Earth to Joaquin Phoenix, Anybody Home?

Hey Joaquin. What have you been smoking? Whatever it is, it’s some good shit.

Joaquin Phoenix has caused some concern as to whether he is insane in the membrane after a bizarro appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman left people wondering about the actor.

The interview got off to a less than promising start and proceeded to get more cuckoo as it progressed. Phoenix was on the show to promote his latest and possibly last movie, “Two Lovers,” but didn’t seem to be endorsing the film at all.

Joaquin either didn’t answer Letterman’s questions or sat staring at his hands or mumbled incoherently or looked perplexed at the audience’s laughter all the while, chomping away on some gum.

Letterman wasn’t going to make it easy for Joaquin either, and took any opportunity he could to get a few digs in, at one point asking “What can you tell us about your days with the Unabomber,” to which Joaquin stared blankly in response.

The only time that Joaquin managed to utter more than a one word answer was when Dave asked him whether he was serious about quitting acting to which he replied, “I have been working on my music; I am doing hip hop music.”

When people in the audience laughed at that, Phoenix asked “What do you have them on? What do you gas them up with?”

But the best line of the night, which almost seemed cruel, was when Letterman joked at the end of the interview “Joaquin I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight.”

If the dude is hoaxing us, it’s brilliant, but if Joaquin is genuinely going down some hippy love train nutcase path, it’s just plain space cadet behaviour.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, we don’t all have to play the tough guy as Letterman does, but it’s certainly puzzling to see Joaquin’s metamorphosis from Oscar nominee to hip hop hobo.

I tend to feel we are being punked by the performance, it’s just too good, especially when Joaquin stuck his gum under David Letterman’s table – that’s genius right there.