11 Over-The-Top Interview Moments Where Celebrities Embarrassed Themselves On TV

In celebrity interviews, cringey or embarrassing moments happen all the time. Sometimes, however, the interviewees take things a little too far with an over-commitment to the bit — or they're under the influence.

Here are 11 times celebs ruined interviewers by doing the most:

1. In his infamous 1987 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Crispin Glover put on an unusual act. After reading reviews of his movies aloud from newspapers he brought with him, he tried to show the host how "strong" he was. He nearly kicked Letterman in the face, which prompted him to walk off set.

Crispin has maintained that he "can neither confirm nor deny" that he was on Letterman, but it's widely speculated that, in 1987, he was in character as Rubin Farr, his character from Rubin & Ed, which didn't come out until 1991.

Here's the full clip:

2. Similarly, in 2009, Joaquin Phoenix didn't appear to be acting like himself on the Late Show with David Letterman. Taking on a strange persona, he claimed he was retiring from acting to pursue a new music career.

A year later, I'm Still Here director Casey Affleck — who'd been following Joaquin and filming him — admitted that it was all for their mockumentary.

The director told the New York Times, "The reviews were so angry...I never intended to trick anybody. The idea of a quote, hoax, unquote, never entered my mind."

Watch the full clip below:

3. In 2005, Tom Cruise jumped on the couch on The Oprah Winfrey Show to enthusiastically to demonstrate his love for Katie Holmes.

In his 2023 book Yearbook, Seth Rogen claimed that, in 2006, during a five-hour meeting with Judd Apatow, Tom Cruise, who wanted to get into comedy, discussed the Oprah interview. 

He allegedly told them, "Well, yeah, they're making it seem like I'm losing my mind. There's a coordinated effort to make it appear that way. [Seth asked, 'Who would do that?'] The pharmaceutical industry. Because my exposure of their fraud has cost them SO much money that they're desperate. They're scrambling, and they're doing everything they can to discredit me so I won't hurt sales anymore. ... They edited it to make it look so much worse than it was."

Watch the full clip below:

4. In 1991, Sean Young campaigned for the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns by dressing as the character on The Joan Rivers Show.

In 2021, Sean told Yahoo Entertainment, "I knew Joan — she was a lot of fun. I thought we would have fun at it."

Here's the full clip, with this part starting at the 4:10 mark:

5. After the 1995 VMAs, Madonna was in the middle of an interview with MTV VJ Kurt Loder when Courtney Love threw things at the pop singer then hijacked the interview.

Here's the full clip, with this part starting at the 2:38 mark:

6. Appearing on Today in 2011, Robert Pattinson made up a dark, bizarre story in response to a question about wanting to "run away and join the circus" as a kid.

Here's the full clip:

7. During a 2013 episode of The Graham Norton Show alongside Sarah Silverman, Mark Wahlberg appeared to act intoxicated. He interrupted Sarah, pulled her into his arms, and climbed into the host's lap.

Later that year, Graham Norton told Digital Spy, "I think the three of us had met a lot of drunk people over the years. Mark Wahlberg's been on the show before, and he's a really lovely guy. We've all done that thing where you suddenly realize, 'I'm by far the drunkest person at this dinner party,' and you don't know how that happened. It was a bit like that, so I don't judge him harshly at all. It was just a thing."

A few months later, Mark told Digital Spy, "I tried to do a bit, and some people took it a little too seriously."

Here's the full clip:

8. In an early '90s episode of The James Whale Radio Show, the Red Hot Chili Peppers appeared in the early '90s, the band got into actor Cleo Rocos's personal space, making her visibly uncomfortable. Various members pushed her over furniture, rubbed her head, went under her dress, and kissed her arms and chest. While wrapping up the show, the host pushed the band members away and even slapped them with his hat to try to get them to leave Cleo alone.

Here's the clip:

9. During a drunk appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in 1970, Husbands director John Cassavetes and actors Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara smoked, shouted, took off their socks and shoes, and piled themselves on the floor, amongst other antics. The host got so fed up with their behavior that he walked off.

In 2014, Dick told the New Yorker, "It was out of the blue. It was astonishing. I could not believe it while it was happening. I think I watched it a year or so ago, and it seemed even worse than I remembered it. When the circus was going on, with shoes coming off and smelling each other's feet — which may be an image I have conjured, but something very close to it — and falling down, as if that were funny, just a bunch of louts out encouraging each other in their stupidity, it was… I had a mixed feeling as it was happening. I knew it would be entertaining in a certain way involving the word 'horror.'"

Here's the full clip:

10. In 1993, Jay Leno hosted The Tonight Show live from the Cheers bar. The entire cast was tipsy, and — except for Rhea Perlman — they were criticized for acting like "jerks" and "idiots."

Jay told Herald TV, "Those people were so drunk I don't know what else we could have done in a live situation. You don't tell these people how to behave. Nobody tells them what to do... Was it a great show? No. But I guess you have to expect people to show up totally drunk when you do a live show from a real bar. In a real bar, everybody drinks real drinks."

He also said that, the next day, Ted Danson sent him flowers as an apology, and George Wendt called him.

Here's the full video, with this part starting at the 20-minute mark:

11. And finally, on a 1994 episode of The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno, comedian Bobcat Goldthwait pulled a lighter out of his pocket and set his chair on fire.

The incident wasn't scripted or staged. Bobcat later pleaded no contest to recklessly setting the fire. He was then required to pay a $3,888 fine and to record a PSA for a local burn center. He also got three years of informal probation.

Here's the full clip, with this part starting at the 1:10 mark: