Norman Reedus is still buzzing over one of the cheeky practical jokes he pulled on his Walking Dead costar Andrew Lincoln during the pair’s infamous and longstanding prank war.
As part of a recent “Do You Even Know Me” video for LadBible, Reedus asked his Ballerina castmate Ana De Armas to guess what other language he can “kind of speak” outside of English. When she correctly identified that he is somewhat fluent in Japanese, Reedus recounted how he once used his knowledge of the language to embarrass Lincoln in an interview.
“I did a press tour once and Andrew Lincoln stood up on live TV in Japan and said, ‘How do I say welcome to your country?’ And I said, ‘Toire wa doko desu ka,'” Reedus recalled. “And he stood up on live TV and goes, ‘Toire wa doko desu ka!'”
Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln on ‘The Walking Dead’.
Gene Page/AMC
Spoiler alert: That was not an accurate translation. “[It] means ‘Where’s the toilet?'” Reedus explained, adding, “One of my proudest moments.”
Reedus appeared to be referencing his and Lincoln’s 2014 interview with the Japanese media outlet TVGroove, wherein they were asked to send a message to the Walking Dead’s Japanese fan base. After Reedus whispered the toilet translation into Lincoln’s ear, the Rick Grimes actor repeated the phrase not once but twice before happily pumping his fist in excitement.
“I got it right!” he cheered. “Yes!”
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Reedus then informed his buddy of what he’d actually said. “I got you back!” Reedus teased, laughing as he high-fived a shocked Lincoln. “Pranked! It means ‘Where’s the toilet?'”
“You son of a bitch!” Lincoln groaned, slapping Reedus’ shoulder before putting his head in his hands. “What a dick!”
After hugging it out, Lincoln took a moment to mourn his foiled delivery. “I was so happy about that!” he lamented. “Because you [behind the camera] reacted and I was like, ‘Yeah! I got it right!’ They were laughing at me!”
Don’t worry, though — Lincoln has since gotten payback on Reedus multiple times over the course of their years-long prank war, including with a little help from Entertainment Weekly.
After Reedus made headlines for pranking Lincoln once again by putting glitter in his car vents, EW helped Lincoln enact his revenge by having him pop a glitter-filled balloon over Reedus’ head during a Walking Dead cover shoot in 2017.
“That got me!” Reedus said at the time as Lincoln cheered and pulled him into a hug. “I was not expecting that.”
Watch Reedus recall using his Japanese knowledge for mischief in the clip above.
AloJapan.com