The rumor is that he’s in the process of filming some sort of guerilla film project that’s going to be like Southland Tales meets Borat or something, and that the entire thing is some sort of Kauffman-esque immersion into character for it.
This was my favorite 
…although, secretly, I was worried he would get up during one of Dave’s snarky remarks and just unload and punch him.*
- Don’t get me wrong - I’ve got nothing but love for Dave. But damn, this guy was on something. He could have claimed he was knocking the face-chewing bats off of Dave’s head for all I know.
I think it is. He cracks up a bit when Letterman asks him about his days with the Unabomber.
On a scale of 1 to 10 for strange Letterman appearances, where would we put:
Farrah Fawcett.
Crispin Glover.
Drew Barrymore (more of a great birthday for Dave).
Harvey Pekar’s last appearance.
Joaquin Phoenix.
And – how do they compare to Bobcat Goldthwait setting Jay Leno’s couch on fire?
There’s actually a bit of talk about this whole thing being part of an elaborate ruse: Welcome To Hosting With Hawk Host!
If it is part of elaborate ruse, well, it just wasn’t funny. and if it was then Dave is a great actor. and the chewing gum bit was disgusting.
I’m with the “It’s All A Hoax” theory. Certainly Phoenix has never been the most normal guy, but it’s all too much. Supposedly he’s getting Casey Affleck to film his burgeoning rap career, and I can’t imagine Affleck would be part of this downward spiral unless it was a joke.
I got a weird sense of *deja vu *while watching it, and finally it hit me: it was almost as if he’s mimicking the “Danny the drug dealer” character from Withnail & I.
If only he’d said something about long hair being our aerials, man…
As for the drug[s] in question, could it be… a Quaalude?
That has got to be a put on. It’s too bizzare to be real. Presumably he has advisors and people who manage his career, right? Why would they book him on this show if he’s really this much of a nutcase? I call shanagains.
It could be argued that because he has announced he is quitting acting, he doesn’t care what people think of him, he’s going to play the role of insolent hip hop performer.
I think it was probably a gag, but one that Dave wasn’t in on. At the very end, as they were going to the commercial, Joaquin got up as if he was about to leave, but then he approached Dave, held out his hand, took off the glasses and said something. I think he may have been explaining or apologizing.
Whatever it was, you can’t deny that it was 1) entertaining (in a strange way) and B) got us all talking about Joaquin Phoenix.
I could hardly watch that ‘performance’, I was squirming. I don’t like that kind of humor. ( I remember the time not too many years ago where Dave sent Rupert Jee (hooked up with an earpiece Dave could relay stupid questions) out walking around acting like he just wandered away from a mental institution, accosting strangers with bizarre Dave-originated mutterings. I was afraid someone was going to punch Rupert out. Dudes, you aren’t frat boys, you’re too old and supposedly wiser to do that stuff.) … I’m beginning to sound like not only my mother, but my grandmother now.
If Dave was in on the supposed joke, he seemed pretty uncomfortable even before JP came out - his jokes and sense of timing seemed off.
You left out the time Madonna came on and refused to leave, and, back on the NBC show, the fight between Andy Kaufman and the wrestler (I forget his name), and virtually every appearance by Brother Theodore.
Jerry “The King” Lawler, and that whole thing was a set up too.
Many people suspected as much at the time, but Lawler only admitted it much later. After Andy’s death, IIRC.
Long after. I think he only admitted it during the publicity for the Man on the Moon film.
For fans of weird interviews, go to the Daily Show’s website and search for “matthew mcconaughey goat sex”.
Definitely ranks up there.
It’s fake and I think I heard that Casey Affleck is in on it.
You have to remember, Letterman likes jokes like this. He loved Andy Kaufman, who liked putting on elaborate practical jokes that only he and his friends really knew about.
He also likes Bruce Willis, who frequently appear with some kind of elaborate joke setup(remember Fry Hard With a Vengeance?).
Of course, Bill Murray has appeared many times to make weird appearances, like the time he began every response with, “Well, I’ll tell you what…”
It’s fake and Letterman is in on it. Besides, it makes for interesting television.
I vote that Phoenix is faking it, but that Dave was not in on the joke. You can see Dave pause in thought just before he transitions from standard-interview-format to handle-uncooperative-guest-format. And Dave seemed irritated when he made the quip about coming to his house and chewing gum.
I thought the whole interview was pretty funny though. The ‘maniacal laughter’ and ‘that seems unlikely’/‘I’ve seen some of your musical guests’ were funny.
As for weird Letterman interviews, what about his first ever – Bill Murray drunk on tequila.
If he’s on drugs after what happened to his brother, I have no words…
And he can’t possibly be serious about doing hip-hop; if he is, he’s seriously on drugs.
Just what we need, another millionaire buffoon.