You know how on talk shows every now and then a guest will do something utterly crazy, like bounce up and down on a couch (Tom Cruise on Oprah); show up completely high and incoherent (Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman); set furniture on fire (Gilbert Gottfreid on Leno); or get aggravated and walk off the set (can’t think of anybody off hand, but I’m sure it’s happened). Has that ever happened on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon?
I’ve only been into Fallon for a few months, so I haven’t seen every episode of every season.
Video of the Crispin Glover letterman interview. The famous portion of the incident happens starting about 2:15: Glover kicking towards Letterman’s face and coming within inches of contact, after which Letterman gets pissed and walks off stage.
“Woulda love to’ve chatted more with Crispin Glover, but I understand he had a cab to catch …”
Marsha Warfield had a short-lived talk show once upon a time. Mr. T was a guest. He came out wearing a huge pair of sunglasses which he declined to remove. Marsha asked him if it was because he was “incognegro.” Things went downhill from there.
I for one don’t believe that Phoenix, Goldthwaite, or Glover experienced “meltdowns.” They were simply performing bits that didn’t go over well. This kind of thing is essentially Richard Lewis’s career.
As for the Daily Beast links. We know for a fact that Kaufman and Lawler were in cahoots and their entire rivalry was a put-on.
Andy Dick is a borderline case. That kind of stuff is essentially his act, but sometimes he seems genuinely under the influence. but Dick was also the primary caregiver for his children, so I suspect a lot of his “meltdowns” are simply an act too.
I honestly don’t doubt it was a joke, as the silliness was too extreme (IMO) to make a real breakdown or drug trip near as likely. But as a joke it fairly well bombed; getting himself more or less kicked off the show just made him look like a doofus. And if he was genuinely going for Kaufman-esque audience-confusion-as-art then he doesn’t appear to have had the constitution to keep going with it.
Another one, I thought I saw before but I can’t find it now. Clive pisses off Richard Branson, who then pours his drink on Clive’s head.
I think that was the inspiration for Branson throwing his drink at Colbert years later. Although some people thought that it might have been genuine and not scripted.
Didn’t Clive Anderson host a travel program in the early 1990s in which he went around the world being rude to people?
After watching that clip, I have no idea what happened. They seemed to be getting along just fine, with a few good-natured digs here and there, and all of a sudden Barry says he’s leaving, Robin follows him out, and Maurice sits for a few seconds before saying, “Well, I guess I’d better go too.”
I read about it a few years ago and basically they, or at least Barry, just got sick of Clive constantly making jokes about them and their music. He took it too far. Here’s Maurice Gibb talking about it
Crispin Glover was on David Letterman twice more (or maybe more?) after his stupid stunt, according to his Wikipedia entry. I don’t know if DL was in on it, though.