Pop superstar Adele’s television special Adele One Night Only was as much about spotting celebrities as it was about the music. Viewers were singling out every Hollywood A-lister they could find from Drake and Selena Gomez to Melissa McCarthy to Donald Glover. The special was just a who’s who of Hollywood. But one celebrity cameo that stuck out was An American Pickle’s Seth Rogen. It appeared being prominently featured in Adele’s comeback special shocked him as well. After gaining some attention for participating in the televised concert, Rogen gave a hilarious take on what it was like sitting in the front row.
The subject of Rogen’s front row seat came up while the comedian was visiting The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and he shared his one-of-a-kind experience at the Adele concert:
I was there in the front row of the Adele, and that is as surprising to me as anyone because I had no idea I was attending the taping of an Adele television special at all.
Jimmy Fallon couldn’t help but press Seth Rogen about everything went down during the taping. The actor recalled receiving an invitation to a “small” Adele concert. Much to his surprise upon arriving at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, he and his wife Lauren were seated in the front row. Rogen recalled feeling like other celebrities were eyeballing him.
The entire I’m thinking ‘there are so many more famous people than me here who should be sitting where I’m sitting.' I could just feel them be insulted that I had such a good seat. I was in front of Drake. Like there’s no world where I should be in front of Drake. How is that possible? I could just feel Drake’s eyes drilling into the back of my head… I truly have no idea why they did that. It was truly wild.
As the interview continued, Jimmy Fallon wanted to know how he played it cool under all that pressure. Seth Rogen shared his approach, and it sounds like his years of acting paid off:
I just tried to look cool[…] and at an Adele concert, it was hard for me to look cool. I’m uncomfortable, I’m too close. I feel like Leonardo DiCaprio behind me thinking ‘Did Seth Rogen write 'Rolling in the Deep'? Is that why he’s so close?’[…] I played the role of just a normal, undistracted guy trying to enjoy an Adele concert.
Fallon eventually asked the question everyone was thinking – how did Seth Rogen know Adele? He revealed he didn’t know the soul singer at all. Rogen even questioned why she or the production staff put him and his wife in the front row. But being in the front row wasn’t part of Seth Rogen’s plan at all. Since he and his wife were under the impression the concert would be an intimate affair, they “smoked a ton of weed” before going to the taping.
Unfortunately, a small, intimate concert wasn’t the situation for the Rogens. The couple noticed a production crew, camera cranes, flying drones and talk show icon Oprah Winfrey upon arrival. After originally planning to hide in the back, the Pineapple Express star spilled how he and his wife found out they would be front and center.
So, we go up to the front desk and they give us our tickets and our seat numbers are literally 1A and 1B. I’m like ‘oh, no! that sounds close.’ And we’re in front row center and close as fathomly can be. I sit down, and there’s literally a camera pointed right in my face.
While he enjoyed watching Adele live, Rogen felt out of place and distracted by the circumstances. Besides feeling uncomfortable, Seth Rogen complained about having to stand up after every song being in the front row. But there was a positive for him as the Mario star claimed the televised concert was the most popular thing he’s done in years.
It should be mandatory to have Seth Rogen front and center at every televised concert or awards special, just for the recounts alone. Hopefully, his elevated humor will be present in his new show Santa Inc., which premieres on Dec. 13 on HBO Max.
