Well before the late-night talk shows were obsessed with viral videos and stupid games, hosts like David Letterman and Jay Leno (as well as the folks pre-dating them) were actually known for the jokes they told and the interviews they conducted. And according to a new interview with David Letterman, one of those interviews ended up causing Quentin Tarantino to threaten his life.
Speaking on a recent episode of “Desus & Mero,” Letterman recalled a story where he joked about Tarantino, but the filmmaker took it completely the wrong way.
“There was one guest on the show and her girlfriend was someone [Tarantino] was dating. A famous star,” Letterman explained. “And I was saying, ‘No, you’re not dating Quentin Tarantino.’ And she said, ‘Yes, yes I am.’ And I said, ‘Oh, please tell me this isn’t true.’ Now I’m joking! I’m thinking the idea is Quentin Tarantino is this movie store nerd from when you used to be able to rent films and you take them home and you have to return them…He was a self-described film nerd…So, now I’m pretending that I’m stunned that this glorious movie star is dating this little squirrely guy.”
The former late-night talk show host says that two days after that interview, his assistant got a call from Tarantino. And that’s when the story really went off the rails.
Letterman continued, “He starts screaming at me, ‘I’m going to beat you to death, I’m going to kill you. I’m coming to New York and I’m going to beat the crap out of you. How can you say that about me?’…And on and on and on, like the guy is full-blown, clinically goofy.”
The host, always thinking about the entertainment angle, attempts to set up a meeting the next night with Tarantino. But the filmmaker doesn’t contact Letterman or his people “for quite a while.”
It wasn’t until the next time Tarantino showed up for Letterman’s show years later that the two were able to make up.
“I think you owe me an apology.” Letterman said to Tarantino in the “Late Show” green room.
It wasn’t until the filmmaker’s publicist urged him enough that Tarantino finally apologized for the incident and the two went on to have an interview on TV.
I believe it’s safe to say that Letterman might have the best Tarantino story we’ve heard about so far. What say you?