flaco the Owl look when I said “link.” So, I — I can appreciate that a mouse pad did not — was not straight to your heart.

I feel much better about Flaco. He could do a TV show. -James, you know my favorite thing about having you here. -Yeah. -Because our time is almost up, so I want to tell you my — -It always is.

I don’t think you’ve ever — Of any guest I’ve ever had here, i don’t think you’ve ever told two stories. And you don’t ever have to. For my money, you don’t ever have to.

The one, the only — James Spader, everybody. 200th episode of “The Blacklist” airs this Sunday, March 19th, at 10:00 p.m. here on NBC. We’ll be right back with Ian McShane.

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