Online audiences love Joaquin Phoenix as the crazed Unabomber rapper
Actor Joaquin Phoenix and late night talk show host David Letterman shared a special moment a couple nights ago on the Late Show. Phoenix, who is now clearly either insane or doing one hell of a publicity stunt, appeared on the show to promote his new film Two Lovers – and did anything but. As Letterman asked him questions, Phoenix, with long hair, a Moses-like beard and wearing sunglasses sat quietly and occasionally muttered to himself, or expressed his displeasure with Letterman making fun of him. It was an odd scene to say the least — which of course means instant online gold.
The incident drew the most streams of the Late Show since last October when then presidential candidate John McCain was on. The Phoenix interview drew over 2.5 million views on CBS’ sites in just the first 36 hours after it aired, according to CBS. And that doesn’t even include YouTube numbers (where I first saw it).
While hundreds of people posted the video on YouTube after it aired, most of those have been removed at CBS’ request. But you can still find a slightly edited version on CBS’ official YouTube page, where the video already has over 1.4 million views. Watch the edited interview below to see the insanity for yourself.
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About the Author, MG Siegler
MG Siegler writes about technology trends and new media for VentureBeat, with a focus on mobile topics, social elements and key news stories. Before that, MG wrote about technology on his blog, ParisLemon. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan where he studied film. He's previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where he did web development. He now lives in San Francisco.