You look studly.
You look magnificent.
You look mysterious.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for being here.
I love this.
I want to get into everything that you have going on in your new series, Bates.
But I also want to talk about a couple films.
First is you're playing Hamlet.
That's right, yeah.
That's massive.
Congrats on that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's a big deal to go into that.
Yeah, it's something I wanted to do since I was, like, a teenager, so it's, yeah, feels really satisfying to share it with people.
I'm excited.
You're doing that, but then you also worked with one of our favorite humans, Tom Cruise, on this new movie Digger that's coming out.
How's Tom doing?
How is he?
Tom is always doing well.
He is, right?
He is, he doesn't have like an off switch.
I remember once I had we were in the middle of a rehearsal and I tried out an idea and the idea sucked right.
It's okay, that's what rehearsal's for.
And I tried this thing and it wasn't very good.
I was like, ah, it didn't really work.
The director, Alejandro, was like, cool, let's move on.
Before we moved on, Tom stopped everything.
He goes, okay, everybody stop, stop.
He goes, Riz?
I was like, oh my God, he's gonna tell me off.
He goes, when you try things like that, you're creating, you're taking swings, I love it.
Round of applause for Riz.
That's why he's the best.
I think I like this guy.
Yeah.
Everyone gave me a round of applause for screwing up.
It was fantastic.
Unbelievable.
Yeah, he's got such a good vibe.
He really does.
He's so positive.
Let's talk about Bait.
I think this is one of the coolest ideas of a show.
It's hilarious.
It's interesting.
It's so fun.
It's one of the most anticipated shows.
Everyone's buzzing about this.
Congrats on that.
I also like seeing you doing a comedy, because you're very funny.
How do we set up what the show is about for everybody?
The show is about an out of work actor who gets an audition to be the next James Bond.
Hence the outfit.
And so when word gets out, he is in the running.
People have a lot of strong opinions about it, which they do about casting sometimes.
Especially James Bond.
Exactly.
So they have such strong opinions, his life spirals out of control.
It soon feels like the kind of spy thriller he is auditioning for.
So he's in a chase sequence, but what he's chasing is public opinion and approval. in a way.
Yeah.
So it's a real trip and it's a lot of fun.
The word bait means something in England?
England that does American?
Well, it's British slang, but it means a lot of things.
You know, the show has so many different elements to it.
It's comedy, it's drama, it's romance.
And I realize it's hard to sum up in a sentence, but it is actually easy to sum it up in one word.
And that word is bait.
It's bait, yeah.
Yeah?
And bait means many different things.
And they all correspond to a different element of the show.
So bait is London slang for being really blatant and attention seeking, right?
Yeah.
Bait online means trolling. and provoking someone.
Beit in Urdu and Hindi means your loyalty or your allegiance.
Beit in Arabic and Hebrew means home or family.
And Beit in a spy thriller, of course, means something used as part of a trap.
Yeah.
Well done.
That's a name right there.
You can't name it anything else.
You can't even think to name it anything else.
It's brilliant.
It's funny.
Like this actor trying to be auditioning for Bond, kind of knows he's not going to get it and goes.
Instead of going out the back door, goes out the front and gets photographed by paparazzi.
And everyone's like, wait, is he the Bond?
It's just, it's brilliant.
It's good.
Sometimes you have to take things into your own hands.
You do?
Yeah like, for example, my name has been mentioned, even until quite recently, as a potential James Bond.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah, as a potential James Bond, yeah.
Wait a second.
But if you ask me, it hasn't been mentioned enough.
So this is interesting.
So I thought I'd take something into my own hands and I decided let me do something very subtle and sneaky.
Let me create a TV show where I play an actor auditioning to be James Bond and make it at the studio that now controls James Bond.
Inception.
Wow.
This is genius, but James Bond is one of the most iconic roles in history.
Why do you think that you're the right person for this role?
This isn't for my benefit.
No, no.
No, no, no.
I'm doing this to help people out.
I don't know if you've noticed, people are very stressed about this.
There's newspaper articles.
There's online conversation.
Everybody seems very distracted.
And sometimes you need someone to just stand up, you know, be a leader, and take one for the team.
And that's you.
Yeah.
I figured, listen, I'll solve this.
I'll do it.
It's me.
But I know what you're thinking.
I know what you're thinking.
I know what you're all thinking.
Let's just come out and say it.
Traditionally, actors playing James Bond have not looked like me.
Right?
Yeah.
It's true.
Traditionally, actors playing James Bond have always been five foot nine or over.
But the rumors aren't true.
I'm 5'8 1⁄2", not 5'8".
Oh, my gosh.
Thank you for clearing that up.
Exactly.
And in what world do you want a secret agent to blend in with the New York Knicks?
You need someone who's just below the eye line who really kind of blends in.
Yes, okay, this is good.
I said this is a good take.
I mean, you're winning the crowd over.
Do people come up to you, though, a lot and say that you think you'd make a good James?
Ever since I was a kid.
Ever since I was a kid.
Let me show you.
I'm going to show you a childhood photo.
Tell me when you see this, you don't see the next James Bond.
Look at this.
Boom.
Yeah, he's got...
It's all in the eyes.
It's all in the eyes, Jimmy.
It's all in the eyes.
And guess how old I was in that photo?
007.
Crazy.
The way it just works.
007 years old.
It's happening.
Look, for anyone who's still not convinced, I have one thing to say.
If somebody's saying, why should you be the next James Bond?
I would say to them, why not?
Honestly, why not?
Because...
This is what I love about America, Jimmy.
This is the land of why not.
Yes.
In England, if you come up with a cool idea, people are like, why bother, right?
Should we drive on the correct side of the road like everybody else?
Why bother?
Should we sort out our dental hygiene?
Why bother?
But America's the land of why not.
Imagine, should we put peanut butter inside chocolate?
Why not?
Wow.
Should we put foam cheese inside an aerosol can?
Why not?
Should we put a reality TV star in the White House?
Why not?
So I put it to you, ladies and gentlemen, should Riz Ahmed be the next James Bond?
If anybody asks you, just say, why not?
Yeah, I love that.
Come on.
That's how you do it.
That is how you do it.
Riz Ahmed, James Bond.
But before that, I want to show you a clip.
Here's Riz Ahmed in Bait.
Take a look at this.
Daniel Craig got paid 20 M's for the last movie.
My Shaju will get 21.
Just calm down.
It's just an audition, yeah?
Call me if you need a body double for sex scenes.
Can you tell her to call me as soon as she comes back in?
I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
I've just got to sort this out and work it out.
Yo, yo, look at me.
I'm proud of you.
Yeah?
Oh, my God.
Let's see what happens.
Of course, inshallah.
But do they know about the height?
What do you mean?
They're going to give you special shoes.
Like James Bond's big, isn't he?
Come on, bud.
Ms.
Ahmed!
Bait begins streaming March 25th on Prime Video.
More Tonight Show after the break.
Stick around, everybody.
