tds1273:
I remember seeing a video of Crispin Glover on Letterman. I don’t remember the specifics, except at one point he wanted to try some karate moves on Dave, but it was a very weird interview. IIRC the video details said that he was on LSD, but according to wikipedia it was apparently just a character Glover was doing; I’d wager it was both.
I’m sure it’s on youtube somewhere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALapHYNSmoA Here it is. He was ripped.
Peter O’Toole was on Letterman once and seemed to be completely out of it. At one point while talking to Dave, he casually pulled out a cigarette and started smoking it. Dave’s eyes nearly exploded out of his head.
I remember Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) making an appearance on Letterman completely off his ass, drinking out of a bottle in a brown paper bag throughout.
This was back when Late Night was one of the few things worth watching on network television, and long before any trace of mediocrity had begun to creep in. Around 1985, maybe?
At work, so no Youtube search, sorry.
hajario
February 4, 2009, 8:29pm
24
Crispin was a good friend of mine from the ages of 14 to 18. We lost touch when I went away to college and his acting career started to take off. We hadn’t spoken in over five years when that clip aired but I am nearly certain, knowing what I know about him, that he was doing a character while stone cold sober.
Oliver Reed was the first one I thought of. Not only drunk and incoherent but fairly belligerent also, IIRC. I don’t remember the sailboats though.
DMark:
There was the infamous Farrah Fawcett-Majors interview that, if she wasn’t drunk, she was on something. It was bizarre, to say the least.
The best part about this was when she came back on a couple years later. They had an intro to the show with Dave and Paul chatting in the hallway.
Paul: Who’s on the show tonight, Dave?
Dave: Well, we’ve got Dan Patrick from ESPN, and Farrah Fawcett.
Paul: Dan Patrick! Oh man! Remember last time he was on the show? Jeez, what was he on?
Dave: Hee hee, I don’t know!
Both of them share a good laugh for several seconds.
Paul: So, who else did you say was on?
Dave: Uh, Farrah Fawcett.
Paul: Has she been on before?
It was Oliver Reed :
OR: He’s one of the few actors I admire very much. Along with, how much time do you got?
So let’s cool that one. Let’s get on another subject. I love trees and boats.
This is perhaps his most infamous TV appearance, though .
Manduck
February 5, 2009, 1:07am
27
WOOHOO! I WIN! Where’s my prize??
astro
February 5, 2009, 1:26am
28
hajario:
Crispin was a good friend of mine from the ages of 14 to 18. We lost touch when I went away to college and his acting career started to take off. We hadn’t spoken in over five years when that clip aired but I am nearly certain, knowing what I know about him, that he was doing a character while stone cold sober.
I think most people (seeing the show) did not get the impression Glover was drunk or high, simply that he was a mentally unstable person.
From Wiki
[edit] Late Night Appearance
Glover is often remembered for his appearance on Late Night with David Letterman[8] on July 28, 1987, to promote his new movie River’s Edge. Glover appeared apparently in character, wearing platform shoes and a wig and staged an Andy Kaufman-like shtick that is still debated. After being goaded by a woman in the audience, Glover became incensed and stated that he “knew that this was gonna happen [sic]” and that “the press, they can do things, they can twist things around”. After a failed attempt to challenge Letterman to an arm-wrestling match, Glover delivered an impromptu karate kick just inches from Letterman’s face while shouting, “I’m strong… I can kick!”.[9] A noticeably irked Letterman abruptly ended the segment and cut to commercial. However, it should be noted that Glover came back on the show two-and-a-half years later, during which he was much more collected than his first appearance (as well as being able to joke about that appearance). In a 1989 MTV interview, Glover said that the character appearing on the show was “Rubin Farr” [10] (his character from Rubin and Ed released in 1991 but in development since before Back to the Future - Crispin had already devised the “look” by 1985).[11] He has later, noticeably amused, on The Adam Carolla Show and Tom Green Live among others, continued to neither deny nor admit any of the rumors surrounding the incident, even whether that was him on the show at all, stating that it’s much more interesting to keep it a mystery and let anyone form their own theories about what went on
.
Leaffan
February 5, 2009, 1:38am
29
astro:
I think most people (seeing the show) did not get the impression Glover was drunk or high, simply that he was a mentally unstable person.
From Wiki
[edit] Late Night Appearance
I actually remember seeing that show when it was broadcast. Spooo-fucking-keeee. Have a look at the clip. The guy is obviously high on something.
hajario
February 5, 2009, 5:24am
30
He would do characters like that all the time when I knew him. He’s playing a part, not that different from his part on The River’s Edge or one of his characters in a David Lynch film. As astro ’s link shows, it was a specific character that he used in a later film. It was a put on, I assure you.
Although Oliver Reed is not in this list, there’s still plenty of awkwardness go to around:
Cracked.com–Letterman’s 9 most hilariously awkward moments
