and a "New York Times" best-selling author.

He is the star and executive producer

of the Showtime series "Your Honor,"

which airs Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m.

Here he is, the one and only Bryan Cranston!

Ah, look at you! -Hey, Jimmy.

-You are the best. You're looking good, buddy.

We love it when you stop by,

and we appreciate it always, always, always.

Thank you for going above and beyond and doing "Fancy Soaps."

That was fun.

-It just so happens that I am a fancy soap collector,

and you didn't even know that. -[ Laughs ]

I did not know that. -Amazing.

-I didn't realize this, but soap actually plays a big part

in your acting career.

One of your first gigs was a soap commercial,

and we have a photo.

Here's a shot of Bryan Cranston in his Shield Soap commercial.

That's a stud right there. Come on.

Do you remember getting this gig?

-Yeah, look at that young man. Yeah, I do remember.

[ Clears throat ] In order to get

a soap commercial,

you got to go in really stinky. -Ah.

-That's good to know.

-I mean, yeah, it is after big garlic meal the night before...

-Yeah, I got you. -...and a few drinks stinky

and then running in sweats and then coming in,

because then they have to show that the product really works.

-Something else I did not really know about you --

but before your acting career took off,

you were briefly a stand-up comedian.

What got you into stand-up? Do you remember?

-Yeah. You know, Jimmy, it comes more naturally to you,

but it didn't come naturally to me.

I was afraid of it.

I think the only reason that I thought

I should do some stand-up is because it frightened me,

and just the idea of you're alone onstage,

a microphone and a light shining on you, and that's it.

Go.

And I thought, "Wow, to be able to do that would be amazing."

So I took a class and started writing some material

and went around to The Comedy Store

and the Improv and The Laff Stop

and the Playboy Club out here in Los Angeles

and did the routine.

I never got paid for it,

nor should I ever have been paid for it.

-Nope.

-I just did the open-mic nights, and I rose from --

I rose all the way up to the lofty position of mediocre.

-Oh. [ Laughs ] Congratulations.

Oh, my God. -I got up.

-Wow. You got all the way up to mediocre, yeah.

-Yeah. -Do you remember any of your --

any of your set at all, any jokes?

-Well, the one that really worked the best

was when I was talking about

how the plight of car sales in the country have gone down

and, you know, particularly men --

much more women are buying cars than men.

I said there's an easy way for men to buy cars --

just name them after women's body parts.

It's like... -Oh, yeah.

-"Guys, how about the perky little Ford Nipple?"

-[ Laughs and applauds ] Yeah.

-"That's an adorable little guy."

-Dude, that's actually a good bit.

That would work right now, by the way.

That would totally work right now.

I see already it already.

Well, earlier in your intro, I was -- I was --

I was listing your awards.

You won a Tony. You won an Emmy.

You're a "New York Times" best-selling author.

But you've won another award --

you have an award-winning mezcal.

-Yeah. -This is major.

-We just won Double Gold, yeah, from "Cigar & Spirits Magazine."

Dos Hombres, and I -- -Dos Hombres Mezcal.

-Dos Hombres. -And you and Aaron Paul

got together, and you guys started --

How did that happen? I love this.

-You know, about three years after the end of "Breaking Bad,"

we were in New York together, having dinner,

and we hadn't seen each other a lot since then.

It was, "God, I miss you.

You know, we used to see each other all the time,

and it was so intimate, and we were really good friends,"

but life goes on and you move on to other things.

And he said, "You know, what we ought to do

is start a mezcal company."

And I went, "You're kidding.

The thing with the worm at the bottom?"

He goes, "No, that's a BS marketing thing, no.

I mean, really good mezcal." -No, but you're right.

You're right -- It was that. That was it.

That's what I knew it as. -[ Laughs ]

-Yeah, that was horrible and cheap.

This is unbelievable.

He took me to a mezcal bar.

We tasted a bunch of different kinds,

and I said, "This is delicious."

We went down to Oaxaca for a week

and tested and tasted about 80 different mezcals

until we found Dos Hombres.

And it is -- it's just a beautiful spirit...

-Just delicious and smoky. -...old-world, gluten-free --

it's fantastic.

-I have some, and it's actually delicious.

I love it. -It's delicious.

-But that's crazy that you just do that

just out of love of missing each other

and you go, "Yeah, let's just do this

so we're forced to talk to each other and hang out."

-[ Laughs ] So --

Yeah, but there's reason for us to talk to each other

every day, yeah.

-Hey, I want to talk about your Showtime series "Your Honor."

For those who haven't seen it, can you set this up?

-Yeah.

"Your Honor" is about a superior court judge and his son.

His son is 17, a sweet kid,

and he unfortunately gets involved

in a traffic accident where a boy dies,

and he panics, and he leaves the scene of the accident,

thereby becoming a crime scene.

When he tells me and confesses what happened,

I tell him, "You've got to do the right thing.

You have to be accountable for your actions."

And I convince him --

we're going to turn him in to the police

and go through the system.

When we get to the police station,

I notice the parents of the boy who died that morning,

and the man, the father, is a vicious mob boss,

and I know that that man will kill my son,

regardless of whose fault it was or anything.

And so, with that new information,

I realize I can't just turn my son in to be killed --

I have to protect him.

So we do an about-face, and we leave.

-Yeah. -And from that point on,

we reverse-engineer everything that happened,

creating alibis, destroying evidence,

manipulating the jury system, and the whole thing,

and, of course, it's a downward spiral.

It's very tense, very emotional. -Yeah.

-I just didn't thank that the society had

enough anxiety in their lives,

so, like, we're contributing. -[ Laughs ]

You think people need more? No. But by the way...

-We need more. -...it's a hit, and congrats.

And I know you direct the finale.

-Yeah. -Coming up.

-Yeah, I direct the 10th episode of it, and it's --

you know, it is very interesting directing yourself.

The director me will always approach the actor me

and say something like,

"Wow, I mean, you're a lot better-looking

than I thought you were." -[ Laughs ]

-And... -Slow clap.

-And then, the actor me gets flustered

and feels the flirtation and sleeps with the director.

-Ohh. -It's kind of nasty, really.

-How long have you been sleeping with the director?

-Oh, many years. -Wow.

-And it hasn't gotten me very far.

I'm always disappointed, too. -[ Laughs ] Oh, my gosh.

-Really. It's like, "Is that it?

Really? That's all?" -That was all.

-Hm. -Yeah.

-I liked the flirting better.

Well, here's Bryan Cranston... -Yeah.

-...not necessarily directed by Bryan Cranston,

in "Your Honor."

Take a look at this.

-12 of our peers will do exactly what I want them to do.

Tomorrow or the next day, I am making a move.

Now, are we done here?

-Only number in here is mine.

I want to know what you've done and when you've done it,

and I want it by 10:00 a.m. the day after tomorrow.

Let's call that a deadline,

and let's give that word its literal meaning.

♪♪

-Bryan Cranston, everybody.

Check out "Your Honor"

Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m. on Showtime.