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Stephen Colbert and Joaquin Phoenix Try One Minute of Silence on The Late Show

Stephen Colbert and Joaquin Phoenix try to remain silent for a minute on camera in a short Late Show clip released July 16, 2025.
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Stephen Colbert and Joaquin Phoenix take on a simple, uncomfortable challenge: remain silent together for a full minute while cameras roll. The Late Show posted the short clip, titled “One Minute Of Silence With Joaquin Phoenix And Stephen Colbert,” on July 16, 2025. It is a separate segment from Phoenix’s longer appearance the day before.

What happens in the silence clip?

The official clip description frames the bit as a question: can Phoenix and Colbert stay quiet for an entire minute on camera? Its appeal is the tension of watching two talk-show veterans resist the instinct to fill dead air. The clip’s description also promotes Phoenix’s film Eddington, which it said would open in theaters that Friday, July 18, 2025. Watch the official Late Show clip.

How it fits into Phoenix’s July 2025 appearance

Phoenix appeared on The Late Show on July 15, 2025. The one-minute silence bit was released as its own short clip the following day; it should not be confused with the longer conversation from that appearance, which revisited Phoenix’s notorious 2009 interview with David Letterman. TheWrap’s account of the Colbert conversation reports that Phoenix called the Letterman appearance uncomfortable and regrettable. Colbert said he had watched it live and called it “great TV.”

Why the 2009 Letterman interview became so uncomfortable

In February 2009, Phoenix appeared on Letterman’s show looking unkempt and wearing sunglasses, and presented himself as quitting acting to pursue hip-hop. The appearance was part of a performance connected to Casey Affleck’s film I’m Still Here. A 2010 CBS News report from the Associated Press said Letterman was not in on the joke. CBS News/AP’s report on Phoenix’s apology provides the context.

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When Phoenix returned to Letterman in September 2010, clean-shaven and no longer in character, he apologized. “I hope I didn’t offend you in any way,” he said, according to CBS News/AP. In his 2025 conversation with Colbert, Phoenix described the original appearance as a failure in personal terms even if it worked as a performance: “It was horrible. It was so uncomfortable. I regret it. I’ll never do it again. I’m so sorry,” TheWrap reported him saying.

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What the silence bit is—and isn’t

The short clip’s premise is self-contained: Colbert and Phoenix attempt a minute without speaking. Its connection to the Letterman story is contextual, not structural. The retrospective conversation supplies a striking contrast—Phoenix later said he regretted an earlier television moment built around a disruptive persona, while the silence clip makes awkwardness itself the on-camera premise.

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