Wow.

On paper, it sounded like an “SNL” sketch: Christopher Walken guest-hosting a radio show on NPR. But on Monday, Walken did – and there was no need for more cowbell.

The actor filled in for Leonard Lopate on NPR’s WNYC 93.9-FM affiliate in New York. (Walken began the broadcast earnestly: "Hi I'm Chris Walken. Leonard Lopate took the day off and I'm filling in for him.")

He had a non-stop string of guests over two hours: Tony Award-winning theater director Jack O’Brien and Tony Award-winning actor Richard Easton; actress Zoe Kazan (who recently starred with Walken in the play “A Behanding in Spokane”); classical dancer Jacques D’Amboise and Alex Shimizu, a 15-year-old prodigy; a cameo by Eddie Izzard; and chef Lidia Bastianich and her mother, Erminia Motika, to talk about Italian food.

“If I had a cooking show, it would be three acts,” Walken said at one point. “Buy the chicken, cook the chicken, eat the chicken.”

Listen to the entire show below: