# Oddest artist interviews **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402 "2020-05-24T22:33:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/1 "2020-05-24T22:33:45Z")
While digging around YouTube, [I found this bizarre press conference by Lou Reed with the Australian press in 1974.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UrhX1ilwwc) I don’t know the context of this event, but both the artist and the press seem eager to get each other’s goat. What interview of an artist/actor/entertainer sticks in your mind as noticeably odd? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/2 "2020-05-24T22:47:07Z")
I did not see it myself, and this may not even count since it was not a _press_ interview, but the descriptions I’ve read of Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman are way out there. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/3 "2020-05-24T23:29:29Z")
And Crispin Glover on Letterman, and Drew Barrymore on Letterman, and Farrah Fawcett on Letterman… ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/4 "2020-05-25T01:41:43Z")
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuhHThAaymQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuhHThAaymQ) Peter O’Toole at a new level of loaded on Carson. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/5 "2020-06-24T03:17:13Z")
Two comics-related documentaries, **Crumb** and **Rude Dude** , come to mind. In **Crumb** , Robert Crumb, his wife and his brothers all seem to genuinely want their stories to be heard but do themselves a great disservice in telling them (Charles Crumb, Robert’s older brother, killed himself shortly after the movie was made and it’s not hard to imagine that the two were connected.) **Rude Dude** , a documentary about superhero artist Steve Rude, was made with his enthusiastic cooperation, but he appeared to be in the middle of a nervous breakdown all through it. It’s possible that this is his default state of mind, but apparently police were called on him during filming. Harvey Pekar and Harmony Korine were both interviewed on **Letterman** (I think Korine was on it promoting **Gummo** ) and I can’t imagine two men less suited for network television. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/6 "2020-06-24T03:25:32Z")
I recall Hunter S. Thompson appearing on Conan O’Brien sometime in the early 2000s. He emerged onto the stage holding a margarita, fell onto the couch, and spent about five minutes drunkenly and half-coherently slurring his way through Conan’s questions. Conan seemed extremely disappointed that he’d managed to land an interview with one of his literary idols and he was completely shitfaced for it. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/7 "2020-06-24T05:48:42Z")
[James Brown on CNN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQmqcaS5LIM) in 1988 ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/8 "2020-06-24T06:17:48Z")
Both Phoenix and Letterman later admitted that it was a stunt. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/9 "2020-06-24T15:15:39Z")
I was not a big fan of Tom Snyder, but I really felt sorry for him when KISS was on the Tomorrow show. Gene Simmons was trying to carry on an adult conversation with Snyder while the other three were indulging in nit-wit antics. Sad. ---
**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/10 "2020-06-24T15:35:04Z")
Yeah, Phoenix was in the midst of filming **I’m Not There** , his movie about him quitting acting and becoming a hip-hop recording artist. It was an attempt at an Andy Kaufman-esque prank, but it failed spectacularly. If you watch the interview, a hot mike at the very end caught Phoenix saying “thanks for playing along” or something of that effect to Letterman. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/11 "2020-06-24T15:58:05Z")
The Glover interview was a stunt too. Crispin Glover came out as his weird-ass character (imagine that!) from his upcoming movie _River’s Edge_. Thing is Letterman wasn’t in on it. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/12 "2020-06-24T19:02:27Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IJWS6qyy7bw/maxresdefault.jpg "Billy Bob Thornton 'Blow Up' on Q TV") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWS6qyy7bw) A displeased Billy Bob Thornton on some radio program [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/q8wwxYrMOvE/hqdefault.jpg "Gwar meets Joan Rivers 1990, best copy from master") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8wwxYrMOvE) A couple members from Gwar “interviewed” by Joan Rivers ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/13 "2020-06-24T19:40:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I recall Hunter S. Thompson appearing on Conan O’Brien sometime in the early 2000s. Conan also interviewed Mad Magazine’s Don Martin early in his career as a talk show host. Mr. Martin didn’t seem particularly comfortable or talkative. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2020, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/14 "2020-06-26T06:02:27Z")
There’s this interview with Tom Waits. What’s so odd is how he comes across just like Heath Ledger’s Joker. It’s quite uncanny, [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gCSc6E4yG9s/hqdefault.jpg "Tom Waits australia interview 1979 part 1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCSc6E4yG9s) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XcCMCVM-K_Y/hqdefault.jpg "Tom Waits australia interview 1979 pt 2") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcCMCVM-K_Y) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2020, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/15 "2020-06-26T08:04:25Z")
That time Werner Herzog got shot in the middle of an interview with the BBCs Mark Kermode. Herzog just laughed it off. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HrRNM9cMBDk/hqdefault.jpg "Werner Herzog gets shot") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrRNM9cMBDk) Edit: How do you make the YT link an embed? Edit2: Apparently just asking the question fixes it lol ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-artist-interviews/854402/16 "2020-06-26T17:44:51Z")
Billy Bob Thornton comes right out of the gate pricklish and moody in that interview. I can see him not wanting to focus on his writing or acting during the interview and acknowledge his bandmates but his continuous remarks really made it the opposite of that and pulled it towards him. I always thought using Tom Petty was a terrible example because the answer to that is “I wouldn’t ask him about his musical beginnings but if he was playing a part in a movie I might ask him about his interest and past in acting.” Right after this interview, I heard a Chicago DJ (maybe Jonathon Brandmeier, I can’t recall) with Jian Ghomeshi (the interviewer - I had to look it up) and Ghomeshi talked about how he strove to remain calm, not snap back, and just let Thornton hang himself with his words and I think he was successful in that.