Glib Matt Lauer: Tom Cruise was my most awkward interview
Is it still a vintage scandal if the story is only nine years old? Sure, why not. I revisited the Tom Cruise era of crazy in my head the other day. Actually … I think about him a lot. Even though he’s not a hot gossip topic any longer, his 2005 tour of crazy is an instant mood lifter. There was just so much weirdness pouring out of Tom that year.
There was a recent LA Weekly article (and I’ve talked about this already) that talked about how the internet killed Tom Cruise, movie star. The premise of the piece is that the “couch jump” never happened. If you go back and watch the original Oprah episode, Tom really did leap onto the couch. He did it a few times. There was an altered clip that made him jump repeatedly. Then lightning bolts shoot out of his hands as he “killed” Oprah. But Tom did jump on the couch. A few months later, he also hopped onto Jay Leno’s couch and did some more jumping.
The LA Weekly article seemed silly to me because it placed Tom’s entire crazy persona solely on the Oprah couch jump. There was a whole wealth of Tom insanity going on in 2005 that had nothing to do with couches. Such as Tom’s interview with Matt Lauer where they discussed the evils of psychiatry according to Scientology. Tom stuck his finger out and said stuff like, “You don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do. If I want to know something, I go and find out. Because I don’t talk about things that I don’t understand.” He then ranted away and called Matt “glib” for suggesting that medicines do help some people. I feel like revisiting that clip:
See? Tom acts crazy in that video. He looks like he hasn’t slept for days, he’s got deep undereye circles, and he’s ranting like a madman. In a new Q&A with Facebook, Matt Lauer says this was the most awkward interview he’s ever done:
What would he do if he knew he couldn’t fail? “Run for public office!”
His most awkward interview? “A bit awkward with Tom Cruise a while back!!!! It was one of those unforgettable moments that became a part of pop culture. Sandra Bullock makes me nervous every once in a while.”
His most inspiring interview: “I loved interviewing Adam Greenberg, the baseball player who got a second chance in the pros. I learned a lot about life from him.”
How’s Al Roker? “Al is like walking on a high wire without a net, but I’ve been working with him for more than 20 years and it is still fun every morning.”
[From Today Show on Facebook]
No kidding. I felt sorry for Matt (who is no stranger to controversy himself) during that interview. I bet you could have cut the tension in that studio with an E-meter. 2005 was a super-amazing year for Tom Cruise pictures. Here are some of my favorites.
Photos courtesy of NBC, Fame/Flynet & WENN
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