In a town where friendships are often forged in press junkets and forgotten before the check clears, Natasha Lyonne and Method Man have built something real. A hardboiled TV sleuth and a Wu-Tang Clan warlord walking into a Peacock soundstage sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but instead it became one of the most unexpectedly wholesome bonds in Hollywood.
The 46-year-old Poker Face star, already known for resurrecting the chain-smoking, wisecracking archetype of the noir anti-hero in a post-streaming world, found her mirror image in none other than Clifford Smith Jr., better known as Method Man. That’s right—Natasha and Meth are now tight. No gimmick. No PR stunt. Just two New York souls who recognized the same grit behind each other’s eyes.
“It turns out he and I are maybe the same person,” Lyonne confessed during the Poker Face Season 2 premiere livestream in L.A., cutting through the red carpet gloss with the same sharp delivery that’s made her a cult favorite since Slums of Beverly Hills. “We get along so well. We had so many laughs.”
And laughs were the currency. According to Lyonne, Method Man might even be funnier than her longtime friend and comedy darling John Mulaney. “I think Method Man is funnier,” she said, eyes lit with mischief. “I said it here. Yeah, that’s a dare, John.”
This wasn’t just two celebrities swapping jokes between takes. Lyonne and Meth found common ground in the DNA of their hometown—the New York attitude problem, she calls it. That mix of hardened exteriors and soft, anxious hearts. “We were just people who really want to do a good job, but seem tough because we have accents. But at heart, [we] are just softies.”
The camaraderie ran deep enough that Lyonne got the rare privilege of calling him Clifford—a name usually reserved for grandmothers and ghosts of Staten Island past. “He let me call him Clifford,” she said. “I guess only his grandmother does that.”
If that’s not a badge of friendship in this business, what is?
With Poker Face Season 2 premiering on Peacock May 8, the real twist isn’t the next murder plot or celebrity guest star—it’s the quietly revolutionary pairing of a downtown indie darling and a Staten Island rap legend sharing screen time, inside jokes, and real human connection in a town that fakes it for a living.
They’re proof that sometimes, the best duos aren’t cast—they just happen.
Celebrity Hollywood Music Television
Last modified: May 5, 2025
