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Shot & A Beer with Anthony Mackie

Bon Appétit's Andrew Knowlton sits down for a shot and a beer with actor Anthony Mackie (Gangster Squad, Half Nelson, The Hurt Locker) at his Brooklyn bar NoBar.

Released on 08/06/2012


What's up?

I'm Anthony Mackie.

We're here at my place NoBar

in Crown Heights, Brooklyn

and you're watching Bon Appetit's Shot and a Beer.

Alright, Anthony, so what kind of beer are you gonna have?

Well, I figure

since it's the hottest day of the year so far,

we could have a nice white light beer.

I figured a Southampton Double White would suffice.


Cheers, sir.


Alright, so this is the way this works on Shot and a Beer.

I'm gonna ask you questions just on not acting,

none of those usual questions you get

but about bar, boos,

all that stuff. That's what I like.

So, you ready?

Let's do it.

Alright, what's the cardinal bartender sin for you

besides charging you $15 for a cocktail?

$15 for a cocktail, one,

or taking too long to make my drink.

Alright, on that $15 cocktail note,

what cocktail wouldn't you be caught dead ordering?

See, my problem is I love girly cocktails.

[Anthony] Do you?

Oh (bleep).

Oh my god, like a pina colada or a bahama mama or one,

oh my god.

Will you go into a bar and order a cosmopolitan?

No, no, no, a cosmos, eh,

that's too much.

I don't like this.

I don't like those.

You know what I mean?

So two-parter,

best and worst part of owning your own bar?

You can drink whatever you want

and no one tells you nothing.

Worst part of owning your own bar,

your friends come over

and expect to drink whatever they want

and expect you to tell them nothing.

Nothing, we charge you

nothing. Nothing, exactly.

Have you ever sent a drink to a girl across the bar?

I have sent a drink to a girl, funny enough,

and I've had her boyfriend send the drink back.

Really, what'd you buy?

It was one of their rhubarb crumble pie drink.

I'm like, What girl wouldn't want a rhubarb pie drink?

So I send it to her and she gets the drink

and she looks over and she goes, oh.

And I'm like, Ahh.

Right, so the dude I guess comes back from the bathroom

He like,

I see the whole conversation

and she goes,

he goes,

right so the bartender, whose a friend of mine,

comes over and grabs the drink and he's like,

The guy said you drink it.

Alright, greatest bar snack of all time?

You know what,

bar snacks scare me because of,

I saw that movie Contagion

and it messes me up.

Too many hands, too many hands.

What's the best drinking city in the world?

I would have to say,

I've been to a lot,

I've been to Belgium,

I've been to Amsterdam,

I've been to a lot of drinking cities.

I've never been to a city that compares to New Orleans.


Since this is Bon Appetit's Shot and a Beer,

I think we've had enough beer.

Let's do a shot.

What's your shot?

It's nice.

It won't get you too drunk but,

this is called a funky commodore.

Alright, well thanks for doing this.


Thank you for having me.




It's not bad.

You know, a little something for the people.

If the ocean were whiskey and I were a duck,

I'd swim to the bottom and never come up.




Starring: Andrew Knowlton, Anthony Mackie