Celebrities oftentimes like to champion their various charitable causes on late-night shows, but when Michael Cera stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week, the late-night show was the charitable cause.
After the pair made their introductions, Cera explained that because he loves the show so much, he wanted to show his appreciation with a gift. “Because I watch the show and everything you do, and I love all the taped segments and the live segments,” the Life and Beth star explained. “So I thought I would just preset the show — this is for the show, it’s not for you personally — it’s for the production, but it’s a check for, you know, $1400 and a little more, $1,433.”
When asked why that amount, in particular, Cera elaborated. “I was talking to my business account; he he said this is kind of what I can afford right now,” he said. “Well, I thought when you’re expecting nothing it’s kind of like, obviously it’s all relative, you know, some people might donate more — the thing is you’re going to get hammered on taxes, so like, it’s going to end up being kind of like, $750 that you net, and that’s why I aimed it for this figure.”
As for suggestions on what to do with the money, Cera suggested renting “some nice costumes” or framing the check and putting it in his office.
“But the thing is, this is worth so much more than $1,433 because if you have someone like Mark Cuban on the show, which I’m sure you have,” he continued. “Because Mark Cuban has like $2 billion, I believe, and so, a million dollars is like a thousand dollars, you know, for you and me to Mark Cuban.”
Cera proposed that perhaps Mark would see the video of the interview on YouTube and see in the comments about how everyone will be talking about what a fantastic guy Michael Cera is and perhaps be inspired to donate some of his own money to the show.
“Who knows what kind of check he’ll cut?” the 34-year-old quipped.
Though, he also pointed out that the check wasn’t so much a check but a deposit slip and was intended to be symbolic. “And like, I’ll Venmo you, we’ll figure it out later,” he added as Fallon finally broke down into laughter.
Cera continued his awkward guy schtick when later discussing his now nearly one-year-old son that he and his wife secretly welcomed last year: “I just love him, and I know he’ll be watching this someday and just be so proud of me, how well I did tonight and everything.”
