Paris Hilton forgets that The Late Show with David Letterman is a comedy show
Finally got to see the much-talked-about Paris Hilton interview on Letterman last week. I’m no fan of Hilton’s public persona, but I felt for her to a certain extent. Letterman starts in with questions about her stay in prison, and never ever lets up. Even after 4 minutes, when Hilton says she doesn’t want to talk about prison, there’s another four minutes of prison questions and she gets closer and closer to tears.
The biggest problem here is that Hilton doesn’t take the bull by the horns - she just passively waits for the next question. After a couple of prison questions, she’s got to see where this is going, and that was her opportunity to go on the offensive, talk about prison on her own terms, make some jokes about herself, and turn things around. But she’s a deer in the headlights.
Don’t know who’s advising Paris Hilton these days, but she really seems unprepared for being asked questions about her time in prison. Could be they thought that this was an entertainment show and the focus would be on her new perfume and movie, etc., but Letterman? It didn’t even cross your mind that he’d at least make a joke about her jail time?
Lesson learned: Always be prepared when you know there’s something controversial about you - have some way to diffuse the situation, or in this case, a great chance to poke some fun at yourself.
According to Mollygood, Hilton broke down completely after leaving the set. I also liked Mollygood’s final comment:
Sad to know that she has to go onto a comedy show to get even slightly tough questions about her prison stay.
Posted: October 6th, 2007 under Fun Stuff, Interviews Gone Bad, Media Interview Preparation, TV Talk Shows, Tough Questions, Why Media Coaching?.