Most talk shows aren’t live — but sometimes, the things that happen on them make them feel like they are.
Whether it’s the hosts going rogue, or celebrity guests causing jaws to drop, it’s highkey shocking that some of these moments made it to our TV screens.
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Wendy Williams faints
This insane moment happened during a live version of The Wendy Williams Show .
Williams, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, stumbled backwards and fainted.
She later revealed that the reason she fainted was due to being diagnosed with Graves disease.
A fight breaks out on “Geraldo”
Geraldo Rivera had a group of white supremacists on his show, Geraldo , back in 1988.
An all-out fight broke out. During the brawl, Geraldo was punched in the face, and received a broken nose for his troubles.
See, this is why you don’t put white supremacists on TV, y’all.
The View hosts walk out on a right-wing commenter
During a taping of The View , hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar got up and left in the middle of an interview.
They were speaking to Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, who stated that a mosque should not be built in New York City near the 9/11 Memorial, because, “Muslims killed us on 9/11.”
As remaining host Barbara Walters countered, “[…] it was extremists. You cannot take a whole religion and demean them.”
Madonna stresses out the censors
In 1994, Madonna stopped by the Late Show with David Letterman .
During her interview, she dropped the F-bomb no less than fourteen times . Imagine having to censor that out in real time!
Drew Barrymore forgets what boundaries are
This one is crazy.
Drew Barrymore interrupted her own interview with David Letterman to climb on his desk and dance for him for his birthday.
While dancing, she turned to face him and flashed him, then cheered in triumph.
Tom Cruise disrespects Oprah’s couch
During an interview with Oprah, he was so excited about his relationship with Katie Holmes that he climbed onto the couch and began jumping up and down, yelling, “I’m in love with Katie Holmes!”
Kanye West railroads his own interview with Ellen
During a 2016 sit-down with Ellen DeGeneres, Kanye West seized upon a question from Ellen and monologued for six and a half minutes .
Ellen originally asked him what ideas he had for the world. Kanye barely gave her a word to speak on her own show for the entire duration of his speech.
John Oliver’s complete lack of regard for HBO’s budget
When on HBO, do as Game of Thrones does: blow the budget.
Some of the most unbelievable things he’s done that actually made it to air include buying Russel Crowe’s screen-used jockstrap, buying and forgiving fifteen million dollars worth of medical debt, and making a Fast and the Furious parody using historical wax figures the show purchased.
A stripper for God?
On the now-cancelled talk show, The Morton Downey Jr. Show , Morton Downey Jr (no relation to Robert Downey Jr) basically invented “trash TV.”
During one segment, he argued with a self-proclaimed “stripper for God” so passionately that he actually shoved her away with his hips, and tore the microphone from her top.
She sued him for $40 million.
Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford lose their minds
Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford’s interview with ITV for Bladerunner 2049 started off with their interviewer telling them she thought the original film was “nightmarish”
Rather than be offended, the two promptly lost it. The rest of the interview obviously went along in a similar fashion.
Andy Dick lives up to his last name
During a double interview with Andy Dick and Ivanka Trump, Andy became handsy, touching Ivanka repeatedly on her thigh, calves, and arms.
Though she laughed it off, Jimmy jokingly had security drag Dick off stage by his feet.
Jimmy Fallon makes a choice
Jimmy Fallon had Donald Trump on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon in 2016.
During the interview, Fallon asked to ruffle Trump’s toupee, which stayed in place.
The action caused an immediate firestorm of criticism, with many accusing Fallon of “normalizing” Trump. When Fallon apologized in 2018, Trump attacked him on Twitter.
Fallon then donated to RAICES Texas in Trump’s name.
Conan O’Brien goes rogue
NBC ousted Conan O’Brien from his Tonight Show seat in 2010, he decided to stick it right back to them.
He brought a Bugatti Veyron Mouse on stage, estimated at $1.5 million, and declared it a new character for the show.
He then played one of the most expensive songs of all time to license: The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.”
Everything Bill Murray ever did on “Letterman”
Here’s a brief list of the things Bill Murray has done while appearing on The Tonight Show :
He dressed up as Liberace, complete with dog and car.
He popped out of a cake.
He once did a whole interview in football gear.
He once did a whole interview dressed in a costume from the 1700s.
David Letterman exposes his own blackmailer
Things got very, very serious on The Tonight Show in 2009.
During an uninterrupted segment, he revealed that he was being extorted. A blackmailer was threatening to expose Letterman’s history of affairs with his co-workers — so Letterman exposed his own behavior first.
Bradley Cooper and Jimmy Fallon get the giggles
During an interview that was supposed to be promoting the decidedly not funny play The Elephant Man that Bradley Cooper was starring in, the actor and the late night host couldn’t take themselves seriously in novelty visors they had put on earlier in the interview.
They couldn’t get themselves together for over ten minutes .
Paul Rudd repeatedly trolls Conan with “Mac and Me”
Paul Rudd is a notoriously jokester, and he’s had one particularly long-running joke at the expense of Conan O’Brien. Since 2004, every appearance on Conan’s show has involved Rudd setting up a clip from a movie or tv show instead of playing the same scene from the 1988 film, Mac and Me. You can check out a compilation of this trolling here .
Jimmy Kimmel calls out James Corden
An ill-fated Reddit AMA has revealed that some people don’t think James Corden is a particularly nice guy to work with, and on his own show, Jimmy Kimmel pointed out part of why that is. During a game of Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts, Jimmy challenged James to name two of the cameramen in the room with them.
James was unable to do so. Yikes.
Norm MacDonald insults the other guests
On a 1997 episode of Conan , actress Courtney Thorne-Smith was promoting her movie Chairman of the Board that she starred in with Carrot Top. Comedian Norm MacDonald began hilariously riffing on Carrot Top, and suggested the title of the movie could be “Box Office Poison.”
Thorne-Smith laughed it off, but the film was a commercial and critical flop.
Bill O’Reilly decides to do it live
In 2008, a video emerged of Bill O’Reilly having a few issues recording the closing lines of his television show. He has a meltdown and begins cursing out the people working around him, famously shouting, “[Expletive] it, we’ll do it live!”
O’Reilly later claimed he was doing it for the amusement of his coworkers, but most people weren’t buying it.
Jay Leno gets real with Hugh Grant
Back in 1995, Hugh Grant made some headlines when he was publicly arrested for hiring a prostitute. When he made an appearance on The Tonight Show , host Jay Leno didn’t do the polite thing and avoid the topic — his first question was, “What the hell were you thinking?”
Grant kept his composure, and simply fessed up, saying, “I did a bad thing.”
Bill Maher calls himself the n-word
On his show Real Time with Bill Maher , comedian and host Maher was interviewing Nebraskan senator Ben Sasse. Sasse said, “We’d love to have you work in the fields with us,” to which Maher replied, “Work in the fields? Senator, I’m a house [expletive].”
Maher immediately apologized, saying he regretted the use of an offensive and hurtful word.
Jimmy Kimmel goes after Jay Leno
In 2010, the late night talk show world got shaken up when NBC announced that Conan O’Brien would be taking over The Tonight Show for Jay Leno, and then almost immediately backtracked and said Jay Leno would be remaining on the show.
People weren’t happy, especially Jimmy Kimmel, who dressed up as Leno and impersonated him for an entire episode, insulting the decision and mocking Leno’s sketches that he felt weren’t funny.
Crispin Glover tries to kick David Letterman in the face
In 1987, eccentric actor Crispin Glover appeared on Letterman’s show in a wig, glasses, and platform shoes, and spent the whole interview behaving erratically. After Letterman complained about his behavior, Glover stood up and kicked towards Letterman’s head, only inches away from making contact.
Letterman cut the segment short and Glover was gone by the end of the commercial break.
