It’s bad enough that Casey Affleck duped me with his ridiculous Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary, but now I find out that Letterman was in on it? How dare he! Letterman’s writer, Bill Scheft, told Nuvo.com that Letterman knew prior to his interview with Phoenix that the whole thing was “all an act.” I can’t decide what I’m more angry about: that Letterman tricked me, or that Bill Scheft betrayed Letterman by revealing the truth. Allow me to explain. Your job as Letterman’s writer is to make him look funny, not to promote your fantastic joke writing skills. We all know that there is a slew of writers for each Late Night show, as it would be impossible for one man to single-handedly write his own jokes every night. That being said, when you take an interview that was solely funny based on the premise that Letterman schooled Phoenix for his misbehavior, and expose that it was a trick, you’ve revealed the Wizard, and I don’t want to see the Wizard. Learning the ins-and-outs of how shows get made, and who writes what joke, destroys the mystery. So thank you, Mr. Scheft, for ruining one of my favorite Letterman interviews of all time. In the future, keep the Wizard behind his curtain.
Letterman in on Phoenix Hoax — Betrayed by Writer?
It’s bad enough that Casey Affleck duped me with his ridiculous Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary, but now I find out that Letterman was in on it? How dare he! Letterman’s writer, Bill Scheft, told Nuvo.com that Letterman knew prior to his interview with Phoenix that the whole thing was “all an act.” I can’t decide what I’m more angry about: that Letterman tricked me, or that Bill Scheft betrayed Letterman by revealing the truth. Allow me to explain. Your job as Letterman’s writer is to make him look funny, not to promote your fantastic joke writing skills. We all know that there is a slew of writers for each Late Night show, as it would be impossible for one man to single-handedly write his own jokes every night. That being said, when you take an interview that was solely funny based on the premise that Letterman schooled Phoenix for his misbehavior, and expose that it was a trick, you’ve revealed the Wizard, and I don’t want to see the Wizard. Learning the ins-and-outs of how shows get made, and who writes what joke, destroys the mystery. So thank you, Mr. Scheft, for ruining one of my favorite Letterman interviews of all time. In the future, keep the Wizard behind his curtain.