Joaquin has Competition...

Apparently, Joaquin Phoenix now has competition for being the nuttiest interviewee on the block.

Billy Bob Thornton recently gave a very strange interview on the CBC radio show Q.

Not only did he give bizarre, unrelated, one-word answers, he was downright hostile to the poor guy interviewing him.

The interview was actually with his whole band, The Boxmasters, about their tour with Willie Nelson, their prolific musical output of late, and their new album.

One would assume those would all be fair game topics for discussion when visiting with a radio host about one's band, yes?

No.

Billy Bob responded as though taking great offense to many seemingly benign questions about the band, their start, and his background in film.

Example:
Host: You guys formed only in the past couple of years, right?
BBT: I don't know what you are talking about.

Host: What do you learn from Willie Nelson, Billy Bob?
BBT: I've never met him

Host: (attempting to redirect the interview away from monster magazines and back to music) Given that you seem to be quite passionate about music, I was wondering about your....
BBT: (in an insolent tone) Would you say that to Tom Petty?

Throughout the interview, the rest of the band members respond normally with expected answers about the band, their ambitions, and musical interests. But crazy old Billy Bob seems either ticked he is not the total center of attention (even though most of the questions are directed at him) or else just so tired of the standard radio interview that he decides to make it more interesting by giving off-the-wall answers.

Another possibility that crossed my mind is that he is somehow in on whatever kind of 'mockumentary' Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix are supposedly working on. But since no one is talking on that end about what is real and what is staged, we won't know until the thing comes out.

All of this adds up to a whole lot of PR--good or bad. Billy Bob's latest stunt provides tons of web scuttle about his new album even though most people think he behaved as a total whack-job. And any other speculation about possible alterior motives adds to the fuel and buzz about the other projects going on.

Again, PR is PR. And since the general consensus about Billy Bob is that he's sort of half-baked anyway, I doubt this will hurt any interestin his band--even if that was what he was hoping for.