Which entertainers do you think make for bad interviews? It could be because they’re jerks, or boring, or whatever.
A couple of minutes ago I finishes watching John Noble on Conan. I was hoping for a great interview, but it was pretty awful in my opinion.
Years ago I saw Charlie Watts on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Damn was he boring. And part way through he laughed at something Kathie said because he misunderstood it.
Who do you think is better at performing than talking about it?
Warren Beatty has a reputation for being perhaps the worst interview subject in the world, and he is pretty bad. Very guarded and hesitant. Getting anything out of him is like pulling teeth.
But I’d also nominate comedian Richard Lewis, based upon an appearance he made on Tom Snyder’s radio show in the early 90s. He was off the wall nuts. After Lewis’ segment was over and he’d left the studio, Snyder said that Lewis was the most difficult interview of his career.
I saw one years go with Elliot Gould, the second worst celeb interview I’ve ever seen. Regardless of the question his answer involved whales and what we had to do to save them. Dude, I’m all on board with that, but you’ve been flown out here to talk about the frickin’ movie!
Third worst was Val Kilmer about the Batmen movie he was in. After a great deal of deliberation, for some questions, he condescended to volunteer a monosyllable.
But the worst was Oliver Reed on Mike Aspell. No skunk has ever been drunker.
I saw Chuck Jones years ago on Later with Bob Costas. I have huge respect for him, but I think his talent was for drawing Bugs Bunny, et al., and bringing them to life, but not in talking about it. Not that he was awkward or combative or anything, but just kinda lifeless and with not much insight into his career.
Robert DiNero is notorious for not talking, barely grunts. He rarely does interviews and that’s a good thang. lol
Not to long ago there was that interview on Letterman with him and Dustin Hoffman. Dustin pretty much did all the talking.
Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters.
Well, there was the infamous Sex Pistols interview on the Today Show. But if the Pistols were jerks, then it’s only fair to consider they were provoked by a drunken Bill Grundy.
I like that interview. Not for itself, it is rather mediocre, but to think that this couple of retards could upset whole England with just a couple of swear words is funny.
He did just fine talking about his life and work in his book Chuck Amuck; but you may well be right about him as an in-person interviewee.
Larry King said that Robert Mitchum was the worst interviewee he ever had; Mitchum replied to all his questions with one-sentence answers – and they were short sentences.
The first person that springs to my mind is Robin Williams. He can never turn the schtick off and it makes me cringe to watch him being interviewed. Ditto Jim Carey.
I don’t know if that’s true anymore… At any rate, Marc Maron interviewed him on his WTF podcast a few years ago, and Williams gave a remarkably thoughtful interview. There was no schtick to be seen – he was very calm, almost melancholy, and he came across as someone who had gained a lot of wisdom through his vast life experience. It was a very compelling interview, even for someone with no particular interest in Williams or his career.
For anyone interested, I believe you can listen to it for free on iTunes (just search for “WTF with Marc Maron” and it’s episode 67).
Robert Osborne said the same thing about Mitchum. He said that during the breaks when the cameras weren’t rolling, he was as talkative as anyone, but once the cameras were turned on, “he completely stonewalled me. I could have strangled him!”
One writer said that Bob Hope was a bad interview, but I’d have to track down the book to see exactly why. Basically, on “Tonight”, for example, he and Carson go over the interview beforehand, so it was already somewhat scripted. But to try to get him of of shtick in an interview was a challenge.
Bill Murray
I wouldn’t take Larry King’s opinion very seriously. He’s a pretty lousy interviewer.
Richard Lewis usually does his shtik in TV interviews, but like Robin Williams, he gave a non-shtiky interview to Marc Maron (episode 193). I think that people like Lewis and Williams see certain “interviews” as not really being sincere interviews but really just performance venues. I think they see Maron’s podcast in a different light.
James Woods was on Craig Ferguson this week…
Usually theres a great back & forth in Ferguson’s interviews, but god, Woods just wouldn’t shut up, i thought it was awful, he came accross as such a tool.
Harrison Ford is a notoriously bad interview subject.
He’s probably sick of hearing the interviewers ask him if he’d bullwhip or lightsaber a mugger if he was attacked on the street.
Crispin Glover did some weird performance art type interview with David Letterman. I watched it live, and though Glover had cracked up.
Good to know that Robin Wiliiams has toned it down. I really like him but watching him being interviewed used to make me embarassed for him.