Great interview disasters

I watched that live, and it was incredible.

Billy Bob Thornton (and his band) interviewed by Canada’s Jian Ghomeshi in 2009.

mariah carey - trl - and numerous other ever changing stories of the reasons behind her behavior in interviews and appearances

whitney houston - diane sawyer

george takei any time he was on howard stern

milo yiannopolous on joe rogan

lee camp on fox news

biden/trump any time they go off script with reporters

china/north korea/palestinan news

randy & eva quaid

victoria jackson post-snl interviews

tom cruise - oprah interview - and every subsequent interview

charlie sheen interviews

bjork - airport

joan rivers off script interviews

"A lot of available drugs" - girl, the shade!

The late Harvey Pekar who became increasingly combative when he guested on Letterman over the years.

Balloon boy admits his parents made him do the stunt “for the show” and vomits mid interview

This practically makes me wet my pants. Never gets old...

A disaster for Rachel.

That is great R7. Needed that laugh.

Courtney Love has two in the bag—this interview with David Letterman from 2004, at the height of her cocaine addiction, is a glorious, hilarious train wreck. It makes me sad that it comes from such a dark time in her life, but I truly revisit it semi-regularly for a mood boost.

Meg Ryan and Michael Parkinson. She was on edge/hostile for no reason.

Plenty with Bill O’Reilly it’s hard to pick the worst. Bill with Phil Donahue regarding the Iraq war. Bill and Jeremy L. Glick regarding 9/11. Bill and John Stewart. Bill on The View with Whoopi and Joy walking off.

Farrah Fawcett on Letterman in 1997.

I, too, watched that Madonna-Courtney thing live and it was amazing and hilarious. When Courtney went heels up - fantastic!

Didn't Madonna say fuck 40 times on Letterman and ask if he peed in the shower?

[quote]Didn't Madonna say fuck 40 times on Letterman and ask if he peed in the shower?

That was Madonna desperately trying to get attention as always. Not shocking at all.

R10 For my mood boost, I watch Ace Frehley on the old "Tomorrow" show. He's hilarious. What's also funny is how Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are absolutely SEETHING at his antics.

"Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?"

J.I. Rodale on Dick Cavett.

Can't get more disastrous than that. And a bad career move to boot if you make your living selling a healthy lifestyle.

R16, No, it was an irascible, petulant Madonna trying to highjack Letterman's show for introducing her as someone who had "slept with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry," and countless other slut-shaming jokes leading up to her scheduled appearance.

Don't forget me!!

Larry King asking Jerry Seinfeld if his show was canceled.

Jerry Seinfeld seems like a total asshole in that clip.

R15 I can’t watch that one personally. I just want to smack her.

Crispin Glover almost kicking David Letterman in the face.

R5.

Tears. I laughed so hard. He really worked Letterman's last nerve in that short segment.

[quote]george takei any time he was on howard stern

At least he lived through them which is more than I can say for Dana Plato.

R19 That’s called karma, especially after she was such a cunt to Arsenio on his own show when she was on back in 1990. Nobody feels sorry for her.

That was the best look Madonna ever had.

[quote]Meg Ryan and Michael Parkinson. She was on edge/hostile for no reason.

Parkinson is a known misogynist - he's a legend in Britain but I never understood why and find his "plain speaking Northerner" schtick tiresome.

I watched the Meg Ryan show live before there was any media outrage - before he interviewed Ryan he'd been rude and sexist and dismissive of Trinny and Susannah who responded to him with humour. They were promoting their new series of What Not To Wear and Parkinson just couldn't understand how clothes helped women with low self esteem and confidence levels. It's a shame that interview isn't on YouTube.

The Meg Ryan came on, she was clearly nervous but he was so rude to her and dismissive of In The Cut, which hadn't received a lot of negative feedback. A skilled interviewer would have put a nervous guest at ease, but Parkinson wouldn't have though a woman was worthy of that effort.

Then the tabloids reported on it and it was very much of an AMERICAN BTICH DISRESPECTS BRITISH HERO narrative.

For an example of Parkinson at his worst, check out him interviewing Helen Mirren. She thankfully stood up to him, and in the best way possible.

[quote]I watched that live, and it was incredible.

So did I, and yes, it was incredible.

R30, he is leering.

R27 when was she a cunt to Arsenio? I just remember her in a white suit and her dad coming out to surprise her. And she was on another time with Rosie.

Another favourite, it actually scared me a little, the late Oliver Reed on Letterman’s show.

Reed was a drunkard?

Tyra Banks attempting to guilt and shame Naomi Campbell on Tyra's own tv show. It was pathetic. Naomi took everythign Tyra said in stride while Tyra kept insisting that poor Tyra was a victim of Naomi's brutality and she refused to let it go.

Tyra also attempted to shame this woman the entire time she was on her show. It was before "slut-shaming" was a term of discussion but it was CLEARLY what Tyra was attempting to do. And then Tyra had the audacity to act like she was SO much higher class than this woman. Frankly,Karrine seems so much cooler and interesting than Tyra ever would be. Tyra was probably pissed because Karrine name-dropped some of her friends.

Sofa. Cruise. Oprah.

Tom Cruise “educates” Matt Lauer in 2005.

Matt L IS fucking glib. That interview took the shine off Tom C's career.

Interviews featuring the child rapist Mary Kay LeTourneau and her victim (who later became her husband) Vili Fualaau are invariably excruciating. She always dominates the interviews while he passively sits beside her and says little. A particularly hard to watch one was on an Australian show called "Sunday Night." In the interview she claimed that she did not know having sex with a 12 year old was a crime and rather incoherently babbles "Flaw me, flaw me as an adult, I did the best I could." She always stated that it was Fualaau who was the sexual aggressor in their relationship and in the interview barked over and over to Fualaau "Who was the boss? Who was the boss?" until he finally said “this is getting weird." Letourneau maintained that she had attempted to spurn his advances and that love could not be a crime. She also claimed that she had been wrongfully imprisoned. These interviews that they gave were always ghastly because she was obviously nuts and he was obviously not that bright.

R41, I'm disturbed they have a family together.

I absolutely love Madonna's look in OP to this day. Tom Ford for Gucci was relatively new. I loved the lair, the outfit - she looked chic and hot.

Lily Tomlin walking off the Dick Cavett show during Chad Everett's interview.

I saw this one in real time.

Shelley Winters and Oliver Reed try to out obnoxious each other, Shelley leaves comes back and dumps a drink on Oliver Reed.

At some point Reed calls her a cunt.

I ran into the living room to tell my parents the deliciously shocking pop culture moment I just witnessed.

They were nonplussed. That's when I knew I was adopted.

R41 - Le Tourneau was diagnosed as bipolar at some point. Prison probably.

R41 And she died last summer.

R33 I guess you conveniently forgot the first time she was on his show. She was a fucking cunt the whole time - trying to hint he was gay, putting down his haircut, putting down the set furniture, etc.

These old interview clips of Madonna that I am seeing lately confirm to me that Madonna is not nearly as hilarious as she thinks she is. She's the kind of person that, when someone has hurt themselves, says: "Are you hurt? GOOD!" and then cackles like it's the funniest thing ever.

R46 - they were both pretty obnoxious. Reed was a known chauvinist and drunk.

Dakota Johnson calls out Ellen for being a lying nasty cunt

[quote]These old interview clips of Madonna that I am seeing lately confirm to me that Madonna is not nearly as hilarious as she thinks she is. She's the kind of person that, when someone has hurt themselves, says: "Are you hurt? GOOD!" and then cackles like it's the funniest thing ever.

Madonna is a sick woman. In “Truth or Dare,” she laughed when she found out that her hairstylist was raped. Only a sick person would laugh at that. She deserves all the karma she’s been getting in recent years.

I totally agree R52 and it baffles me that no one has ever really taken her to task for it. In the initial interviews for Truth or Dare, journalists were "shocked" at all the "controversial" stuff she did in the film, but never mentioned it.

You'd think these days someone would try to "cancel" her over it.

R53 I don’t understand how she never got called out about that either.

You bitches are forgetting me!

Norman Mailer on the Dick Cavette show. So awkwardly bad, especially the part Mailer admits to stabbing his wife. Gore Vidal looking pretty satisfied with himself, as usual.

That Courtney Love clip makes me sad though. Remember when pop culture was actually entertaining and shocking and everything wasn't so pre-planned and pre-packaged? And the VMAs were so fun every year.

bump.

[quote] whitney houston - diane sawyer

Now let's just get one thing straight R3. Whitney is never going to stand by and watch you just name drop without any evidence, OK? We don't do that, we don't do that. I need to see the receipts. Where are the receipts?

That was the best I've ever seen Madonna look.

Usually her features look so sharp to be cute but she looks cute and feminine there.

R7 I don't care . I would suck and fuck into the night. The man does it for me.

There was as rumor at the time of Madonna's first interview with Arsenio (white outfit) that he and Paula Abdul were an item. Almost nobody believed it because it was assumed that Arsenio was gay and closeted.

Madonna owned Courtney

Madonna's remarks about Courtney are hilarious.

"I think Paint It Black is a touching love song. Also Trump's fave, You Can't Always Get What You Want."

I wouldn't call either of those "love songs." May "Ruby Tuesday", maybe "Angie",. but good love songs were not something the Rolling Stones could come up with very often.

That scene from Truth or Dare is infuriating and disturbing. It isn't just that she laughed at the rape. It's the words that triggered her guffaw. One of her dancers is telling her the details of the rape. When he tells Madonna that the make up artist woke up with her butt bleeding, Madonna lets out a snicker and quickly covers her mouth. The dancer stops talking and gives her a look of shock and disgust. (The make up artist was a sweet-natured woman who happened to be overweight. I would bet that her size is what made this especially funny for the immature Vadge.) After her outburst, Madonna quickly says sorry, then proceeds to blame the make up artist for getting herself raped. Vadge goes as far as to claim that the make up artist must have name-dropped in order to pick up men. The scene ends with the poor make up artist trying to talk to Madonna's female dancers/back up singers about what happened. They sit there, doing their hair and ignoring the make up artist.

Cold. Detached. Manipulative. I didn't understood the scene at the graveyard until I read her brother's memoir. Madonna is rolling on the grave while her brother watches at a distance. He was furious his mother's death was just content for the film and refused to participate when he showed up and cameras were there.

The shortest interview of all time

Uh. Bjork would have got her ass beat if the reporter hadn't restrained herself.

Ugh. Joan Crawford was such a freak! Long before my time. Even when she died, I wasn't born. But this interview, drunk on her ass and fake and simpering, is both funny and frightening. With the Pepsi husband that she killed. He's not too elegant neither. But Joan is trying to be, as always. She's a fucking scary broad. Many of you will enjoy this. You're welcome. 🖤😘🚧🤣

We chose the most lovely beautiful child in the world, except for my own four children... And then Joan molests the young actress during the interview. Crawfords CLAWS are literally digging into the girl's hand.

It's fun. I bet some people liked the interview at the time. Some here still will. But that Joan Crawford bitch was a fucking MONSTER. She scares me.

Anything with James Corden because he is so atrociously obnoxious, I hope he dies.

Serge Gainsbourg knew how to burn an interview to the ground

Poor Whitney, young good girl Whitney was a victim of that odious French man R72.

But she was still from Jersey and she handled it well. I ❤️ her.

This interview is legendary. Whitney was a bitch to Wendy and she completely deserved all of it.

That documentary on Mike Wallace showed an interview he did with Bette Davis where he was rude to her. I can only find a piece of it on YouTube, not the part when he says, "I'LL ask the questions?" I would love to see what she said back to him.

*Madonna babbling* “Oh look” *Courtney Love stumbling in like train wreck* 🤡

[quote]R70 But this interview, drunk on her ass and fake and simpering, is both funny and frightening.

A little of Phony Joanie goes a long way, that’s for sure.

When egos collide...

I agree Madonna did look great in the OP's post. She looked her best in 1994-96. She was growing up, maturing and she looked so feminine and beautiful. It's a shame she aged so poorly and regressed.

Madonna saying to Kurt Loder in that monotone voice: Please, don't (when he asks if he should bring Courtney up) is the best. And it only gets better from there!

Here's a British one with the Sex Pistols featuring a female member of their entourage later known as Siouxsie Sioux from Siouxsie & The Banshees.

That Wendy vs. Whitney phone interview is everything. And really creepy at times. Like when Whitney rambles about talking to her daughter like an intelligent adult knowing all too well what sort of information she can handle (her died under similar circumstances as her mother). Or Wendy's off hand remark of maybe having a TV show one day.

Sorry (she died under similar circumstances as her mother)

Courtney won that interview. She proved in one clip that she was real rock and roll, and Madonna was just an image. Madonna looked like such a Karen in that interview.

Maybe Ruby Wax was in the middle of one of her mental episodes but this interview was fucking awful.

Susannah's "We never heard of you until today either" is delivered with such cheerfulness.

Nothing can beat this. Almost seems staged, so surreal.

R71 Corden ruins every tv show he presents, in the U.K. and abroad.

This interview he did with The Jonas Brothers for The Late Late Show a few years back is shiteous. The chemistry was off, the questions unnatural and strange, the pace halting and uncomfortable, the laughter strained. Ugh.

Plus, thanks to his bizarre interview technique, I came away with very weird sad takes about The Jonai, such as ‘Kevin seems to be in love with Nick’, ‘Nick is averse to touch’, and ‘Joe is depressed and uses humour as a deflection and a coping mechanism for all the fuckery going on around him’.

Slightly stretching the definition of 'interview' but this is amazing

About that Letteman interview, on Stern, Madonna said that she was going out with Tupac at the time and that he had gotten her all fired about life, etc. and that she wasn't being hostile to Letterman just fiesty. Stern then said he assumed that she never liked Letterman based on her behavior in their interviews. Then she admitted that's just how she flirts.

In other words, she's one of those "pretty girls" who think acting bitchy towards a man will get his attention. I've met plenty of women AND men who act that way.

In that Wendy interview a crazy, cracked out and angry Whitney pulls the tired "I am a mom, how DARE you, gurlfren!" card. Shades of when Serena had the rage-induced meltdown a few years ago and used the same shit "I have a child" Excuse.

What is it with these permanently angry and aggressive frauen who think reproducing is some kind of unique accomplishment they need to be worshipped for? Every stray bitch in heat on the street can get knocked up. These women are like that asshole Sarah Palin with her mama bear bullshit.

That c.2007-8 interview on THE VIEW with Drake & Josh, where they all but outed themselves and starting fucking on the couch. They were sat almost on top of one another, gazing into each other’s eyes, ignoring the interview questions to flirt, giggling and fawning and fondling. It also seemed like they were high. Barbara looked like she was barely holding back disgust, but Elisabeth was loving it. I have never seen anything like that on American tv before.

Have to assume the video was scrubbed from the Internet a long while back, because all I can find after years of extensive combing are these grainy screencaps, which some girl who must have been a tweenaged Drake Bell fan in the 00s uploaded to her Photobucket account and forgot about. If anyone has the video or tracks it down, please hmu with a link, because I’d love to see it again before I die.

For reference, Drake was clean-shaven wearing white pants and a dusty indigo-blue suit jacket over a white shirt and black tie, and Josh had his hair slicked back and was wearing a light grey patterned button-up and some sort of corded neck choker. A little girl who was a fan of theirs was on the couch asking them questions as well as the ladies.

How about that interview where Barbara Walters outed Ricky Martin?

You could tell that Barbara's faculties were starting to decline in the last couple of years of The View.

When they discussed Whitney's passing, Barbara said that she had drowned. Whoopi had to clarify because there had been no official word yet as to the cause yet. Barbara turned around and in a very condescending tone said "No, dear, she drowned." This exchange must have happened another two or so times, with Walters being obstinate that she had drowned. Whoopi looked like she wanted to throttle. her by the end of it.

Then there was a time when they had an ABC news anchor on to discuss her alcoholism and went on about how she kept it hidden from everyone at ABC for years, only for Barbara pipe in out of nowhere "We all knew." The woman tried to restate her point only for Walters to get more annoyed and say "No, dear, WE ALL KNEW." with a very "don't fucking question me." tone.

That was Elizabeth Vargas.

I know paparazzi are terrible, but Bjork attacking that reporter like she did was so out-of-line. She's physically attacked other photographers and reporters since, ripping their clothes off and mauling them like a hound. It's one thing to be a bitch, but to start assaulting them because you don't want your picture taken is overstepping the line IMO. She has anger issues and seems like a real cunt. I take pleasure in knowing that Lars von Trier psychologically abused her while making "Dancer in the Dark."

Phil Donahue mocking an Alzheimer-riddled Katherine Hepburn for not knowing who he was. What a prick.

r95, well look who Donahue is married to...

I'm so glad that Baba Wawa's career ended with everybody knowing what a cunt she is.

[quote] Phil Donahue mocking an Alzheimer-riddled Katherine Hepburn for not knowing who he was. What a prick.

PRICK-PRICK-PRICK.

"Courtney won that interview. She proved in one clip that she was real rock and roll, and Madonna was just an image. Madonna looked like such a Karen in that interview."

Courtney Love didn't "win" anything, except maybe the Druggie Psycho Whore of The Year award. She was never "real rock and roll"; she was never real anything, just a pathetic poseur. Madonna seemed perfectly nice and well adjusted in comparison to her, which is really saying something. Anyway, Courtney Love is always making a fool of herself and that interview was just one example.

R99, exactly. When Madonna seems nice in-comparison, you know there's an issue. Courtney just proved she can't handle drugs.

I thought Madonna handled that bit fine. What else was she going to do? Engage with a drugged-out junkie? Madonna knew Courtney so she wasn't going to engage with her on live television.

I thought this was the best Madonna looked. The whole Something to Remember, when she wanted to get pregnant, got pregnant and had Lourdes. A year or so later at the Golden Globes, she looked so feminine and curvaceous. It suited her.

Angie Dickinson did NOT want to be on This is Your Life, and she made sure everybody knew it.

R94. Bjork is an alcoholic and has these crazy outbursts.

[quote]R94 Bjork attacking that reporter like she did was so out-of-line. She's physically attacked other photographers and reporters since, ripping their clothes off and mauling them like a hound.

Oh, but if ALEXIS did it, it would be FINE!

smh

R92 Walters was right tho.

I know Jenny McCarthy gave Whoopi shit for how she perceived Goldberg treated Walters, but I believe they ALL knew Walters was in decline and Whoopi was probably the only one saying "Look, it's time to hide her keys."

Read the youtube comments at R85. Fuck BBC. That guy was super cool and charming.

David Cassidy did this interview 2 years before his death. He seems to be impaired.

"You're being innapropriate Larry"....hahahaha! She had such a big stick up her ass.

Discussed here.

I see the Weibo trolls once again didn't get the question. Sad.

R101 She never looked more beautiful than she did at the 1997 Golden Globes.

Sadly, it was all downhill from there.

I think the best she looked after those Golden Globes was actually after she divorced Guy--she looked fantastic during the Superbowl. But by the Rebel Heart "era"., she started messing with her face. And by Madam X, it was history.

[quote]Courtney won that interview. She proved in one clip that she was real rock and roll, and Madonna was just an image. Madonna looked like such a Karen in that interview.

"Real rock and roll" isn't being so desperate for attention that you crash someone else's live interview, though. These are celebrities, they all want attention, but at some point you have to earn it, you can't just go around like Jayne Mansfield "accidentally" falling out of your dress at others' events and expect to be lauded for it.

Madonna doesn't have a sense of humor and didn't handle it well, but Courtney looked desperate and goofy.

I think Madonna handled it well actually. She never got angry and, hey, at least she didn't punch or get punched. The same can't be said for Kathleen Hanna.

That's true, she didn't get angry, but she was pretty sour.

There was that cringeworthy interview Gene Simmons did on the Mike Douglas show. He was in full Kiss drag (I think they performed on the show, but I'm not sure) and was trying way too hard to be outrageous. At one point he said "I'm evil incarnate!" Totie Fields was also on the show and she looked bewildered by Simmon's act. She said she thought he was probably just "a nice Jewish boy" underneath all the monster makeup.

R116 wins! That's hilarious.

[quote] She never looked more beautiful than she did at the 1997 Golden Globes.

As an occasional fan of her music and style, I can honestly say that at no time in her life was Madonna ever beautiful. People on this site have to stop using that word in relationship to her. She was barely attractive for most of her life. Nice tits. Originally. But far from beautiful in face or body. Don't muddy the waters OR the word. Madonna had her first hit the year I was born. She's was never beautiful.

Beautiful may be a stretch but she was absolutely striking.

I thought she was beautiful between 1995-97.

More!

The word "beautiful" ceases to have a meaning when it's applied to someone like Madonna. She is not beautiful. She had some good moments with makeup and styling and good photography where she was sexy or attractive looking. She's a short ethnic looking woman with a long nose and tooth gap. She wanted to be hotter. So she became very fit but never had a "pretty" body. The woman never once looked good in an ordinary dress or skirt. She has bad proportions facially and physically. Please stop living your ancient gay boy fantasies by imagining that Madonna was ever beautiful. She had her peak periods of attractiveness. A lot of different makeup and stylings. But she's not even pretty - never mind beautiful. Don't cheapen the word. Or the world.

R122, you seem really, really bothered.

We get it r122 you don't think Madonna is beautiful.

I'm sure when Madonna reads your numerous posts, she is singing Xtina's Beautiful to herself.

R122 seems very astute. Intelligent, precise and sure of himself. Tired of listening to white eldergays playing with their shrivelled nubs of the past.

r125 = r122

R125 & R122 are the most intelligent and realistic men out here. Sexy too.

Are you fucktards really arguing about Madonna's "Beauty " in a thread that's not even about it?

R118 who made you the arbiter of the definition of 'beautiful'? Just because YOU never found her beautiful doesn't mean others were just like you. Madonna WAS called 'beautiful ' and 'sexy' at various points in her career, particularly in the '80s and '90s. When she first came out (c. 1984), I recall my older brother and his friends remarked how 'hot' she looked. Also, I remember many people exclaiming how beautiful she looked in the music video for "The Power of Goodbye." She was also featured in People's Most Beautiful People in the World annual issue.

Who gives a fuck about Madonna's "beauty" of lack of it? Let's get back to the subject at hand: awful interviews.

A lot of insane interviews were on David Letterman. Among them: Farrah Fawcett acting stoned or totally nuts, Joaquin Phoenix looking like a slob and barely speaking, Crispin Glover onstage in a bad wig and his diseased eyeball collection seemingly off his rocker, Harvey Pekar looking slovenly and accusing Letterman of being a shill for General Electric. All those interviews were truly crazy.

R130, how about drew Barrymore flashing David Letterman.

R45...are you sure you meant to use the word “nonplussed” here?

Not a fan or a hater. I always thought Madonna was an ordinary looking woman who made herself a star out of sheer ambition, drive, willpower, smarts, not talent. There's absolutely nothing frivolous or spontaneous about her. Every breath, every single move she made was a calculated means to an end. That aspect of her is awe-inspiring and kind of scary. And she WAS a huge star for a long time.

r133. On some level it does require skill and talent to convince the world that you're a star even when your creative output is mediocre at best.