Comedian Tom Papa is the latest celebrity to go “Hiking With Kevin” in the foot-powered talk show, in which “Saturday Night Live” alum Kevin Nealon takes guests for a hike and a chat in a Los Angeles canyon.
During the conversation, Papa recalled the first time he ever appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman”, when he followed Tom Cruise — who was beyond psyched to make his first appearance on the show in more than a decade.
“Tom Cruise was the guest [and] he hadn’t been there in like 12 years and he was all pumped up and I was just trying to keep cool,” Papa tells Nealon.
“They brought me downstairs and Tom Cruise is running up and down the aisles,” added Papa. “The door opens up and Tom Cruise comes out at me sweating and he [goes] ‘Woah’ and he hugs me and says, ‘It’s great out there!’ I was like, ‘What’s gonna happen to me?’”
Papa also discusses his new book, You’re Doing Great and Other Reasons to Stay Alive, which has an inspiring yet offbeat message: stop looking for your life to magically get better, and focus on appreciating what you’ve got.
“I feel like people are under pressure right now and feel like they’re not doing enough or things have gone wrong. It’s like no, this is it guys, this is as good as it gets,” he explains. “You’re doing great, this is it. You’ve done it! You’re alive [and] you’re moving along, it’s not gonna get much better and it’s not saying it in a depressing way, that’s life.”
The entire interview can be seen in the video above.
