Watch Conan O’Brien Struggle Through The All-Time Worst Talk Show Interview Ever

Over the last 25 years, Conan O’Brien has interviewed quite a few (thousand) guests for various late night shows, including Late NightThe Tonight Show, and his current series, Conan. You’d think that the many episodes would blend together in O’Brien’s mind, but in a recent interview on Dax Shephard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the late night host revealed that there’s one guest who deserves to be named the worst interviewee of all time: Abel Ferrara. In 1996, Conan interviewed the Bad Lieutenant director on Late Night, and what followed is all kinds of uncomfortable. In fact, it’s probably the worst talk show interview in the history of late night TV.

During the roughly seven-minute interview (although it feels longer), Ferrara almost broke his microphone, mumbled softly to himself, told tangentially-related stories, and pretty much just made O’Brien’s job harder. As Ferrara talked in circles about Bad Lieutenant star Harvey Keitel, O’Brien tried to steer the conversation back on track by yelling at the director as if he was hard of hearing. After he realized that getting anything close to a coherent answer wasn’t going to happen, O’Brien attempted to insert some jokes into the interview, but Ferrara’s rambling made it increasingly difficult to get a word in.

O’Brien discussed the interview in a recent episode of Armchair Expert, saying that Ferrara was one of the worst guests he’s had in 25 years of showbiz. “Abel Ferrara got booked on our show, and he’s a wild eccentric,” recalled O’Brien. “And he fled, during the show, before his segment. He ran away, got in the elevator, and was out on the street running away when [the segment producer] gave chase.” O’Brien’s producer “caught” Ferrara, and after “pushing him,” he managed to get the director backstage. “He came on camera against his will. And then came out, and I think started yelling at me,” said O’Brien.

O’Brien said he was “sure” Ferrara was drunk, and he added that even though the interview didn’t go great, he still enjoyed himself. “It was entertaining, in the way that if you ate 15 cloves of garlic, you wouldn’t say it would be a great experience, but you’d remember it,” joked O’Brien. “It was what we call ‘compellevison.'” Compellevision sure is one way to describe that interview.

Watch O’Brien’s 1996 interview with Ferrara above, and listen to his version of events here.