>> rose: welcome to the program. summer is coming to a close and we're looking at some of the best moments from the last year. tonight giants of comedy. an encore presentation of my conversations with chris rock, conan o'brien, james corden and aziz ansari. >> i like to put the audience in a hole. i like to say something that is absolutely controversial and then dig myself out of the hole comedically, and that is what i did with the movie. the movie, you know, i play a guy who is an alcoholic, a cheat, a hack, you know what i mean. just like, very unlikeable character, you know. and you know i take you on a journey. and i try to help you understand where this guy is coming from. >> when i was hosting the tonight show i was very much

trying to, i think, probably please this sort of old media idea. and it's such a mantel. such a heavy mantel. at the time it felt that way. and when this kind of crazy disaster, and it still feels comical and improbable, when the whole thing quickly fell apart and i found myself without a job and not knowing what i was going to do, it's very liberating. it's an amazing feeling. i don't recommend it. there are other ways to get that high. >> there's lipitor but i-- i found it to be liberating. >> everything i've done in my career whether it be the television shows that i've written at home or the things thattive-- or doing a play like one man goo two governors which is very much myself talking to an audience. but really on this show what i'm really thrilled about is that we've managed to do so many other things singing,

dancing, sketches, bits, skits, this, that and the other and that's been the most thrilling discovery of it really that the fact that it's been stuff that people have responded to. >> with this romance stuff it's like, especially with texting, you're not hearing a voice or anything. it's even different than a phone call. you just see these words and people read in so much into the time it takes for people to write back. and their choice of words, certain things turn people off like grammar or spelling is a huge turnoff. for some people like it when a guy uses one of those emoji he motti cons other people are if i guy uses an emoji i don't take them seriously at all it is interesting how the preferences develop and how certain things you say on your phone can really define how you end up fearing in the real world. >> rose: funny guys when we continue. >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by: >> rose: additional funding

provided by: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> chris rock's new movie is called top five. he wrote and directed it. he also plays its lead character, comedian andre allen. the associated press waits that top five defies categorization. it is a romance, a gross-out comedy, a silly industry is at ire and a beat look at an artist who is just trying to figure out what he wants. here is the trailer for the film. >> what's up. this is andre allen. when i listen to satellite radio, i listen to sirius

hits one. >> that's good. just make it a little funnier. >> funnier? >> put a little stank on it. >> nice and funny. >> what's up [bleep], this is my [bleep] andre allen [bleep] scratch my muts that is. >> first take was good. >> in 2005 "time" magazine voted today's guest the funniest man in america. by 2010 the former stand-up hit it big with hammy the bear one, two and three. >> you got hammy time. it's hammee time. >> you can also see him getting married to erica long. >> do we have to do this on camera. >> not on camera it doesn't exist. >> i don't feel like doing funny movies any more. i don't feel funny. >> save some of that for your time interview. >> i want a descent story, you give me a couple of honest things, i will be more than fair. >> this chelsea brown, she's doing a story on me. >> come to me baby girl i will turn over like an apple

pie. >> you just ate an apple pie you fat -- >> things are changing. you need to wake up and smell the -- >> you ain't never change. >> black man, trying to get a cab in new york city. taxi, taxi. yeah. >> do you think the wedding is hurting me? >> are you kidding me. >> andre, we could be talking dancing with the stars. >> what is going on. >> zoolander is in the conference room. >> these white people don't tell me. >> why don't you just skip the hat questions and go right to something good. >> all right, how come you're not funny any more. >> everyone is funny drunk, ever see oprah drunk, she's hysterical. >> we-- welcome to this earth. >> i got married a lot of times. i wasn't into the wedding. i should have been into the guy. as you should be into the girl. >> our top five is jay, noz, scar face, rock him and then i might let big e get in there. >> my sixth man is ll cool j.

>> oh my god. >> without doing this show? >> you mind if i get some of them hangars. i need some wooden-- dam it, they got the -- >> they got the lock on them. >> rose: i spoke to chris rock telecom dee cell ar in new york and here is that conversation. >> here's what they are saying about your movie. for the first time you act in it, you wrote it, you directed it. for the first time he has made a movie that is as good as his stand-up. does that resonate with you? >> that's-- that was the desired effect. that is the-- you know, there is a joke in star bust memories, wherever woody allen walks, they go we love your movies, especially the early funny ones. and people have this thing. they say to me, i love your work, especially the stand-up which is like, okay, what about all those other things i did. so i kind of wanted to make

a movie as good as the stand-up. and just saying that right now. >> rose: you're saying that. >> right now, next week, who knows. >> rose: stand-up comedians are saying thax people who care about you are saying that and the audiences in toronto and other places are saying that. but what do they mean, do you think? was the fact that you were so good at stand-up, that you worked so hard at it, that you crafted it, you hadn't done that in your movies before? that you had to come to a place where you treated movies with the same reference as you treat stand-up? >> yeah, well, it's not even a reference. it's like i have to treat movies, i have to not care so much. and not care what people think. and not care about judgement. see when you do a movie, movies are amazing. i love doing movies. but movies, you have testing. and they literally test every line, every 10 minutes of the movie is tested.

and you know what, i've always been a horrible test taker. it's just like horrible. so when you are writing a movie a lot of times you're editing yourself. an you're thinking about the test. they're not going to like this. the studio is not going to like this oh boy, this is going to test love. they don't test plays. you know, we test them in front of audiences. but you don't test every line. you don't test stand-up. again, you test in front of an audience but it doesn't have that strict testing that a movie has. so i-- this was the first movie where i didn't care about offending people. i didn't try to open a chain store. i just wanted-- you know what i mean. >> rose: i want to make the movie i want to make. >> i want to have like a little restaurant that kind of hip. i'm in the trying to make mcdonald's. i'm not trying to be everywhere. i want to make a chris rock movie. i don't want to make my version of an edye murphy movie or my version of an

adam sandler movie like my movie. >> you said an interesting thingment i want to make a chris rock movie because you would sit with adam sandler and you knew what he was doing. he was making an adam sandler movie. >> he really was make and adam sandler movie. but you know, with men, i would say men always dress like-- we always get our fashion sense from whatever friend gets laid the most. whatever friend gets laid the most, i guess i'll get those shoes. okay, that haircut seems to work for him. i'll get that haircut. and so sandler is like my biggest movie star friend. oh, okay, i'll just do what he's doing. but it didn't didn't kind of fit me, you know what i mean. you know, it fits when i'm in a movie with him but it didn't fit me to make a movie of the same tone as him. or even an edye murphy movie. that wasn't my tone. and this movie, the

important thing was i found a tone that works for me. when i do stand-up, seldom do i talk about anything that's funny. almost nothing in my act is funny, if you go topic to topic. >> but that's what people say is your genius too. you can talk about race like nobody else talks about race and you can go places nobody else can get out of. >> i like to get in-- i like to put the audience in a hole. i like to say something that's absolutely comedically.the holeen dig and that's what i did with the movie. the povie, i play a guy who is an alcoholic, a cheat, a hack, you know what i mean. just like, very unlikeable character. you know. and you know i take you on a journey. and i try to help you understand where this guy is coming from. >> rose: tell me about writing it and what you wanted to create. because people have said this is about fame.

it's about celebrity, it's about wanting to be taken for something you're not necessarily taken for. >> that's okay. i got to go back a little bit. cuz a lot of-- i've got to give credit to louis c.k.. and here's the deal. okay, louis owes me, i owe louis. louis owes me because at some point in his career, whatever, years ago, i literally told him i'm not going to be your friend any more if you keep writing for people. i'm like-- he was writing stuff for dana carvey and this one and that one and pitches shows to sandler's company. i'm like no, dude, you're the star. you're the star. you're funny. you should have a show. stop pitching other people's shows. so i'm going to sit here on the charlie rose show and take all the credit for louis c.k.. i'm going to-- . >> rose: you made him be what he is today. >> his managers wanted him and his agents. >> rose: wanted him to perform. >> wanted him to do stuff for other people.

they were making money and everybody thought he should be working for other people. and i thought that guy is a star, okay. and in turn, me and louis have the greatest friendship and i love the guy dearly. louis comes to me whenever, you know, before i started writing this. he goes you have to write it by yourself. you have to write it by yourself. even me and louis wrote a movie together. he's like no, no, no, no. you got to get in a room and you have to feel hurt. you have to feel lonely, you have to feel the pain that the blood sweat and tears that it takes to write by yourself and be in a hole and just stare at a piece of pain and have no one to help get out of this thing but you. he says you always write with people and you end up with a watered down version of you. you have to write by yourself. so louis made me write by myself, that hi-- i only had done in stand-up. >> rose: exactly. >> i only did in stand-up.

and when you write with other people, you get a consensus. you know,. >> rose: but you're in the room by yourself. >> when you're in that room by yourself, man, something emotional happens. something spiritual comes out of you when you are in that room by yourself, you know. and you're living in your head. and you know, you're really a secret thought and you know, you're not trying to get approval of anybody when you're in there by yourself. and i think that comes across in the movie like-- like when i'm doing stand-up, when i'm doing stand-up, i know i've got an hour and a half. it's okay if i piss you off right now. i'll get you down the line. you know what i mean. it's okay, oh, yeah, you're mad right now. hang out. >> rose: as you go forward, are you going to try to balance stand-up and balance acting, directing, starring in movies. >> yeah, i mean, the last

few years i have done less stand-up because my kids are just at-- your kid is only young once, you know what i mean. so you try to-- . i've tried to just live a life where i can live in new york. so i did a play in new york. i, you know, i write, oh, i'll take your writing job because i get to do it in new york. oh, okay, grown-up sons in boston, that's a three hour drive. i can-- i tried to be in new york as much as possible. as my kids get older and don't want to be around me, frackly, and want to go to camp and stuff, yes. i will be more out there as a stand-up. >> rose: you were funny but not the funniest guy in the room. >> no. >> rose: so how did you get where you are? >> i mean most successful people aren't the best guy in the room. they just aren't. >> rose: they work hard. >> and michael jordan tells stories, he wasn't the best was wet call-- basketball.

>> didn't make the team. the great thing about not being the best in the room is you know you have to work at it. so it's great not being the best in the room. and it made me work. you know, i grew up hammy, my friend louis hamilton, way funnier than me, chris neely way funnier, dave barton, way funnier, like guys, hysterical. >> rose: and you made it bigger than they did because? >> i had to work harder at it. i had to-- comedy wasn't-- didn't just pour out of me. it was something i had to think about a little bit intellectually. and just being liked wasn't, you know, i never did anything well until i got on stage. >> rose: you found your home. >> yeah. and it was literally like, it was a calling. there is nothing i did well and to this day my friend mario, his nick name for me is just jokes. cuz i suck at everything else. the simplest task, oh, yeah,

i forgot, just jokes. >> rose: conan o'brien is here. he is the host of conan, he has been hosting late night television since 1993 when david letterman steps down next week, conan will be the longest serving host of late night. it is a landscape undergoing dramatic changes both in terms of its host and how it is being consumed. conan recently took his show to havana, cuba, it was the first time an american late night host taped an episode in cuba since jack parr went with the tonight show in 1959. i am very pleased to have conan o'brien back at this table. welcome. >> i'm the old gienow, what do you think, isn't that crazy. i remember one of the first-- . >> rose: hey, pops, how was it. >> i tell you, it was crazy times. one of the first shows i came on in '93 was this show. i sat here and no one thought i was going to make it you were very nice to me, i recall. but that is now, if we look

thed at that appearance now it would look like an i love lucy-- scope. >> rose: i remember. >> i was a young red haired woman at the time. >> rose: but you hadn't done much performing at the time when you took over that show. >> no, i had done improvisation but i hadn't done nearly the amount of performing that one should have done to get a late night show. it was a complete fluke and i to this day credit lorn michaels with-- . >> rose: he saw something. >> he saw something and he said i think this kid can do it. i think it will be rough at first but i think he'll be a good fit. but that was such a different time, 93. that there was no footage of me that existed. and the media couldn't find footage. now can you imagine today. >> rose: how much footage. >> how much footage there is of everybody. there would be hundreds of hours of footage of me that have been posted on youtube and everyone would have it. there was not an existing photograph of me when they announced me for the late night show. so i remember that they were taking photographs of i

think my appearance on the tonight show that night when they announced me. they took photographs of the tv screen. there was more photographs of db cooper than there were of me t was absurd. >> rose: doing what you do. >> uh-huh. >> rose: and you know the difference because you now have a show similar to this on-line. >> yeah. >> rose: is dramatically different from what you do, i mean you think comedy every moment, don't you? >> pretty much since about 19 8, i would say, yeah. i am not kidding. i think about it all the time. >> rose: yeah. >> rose: because david letterman was here, he said i love to have the luxury that you have because i'm as curious as you are. but my mind, half of it is thinking about the joke, the joke, the joke. >> uh-huh, yeah. >> rose: rather than just simply being curious with someone. >> i think i-- there's a certain pressure when you're hosting a show to help guide performers through their material. and so you don't have the freedom to just always go exactly where you might want to go. >> rose: yeah.

>> but i also love to just have a conversation and go. and it's-- and learn something. i love to d -- i'm still-- i try to read as much as i can. i true i to talk to people wherever i go and find out where they are doing. i have that curious mind. it's just within the confines sometimes of doing a comedy show, you can't just sit back and maybe ask all the questions that you would want to ask. >> rose: with david letterman stepping down, what is his magic and why is he so revereed for who he is? >> well, i wrote a piece for ew magazine that people can probably find on-line it came out about a week ago. and i was proud of it and it kind of summed up what i think his main contribution was. i took people back to when his morning show came on the air in 1980. and how i think, i called the piece immediately

everything was wrong. i mean everything that he did seemed in that moment wrong. he didn't look right. his manner, his affect was wrong, everything seemed wrong because he was so original. he was so profoundly original. and i think he is respected and revered because he has the whole package. the great innovative writing ideas, he came along at the write moment. carson had been on the air at that point about 20 years. had about ten more years to go. and had really established the talk show and dach came along and gave us the anti-talk show in so many ways. so much of the comedy was so different and he was so not about show business. and he was so outside of show business. and his show was-- felt like a revolution to me. and i think it was. i think it was a seismic o kirns. i think it affected a lot of the comedy in the '80s and

the '90s and for years afterwards. >> rose: is the talk show business at night changing? >> oh, yeah, it's a whole different thing than when i started. when i started, it is hilarious to talk this way now, about the old days. because i feel like i'm talking about the great depression. but in, when i began in '93, you think about it, there were hardly any of these shows. there was johnnie. johnnie carson's tonight show, that was it. and arsenio had been around for a while but he was kind of, i think he had maybe two years left to go. but he was around. but it was really, it felt like it was johnny and it was dave, and then there's nightline and that's it. and it really was-- nbc had kind of locked down a

monopoly on the whole thing. and so it was a built-in audience. i done even know, i can't tell you how many shows there are now. i have lost track. i'm in the business and i think there might be 35 late night shows. >> rose: a ton of them. >> there is a ton of them. >> i look every night and i see how many people at 11:00. you, me, a wol bunch of other people, daley show. >> there is a ton of these shows, the technology changed, with cable. and then the internet comes along and what's happening is that-- and tivo comes along and the ability to watch things out of sequence. so the late night show started to become-- i often know that 11:00 at night or 11:30 at night, my choice would probably be to catch up on some of the shows i missed earlier in the week. so my natural inclination would not be, i mean, i wouldn't watch a late night talk show anyway just because it's not -- >> actually, i would watch this, i would watch your

show before i would watch a come key show, a late night comedy show because i can't relax watching those. i'm just -- >> i'm looking at the scenes and-- that's to the-- oh, i see, okay, hmm, that's no fun. that's no good. but if the whole thing-- now i think people can watch these shows a la cart meaning people watch a segment i did or a segment one of the jimmies did or a segment, you know, that colbert, you know, these thing goes viralment people see those. when i see someone on the street and they say oh, i love that thing you did. they don't say i love that thing did you last night. they love that things that's bouncing around on-line. >> rose: jimmy kimmel said people are plucking your greatest hit was having to watch the rest of the show. >> people don't listen albums any more. they used to put sergeant pepper, i'm using this analogy of the beatles, sergeant pepper, side one and side two so you knew which song, a lot of thought went into which song goes

where. and for years i used to give a lot of thought to when things happened in the show. well now it doesn't seem as relevant when things happen in the show. >> rose: are you thinking when you create a show now about that? or are you thinking about, i've got to find what i know will be sellable, viable clips. >> that's tricky. obviously if you have-- i always try to lead with what's funny. i would rather, i mean, fortunately i think this is wood, if not it's fantastic simulation. >> rose: thank you, 25 years. >> beautiful. ikea. i can-- i think a lot about what is funny, what would make me laugh. what would surprise me. >> rose: that's the test what would make me laugh. >> oh god yeah. if i don't think-- i mean i just-- now i know what the formula is. there is a very simple formula to have thing goes

viral. and everybody knows what it is. it is no secret. you get a big celebrity and you get them to do some stunt and it will probably go viral. the thing is, if you are-- it's called click bait. if you are's just thinking about click bait, then you're going to end up with a show that might have a lot of viral bits but maybe things that you don't think comedically are that terrific. it is all where you want to try to put your priorities. >> rose: the great james corden is here. he is an award-winning star of theater and film and television. in 2012 he won the tony award for his performance in "one man two governors" he beat out acting giants like philip seymour hoffman, frack earl's jones and frack angella. he hosts the late late show on cbs. march 23rd marked his debut. here is a look at his journey into late night. >> i'm sure lots of people are wondering how i ened up here in this seat and i

include myself in that too. well, rather than tell you, we thought we would show you this. >> craig ferguson has announced he's leaving the late late show after ten years. the question is, who will cbs get to replace him. >> once again we need a late night host. >> i thought we just hired one. >> that was the late show. >> so what is this. >> this is the late late show. >> so who are we going to pick? >> let's do it the way we've always done it. ♪ ♪. >> this, nothing more.

this is misogyny. >> this is-- here we go. can't catch a break. >> late, late, late, late. within time to get my golden ticket. no tickets. no tickets! no tickets! >> thank you. excuse me, you dropped--

(cheers and applause) >> i've been chosen to host the late night show. please report to the school of training. this is weird. >> yes. >> hello, i have got this. >> what is your name. >> james corden. >> who. >> james corden. >> from accounting. >> no. >> from tindr. >> no. >> grindr. >> no. >> i'm from hirewickham. >> where is that? >> it's in eng hand-- england. >> to the going to work. >> what? >> but i've got the ticket. >> you might have the ticket, son, but have you got what it takes? >> probably not. >> rose: so that is how they did it. >> yeah, that was pretty much it. that was all factual. >> rose: you have been doing it for how long? >> we've done 33 shows, yeah,

that's it. >> rose: and how is it? i mean has it been beyond expectation? all the fears you had have been subsided? >> i don't know if they'll ever fully subside. i think i'll always be quite terrified by it. >> rose: terrified by what you are going to do the next time -- >> i'm often terrified just generally doing it because there is a strange thing making a show like that, which i've never really had before. i think you probably would associate with this feeling. when you're making a show like that, that you do every day, you can feel very much in preproduction like you're just in a team. that you are just one of>-r team because there's a whole world of people that put this show on. so you really don't feel that pressure that much. it's just you, it's all of us really together. and then very slowly people just tap you on the shoulder and go good luck out there. have a good one, we're rooting for you. before you know with you find yourself on your own behind a curtain going oh, i'm-- oh, we were a team but

now it's really just sitting here. and that, that is what i sort of found the hardest thing. >> rose: that's how it works. >> but i'm thrilled and overjoyed at the way that people have responded to it. >> rose: as you know as a brit, when church hill assumed the prime ministership right at the beginning of world war -- he said everything i have done have prepared me for this moment. >> yeah. >> rose: did you have any churchillian sense in you? >> i feel i shouldn't compare the two. but-- . >> rose: think of what you had done with your life so far. >> i do kind of feel like everything we have done-- everything of a i have done in my career whether it be the television shows i've written at home or the things i agoed in like doing a play like one man two governors which is very much myself talking to an audience, that really on this show, what i'm really thrilled about is that we've managed to do so many other things, singing, dancing, sketches, bits, skits, this, that and the other. and that's been the most

thrilling discovery of it, really. that the fact that that has been the stuff people responded to. >> rose: but do you have a feeling that you are changing the genre a little bit? >> no, i don't think so. i don't think so. i mean, you know, i think all shows are-- all shows influence another. >> rose: i agree. david letterman just retired had done skits from the beginning. >> well this is the thing. >> rose: from the top of a building throwing a watermelon off. >> there is a sort of thing where people say or after they saw the show they say it's not like it used to be. now people are just chasing viral hits or whatever, or stuff that-- and i sort of thing, particularly in the last few couple of weeks watching letterman's, you know, kind of greatest hits, if you like over that last couple of weeks, there were bits in that, the bit where he worked in the drive-thru or went to taco bell or him and the big gay day out, those things would have been huge on youtube. stupid pet tricks. i mean i sort of feel like

youtube should send david letterman some money just because, you know, like he almost inhaven'ted it. and i think that's what is happening now. and there is a really interesting interview which jay leno showed me. which was seven years after johnny carson had taken over the tonight show, and someone wrote and in the newspaper when is mr. parr coming back to save the tonight show. all johnny carson does is skits and bits. and mr. parr, he referred to him, used to do proper interviews. and then our show is hugely influenced by jimmy fallon's show, jimmy fallon influenced by ellen. ellen influenced by letterman. >> rose: johnny carson was influenced by steve allen. >> and all of those things start to start to, you know, inflins you, i think. >> rose: but it feels comfortable at least? >> i feel a lot more

comfortable now, just in the manner that people, in the manner that i'm just overwhelmed the way that people have responded. >> rose: that's the reason you feel comfortable. it is the idea that you didn't step on a banana or you didn't do anything that people would have said after you have been on, how did this ever happen y did they ever think he could do this. >> yes. >> rose: they are in fact saying look, isn't this interesting, what he is doing. >> i guess so, yeah, i'm very, i'm overwhelmed by that, really. i'm incredibly relieved and grateful, yeah. >> rose: could this happen in prime time? a show like this or is it, you know, jay leno tried to do it but jay leno is jay leno. >> i don't know. i'm not sure. i don't know. >> rose: something about late night where there is a feeling of freeness and a feeling of -- >> i think so. and i also think there's a feeling of being the end of someone's day. like i feel like the change

or-- not that i know anything about the history of late night at all, i don't, i didn't grow up here but i feel like the change in late night as opposed to be a more positive outlook, a greater sense of warmth and positivity is just a reflection of what's happening in the world today. >> rose: especially because you have seen-- because of the media see of news 24 hours a day. are you full of that. >> yeah. >> rose: an you've seen it all. >> it's not just you saw it on a 30 minute newscast, you have seen it all day. >> and what you might want. >> rose: and on-line too, even more so. >> you might want just someone who says-- . >> rose: before you go to bed. >> it's going to be all right, you know, it's going to be all right and you wake up and realize it isn't. >> no, but i put them to bed too. >> rose: yeah. but it seems late night either makes you laugh or it gives you a chance to eaves drop on something. makes you laugh, and here they are eavesdropping on

something, getting to know you in a real way rather than in a performing way. >> yeah, i think also you know, the small changes that we've made in our show, i suppose, of bringing all our guests out at the same time and things. we would often talk about it in terms of atmosphere, really. and we would talk about the show going well, we're on after a talk show. there is a talk show on before our show. so what should we do. and we would-- where would you-- what is the show that is before us, it's from a broadway theater. where would you go after the theater. you might go to a bar or you might go to a comedy club or somewhere that say little more intimate. and you would probably talk with other people and so why not make this set feel more intimate. let's bring our guests together and make it feel more like an organic conversation, if you like. and that's-- and we didn't know quite how people would respond to that. you know, people mr. gobsmacked that we were even putting a couch the other way, do you know what i mean. >> yeah. >> but i guess that's the

sort of freedom that you feel when you've not grown-up here. >> rose: are you fearless? >> oh, no. i just-- i'm not fearless, by any stretch, no. i'm often full of terror and feel. >> rose: not terror about will i succeed but in willing to take risks. you seem to be -- >> well, i don't know. i think in all of these things you have to just sort of google earth yourself and realize that it doesn't really matter, do you know what i mean. and actually you go-- well, you know, what's the worst thing that can happen. you look a fool. well, so, so what, you know. >> rose: and forget about it tomorrow. >> exactly. so i would just-- i will sort of do anything for a laugh, really, is the truth. yeah. >> rose: how long has that been with you? i'll do anything for a laugh, ie, or said in a better way, how long has the idea of making people laugh been a source of satisfaction or even ambition? >> well, i think a lot of it

comes from school, i had a very good and positive school, you know, experience. but i went to just a very normal, you know, comprehensive school in the u.k. and so there was a lot of children in per year, per class. and if you look like me, if you are big like me, in school anything that's different, you're a target for a group of bullie's. >> rose: so you were a target. >> well, i never got targeted that much because once i realized quite quickly is oh, hang on, if i just do something silly and make these guys laugh, then i'll deflect, there is power in that. and what you realize is if you can say something quite quickly and make a bully feel on his own, and ostracized, then bullie's go oh, okay, we'll stay away from him. and they'll chase the kid over there. and you say oh, man, i'm sorry as he's running across the playing field being

chased by the people that it should have been me. but you're very-- i think i feel very -- that is i think where it came from, i think. >> rose: is most of the skits that you do, are they carefully scripted out or are they-- or in a general way, or are you just going in there saying i know how to make fun, if it is about the delivered pizzas, i know how to do that. >> well, all of those things, yeah, it's just a matter of going well, you wanted to feel organic. you want it to feel. we did, i think our eight episode we did a show in somebody's house. we just, we got a permit to film on a street in los angeles. and we didn't know which house we were going to knock on. and if anyone would let us in. but we thought well, let's just do it and go for it and try it. and we ended up. we knocked on one door and they said no. we knocked on one door, no one was in, the third door someone said sure, come on in. so we set up and we just shot the show in somebody's house. and we have pretty much no

prep for that other than beck was going to play and jeff goldblum was going to play and we were going to play hide n seek at some point. >> rose: that's what you do in a house like that. >> but those things make me feel like-- those are the things, those things that i saw on david letterman's show, i find slultsly inspiring. his interaction with people and getting out on the street and just doing stuff and being a citizen of the world really. we do a thing on our show where we take a break and just go to someone's work and say do you need a break. i'll step in for you. i will cover your shift. and they leave and i will just cover the shifted for an hour. and it's not scripted. we don't knows what's going to happen. we know nothing. we did it once in a mattress shop and there were only literally four customers. it was just me, just me and the owner of the shop like

cuddling on a bed, you know. that was kind of it, really. but that is when i feel like late night has a ability. >> rose: are you going to continue to have time? you're doing the show, it's like a part-time job for you. >> yeah, no, it really is, yeah, yeah. >> rose: tell the truth, it's a part-time job for you. you are going to do movies and specials, and make documentaries. >> well, i feel like i really have to give everything-- i have to give all of my focus to this show right now. i just do. and then my time that isn't there, i really owe it to my family to be with them. but i do hope that further down the line like you know, it's a dream of mine to host the tony awards am i would give anything to host that show. >> rose: what does that say about you? i mean does that-- tell dr. rose what that says about you. >> since of like being the center of attention, charlie, i done know that anyone-- i

don't know that anyone was thinking i wonder if this guy enjoys people looking at him, you know. i don't know. >> rose: you like being-- the tony awards because it's singing and dancing and acting and -- >> yeah. >> rose: it's live performance, it's everything. >> i also think it's the best award show on tv because it's got a huge, there is a matter of element of performance. award shows by their very nature are very indulgent things. billy crystal said yeah, this is what people need to turn on the tv and see a group of millionaires giving each other gold statues which i think is one of the greatest lines i've ever heard. but the tony awards, and also-- . >> rose: everybody loves a good contest. >> and i just love, i love broadway and i love the theater so much. >> rose: that's my point. >> i've had the best times of my life in the city working in those 12 streets of work. >> rose: i was the introducer of john oliver who just won a peabody. that made me think about him was that he ask so genuinely loves being in america.

>> yeah. >> rose: dow feel the same thing? >> yeah, absolutely. >> rose: just loves the fact that he's here. >> for me genuinely it's a thrill to even come to america. like it really, really is. so to live here, with my family, at the age that they are, my son is four and my daughter is seven months old. i just, it's almost too much for me to think-- it feels like an absolute privilege to come here, let alone work here, let alone have your own show here, is almost too much for me to think about d i feel very, very lucky to have had the experience of living in new york twice. i feel very lucky to be having the experience i'm right now of living in los angeles. and then on top of that, to be able to-- to be able to, if only for a fraction of people who live here, to talk to them every night is almost too much for me to take in sometimes. >> rose: it's great. >> i'm excited to see where

the show goes and what kind of fun we can have with it, you know. i want to-- you ought to come and do a skit. we'll do a skit together. >> rose: only if i can do a skit. >> yeah, great, i'll get my thinking cap on, yeah. >> rose: great to you have here. >> always a pleasure. >> rose: james cord enfrom the late late show. back in a moment. stay with us. >> aziz ansari is here. he is a stand-up comedian, he's a writer, an actor. and he has just written his first book with nyu socialiologist eric kleinenberg. it is called modern romance. and it takes a look at the way technology influences relationships, dating and how we love. here's a look at the book's trailer. >> are you looking for ♪ ♪ i'm looking for someone ♪ can you someone ♪. >> okay, early to bed, early to rise, makes a woman healthy, wealthy and wise.

that's why you're weisser than me. it's steven. >> hi, i'm maurice. i'm an executive by day and a wildman by night. >> hi, my name is monroe. you probably already notice that i have incredibly blue eyes. >> hi, my name is phil. most of my friends call me big phil. >> my name is mike, if are you watching this tape smoking your cigarette, hit the fast forward button because i don't like smoke and i don't like people who do smoke. >> if you like what i am going to say or you would like to know more about me, please write within hi, i'm aziz ansari. as the bozos you saw earlier in this clip so painfully illustrated, finding love has never been easy. today's romantic environment is more daunting and strange. that is why i decided to write my new book, modern romance. >> i'm pleased to have a

size-- aziz ansari back at the table. as modern romance runs through everything you do, doesn't it, stand-up comedy. >> yeah, i mean i think love and finding love is something that is always in your mind, my material is kind of autobiographical so it is's always been a part of it, at whatever stage i'm in. now i'm starting to kind of lossly write some new stand-up and it's kind of about become in a relationship for the last couple of years whereas the last special was when i was pore dating and stuff, that always a part of it. >> writing the book was the next step. >> writing the book i had written about some of these issues about you know, how so much of dating has moved toward your phone and texting and how we have all these weird dilemmas that seem u leakly personal to us but they end up being quite universal. and th i met a couple of socialiologists and academics and i would talk

to them about these subjects and the conversations were really interesting. it was really interesting to have their insight into these issues. that is what kind of gave me the idea, oh, if i could do that as a book, like have that kind of dialogue with me and socialiologists and actually do some real research but have it be in my voice, it would be a unique project. >> rose: i assume that is when eric came in? >> that's when he came in, yes. i pitched this idea for the book and i told my, the publishers, i went with penguin. i want to write this with a socialiologist to do it properly and have it work, both a social science book and humor book. they introduced me to eric and he really got it and he helped me design this research project that we did for like a year and a half where he inter-- der viewed hundreds of people. >> we did do something, some stuff on reddit, most of the interviews and stuff were in person. but one thing that was really helpful was, at one point we realized we're not going to be able to go everywhere. we're not going to be able to go to every city

everywhere and be limited but if we do it on the internet we can reach anybody. we can get them to talk about things they would be hesitant to talk about in person, things like cheating, and people got personal on the internet forums and it was superhelpful. >> rose: at the end of the day, what is the most important thing you learned about modern romance. >> i would say if i had to boil it down to one thing, i would say we're happier when we spend less time on our screens and more time in front of people. >> rose: yeah, i would say so too, yeah. >> yeah. >> so many people, you look at the on-line dating stuff, like it's huge. way bigger than i even thought going before, going into the book, you know, it's how people meet their spouse, bigger than work, school and friends combined. >> it's on-line. >> that is how people meet the people they end up marrying am you talk to some young people, they're doing this. >> rose: is there still, to interrupt you, is there still some, do most people acknowledge that they met there, the person who became their husband, wife,

partner. >> they're still a little bit of stigma. >> rose: there is. >> but it's going away. >> rose: i had someone famous say to me, i would love to go on-line because i would love to expand my world but i'm just-- i'm just nervous about it being known that that is what i do. that is what i am using. >> it's weird. i think if you are a public figure there is a little bit of different stigma that comes with it, having your thing out there when people know who you are, it is a little different. as farp as the stigma, just for the general public, i think it's going away, especially when you look at these numbers. it's like wow. >> rose: and look at the results. >> yeah, people are really successful with this. you expand who you are going to meet. you know, you are trying to find someone to spend the rest of your life with or to love and why not use that resource. it's an incredible resource. >> rose: how is texting changed the way people date? >> well, what is interesting is so much of this early stages of courtship have moved on to texting and the phone. and what's interesting is you know, he talk to women

who meet a guy at a bar or party. and they get to know him a little bit but their impressions of him really get formed even more when they start receiving messages. and you kind of realize, oh, there's almost two selves. your phone self and your real stef. >> rose: why is that? >> because people have these devices that contain a big part of their personal life. and the way you communicate on that really defines how people think about you. and i think with this romance stuff it's like especially with texting, you're not hearing a voice or anything. it's even different then a phone call. you just see these words and people read in so much into the time it takes for people to write back and their choice of words, certain things turn people off like grammar or spelling is a huge turnoff, for some people like it when a guy uses one of those emoji emoticons, other people are if they use an emoji i don't take them serious atly. it is interesting how

preferences develop and how certain things you say on your phone can really define how you end up faring in the real world. >> rose: this is a texting clip, here it is. >> i talk to a woman once she's like i'm just honest with people. i don't mess around. just honest. really, all right, i'm a guy, i asked you out for dinner you don't want to go. what would you say. >> i would say i'm not really interested the. within one hand there is no games, you're not wasting your time. on the other hand could you imagine actually receiving a text like that. >> want to get dinner. >> i am not interesting in having dinner with you. >> what are you a demon, that is the meanest thing, i'm person, i have feeling, i am i fellow human being that wanted to break bread with you an get to know you better. hey, you want some free food, you're like not if your presence is involved. you got a gift certificate, i will go with my friend. >> rose: there you go. >> do the bleep guys get excited when i come on the show. >> rose: yeah, they do.

and what is it that you know, what is it that you see out there in terms of the audience's response, what gets the biggest laughs? >> well, you know what i realize at a certain point in the last years of my career, there is almost kind of two different laughs. there is one laugh where people laugh and they're like oh, that's a funny thing. but then there is another kind of laugh where people are laughing you can see they are thinking oh my god, like i have felt that before. you hit a deep nerve there. and that's what is most exciting. >> rose: like it's a knowing experience. >> when you hit something that everyone is feeling that no one is talking about, then you are in a great place, i think. >> you also said this, that between 2005 and 2012 more than a third of the couples who got married, we talked about this, met through the internet. no other way of establishing a romantic connection has ever increased so far so fast. that's the thing in the book. >> yeah. >> rose: how-- what are the worst experiences people have on-line. because i also talk to

people who have said, when ef's done television segments about this, you know, that they will go through five people and meet them and then wonder, and get frustrated. and think well this is not working. then the sixth person is like their dream. >> uh-huh. >> well, i would say there is a couple of things there. the people that seem to be unhappy with the on-line dating were people that spent a lot of time sorting through profiles and sending messages back and forth and trying to establish this amazing connection before they met. >> looking for perfection. >> looking for perfection and trying to send so many messages and form this bond on the vene when in reality you really form these kind of connections in person. and like spending time with people in person is the key to the on-line dating. there is a woman helen fisher we interviewed, you know helen. she put it beautifully. she said these things should not be referred to as on-line dating sites. they should be called on-line interduction services because that is what it is about. about meeting a person in real life and seeing if there is a spark there.

>> what it really does is just expands, it expands the opportunity. >> yeah, i mean if you don't have on-line it's what, you have like, you know, college and work. like. >> that is exactly it. >> that's it. that is a finite amount of people. you have friends, friends of friends and randomly meeting people at a parties this is an on-line thing. a seamingly infinite set of people. >> are you doing more political jokes now? >> i'm not. i kind of don't follow the news closely enough. i always end up getting bummed out when i follow the news closely. i've always kind of just been sticking, recently more to just like very personal stuff. >> how did your parents like south carolina? >> i guess they liked it. i mean they're still down there. >> you told me before. >> they moved over to charlotte, north carolina linea now. >> rose: which is where i am, charlotte, but north carolina. but they were in south carolina. >> that is where i grew up. >> rose: speaking about your mother's experience immigrating from india to america.

>> my mom told me her first day in america was the scariest day of her life. i was like wow, why dow say that she is like i got here. i didn't know anyone. i was so far away from my friends and family. i barely even knew your father. they had an arranged marriage and she had known him for like a week at that point, serious. and she said she got here and she's in this small apartment, it's empty and didn't know what to do and felt so scared. i was like what did you do that first day. she was like i didn't know what to do, i was a enlo, your dad was at work and i just sat on the couch and i cried. i was like oh, so sad. how did you get through that? and she is like it was just one of those moments where i knew i had to be brave and figure it out. you ever have moments like that, aziz, with where you were so scared you knew you had to be brave and figure it out. and i was like-- no. my life is supereasy cuz you did all the struggling. so my life is [bleep] easy, i am not going to have any struggles to tell my kids about. what is my story going to be like oh, son, once when i

was flying from new york to l.a., my ipad died. (laughter) my kid will be like [bleep] dad, we're teleporting to mars. >> rose: there you go. >> he did it again. >> rose: modern romance is the book, aziz ansari, thank you for coming. >> thanks for having me. >> rose: where is your next concert date? >> well, i recorded that special when i did the garden. and so once you record those specials, you put them out and then you got to write a whole new act. >> rose: exactly. >> so yeah, i'm filming a tv show so i have been busy with that, at some point i will have to get back to the comedy clubs. >> rose: thank you for coming. >> thanks for having me. >> rose: thank you for joining us, see you next time. for more about this program and earlier ensoweds visit us on-line at pbs.org and charlierose.com. captioning sponsored by rose communications

captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

man: it's like holy mother of comfort food.ion. woman: throw it down. it's noodle crack. patel: you have to be ready for the heart attack on a platter. crowell: okay, i'm the bacon guy. man: oh, i just did a jig every time i dipped into it. man #2: it just completely blew my mind. woman: it felt like i had a mouthful of raw vegetables and dry dough. sbrocco: oh, please. i want the dessert first! [ laughs ] i told him he had to wait.