Name: Val Kilmer On Jim Morrison And The Doors | Letterman
Uploaded: 2023-02-28T23:05:37.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Val Kilmer On Jim Morrison And The Doors | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-02-28. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Val Kilmer On Jim Morrison And The Doors | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-02-28. Transcript available.

Our next guest starred in such films as Top Gun. Hey, there was a movie.
Also, The Doors and his brand new film, which is titled Thunderheart, opened on
Friday.
Ladies and gentlemen, here's Val Kilmer. Val!
Thank you very much, Val.
Nice to see you. There's a lot of excitement going on here. Did you see that
hawk thing?
I sure did.
Kind of got out of control.
But you must know something of birds like that, because I understand you have a
home or spend a lot of your time in the deserts?
Yes, that's one of the reasons I moved. I live in New Mexico.
New Mexico. What part of New Mexico?
Santa Fe.
It's a beautiful area.
A little north of Santa Fe.
Yeah, it's just like the first time you get into that area, it's just nothing
but horizon.
It's big. It's a big country.
And what do you do there?
Raise the buffalo, raise the children.
We have two buffalo there, and spend a lot of time with them.
His name's, the bull's name is James Brown.
Right.
Because he is the godfather of souls.
And his companion is who?
Jezebel.
Jezebel.
Now, what was it about, why did you want to get buffalo as opposed to like
horses or cattle or?
I've always loved them.
They're big.
Yeah.
And they frolic.
Yeah.
Which a lot of people don't know.
They frolic.
Are they, can you describe some of that frolicking?
It's very like a deer frolics, except that they weigh 2,000 pounds.
I have a photograph of.
Of the buffalo?
Yeah.
Yeah, let's see this.
That's James.
My God.
Now, where do you even go to purchase a buffalo?
Or do you have to go out and catch your own?
I found that one.
Man.
How old an animal do we have here?
About three and a half.
And do you know how old they get?
They, I think, live 30, 40 years.
Wow.
And you say they are good, good pets?
Yeah.
You don't let them in the house, though, right?
We let them do whatever they want.
And what is this?
That's his tire.
That's his toy there.
He likes to throw the tire from horn to horn, and if we don't clap, he gets
angry.
Really?
He can actually toss the tire back and forth on his horn?
Yeah, and he can actually get very angry, too.
Yeah.
And how did he get the tire?
Just pull it off a speeding bus?
Man, those are beautiful, beautiful animals.
But now, do you have to go to the government to get him?
Or, I mean, I don't know.
No, no, and they're not so much extinct anymore, unlike the hawk.
Was that the last one?
That's one of the reasons I moved to the desert, but I see you're bringing back
the wildlife to
New York City.
But I, uh...
What?
Yeah, I know.
In the green room.
All right, sir.
The guy thinks this is Christmas at the family house.
Um, I'll tell you what, we'll do a station identification, and then we'll come
back here with Val Kilmer.
We'll be right back.
Welcome back to the program.
Val Kilmer, of course, is here, and Lyle Lovett will be joining us in a few
minutes to sing a song, eh?
Yes, indeed.
Yeah, we'll look forward to seeing Lyle Lovett and hearing him sing the song.
We had a hawk on the program earlier.
The hawk has flown off, and now we get another update, and the owners of the
hawk are not worried, because they believe the hawk will go out, eat a pigeon,
and return.
Come on home.
And they're completely relaxed about it.
That's good.
Just when you're in New York.
Well, I've done that, you know.
If you have a taste of pigeon, this is the place to be.
A taste for pigeon.
Uh, tomorrow on the program, Tony Curtis will be here.
Uh, Eddie Money and, uh, Rosie Perez.
Oh, that's, uh, that'll be another good show.
Uh, let's see.
Uh, let's talk about the, uh, playing the part of Jim Morrison in that film.
What was, was that an extraordinary experience or just another movie role for
you?
No, he was an extraordinary guy.
Very, you know, it was fun to jump on people and get paid for it, which, which
he did.
And also, he could either get into a very serious discussion about God or vomit
on you.
Being able to, you know.
So what you're saying is he was very well-rounded.
He was a complete person.
Musicians, as you know, are strange.
Now, is, is this a guy that you, uh, before you got the part, you liked his
music?
You admired him when you were younger or?
Not, not particularly, no.
But I, I did, I did, getting into the music was a lot of fun.
And I, I wasn't familiar with this, a lot of it that wasn't on the radio.
So, uh, that's what I did in preparation, mainly just learn all, all of the
songs.
Yeah.
And in addition to, uh, acting like Jim Morrison, you were singing like Jim
Morrison.
And it was, was it physically difficult?
Yeah.
Uh, the leathers, uh, probably what killed him.
Very, it's hard to breathe in those pants.
But doing the concerts, that was a pleasure, singing live.
And, and, uh, often we, we, they had hired, uh, nude dancers, for example.
Nude dancers?
Nude.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, I thought you meant like beginners.
No.
Yeah, nude, I see.
With no clothing on.
Oh, okay, yeah.
To, to exemplify the, the joy of the 60s.
And so the first assistant director would get the blowhorn out there and say,
okay, take
it off.
And everyone would.
Wow.
Including people that weren't being paid for it.
Like the crew.
And it was a, it was a free throw.
Yeah.
Well, when you hear that as an announcement, sometimes you can't help yourself.
Uh, and you, you had to, you had to wear, uh, uh, something with your eyes.
You had to speckle.
Context.
Yes.
To simulate being stoned.
But a lot, a lot of people that came up to me helped me, you know, imagine what
that
was like.
See, even, even now, you know, they come up and say, Jim was, he did something
one night
that was so important.
What were you talking about?
Get, get that a lot.
Yeah.
Uh, and, and after you finished with the film and, and saw the completed
version, uh,
did you have a different impression of the guy or, uh, did you, did you get to
like this
character?
Well, toward the, I was mainly inside of it, you know, and, and Oliver Stone
likes to get
in the mood of whatever the scene is.
So he started, as he started degenerating and that, that's kind of what it was
about.
I told him not to clean my clothing, for example.
So the other actors would get that sort of unwashed feeling.
My God.
Hardcore rock and roll.
Yeah.
Um, and what about the, the new film, Thunder Heart?
Yes.
That's a story about Native Americans, contemporary story.
I play an FBI agent.
Uh, I'm myself part Cherokee, but this character's part Sioux and goes to the
Lakota nation to,
uh, help solve a murder mystery and ends up befriending them.
Oh, good.
Indians are quite, they actually, they have great sense of humor.
And Robert De Niro was our producer.
He went out there with the writer and they liked him a lot because he already
had an Indian
name.
They said, when's raging bull coming back?
They liked, they liked, uh, raging Bob.
They called him by his first name, raging.
Raging Bob.
I was raging.
Yeah, I like that.
Yeah, that's great.
Uh, and, and the film, uh, you're pleased with how this one turned out?
Very much.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, uh, Indians are primarily misrepresented in films.
20,000 Westerns and maybe six or eight of them give them any humanity.
So I'm proud to have been in one.
Well, good for you.
And it's doing good business.
Big, big hit.
All right.
It's, uh, it opened on, uh, Friday, Thunderheart.
Yeah.
And it's, uh, a lot of hawks in it.
Oh, is that right?
Right.
Go down and help out.
Uh, Val, good to meet you.
Thank you very much for being here.
Val Kilmer, kids.
We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.