When saying that Sean Penn smoking on The Late Show raised some eyebrows, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s not about outrage, but it seems surreal to a lot of folks and Stephen Colbert might be the top of the list alongside the folks in attendance for his show. He was prepared for Penn to come armed with his American Spirit cigarettes, pulling up an ashtray from behind the desk to help the actor out a bit. He was battling an Ambien hangover from a redeye flight, so it makes sense that Penn just said screw it.
Sean Penn lights a cig on @colbertlateshow and everyone goes batshit on Twitter. #Spicoli Forever. pic.twitter.com/WLmvnJNtQL
— itsallrealitv (@itsallrealitv) March 27, 2018
Sean Penn smoking on Colbert like it's Carson '85. 🚬
— John Norris (@Jonnynono) March 27, 2018
It wasn’t a horrible interview, but the cigarettes really just made it kinda memorable. It’s an act that has a lot of stigmas connected with it in today’s world, but it used to be pretty commonplace. It also used to be commonplace to see doctors giving their approval to the brand of cigarettes that paid them the most.
None of that matters here, though Colbert does stop Penn part of the way through his chat to talk about the dangers of smoking. It lasts through the commercial break, but it feels like it was a moment Colbert had to have in there for some legal or broadcast reason. Also, it’s New York City and smoking is banned pretty much everywhere. That might play a factor.
https://twitter.com/ThreeColumnsArt/status/978487522379657216
https://twitter.com/aaronbergcomedy/status/978481403498246144
Sean penn is smoking indoors, someone issue him a fine for chrissakes. #colbertlateshow @colbertlateshow
— Christine Estima (@christineestima) March 27, 2018
Penn also discusses the apparent end of his acting career, saying “the lady” he fell in love with has too much competition now from other content. Colbert is the one who then brings up Netflix, leading to Penn mentioning settlements with the streaming giant in passing to the confused host. He’s likely referring to his showdown with Netflix over Kate del Castillo’s Netflix documentary series about her meeting with El Chapo. It kind of awkwardly stops the interview for a moment, but in a way, it’s just another highlight of this strange chat about a book.
It’s hard to tell if the interview just ends abruptly due to the time or if anything else happens, but the ashtray is gone when Colbert wraps up. The rest could pop up Colbert’s Friday show, but who knows. The whole thing just feels like a moment that is strange and normal all at once due to Penn’s involvement. Needs to be documented in some way because it’s doubtful it happens again until Bill Maher tries to smoke pot on his show again.
(Via The Late Show)