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Joaquin Phoenix’s unsettling TV interview left even David Letterman unsure of what to do next

"David Letterman was not in on the joke. My agents, my publicist, they were all in on it, of course," Joaquin Phoenix shared in an interview.

Joaquin Phoenix's interview with David Letterman was one not even the host could make much sense of! In February 2009, Phoenix stopped by Letterman's talk show, and throughout the interview, Phoenix just gave almost monosyllabic responses to the questions of the veteran talk show host. At the beginning of the episode, Letterman asked Phoenix, "You know, it's been three years since the last time you were on the show, and I will just say right off the top you look different than I remember it. You've got a nice beard going on," to which Phoenix replied by saying, "Oh, yeah. Thank you."

Then, Letterman was taken aback by Phoenix's new look and questioned, "How is the beard? Is it comfortable? Is it itchy? Are you pleased with it?" In his response, Phoenix shared, "I'm okay with it; now you are making me feel weird about it." Soon after, Letterman quipped, "I'm sorry, I'm making you feel weird about it," to which Phoenix retorted, "Is there something wrong?" Following that, Letterman jokingly remarked, "I can't be the first one to make you feel weird about it. Phoenix uttered, "No, I guess not."

Later in the episode, Letterman talked about Phoenix's rom-com film 'Two Lovers' and went on to say, "I saw this movie the other night, tremendous, what a tremendous film. You and who else is in it. What's her name? Beautiful, lovely lady, Gwyneth Paltrow." Shortly afterward, Phoenix interrupted Letterman mid-sentence and exclaimed, "Oh, yeah. Vanessa Shaw." Furthermore, Letterman gushed over the film and said, "You don't see movies like this much anymore, and I was so gratified to see it, and you were terrific in the film. I really enjoyed your work," to which Phoenix responded, "Thank you." At that moment, the studio audience burst into laughter.

Letterman went on to ask Phoenix about his decision to quit acting, "I heard that you were leaving acting and I said to myself, 'That's too bad', because you are great and you know not just me the two-time Academy Award nominations. Walk the Line, you were tremendous in Walk the Line. So here's my hope that after some time off and I think you're taking a little time off tonight. I'm hopeful that you will reconsider and come back to acting because you know nobody really better than you are." After a while, Phoenix just said, "Thank you. Never say never, right? I don't know what will happen."

Further down the line, the 'Joker' star shed light on his infamous appearance on Letterman's show, and it seemed to be an attempt to promote his mockumentary, 'I'm Still Here.' "David Letterman was not in on the joke. My agents, my publicist, they were all in on it, of course. But look, David Letterman is one of the smartest guys on television. There's no way that guy doesn't know what's going on in some way. That's what I'll say about it," Phoenix said at that time, as per the Daily Mail.

Once the episode dropped, the fans couldn't stop talking about Phoenix's interview with Letterman. One social media user wrote, "This is more unsettling than the talk show scene in joker." Followed by a second user who commented, "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." Another user chimed in, "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." A netizen noted, "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."