Julia Roberts diagnoses Letterman's early mean streak: 'Stupid people annoy you'

On Wednesday, Julia Roberts made her 26th and final appearance on a David Letterman talk show, and she recalled how nervous she was during her first visit, back in 1988, to promote Mystic Pizza on Letterman's Late Night. She also explained why: "I had seen you absolutely dismember young actresses of my, kind of, peer group." So, she said, she assumed that Letterman would size up her intelligence and, "like a samurai, sort of Benihana me into pieces and I'll be left for dead and forgotten."

He didn't. But on Wednesday's Late Show, he also didn't dispute Roberts' characterization of his cutting interview style at the time. But he had a question: "What do you suppose was wrong with me? Why would I behave that way?" Roberts had an answer: "Because, I think, stupid people annoy you." That had everyone laughing, but Letterman has the perfect, self-deprecatory response that, frankly, cuts probably as close to the truth: "Well, that answers my problem of self-loathing." Watch below. —Peter Weber

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