Joaquin Phoenix On Letterman 2-11-09

It’s very rare that I actually sit down and watch a full late night talk show program simply because the ubiquity of these programs don’t lend themselves to providing original material on a nightly basis. Well, February 11, 2009 surely proved to be the night to tune into the Late Show. Tonight Joaquin Phoenix, formerly known as child actor Leaf Phoenix, brother of River, and other siblings with nature like names, made an appearance on the show to promote his movie “Two Lovers” which will presumably serve as a book end to his acting career. Joaquin has publicly stated that he is abandoning his acting career to pursue….hold on to your gold chains because this is original, a “MUSIC CAREER”. Not just a music career, but a hip-hop career. Are you shitting me? Is Joaquin playing an elaborate joke on all of us? I’m not going to debate the fact that entertainers don’t know when to draw the line when making career choices, but Joaquin has some serious acting cred and he’s leaving all that to take a crack at beats and rhymes. Are you speechless yet? Video has also surfaced of him stumbling through his fledgling “rap” performances, slurring his “rhymes” and even falling from a stage flat on his face.

On tonight’s program Joaquin appeared to be either stoned, drugged, mildly retarded or all three, while giving incoherent one word answers, appearing agitated with Letterman, Paul and even the crowd. During many points in the interview Letterman attempted to be cordial and polite but Joaquin continued to offer nothing but monosyllabic answers to his questions. Letterman’s only recourse was to relentlessly and unsympathetically mock him during the interview.

Rumour’s are already floating on the web that this was all staged (ala Andy Kaufman) for his documentary being filmed by Casey Affleck (A documentary about Joaquin leaving the acting world to pursue a music career), but I fail to see anything close to acting in this segment. I saw a sad human being who looked like a hobo crackhead in withdrawal. He’s so twitchy and aggravated throughout this interview that if this interview is genuine it is nothing short of a trainwreck. Even though this clip is extremely painful to watch and it’s more awkward than an episode of The Office (UK), it is also one of the funniest moments I’ve seen on Letterman in a long time at the expense of MC Phoenix.