Here’s Further Proof That Robert De Niro Is the Best/Worst Talk Show Guest Ever
You know who’s great at movies? Bobby De Niro. (Yeah, we just called him “Bobby,” like we know him, and we don’t. Deal with it.) He’s an OG of cinema, with a couple Oscars on his mantelpiece for two of the greatest films ever made: The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull. He also made Dirty Grandpa with Zac Efron, but let’s just move past that.
You know what ol’ Bob ain’t all that great at, though? Interviews. De Niro is notoriously tightlipped in the presence of journalists or TV hosts, to the point that he and Stephen Colbert recently spoofed his own reserved nature by sharing a long stretch of silence and a couple of ice cold martinis.
He stayed true to form last night on The Tonight Show. Despite Jimmy Fallon’s upbeat, good-natured efforts — not to mention a flawless De Niro impersonation — the most he could elicit from the curmudgeonly actor were a few half-interested answers about boating in the Mediterranean, maybe someday going on an RV trip, and co-directing a musical version of A Bronx Tale (!!!), which is different from the original, but also kind of the same.
The entire thing is kind of awkward and hard to watch, but also strangely engrossing. That’s the thing about De Niro: even when he’s mailing it in, he’s still the most magnetic presence on the screen. Well, except in the case of Dirty Grandpa, we guess.
