Madonna’s uncomfortable interview with David Letterman is harder to watch 30 years on-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro

Madonna’s interview with David Letterman shocked audiences (Picture: YouTube/Letterman/CBS)

Madonna’s interview with David Letterman in 1994 is still excruciatingly awkward three decades later.

The sit-down conversation went down in TV history after Madonna said f**k fourteen times – making it the most censored US network talk show ever.

Throughout the chat, the La Isla Bonita singer, then aged 34, chugged on a cigar, doled out insults – and even produced a pair of her own knickers.

Her behaviour outraged audiences – who complained in their droves to watchdog the Federal Communications Commission.

Critics also blasted Madonna, now 65, with The New Paper stating at the time the general consensus was that she had reached the ‘lowest low.’

Let’s look at all the controversial moments from the March 31, 1994 episode of Late Show with David Letterman featuring Madonna.

Letterman urges Madonna to kiss an audience member

At the start of the interview, Letterman, then aged 47, told Madonna to kiss a guy in the audience on the forehead as it would ‘knock him out.’

Respectfully declining the bizarre invitation, Madonna stayed firmly put in her seat and responded: ‘I can’t.’

Letterman then praised the Material Girl for not caving in to peer pressure.

Madonna tells Letterman to smell her underwear

She swore 14 times on the show making it the most censored in US talk show history (Picture: YouTube/Letterman/CBS)

If you thought telling someone to snog a stranger was weird, well, Madonna arguably gets a whole lot weirder.

It appeared the Vogue singer had gifted a pair of her own knickers to Letterman for his, er, personal consumption.

After noticing her pants discarded on the TV host’s desk, she said: ‘Wait a minute, aren’t you going to smell them?”

Genuinely lost for word, Letterman sighed as Madonna said she brought them ‘for a reason.’ He then appeared to chuck them into a bin off camera.

The awkward commercial break(s)

Madonna and Letterman had more of a confrontation than a conversation (Photo by Kevin Mazur Archive/WireImage)

You could see Letterman practically counting down the minutes until the commercial break – but, sadly for him, Madonna attempted to thwart that plan.

While Letterman was gasping for a few minutes rest from the interview, Madonna initially refused to cut to the adverts.

She told him: ‘I don’t think we should ever cut to a commercial let’s just keep taping every second of it.’

Of course, they did eventually roll the commercials given contractual obligations – but Madonna did not learn her lesson and tried to shut down the second break.

Crude toilet talk

Madonna returned to the Letterman show for an interview just six years after her controversial appearance (Picture: AP)

Madonna practically invented reincarnation so Letterman must have been banking on the topic of her next incarnation as a safe bet. But he was wrong.

Rather than discussing her epic transformations, Madonna shut down his question and started talking about…. peeing in the shower.

‘No seriously peeing in the shower is really good, it fights athlete’s foot,’ Madonna insisted. ‘Urine is like an antiseptic.’

The topic of conversation at least bemused the audience who were heard stifling awkward laughter.

Weird innuendos

Madonna has since reflected on her appearance on Letterman (Picture: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

What do celebrities love more than their own art and launching alcohol brands? The correct and only answer is: buying sports teams.

Noting that Madonna was a huge basketball fan, Letterman must have assumed he was on safe territory when he inquired if she had plans to expand her empire into the NBA…

However, the megastar instead became distracted and preoccupied with a boom above her head.

‘That microphone is really long,’ Madonna said seductively, before adding: ‘Speaking of the NBA…’

She then added: ‘I’m sorry I always go there.’

Letterman also asked Madonna about her nose ring and if the piercing hurt ‘when you had that thing put in your nose.’

Laughing, Madonna replied: ‘I thought you were going to ask me if it hurt something else…’

Trading insults

Letterman wasn’t sure what had hit him when he interview Madonna (Picture: Steve Granitz/FilmMagic)

Out of the blue, Madonna looked Letterman up and down and asked if his hair was a ‘rug’, insinuating it was a toupee.

Letterman played her at her game and in response described Madonna’s hair as a ‘swimming cap.’ On the show, she wore it black and slicked back behind her ears.

Later on, Madonna asked Letterman if he had a girlfriend. When he responded in the affirmative, she did little to conceal her shock.

Madonna refusing to leave

A producer was instructed to ‘get rid’ of Madonna (Picture: YouTube/Letterman/CBS)

You would have thought Madonna would have been desperate to end the interview but, instead, she refused to leave the studio.

When Letterman wrapped up the 20-minute interview, she did not budge from her seat and told the audience she would ‘still be here’ and she wasn’t ‘going anywhere.’

Producer Daniel Kellison recalled in a feature for Grantland that he was instructed to ‘get rid’ of Madonna as Counting Crows were about to make their network TV debut.

Explaining his method, he said: ‘I walked onstage and said loudly, “Say hi to the audience.” Madonna waved. As she waved, I took her hand, as if I was helping her up — and I did, in fact, lightly pull her up.

‘And over the band I said loudly again, “Say goodbye …” Confused, she waved. Still holding her hand I led her offstage.’

What happened next?

Letterman and Madonna put the interview behind them (Picture: Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage)

Madonna and Letterman buried the hatchet quickly – she even appeared on the Late Show briefly the following year during which she brought Letterman candy and declared that she was a ‘changed woman.’

On November 3, 2000, she returned for her first full-length interview on the show since her notorious turn six years previously. The two tackled the infamous sit-down and Madonna chalked it up as part of her ‘rebellious period.’

Madonna appeared on the Late Show several more times in the 00s.

More recently, in 2015, Madonna reflected on the 1994 episode with Howard Stern, and told him: One time, I was mad at [Letterman] when I said the f-word a lot. I was in a weird mood that day.

‘I was dating Tupac Shakur at the time, and he had got me all riled up about life in general. So, when I went on the show I was feeling very gangsta.’

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