When Shia LaBeouf drops by The Late Show for no discernible reason weeks after being canned from a Broadway show where he feuded with Alec Baldwin, you can be damn sure Dave is going to get to the bottom of the whole affair. Mind you, this is no light task, seeing as how LaBeouf has pretty much morphed into a complete caricature in recent years — a douche-wrapped warrior poet who may or may not be perpetually drunk and/or stoned, and even then not entirely unlikable but entirely impossible to take seriously. He’s pretty much become the physical manifestation of the apology letter that he wrote to Baldwin.
And since Letterman is at his best when playing it cool while relentlessly delving in to awkwardness this clip is all sorts of compelling.
To his credit, Shia is completely accountable, even if it is while being simultaneously incomprehensible. If you’re wondering why the hell he’s wearing a walking boot, and if this was maybe a Joaquin Phoenix-style hoaxing, we have answers to that as well!
God bless Letterman for not taking sh*t from anyone and being affable while doing it.
