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Friday night, Mel Gibson appeared on Jay Leno’s new show for the segment “Ten at Ten”. Previously, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz appeared for the ten question comedy bit, with sketchy results. For Mel’s ten questions, Jay decided not to ask him about anything that Mel could potentially self-destruct on (Fake example – Jay asks, “Mel, what do you think about Jews?”). Instead, Jay asked questions like “Where do you keep your Oscar?” To which Mel muttered something about “I hide them in the couch, so people will by accident find out how brilliant I once was” as we are all supposed to soothe him with “Oh, you’re still brilliant, Mel!” Mel seemed… I want to say “drunk” but I don’t think he was. Or, if he was, I don’t think the alcohol was the reason for the crazy. Here’s some more of the transcript:
Mel Gibson revealed that he would swap his brain if he were able to change any of his body parts. The Mad Max star appeared on The Jay Leno Show in the presenter’s Ten At Ten segment – where he asks celebrities 10 questions that they must answer “under oath”.
Gibson said: “I think I’d change my brain. “Maybe get it frozen like Walt Disney, cryogenised.” He joked: “You know what Walt Disney would be doing if he was alive today?” He then pretended to shiver. Leno joked: “I think your brain has already been removed.”
As if to prove the point, an animated Gibson gave a series of answers that left the audience slightly confused. In answer to the body-part question, he said: “I’ve already had my tail removed. It kept wagging when I got happy. It was embarrassing.”
Leno also asked him to name his favorite meal. Gibson, 53, said: “You can’t beat steak with spinach and French fries. I have to hear the chef screaming from the kitchen.” Leno said: “I don’t even know what that means.”
The Lethal Weapon star also joked that he took his Oscars to Hollywood studio meetings and stashed them away, so that execs could stumble upon them. He said: “I hide them in the couch, so people will by accident find out how brilliant I once was.”
The actor was also asked if he could sing the Australian national anthem, before he invited the audience to sing Waltzing Matilda instead. But they didn’t know the words, so the show cut to a commercial break.
And he said the TV show he would most like to appear on is designer talent contest Project Runway – which he called Runway Project – because he might get to “rub shoulders with some really interesting people, and maybe some other body parts, too”.
[From The Daily Mirror’s 3 AM Gossip]
Ah, gay jokes. Those are what you make when you think Holocaust jokes would be “too edgy”. What is with the gay “jokes” Mel? Are you trying to use reverse psychology on us? Does Oksana have a brother?
Damn, whenever I read or see stuff like this, I always get a momentary flash of how cool I used to think Mel was. Remember the early 1990s? When Mel could do no wrong? Ah, good times.
Mel Gibson is shown on 8/8/09. Credit: WENN.com
i used to like him back in the 80s and 90s..what happened to him?
Kaiser, I don’t get your reference to “the gay-and-Jewish holy grail of bad jokes when he was riffing on Walt Disney.”
Disney was neither gay nor Jewish – in fact, there is a lot of dispute about whether he was actually an anti-Semite – so what are you suggesting?
Eh, I was referencing his famous anti-Semitism, and the gay rumors – I’ll change it.
that was really hard to watch I don’t think he was drunk either!
but we have to remember these people are actors and have writers… they are not funny on their own! He was trying to be funny but he failed horribly!
I also wonder why is Jodi Foster working with him again? Why does any one want to work with him?????
I think the anti-Semitism is still an open question – one author, the guy who wrote “Walt Disney, Hollywood’s Dark Prince” felt pretty strongly that he was, but others seem to disagree just as vehemently.
I’m with Kaiser: I so prefer Mad Max to Crazy Mel!
I agree, Kaiser. I miss the “old” Mel, before he went crazy. Remember him in the first Lethal Weapon movie? I miss THAT Mel.
Oh Mel, it all went wrong when you became “Sugar T*ts”…
I am not a Mel Gibson fan but I have to say that he seemed very funny and likable here.They need to stop picking on him. He did not seem drunk or crazy here at all! He was painfully TRYING to be funny and not seem old.
Whatever Walt Disney was or was not, I am not aware of. I would like to remember him for the creative genius that he was and leave it at that. The man is dead, not around to defend allegations against himself.
Yeah, I think he was trying to be funny by referencing pop culture trends. Because the “screaming chef” thing sounds like Hell’s Kitchen.
I think Jay kind of let him down, if he WAS trying to be funny. There’s this thing in comedy called blocking, when you don’t allow a joke someone else started to reach it’s funniest conclusion. A line like “I don’t even know what that means” totally shuts down the humour.
hmmm, call me ‘crazy’ but I didnt see anything too bad in this interview. Maybe guilty of a few corny jokes, but nothing way out there. Audiences and viewers react mostly to the host, who carries the show, and since Jay didn’t really follow along with Mel’s gags I sense that’s what made it off putting. I dont know, maybe I’d have to actually *see it. But, it looks to me as if now that the crazy’s out of the bag people are looking into everything. Call me when there’s *really something extreme.
What the hell is going on in that bottom pic? He looks like he just shuffled out of a mental institution.
Really really look at that picture of Mel Gibson above and tell me if he looks happy.
He has the saddest eyes, in this picture, as much as a di*k I think he is I feel for him, because he seems to be falling apart.
This guy seriously went up around the bent. Not much of a surprise, since it runs in the family (father).
People are reading too much into it, because it’s Mel. Prior to 2006, when his public downward spiral began, this was the kind of interview he gave all the time, and people thought nothing of it. He has always told quirky, corny jokes, and bounced around in tangents.
I didn’t think there was anything wrong with this interview.
“Remember the early 1990s? When Mel could do no wrong?”
Kaiser, how about 1993 when he was up in Modesto and “Globe” published the photos of Mel looking drunk in a company of several women (and ended in bed with one of them)?
There was always something “off” about him, it just took a while for “the crazy” to come out.
Does anyone remember how bad he looked (and acted) in “What Women Want”? He’s morphing into the Wolfman! Too bad~he was such a cutie once upon a time!
I’ve been following Mel’s career since Mad Max and Gallipoli, and he used to be my favorite actor. He’s always had an odd sense of humor, and often appeared uncomfortable in interviews. MGD is correct in stating that “it just took a while for ‘the crazy’ to come out,” as all his screw ups, like the Modesto incident, used to be covered up or fixed with damage control. But Mel’s make believe world began to crumble with the 2006 DUI/rant, and the current Oksana debacle is excelerating his downward spiral. What’s sad, besides what’s happened to his family, is that this acclaimed filmmaker and actor with two Oscars is now looked at by many in Hollywood and the public as a joke. For instance, last Wednesday Jimmy Kimmel had a bit about a fake award show called “The Sorries,” featuring Kanye, Serena Williams, the SC congressman and others who messed up and had to apologize. The big ending was a photo of Mel, as the winner of a “lifetime achievement” award.
As for working with Jodie Foster, she and Mel have been good friends since Maverick. She’s a very stable person, so it’s probably a good thing that he’s got her around during such a turbulent time in his life. What I don’t understand is why the people financing this project are risking their money. I don’t think non-Mel and Jodie fans will flock to theaters to see it, and he’s such a ticking time bomb that anything could happen before its release.
@Uzi,
My favs too…I LOVE “Gallipoli” – it was such a powerfull/heartbraking movie! And the “The Road Warior” was great too!
The glory days, when Mel was
building his carreer (Mrs. Soffer, The Year of Living Dangerously, The Bounty)…
What the hell happened!
Mel needs to be saved from himself…
I wish Jody could POUND some sense into him!
Susette,
exactly right.
@MizzExpert,
I think he still looked good in “What Women Want” and “The Patriot”(1999).
His looks went downhill with “The Passion”, and yes, age (and drinking)helped,too…
I loved Mel so much that my cat is named…you guessed it, Mel Gibson, I was deciding on a name while watching a re-run of Gallipoli. He was so handsome and so was my cat that I decided to do a homage to Gibson by naming my cat after him. As for not doing a very good interview, he NEVER does a good interview and I cannot imagine why he would start now. Poor Mel has fallen on tough times and doesn’t have that beautiful face and body to cause people to ignore what he has become. He was at one point (Tim) and for a couple decades (Max, Lethal) simply the handsomest man on the planet. That is a tough role to play while fading.
Mari – Very astute.
I’m not a fan of Jay’s and this just gives me another reason to not like him. He could have eased Mel’s painful show of trying too damn hard but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Just another A-hole milking the whole “Mel is crazy” thing for his own benefit. What a jackass Leno is. And he is a letch(personal opinion of course).
I hope Mel finds his mellow. He does look very, very sad and I don’t think Oksana is the cure. In fact, I suspect she will excelerate the speed of the crazy train.
I agree with princess pea, that Mel was trying to be funny, and some of what Jay did blocked it.
@ For Sooth?
Jay called Mel(in one of the past interviews) “a goofball”, so Mel has to live up to that title, Mel always comes across as trying too hard to be funny. When he speaks about movies he actually speaks quite inteligently.
I agree, he looks so sad, and Oksana is not the cure. I just hope he wakes up in time to see it.
@Kathie…Yes, Mel was once “the handsomest(?) man on the planet, but I think to a lot of people, myself included, the whole “sexiest man alive” appeal wasn’t just about his looks. In the early stage of his career he didn’t seem to take himself too seriously and wasn’t very interested in playing the Hollywood games. When that changed — because of fame, money, alcohol or whatever — the downward spiral began, slowly at first, but as it gained momentum…wow! As a fan I tried to focus on his work and overlook his boorish behavior: misogynistic and anti-gay comments, stories about infidelities and drunken sprees, and even the 2006 DUI/anti-Semetic rant (which I found deplorable). But at some point — perhaps when I realized how he’d hurt his children with his actions –I said “enough!” Unfortunately for Mel I think a lot of people agree with me.
I watched the video. Mel Gibson is not a “stand up comic” and all celebrities don’t interview well. He was trying his best to be amusing without offending anyone because he knows that anything he says could possibly be taken “out of context”. Professionally and personally, he’s caught between “a rock and a hard place” which would make anyone very uncomfortable, period. Perhaps, a year from now, when he’s worked through his most pressing issues, he’ll feel much more comfortable doing interviews. It’s best not to read too much into what’s going on at this point.
He looks like that weird neighborhood guy who leers at young teen girls and always has a brew in his hand. How creepy he is now compared to that first Mad Max movie. Booze kills……Your looks and your brain cells.