Robert De Niro isn’t known to be a verbose man, so when he stopped by “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” this week, the podcast host immediately encouraged him to fight that instinct. Before the interview even began, Poehler requested that he talk more than he usually would.
To kick things off, Poehler noted that she was aware of De Niro’s aversion to interviews, and thanked him for appearing. That said, she also joked that she was worried no one actually told De Niro that it’d be a long-form podcast interview, but he assured her he knew. So, Poehler made her gentle request.
“I’m going to ask you a favor,” she said with a laugh.
“To talk a little more? I’ll try,” De Niro said.
“Just a little bit more. I get paid by the word,” Poehler joked. “If I don’t meet my word count by the end of this interview, I’m screwed.”
With that, the interview began properly, with Poehler noting how “interesting” it is that De Niro considers himself an introvert. She even asked him to confirm if he still thinks that, earning a concise answer that boiled down to “in some ways.”
“OK, you’re going to have to talk more than that,” Poehler deadpanned. “OK? We need at least 10 more words, every sentence.”
Don’t worry, De Niro took the slight admonishment in stride, laughing along with Poehler, who immediately broke her faux-seriousness. The actor quickly joked that he needed a minute to come up with something more, but rolled right with it.
You can watch Robert De Niro’s full appearance on “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” in the video above.
