Joaquin Phoenix's Infamous Appearance With Dave | Letterman

In this iconic Letterman interview, Joaquin Phoenix joins the show to discuss his decision to retire from acting and pursue a music career. (Air Date 2/11/2009)

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[justinmj]

Ironically Dave would go on to steal this look in retirement.

[BernieMadoff-qvin]

“Joaquin, I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight” Is an all time letterman quote.

[degenerategambler]

This is more unsettling than the talk show scene in joker 😂

[azazaelmaher]

"it's just a little joke."
"comedy is subjective, Dave."

[mustardking]

Love how the unabomber line nearly cracked him.

[danyms]

"You're awful David. You invited me on your show just to make fun of me."

[melaniep]

Only someone as talented as Joaquin Phoenix could pull this off. Here we are years later still talking about it. It turned out he was mocking Hollywood but at the time people were convinced that he lost his mind, brilliant, lol!

[beerjedi]

You can see him smirk a couple of times. Great Performance.

[trepabeard]

It's crazy, EVERYONE thought he was completely serious at the time too, but it was all just for his mockumentary which is LEGENDARY!!! Love that movie.

[jayanxiety]

They cut off the ending where he DOES break character. You don't see it here in this clip. After the interview he shakes Dave's hand and says in a friendly manner "Thank you Dave for this opportunity". Casey Affleck, the director of his mockumentry was actually quite angry with Joaquin for "ruining" things by letting Dave in on it.

[jaysparc]

Dave got him to break with the Unabomber comment.

[jmacers]

So amazing how he doesn't break character, there are a couple points that you can tell he's really working hard to hold back laughter, hilarious

[oystershucksters]

"Well Joaquin I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight." Man such a killer line. That's the kind of genius that makes him a legend not just in late night but in comedy as a whole.

[eelcoblaauw]

Letterman did such a great job with this. He didn't know Joaquin was gonna pull this stunt but just rolled with it and turned it into something great.

[DodfordYT]

Joaquin aside, this is a masterclass in hosting from Dave Letterman. What a challenge he's faced with here, and where most would crumble under the awkwardness, Dave fully leaned in and resulted in one of the best talk show bits ever

[dagoninfinite]

A masterpiece of awkwardness. The best lettermans interview

[jasoncora]

The whole thing was a gag done for a movie called I’m Still Here. Absolutely brilliant! He convinces the world that he has quit acting just to put on a giant act. He made the world his stage and everybody went for it. Talk about taking acting to the next level.

[robertmclamb]

For me, the most brilliant moment is when Joaquin looks out at the audience laughing at him at 1:27 then lowers his head and breathes an audible sigh. That is sensational acting. It is why people thinking that he was losing it was so plausible at that time.

[majorjordan]

He really shows what we expect from TV from being completely normal. This is exactly like when Andy Kaufman was on.

[bjv]

SUCH an incredible interview. Getting strong modern day Kaufman vibes. Completely fell for it when it first came out, still so brilliant looking back on it now. The restraint it took not to burst out laughing from Joaquin is God tier.