Top 20 Celebrities Wasted on Live TV
#20: The Cast of “Cheers”
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This one could perhaps have been predicted, had anyone used a bit of common sense. Following the wrap-up of sitcom “Cheers” in 1993, the cast and some VIPs gathered at The Bull and Finch pub in Boston to watch the final episode and imbibe. A lot. “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” had planned a live taping with the cast, and showed up amidst the drunken festivities, somehow assuming all guests would be in interview mode. What resulted was an incoherent mess, and Leno had no idea what to do with it. The late show host stumbled through some questions, and was met with drunken ramblings. He later called the entire thing a “mistake”.
#19: Emma Thompson
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Dame Emma Thompson is a witty and charming breath of fresh air at any awards show, whether she’s winning or presenting. But whereas other award shows like the Oscars are a bit more prim and proper in regards to partaking in libations, the Golden Globes let the drinks flow freely throughout the night - something Emma Thompson took advantage of in 2014. There to present the award for Best Screenplay, Thompson took to the stage with a martini in one hand and her shoes in the other, ultimately tossing the shoes so she could open the envelope revealing the winner.
#18: Lily Allen
Lily Allen has been sober since 2019, but in her younger days she was almost as famous for her outrageous antics as her hit music. Take the 2008 GQ Men of the Year awards, for example: Lily Allen showed up “overdressed and overdrunk,” according to one cheeky description, and proceeded to bicker with Sir Elton John onstage - and it was clear that the elder superstar was not impressed with Allen’s state. Sir Elton, who’s famously been sober himself since 1990, attempted to end the tiff by making quite the declaration. Again, Allen has since gotten sober, saying that “Getting clean is the BEST thing i ever did, and i've done a lot of cool sh**.”
#17: U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team
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In 2019, the US Women’s Soccer Team defeated the Netherlands in the Women’s World Cup. Cause for celebration, right? There was champagne… lots of champagne. In the locker room, on the plane ride home, during the parade through Manhattan… The team had a rooftop pool party and a drunken booze cruise on a private yacht. Amidst all this, they appeared on “Good Morning America,” where the effects of the celebrations were strikingly clear. Some players were wearing sunglasses, some seemed still intoxicated, and some were nursing presumably brutal hangovers. The lights, the applause, the cheers… hangover nightmare fuel.
#16: Andy Dick
As seems to be a theme on this list, Andy Dick has famously battled his demons in the public eye; he even claims to have been to rehab 20 times to try to get sober. And his behavior has gotten him in trouble on multiple occasions. In 2018, Dick took to Twitch to livestream himself hanging out in his living room, and got himself banned from the site after he interrupted the relatively uneventful stream by snorting something off the back of his hand. In 2021, Dick participated in a podcast - appropriately titled aDICKted - where he attempted to tackle his demons once and for all, with the help of experts, friends and family. His journey to sobriety is ongoing.
#15: Chuck Liddell
UFC Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Liddell was at the height of his career in 2007. That same year, Warner Bros. teamed up with the UFC to promote the new film, “300”. Liddell was being interviewed to promote the movie on “Good Morning Texas”, and viewers were quick to notice his… interesting demeanor. At one point, things were going so strangely the interviewer actually asked him if he was okay. It took a few years, but Liddell eventually cleared the air about this incident on his podcast, explaining that he had taken the sleeping aid Ambien and it had affected him for a couple of days.
#14: Phillip Schofield & Holly Willoughby
Long-running UK show “This Morning” has won a few National Television Awards in its time, and this is perhaps in part due to its incredibly loyal employees. In 2016, hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby appeared on the show as usual, having partied all night from the awards ceremony. However, neither host had had the time to go home, and thus both showed up in their evening-before wear, and still slightly… shall we say, affected. To their credit, the two owned up to their state, and even played short videos from the previous night’s antics. They somehow also managed to look relatively great, despite stained clothing and lack of sleep.
#13: John Stamos
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It’s been quite the journey to sobriety for John Stamos, who decided to get clean with the help of “Full House” costar Jodie Sweetin in 2015 after being charged with a DUI. But years before he made that choice, he made this appearance on the Australian show “Kerri-Anne.” Host Kerri-Anne Kennerley was in for a challenge, as some of the interview takes place with Stamos holding her in a side hug, rambling about dead celebrities. In a 2009 interview, Stamos cleared the air, saying he was jet-lagged, on sleeping pills and drunk during this appearance. Gotta say: props to Kerri-Anne for keeping her composure, and props to Stamos for making the choice to do what’s right for himself by getting sober.
#12: Johnny Depp
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Depp has been open about his struggles with both drugs and alcohol, with these issues plaguing him for the majority of his life - in fact, he’s claimed he started using when he was just a kid. He has had stretches of sobriety, but his appearance at the 2014 Hollywood Film Awards worried fans and supporters that he’d fallen off the wagon. While presenting an award, Depp’s behavior paralleled that of his most famous character, Captain Jack Sparrow - he even swore at one point. He was eventually cut off by clips of the film he was presenting before he could even present it.
#11: Chris O’Dowd
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“The Last Leg” is a UK comedy sketch/talk show, and when Chris O’Dowd appeared, he clearly took advantage of the free-flowing refreshments. This one is a little more light-hearted, and the show really just saw the hilarity in the situation. O’Dowd basically just loudly rambled on, and was honestly quite impressively wordy and eloquent despite it all. Responding to a harsh critic on Twitter the following day, O’Dowd said : “I am a little embarrassed to be honest. But to keep things in perspective, it’s a tipsy comedian on a late night chat show on Channel 4…”
#10: Mark Wahlberg
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“The Graham Norton Show” is known for providing its guests with alcohol while they chat on the couch. The Irish host has said this can help lubricate the conversation between boring or particularly prickly guests. But, in other cases, it can have… different results. This 15-minute interview with Mark Wahlberg in 2013 felt like it lasted an eternity, especially after Wahlberg interrupted guests and cozied up to both the host and Sarah Silverman. Things do eventually calm down - possibly because Norton has said Walhberg fell asleep. But guess what! Marky Mark has claimed the whole thing was planned as a “bit” with Silverman, meant to be nothing more than a joke.
#9: Anna Nicole Smith
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Anna Nicole Smith’s behavior on everything from talk shows to her own short-lived reality series has been described as erratic and unpredictable, and her appearance at the 2004 American Music Awards had fans worried for her health. Though she was on stage for barely a minute, the presenter left us with several memorable quotes. Smith later denied being intoxicated. Ten years after her death due to an accidental drug overdose, the father of Smith’s daughter - Larry Birkhead - explained that Smith’s behavior at the AMAs was affected by a combination of nerves, lack of sleep, prescription meds given to her by a doctor and the two seizures she’d had the night before the ceremony.
#8: Tracy Morgan
This funny man was known for playing a parody version of himself on 30 Rock, and he played up his partying ways for laughs both in the show and in his stand-up. But on his appearance on El Paso’s KVIA morning show, Morgan was playing it for real, and was clearly still recovering from a night out at the local strip club. Despite the interviewer's best efforts, the interview quickly went off the rails when Morgan inevitably took his shirt off as part of a “mating call.” The ludicrous segment was something even the 30 Rock writers couldn’t make up.
#7: Courtney Love
Well, no one can say she wasn’t enjoying the rock and roll lifestyle. At the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, Kurt Loder was in the middle of interviewing Madonna when Courtney Love decided to make a cameo appearance. Much to the Material Girl’s chagrin, Loder invited Love to join in on the interview, an invitation the Hole front-woman gladly accepted. Love proceeded to hijack the entire segment, and discussed a range of topics, including fashion and astrophysics. Eventually, Madonna decided she’d had enough, but Courtney soldiered on, conducting most of the remainder of the interview from the floor.
#6: Danny DeVito
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What do you get when you mix booze with sleep deprivation? This. For this infamous 2006 interview on The View, DeVito showed up direct from an all night bender, drinking his patented Limoncellos. The resulting interview played out like a real life Drunk Uncle segment, right down to the political rant. DeVito channeled his inner Frank Reynolds by exhibiting all sorts of cartoonish behavior and even rambled his way through the entire plot of Deck the Halls. Rosie O’Donnell ultimately ended the segment – but not before the intoxicated actor acted out.
#5: Andy Cohen
It’s really common to have a few drinks when celebrating New Year’s Eve. It’s another thing to do so while hosting a Times Square special. At the celebration for the 2022 new year, CNN’s Andy Cohen went off-script quite a few times, including a rant about former NYC mayor Bill De Blasio, criticizing classic rock band Journey’s frontman and taking a jab at Ryan Seacrest and the competing ABC broadcast team. The network addressed his behavior, and claimed that he will be returning for the next year’s broadcast, so all is forgiven, apparently.
#4: Oliver Reed
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Oliver Reed’s acting career lasted from the 1950s until his death in 1999, with roles in such films as Oliver! and Gladiator. But he was perhaps as well known for his drinking. There are multiple instances of public appearances where the unpredictable Reed seems intoxicated. Take this appearance from the talk show “The Word” in the ‘90s, where he impressively recites Latin and speaks with surprising eloquence - except, of course, when angrily telling the host to shut up at one point. In a biography of the actor, there is a conflicting account of Reed’s supposedly drunken escapades: that he wasn’t always as inebriated as he looked, and that he only acted that way because he was encouraged to.
#3: Bill Murray
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Normally, Bill Murray can do no wrong: the illustrious comedy career, the hilarious talk show appearances, the effortless swagger. But the bigger they are, the harder they fall. The comedian learned that the hard way during a boozy appearance on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell in 2015. Fresh off a vodka-fueled appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Murray wandered onto the set and disrupted the serious news program with some major slurring. Rather than laughs, the appearance earned Murray nothing but scorn from O'Donnell, especially after he crashed off his stool.
#2: James Brown
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The Godfather of Soul started off this 1988 interview on CNN’s Sonya Live by singing “Livin’ in America”... and kept returning to it. And believe it or not, it just got more strange from there. Despite his joyful mood, the funk legend was actually on air to discuss some terrible allegations. The whole interview was a debacle – as Brown redirected the host’s questions with a series of memorable sound bites. The legendary clip lives in infamy and even resurfaced after Jordan Peele released a parody version in 2015.
#1: Steve-O
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There was a time when Steve-O was known as much for his hard partying ways as he was his dramatic stunts. His self-destructive behavior was on full display in a 2005 appearance on Too Late with Adam Carolla. The stuntman spent this interview breaking the set, tackling the host, and barely keeping his pants on. He entered psychiatric treatment in 2008 thanks to severe substance addiction; an addiction that was exacerbated by injuries he sustained while filming Jackass. An eye-opening documentary, “Steve-O: Demise and Rise,” aired in 2009, giving fans a peek into how an intervention helped him turn things around. Fortunately, Steve-O has been clean and sober ever since 2008. We’re sure Adam Carolla - and his set - are thankful for that.
