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Playing a game of 'Wild Card', actor Rob Delaney recalls a sweet childhood memory

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Each week, a well-known guest draws a card from our Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. This week, we hear from comedian and actor Rob Delaney. Delaney is currently starring in the summer blockbuster "Deadpool & Wolverine," as well as the new TV show "Bad Monkey." Here he is talking with Wild Card host Rachel Martin.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

RACHEL MARTIN: One, two or three?

ROB DELANEY: Two, please.

MARTIN: What's a moment when a stranger made you feel loved?

DELANEY: Oh, my gosh. You've really - I don't - I want to be honest with you now. But, you know, I have some memories that I've never told people before - not ever, anyone. And it's not that they're so intense, but they're just sort of, like, these touchstone things that I can revisit when I'm, like, sad or angry to think about people's goodness. And one is so strange. It's a snowy day. I'm in elementary school, maybe fourth grade. And I remember I was in a hallway at my school. I don't know if I'd gone to the bathroom or something. And an adult woman who didn't work at the school - I don't know who she was - but came in and, like, snow came in with her and was, you know, swirling around her.

And it was like a couple - it was maybe the last day of school before Christmas. And I remember she looked at me, and she just said, I hope you have a merry Christmas. And she made eye contact with me, and I'd never seen her before. And it just felt so nice to have an adult stranger look at me, a stranger boy, and just say something, you know, just nothing remarkable, but just a sweet thing. And that's, like, one of the larger memories of my crazy life, where you would think I would have more - but I just remember this woman doing that. And it just oddly touched me. I think she might have been an angel. I think she might not have been a human woman. But...

MARTIN: Do you actually think that?

DELANEY: ...That's always - yeah, because why did it stick with me for so many years?

MARTIN: Yeah, yeah.

DELANEY: So it's one of those things where, like, there was something deeper happening in that moment than just the words and just the eye contact. So yeah, I think she was a special person who visited me. And I also feel nervous that I told you about it 'cause that's, like, one of my sort of special memories. So please anyone listening, forget you heard this, or alternately, please treasure it like I do.

MARTIN: I think what I love about this question is that I think that's a particular kind of love. Like that, for me...

DELANEY: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...Like, when strangers do stuff, it just...

DELANEY: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...Like, kills me when someone who - they could just move on with their day, but when they choose to, like, look at you, recognize you and say something in a moment that - it just destroys me. It opens me up in a way that...

DELANEY: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...If someone, my best friend or my partner or a kid - if anyone else did the same thing, it wouldn't have nearly the impact as a stranger seeing you in that moment. And I love those experiences. They're the best. Yeah.

DELANEY: They really are. They really are.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Rachel Martin is a host of Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.