Bradley Cooper Is Amazing: Shreds Neil Young Air Guitar Solo In Afro- Oscar Favorite, 'American Sniper', 'Elephant Man' Star Wins The Tonight Show [VIDEO]

Bradley Cooper may be staring down an Oscar nomination for his role in American Sniper - while also packing houses on Broadway for his turn in Elephant Man - but did the actor miss his true calling, air guitar? Taking to The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon stage, Cooper — resplendent in an afro-visor combination given to him earlier by Fallon to celebrate a Producers Guild of America Award nomination and his 40th birthday — shredded the solo from Neil Young's classic "Down by the River"... all on his air guitar. He also talked Clint Eastwood, jazz and boosting ticket sales to Elephant Man by laughing about it.

After Jimmy explained to the audience that Cooper "has a little musical talent," the Hangover actor replied, "I'm glad you said that because it's very little."

What he meant was that his musical talent is limited to a very specific topic. "I play air guitar," Cooper revealed. "When I was a kid I had a lot of time on my hands and there's this one song by Neil Young. I don't know if everybody knows this, and I'm sort of proud that I know it. It's just the guitar solo from "Down by the River"...To air guitar to it is so meaningless...but I'd love to give you a little taste. It's long!"

What happened next was pretty terrific; suffice to say Cooper ends up in the Tonight Show audience shredding for a whole bunch of bemused, uncomfortable looking people. The best part is that, yeah, he's actually amazing at air guitar.

Check out the clip below:

Cooper - who recently appeared nude on the cover of and in a photoshoot for W Magazine - was also congratulated by Jimmy for producing American Sniper — the story of US army sniper Chris Kyle — as well as starring in it. Of producing the movie, Cooper explained that it simply came down to being on the ground floor with Kyle. "We got the rights to Chris's autobiography, American Sniper, we got the rights to it... So yeah, I started from the beginning."

As for American Sniper director Clint Eastwood, Cooper says "He's cool, man. He's a jazz musician, and he makes you feel right at ease right away."

Check out the clip below:

That's not all though: Cooper also explained a hiccup with Jimmy while they were talking the Elephant Man... which has apparently boosted the show's ticket sales!

Watch the rest of the interview below: