The Office star Rainn Wilson opened up about his uncomfortable appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast—and why he believes the conversation went so badly.
Wilson appeared on Maher’s podcast three years ago, in an interview that quickly turned awkward. While the episode became widely known for Wilson admitting he was often unhappy during his time on The Office because he was chasing movie roles and bigger fame, he now says there was another reason the conversation never clicked.
“I remember when you did it, it was kind of a thing,” Office Hours podcast host Tim Heidecker said while interviewing Wilson this week. “Because you were kind of incredulous with him. You were just like, ‘What the hell is your problem? Why are you being such a jerk?’”
Heidecker wondered whether it might have been the “worst Club Random experience ever.”
After playing a clip from the interview, Wilson explained what he believed was happening.
“I did not expect him to show up wasted,” Wilson said. “That’s what I did not expect. I could feel him being wasted… it was a tumbler of Scotch and something he was smoking.”
“It was an interesting experience,” he added. “He was so wasted.”
Wilson acknowledged he could relate. “When I used to party a little bit in my twenties, before things went south, I could be that person with that Scotch and a spliff.”
Wilson also said he had hoped to promote his book, Soul Boom, but that Maher “had zero idea that I had written a book and wasn’t promoting the book.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Maher for comment.
The interview ultimately became best known not for Wilson promoting his book, but for the moment he snapped at Maher: “Bill, when you have a podcast, you need to ask your guest some questions, and let them TALK every once in a f---ing while.”
