There’s a certain degree of fun critiquing an interview that you know is going to be tongue-in-cheek from the word go. We know that because when Jackson Browne sat down with Stephen Colbert, the irreverent interviewer started by saying “I’m a long-time, huge fan, which makes it even harder for me to do what I have to do right now, which is to tear you a new one.”

The rest of the interview was quick-witted and funny, mostly on Colbert’s part. But Browne did his best to straddle the fine line between seriousness and satire. On the show, because he is suing John McCain for using his song “Running On Empty” without his permission, Browne managed to discuss the real details of the case while still joking with Colbert, who kept lobbing mock insults and wild accusations.  At one point, while talking about the Iraq war, and who the real enemy is, Browne seemed to lose his concentration, staring blankly into thin air.  But, he was merely recalling the lyrics to one of his new songs, which he proceeded to speak to Colbert. Colbert quickly came back with “Oh, just because it rhymes doesn’t make it true, Jackson. I don’t have a rhyming dictionary back here!” After a short, wry, stare-down, Colbert asked if Browne would come back and rhyme with his guitar. And he did. And all was well.

Dressed eerily similarly to Leno, Jimmy Kimmel had to take a ribbing before he even sat down, “is that the Jay Leno young men’s collection?” referring to his wardrobe.  Not to be tarried with, Kimmel launched into his own diatribe, smartly including the audience.  He said to Leno, “may we speak privately for a moment? (with a knowing glance to the crowd) You guys are cool, right?” He proceeded to express his concern for the rumor that, upon his eviction from NBC, Leno would be coming to ABC, where, in case Leno didn’t know, he has a late night talk show of his own.  Kimmel continued on his sarcastic rant for quite some time telling Jay how bad ABC was to work for and how his car kept getting keyed, as he knew all things automotive are near and dear to Leno’s heart, and finally ending the misery definitively with “so don’t come there!”

While I’m not really sure what he was there to promote, he talked about his parents, who were in the audience (perhaps that’s why he was there, his parents wanted to see the Jay Leno show!) He then jumped back on his soap box commenting about Jay having sent his Mom flowers saying, “It’s not enough to take my show, you have to take my mother from me too?”  Even when they returned from the break, Kimmel lead with his calculation of Leno’s worth ($703 billion dollars, by his most recent count) and saying he doesn’t need another job.  It was funny, but bordering on real… too real… and uncomfortably desperate.  A fine line that Kimmel continued to walk.  They went on to chat about Kimmel’s Emmy, which he said was really won by his ex-girlfriend, Sarah Silverman and his cousin, and then ended the interview showing a clip from his own show.

Again, I really am not sure why he was there, but it was an entertaining appearance.  Certainly two people who know better than most about comic timing, pace and humor; they played well off each other, Jay teasing Jimmy like the Jedi Master joshing the Young Padawan.  It will be interesting to see what the future holds for these intergalactic stars.

It’s often hard to walk out on stage when an interviewer has just taken a serious tone, as Julia Louis-Dreyfus was forced to do after David Letterman had just paid tribute to his friend Paul Newman. Louis-Dreyfus took the right tack by not trying to lighten up the moment immediately, but by adding her own comments and complimenting the organic nature of his Newman’s Own products. A nice tip of the hat to a great man and I’m sure Letterman appreciated it.  She was then able to segued into the now infamous non-appearance by John McCain on Dave’s show and his ultimate dissing of Dave by making it to a Katie Couric interview. She found that very rude.  So, in an effort to “show my support for you and sort of set the universe straight, I also scheduled an interview for exactly this time and I’m not showing up for it!”  Dave, afraid she was going to leave, asked her with whom. With perfect timing, she said “Katie Couric, of course.” They then cut to a shot of Couric sitting alone in the studio, waiting, staring at an empty chair. A nicely set up bit that obviously pleased Dave.

Most of the rest of the interview was an entertaining recount of her family vacation in Africa. “I’d like to go,” interjected Dave. “Would you? Well, listen to this,” she warned and proceeded to regale us with all the nightmares they encountered with lions, scorpions and baby black mambos.  Clearly Dave was souring to the whole adventure as the interview progressed.

They did finally get around to talking about her show, The New Adventures of Old Christine, which is in its fourth season. She wasn’t too happy with its season premiere being against Dancing with the Stars, but she said she wasn’t worried.  And she really shouldn’t be…she and Dave had a great time, laughed a lot, as did the audience.

Diane Lane and Richard Gere are like the favorite sweater you put on when the cold sets in – warm and comfortable. And we were privy to that coziness when they appeared on the new Bonnie Hunt Show. A show and host that are still searching for their groove, as the quick witted and often cutting host, looks cultivate to a laid-back, down-home style that she and her producers believe is more conducive to daytime talk. While Hunt seems to be trying a little too hard to be a “regular gal,” she did allow pros like Lane and Gere to fall into their own brand of an easy rapport.

There to promote their new film Nights in Rodanthe, their third film together in 25 years, Lane and Gere acted like an old married couple – and I mean this in a good way.  At times we watched them speak for each other, tease each other and tag-team seamlessly in discussing the film, which they did for quite a while and over several clips.  They were certainly a major “get” for a fledgling show, already hurting in the ratings, and Bonnie showed her gratitude by giving them major time latitude.  I did find it interesting that Gere felt the need to carry a prop – a paper coffee cup – out with him, which he held, but rarely drank from throughout the interview. Usually this is a sign of nervousness posing as informality, but in Gere’s case as a veteran of all of this, it’s hard to figure out just what was going on here.  With whatever apprehension he may have been feeling, he was still comfortable enough to play with the audience and the host, to everyone’s delight.

It’s not the easiest task to interview two people at once, or for that matter, be interviewed as a team, but all things considered, Bonnie did it well. I just wish there could have been a little less laid-back comfort and a little more excitement, but in this case, familiarity didn’t breed contempt, we just felt like we were part of the family.

It’s so nice to see the up-and-coming generation of actors confident, relaxed and NOT cocky in interviews. Such was the case when Adrian Grenier visited The View. Dressed casually in jeans, black shirt and hi-tops, Grenier flashed his winning grin as well as his coy smirk and immediately brought us in and won us over. Whoopi lead off the segment with a reference to the just-viewed clip of his returning show, HBO’s Entourage, which was what he was there to promote. He spoke hopefully about both its future and his own. And we were right there with him.

When the subject of sex came up, which it did several times, Grenier was playful, not obnoxious, and even differentiated himself from his character’s free-spirited sexcapades saying he has “the monogamy gene.” Subtle and clever as it allowed even those who don’t know his character to help define him beyond the show’s hype.

So, here’s a charming, funny, understated young actor who we then find out not only makes documentaries, but has a show on The Green Channel called Alter Eco all about saving the earth and “helping the planet without sacrificing our lifestyles.” Wow! Adorable, smart, thoughtful and an environmental activist?  Maybe the future is brighter than we thought. And if his future is as successful as he was on this talk show, it’s all good. And there we are…with him all the way.

I wonder if Kiefer Sutherland does some sort of Zen meditation before coming out for a talk-show appearance. It seemed that way on his recent visit to The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson to promote his new film, Mirrors. Sutherland is so unnervingly calm at times that it almost borders on boring. Any regular viewer of Ferguson’s high-energy antics would realize that this contradiction of styles could spell disaster for anyone’s appearance.

What happened was an interesting relationship with host Ferguson resulting in several mildly entertaining exchanges. When Sutherland mentioned he has shot the two-hour 24 prequel movie in Africa. Ferguson asked “Africa or South Africa?” Sutherland replied, “Is there a difference?” Ferguson jousted back with “[well,] one part is in the middle and one part is in the South…and then there’s that part around the top…what’s that called?…North Africa!” (So much for the awkward geography lesson.)

And later, in a discussion about hippos in Africa, Ferguson trapped him once more warning that hippos have very strong “unions” and Sutherland should be careful. Caught off guard again, Sutherland finally got the joke and then admitted to the audience that “My whole evening now is just about trying to derail him…and it’s impossible to do.”

Believe it or not, they did finally get to the movie…but only after Ferguson had said they were done with his patented bantering. I think even he realized he hadn’t done his job very well either and needed to talk a little (very little) about the film. Literally less than a minute.

So, to wrap up, Kiefer Sutherland’s appearance was nice. Nice is not great. Great is what you want. I’m not saying you need to jump up and down and be crazy, but you do want to have a certain level of energy and excitement that is going to play well with a high energy host.  Sutherland knows better, but sometimes he just doesn’t seem to care.
Good thing he has that hit TV show, at least for now!

In case you were wondering, there is no such thing as a “safe” interview anymore. If you are in the public eye and have suffered a public embarrassment, the road to rehabilitating your image by using an innocuous appearance, is getting harder and harder to find.  For years Larry King was the go-to guy, assuming Barbara Walters wasn’t interested in mothering you, if you were trying to make a comeback.  But somehow King either became embarrassed that his “legacy” was going to include a reputation as a kiss-up interviewer, or someone at CNN insisted that he stop worrying about being everyone’s “friend” and pay more attention to asking the questions that his audience was clamoring to hear.  (Thank you Anna Nicole Smith!)

Now even an appearance on Regis and Kelly no longer guarantees you the softball questions.  However, you can at least rely on them to not be obnoxious about it.  Tatum O’Neal got that wake up call when she couldn’t hide from her recent past on the show.

Regis began the interview by saying she’d had a couple of rough months (understatement of the year) and asking how she was doing. O’Neal said “I’m well, thank you. Thank you for asking.” Kelly offered appreciation of how honest and human she was and O’Neal, often looking at the floor, and at times uncomfortably seeking approval from the audience, said that it’s a situation “no one should ever BE in.”  (Or at least get CAUGHT in.)  Now, notice that I’m not being specific about what that situation was…well neither was Regis or Kelly. No direct mention of the drug-related charges and arrest that took place near her New York home a few months ago.  It appeared that Regis and Kelly have no issues with their legacy as champions of the “softball” interview league, even though they knew their gossipy audience would have loved to hear more.  While O’Neal looked subdued in a black, one-shoulder-reveling short dress, she still displayed a sense of humor and spunk. She offered that her life had gotten better and better since writing her revealing biography, but that “sometimes I’m meant to go left and I go right. I don’t know why that is.”

They went on to talk about her move to N.Y. for her kids education and wellbeing, quite the opposite of the movie set upbringing she went through. She even admitted that she didn’t spend much time in high school, but is street smart instead of school smart.

The discussion then turned to her real reason for her appearance a new Lifetime movie “FabFive – The Texas Cheerleading Scandal,” based on a true story, in which she plays the principle of the school involved in the incident. O’Neal said she had to go outside the box for this character, because she lets her daughter get away with murder. She kept repeating “She’s so naughty!” It’s funny to see someone who has been through as much as O’Neal has use the word “naughty.” A bit of a dichotomy, and a subtle admission that she would most likely not be nominated for Mother of the Year.
O’Neal was an interesting guest because you never knew quite what to expect or what was going on just below the surface. There’s an edge, an intrigue to her. It’s not about entertainment, it’s about the unknown that could have come out of the situation.  However, you can’t loose sight of the fact that if Tatum O’Neal is the booking and she has just gone through a public trauma, your audience expectation is something more than the normal Regis and Kelly pabulum.  (You can be sure the promo department was keen on taking advantage of the potential of such an appearance.)  Even the softball champs can’t claim victory here.

Every time I see that Will Ferrell is booked on a show, I make an attempt watch it.  Probably because I am a huge fan of his work in films like Anchorman and Blades of Glory, I just expect him to be a great guest.  But like the fans of the glory years of SNL who tunes in week after week only to be let down most of the time, I find myself in the same boat when I tune in for Ferrell.  I so want him to be great on talk shows, but he just isn’t.

Ferrell’s appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson for some kind of late-in-the-day promotion for Step Brothers is a case in point.  As usual, the segment kicked off with a clip from the movie, in contrast to most shows displaying a clip near the end of the interview.  After some amusing interplay over their respective wrist bracelets – Ferrell’s promoting global warming and Craig’s a gift from his son – the comedy advanced in fits and starts.  Ferrell kept trying to ride the Ferguson tidal wave, but his attempts to connect seemed off the mark and scattershot most of the time.  He summoned up his father in the audience.  He let Craig feel his butt.  But mostly, he somewhat timidly (for him) followed Craig’s lead, with both of them finally getting in harmony near the end with a wacky image of a Lord of the Dance extravaganza with Stairmasters on the stage in Las Vegas.

Was it entertaining?  Pretty much so.  But this gets only 3 Whispers because Ferrell came off as a hesitant second banana.  There seems to be only two ways to shine in the Ferguson maelstrom: aggressively take charge and compel Craig’s respect (see our Archives for Kathy Griffin’s star turn on his show) or lay back, feed Craig opportunities and watch for the perfect opening to get in your own comic shot (ditto the Archives for Thandie Newton on The Late Late Show.)  The only certain thing: your standard approach will fail, because this show never depends on old talk show traditions – it’s a pacesetter.

As for Ferrell himself, I’ll keep watching and praying.

What is with Kevin Costner?  He seemed so out of sorts on a recent episode of The Late Show with David Letterman. The words spacey, preoccupied, out of sync, on another planet come to mind. Aside from the fact that his hand was in front of his mouth playing with his beard most of the time, Costner just looked uncomfortable.

Costner and Letterman spent the first segment discussing wildlife as Costner elaborated on his penchant for killing fish (with a spear gun), “I’m a menace under the ocean.” They went on to talk about horses, rodeos, cats, bears and his recent wedding, which was more of an Outward Bound event than nuptial. There were a few laughs along the way, mostly provided by Dave.

After the break, Costner’s film Swing Vote was the topic of discussion. Being that Costner co- financed and produced the film (reportedly to the tune of $20 million), he obviously thinks quite highly of it.   “At the end of the day,” he proclaimed, “you know, it does exactly what I always hope a movie will do, you go out with a feeling you didn’t anticipate [having] going in.” He even compared it to his modern day classic, Field of Dreams.

Granted it’s not an easy transition from heartthrob to disheveled leading man/character actor, but Costner continues to work on it. I wish he would find that comfort level on the talk-show circuit (although, interesting enough, he was on Regis and Kelly the next morning and appeared much more at ease, with none of the relentless nervous habits.)

The twitchy, ill-at-east persona like the one Costner displayed on The Late Show will do little to protect his investment.

This will probably be one of the shortest reviews ever for The Guest Whisperer.

Will Smith is a perfect guest! He’s fun, funny, personable, full of energy and just plain great. He listens, interacts, dresses appropriately, brings visuals, is deferential to the host, has great timing, great stories and makes them interesting.

Want to hear about him golfing with Tiger Woods? Tiger’s comment about Smith’s severely curving shot, “whoa, let’s get a skirt for that hooker!” Or maybe you want to hear about his daughter’s new pet frog, which turned out to be a 3-foot boa constrictor which will eventually turn into a 12 foot boa constrictor, “Jay, I’m on your show tonight as cry for help.” Or his prowess in the bedroom — he calls it Willagra.

There to promote his new film Hancock, about an alcoholic superhero, Smith talked about donning a harness for stunt flying in the film 70 feet in the air at 60 mph for two city blocks. “ You can be sure I’m not doin’ that again, Jay.”

He is a publicist or film marketing chief’s dream – coming off as a great guy doing a great interview. Watch it and you’ll feel like you’ve had a shot of adrenaline. That’s all there is to say.