The Crazy Interviews Thread
Silhouette Man
The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 9,317MI6 Agent
I've been meaning to create this thread for quite a while but the recent death of the Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne on 22nd July 2025, at the age of 76, spurred me on to do it now. As the title suggests, this thread is for all crazy interviews with celebrities or even just ordinary people that are notable for being strange, bizarre, entertaining, hilarious or even infamous.
In memory of the late Ozzy I am going to start the thread with his crazy interview on the TV programme Night Flight in 1982. I have posted two versions of it below. The opening part of the interview is particularly hilarious where Ozzy seems to be somewhat "under the weather":
Another crazy interview that immediately comes to mind is the following one with the singer James Brown on CNN on 4th April 1988 where Brown seemed to be under the influence of drugs and ended up adeptly getting most of his song titles worked into his answers. There are so many great lines in here and I think the interviewer did particularly well despite the adverse conditions she faced:
I will share more crazy interviews in time but in the meantime please feel free to pitch in videos with your own favourite crazy interviews and why you love them!
Comments
😅😅😅 good idea!
Yea…great idea for a thread 🍸
Some crazy interview excerpts from the notorious Charles Manson:
In this interview with Manson I think nearly every emoticon was featured on his face:
Charles Manson Singing:
Terrible, awful man.
Yes, he was as mad as a hatter.
'The Bee Gees' WALKOUT on Clive Anderson in 1997! Clive Anderson's jokes went down like a lead balloon with the Bee Gees:
I watched that. At first it felt like a set up, then the look on Anderson's face made it clear it wasn't. If I recall correctly, the show was cancelled not long afterwards - perhaps by coincidence, perhaps not. Not a... tragedy.
I'm not sure if I saw it as it was broadcast at the time but I certainly remember hearing about it on the news. I think it was just the cumulative effect of so many jokes at the expense of the Bee Gees which soured relations. You could perhaps say that Barry Gibb was rather po-faced and pompous but it did make for good TV! It was a bit of an Alan Partridge moment for Clive Anderson. And I see what you did there, @Barbel, by slipping I a Bee Gees song title! 😀
1982 was seemingly a good year for crazy interviews. As well as Ozzy Osbourne on Night Flight there was Bill Wilkinson, then the head of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), being interviewed on Crossfire, a highly ironical name for someone from the KKK. Here he is defending his views on segregation and related matters before the brilliant mock-sincerity and sarcasm of one of his interviewers. This particular interviewer gets in quite a few zingers at the expense of "the Grand and Imperial Wizard". Sometimes the interviewer makes the crazy interview much more than the person being interviewed. This is well worth a watch:
Crazy is the word.
I think the older interviewer was a pioneer in the art of trolling. He had some brilliant lines during this interview.
Here's another crazy interview, this time from the BBC's Newsnight programme. This interview is crazy due to the sheer amount of times that the interviewer Jeremy Paxman asks the former Home Secretary Michael Howard the same question. He asks him it a total of 12 times. Of course, like all good politicians, Howard instead answers a different question he wasn't asked instead. Now I'm no expert but I reckon Howard did "threaten to overrule him"!
Musician Andrew W.K. having fun during a live interview:
That's mad. Love it! 😀
Two crazy interviews with Paul McCartney at his deadpan best responding to the media about two cannabis drug busts:
He was given 2 weeks to pay the fine? Did the judge think Paul of all people needed to scrape up the money?
Well noted. I suppose he was afforded the same courtesy as any other private citizen is entitled to when they receive a fine, irrespective of their wealth. But he was certainly a very rich man by 1972 so I'm sure he had no trouble paying the fine on time!
I like Sir Paul but I just want to put a health warning on his claim in the second video that cannabis is less harmful than other legally available drugs. That may well be true but it's a bit like saying Mussolini was less harmful than Hitler. It's still not a good thing and the link between psychosis and other mental health symptoms and cannabis use is now well proven. Just because it didn't seem to impact Macca all that much doesn't mean it won't impact other people. I don't think decriminalisation is really the answer. Cannabis is too readily available as it is.
Back in 2007 the late great author Doris Lessing (1919-2013) (then aged 88) gives her very truthful and unpretentious answer to a doorstep interview after returning from the shops and learning that she had just won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I remember seeing this interview at the time and I found her interview responses refreshingly honest and genuine. In the age of celebrity we could all learn a lot from this remarkable lady:
And the BBC Newsnight profile and interview with Doris Lessing from the same time:
Here are a few crazy interviews with the actor Tom Cruise -
Oprah:
60 Minutes Australia:
Prank for Balls of Steel:
I agree with Tom on that last one.
Next a crazy media interview from 2011. Alleged getaway car driver Donna Goudeau (later convicted of aggravated robbery) claims she is innocent of the charges brought against her and unwittingly creates a few memes along the way:
Bizarre 🤣
She forgot to say that the dog ate her homework but otherwise she had every other excuse down pat. 😀