In typical Macdonald style, it’s an excruciatingly long setup to get to a very simple punchline, and Allen’s discomfort becomes increasingly palpable the more Macdonald details his past misdeeds. It wouldn’t be like Macdonald to clear any kind of touchy question with an interviewee, and it’s plainly apparent that this was a curveball that Allen didn’t see coming.
Allen handled the awkward interaction as well as anyone who spent two years in prison for drug crimes could navigate a question about selling cocaine. In fact, the Santa Clause star gets points for his quick quip, “You just learn to pick soap up with your feet, that’s all that I learned,” though given how Allen ultimately got sprung from the joint, he probably should have added, “and you get out early if you rat out all your friends.”