Top 10 Awkward Celebrity Interviews

In 1997, the 50-year-old Charlie’s Angels star posed for Playboy and made her debut on “Late Show with David Letterman” at the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Fawcett opened with a few strong anecdotes about life in New York City, but swiftly drifted away from reality as Dave seemingly watched the trainwreck in slow motion. She giggled, described cryptic Central Park “walls” and had problems describing her own birthday celebration. The audience cackled in amazement and Farrah squirmed in confusion; but Fawcett always stuck her guns that she was not on anything at the time of the interview. You be the judge.

It was a moment that any music journalist dreams of: a one-on-one with Madonna. However, MTV’s Kurt Loder decided he needed more from the 1995 Video Music Awards post-show. After being pelted from below by what turned out to be a makeup compact, Loder brought Courtney Love up to join the party. The “Material Girl” instant expressed her concern and things quickly got weird. The Hole singer rambled on about science and catfights, while Madonna put on a fake smile as the MTV host was visibly filled with regret. When it was all over, Love faceplanted into both the stage and infamy.

This rocky 2011 interview started off light with nosy cats interrupting the scene, but soon became prickly when Kim Kardashian entered the conversation. ABC’s Dan Harris spoke with Paris Hilton about her numerous stalkers and ditzy public persona, but encountered a severe case of stink eye once he questioned the fleeting fame of the entrepreneuse. Hilton looked off camera for guidance, while Harris threw up a while flag with a knowing smile. The two hugged it out, but ABC ultimately mocked Ms. Paris during their intro segment to the piece.

Do NOT…we repeat DO NOT…bring up the past to Mel Gibson. After his 2006 drunk driving arrest, the actor took several years off but returned to the spotlight for the 2010 thriller “Edge of Darkness.” During an interview with veteran entertainment reporter Sam Rubin to promote the flick, Gibson took offense when his alleged anti-Semitic tirade was brought up, and shot back at the reporter with a sharp retort [“Do you have a dog in this fight?”]. Some interpreted the comment to mean Gibson was accusing Rubin of a bias against him due to his own Jewish heritage. However, Rubin politely smiled but later expressed his anger, while Gibson moved on to more equally awkward interviews.

The American country-rock band The Boxmasters formed in 2007 and were fortunate enough to appear on Canada’s acclaimed “Q” radio show just a couple years later. Unfortunately for host Jian Ghomeshi, the group’s most famous member, Billy Bob Thornton, took offense when his extensive background in film was mentioned. For almost half of the 13-minute interview, Thornton gave cryptic answers while his band mates looked like they had just seen a puppy run over by a semi. Even though Thornton’s fame brought attention to the band, he made it clear that said fame shouldn’t be discussed. A classic Hollywood move.

At the 2012 Academy Awards, Sacha Baron Cohen showed up in-character and accompanied by sexy female guards for his red carpet arrival and made it rain all over a surprised Ryan Seacrest. Cohen was promoting his latest film “The Dictator,” and was carrying an urn supposedly filled with the ashes of recently deceased North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. Always a professional, Mr. Seacrest handled the incident rather well, as Baron Cohen retreated with a few words of advice. In the end, Seacrest looked like “Scarface” but he gained the admiration of a giddy Giuliana Rancic.

Over the course of eight months from 2002-03, the King of Pop was followed and interviewed for a British documentary, ostensibly to see what his day-to-day life was like. However, MJ made the unfortunate admission that he slept in bed with children. Journalist and host Martin Bashir expressed his concerns to Michael Jackson, who defended his actions by citing “love.” Jackson recalled his experiences sleeping with Macaulay and Kieran Culkin, and actually spoke like a child as he remembered hot-air balloon excursions at Neverland Ranch. The entire documentary stunned audiences and ultimately led to a sexual abuse trial. Michael Jackson was found innocent of all charges.

An acclaimed journalist who’d been in the biz for decades, Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Britain’s Channel 4 received a surprise one day when interviewing Quentin Tarantino. There to promote his new film “Django Unchained,” the director shunned his questions about violence – actually, shunned is an understatement. It’s no secret that Quentin Tarantino’s made some of the bloodiest films over the past 25 years, but he unleashed the crazy eyes once the interviewer asked about the real-life implications of such violence. Guru-Murthy chuckled and Tarantino torched him with a verbal smackdown that left the dapper host both confused and amused.

The Internet went wild in 2011 as one of Hollywood’s most exuberant personalities officially… well let’s say, took a break from reality. In an at-times hilarious and but also troubling interview with Andrea Canning, Charlie Sheen explained that he wasn’t bi-polar but rather “bi-winning” and had “tiger blood,” among his many quotable quips. The ABC host pressed the actor about his relentless partying, which led Sheen to boast that his antics would make Frank Sinatra and Keith Richards looks like “droopy-eye armless children.” Social media went crazy and so did Sheen.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

- Joaquin Phoenix on “Letterman”

- Bruce Willis in “Red 2” Interview

- Shannon Tweed Hits Gene Simmons

- Kanye West Rant on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

- Brent Spiner Doesn’t Wanna Talk About “Star Trek”

Some actors fake tears and some actors fake excitement. It’s what they do. So, was it a huge surprise when Tom Cruise went nuts on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2005 and declared his love for Katie Holmes? Right around the same time Cruise had lost his longtime publicist and was also boasting about his knowledge of psychiatry, the digital age was being revolutionized by outlets like TMZ and YouTube, which made Cruise’s couch jumping an instant viral hit. Perhaps he was simply promoting his next film “War of the Worlds,” but his goofy appearance made him an instant punch line. It was awkward and undoubtedly awesome.

Do you agree with our list? What’s your favorite awkward celebrity interview? For more mind-blowing Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.