A clean-shaven, well-spoken Phoenix returned to the Late Show last night for the first time since his very bearded, very bizarre February 2009 appearance, apologizing if he offended Letterman in any way.

The Late Show host said participating in the comic gold was actually a pleasure.

“I was not offended,” Letterman said. “It was so much fun. It was batting practice.”

Check out Joaquin and Dave 2.0 below c/o AOL Television:

Phoenix’s return came with the release of the mockumentary I’m Still Here, his attempt with brother-in-law Casey Affleck to punk the public into thinking he’d quit acting to pursue a rap career.

Now that the jig is up, Phoenix also shot down the recent report from a Letterman writer that the Late Show host was in on the Joaquin joke.

When Dave asked, “Did I know anything about this?”  Joaquin quickly answered: “No.” Both denied they were following a script of any kind.

Whether or not Dave was part of the prank, there’s some great chemistry between him and Joaquin. Perhaps he should consider taking him on as a sidekick!

Do you like Joaquin now that he’s back to “normal?” Let us know in the comments.

Affleck praises Phoenix’s performance and half-baked attempt at a rap career telling the New York Times:

“It’s a terrific performance, it’s the performance of his career.”

When Phoenix appeared on Late Show with David Letterman last year, it had some people concerned that he had gone off the deep end. Fear not, apparently.

Did you suspect this all along? Or were you totally blindsided? Leave us a comment!

Alba is traveling down the well-worn path of gorgeous female actresses who “go ugly” and win Oscars with her new film The Killer Inside Me. Alba isn’t known for her serious roles, so this movie might be an interesting change of pace. And if ugly movie make-up is any indication, Jessica really wants an Oscar nomination.

Click here to see more stills from The Killer Inside Me.

Two Lovers is the project that Phoenix was supposed to be promoting when he made his now infamous, monosyllabic appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

“It’s like, Letterman was trying to get the movie out there, but the only thing that’s out there now is a crazy person with a beard making a fool of himself!” Gray exclaimed to the Times of London.

Phoenix says that he’s trying to focus all his efforts on becoming a hip-hop performer, but some allege that this is merely a Borat-type hoax.

His brother-in-law Casey Affleck is reportedly filming a documentary about Phoenix’s efforts. Affleck wasn’t spared Gray’s vitriol.

Gray referred to Affleck as “a clown.”

“I have no idea what the hell that guy is shooting,” he said. “The whole thing is not to my taste, and I’ve let Casey know this.”

Despite his rage at Phoenix for not promoting his movie, Gray admits that he doesn’t think that Joaquin’s transition is a hoax.

“Towards the end of the movie he kept saying, ‘I’m tired, I’m tired, I don’t want to act any more. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I can’t take it!’ And I thought, at the time, he was just tired. But I must say, I’ve seen him in his house, and he has his own recording studio that he built right there. So if this is a hoax, then it’s the most elaborate thing that I have ever seen,” Gray insisted.

In the video below, watch how Phoenix verbally duels with a man in the audience from the stage and then leaps into the crowd to try and pummel the naysayer.

Check the video below.

Phoenix first indicates his rival by noting (bleeps aside) that “we have a bitch in the audience.”

When the heckler doesn’t immediately cease and desist, Joaquin (looking like a Rat Pack makeover on the Unabomber didn’t take) notes that he has a “million dollars” in the bank, and asks how the gentleman’s own finances are.

That’s some boastful and petty rich guy talk, but is it all part of the act?

Phoenix then ends the convo by leaping off the stage to dole out a beating, but was hauled off the man by security guards, show over.

Actual reality, or was this just a construct for brother-in-law Casey Affleck‘s cameras?

Oscar-nominated actor turned (*ahem*) hip-hop artist Joaquin Phoenix, 34, made for a memorable if tension-inducing guest on the Late Show with David Letterman last night.

Phoenix was reportedly there to promote his new film with Gwyneth Paltrow, Two Lovers, but instead gave monosyllabic answers to Dave’s questions from behind his scraggly beard and dark sunglasses.

Check the video above and make a mental note not to have him on your talk show ever.

Letterman gamely tried to play along, as reported by the Times Online, but eventually got so frustrated with the actor that he began mocking him.

“What can you tell us about your days with the Unabomber?,” Dave said, skewering Phoenix about his unkempt beard.

Phoenix recently revealed that he is through with acting, and wants to be a rapper.

He had his first show at the Lavo nightclub in Las Vegas recently. It went rather poorly, and ended with Phoenix falling off the stage.

He insists that his new career path isn’t a hoax, and is even supposed to be the subject of an upcoming documentary directed by his brother-in-law, Oscar-nominated actor Casey Affleck.

At one point during the interview, Letterman mentioned Phoenix’s gum-chewing and Joaquin took out his gum and stuck it under Dave’s desk in response.

Letterman was obviously unthrilled with Jay-Z and Kanye West‘s new rival for hip-hop supremacy and made it clear when he went to commercial.

He responded with “that seems unlikely” when Phoenix mentioned coming back to perform his new hip-hop tracks and added “Joaquin, I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight”.

Acclaimed actor Joaquin recently told the press that he was quitting acting forever, and focusing on his music career. He’s recently been sporting a scraggly beard and dark sunglasses wherever he goes.

He recently made his debut as a rapper at Lavo nightclub in Las Vegas with middling results. The supposedly former actor ended his show by falling off the stage.

Friend and brother-in-law Casey Affleck is directing a documentary about Joaquin’s foray into the music business and was present with cameras for the performance.

A story in EW quoted sources as saying that his new career path was a hoax.

Phoenix disagrees, and told the Associated Press that he’s totally serious.

“Might I be ridiculous? Might my career in music be laughable? Yeah, that’s possible, but that’s certainly not my intention,” he said.

“I had a lot of dudes come up and say, `We really respect you for doing it, putting yourself out there, and going with it,’” he continued as reported by People. “Because I think true hip-hop heads know that it’s hard, it’s going to be a hard transition, and people are going to be lining up just to make fun of me.”

Truer words have rarely been spoken.

Snitches apparently close to the actor are telling Entertainment Weekly that Phoenix, 34, is just be trying to pull one over on the media’s camera lenses.

Casey Affleck, who’s married to Joaquin’s sister Summer Phoenix, has been chronicling his brother-in-law’s transition into the realm of hip hop.

But one insider claims, “[Phoenix] said, ‘It’s a put-on. I’m going to pretend to have a meltdown and change careers, and Casey is going to film it.’”

Pheonix is doing a spectacular job with the “meltdown” part; two weeks ago he gave a performance at Lavo in Las Vegas, wherein he maniacally bounced up and down while spitting rhymes, then fell off the stage.

Just don’t expect the green MC to fall out of the supposed hoax anytime soon.

“He’s going full out. He probably has told his reps that he’s quit acting,” says another EW source. “Joaquin is very smart. This is very conscious. He has a huge degree of control.”

And if there is indeed any truth in the fiction—or vice-versa—we all may just have to wait for Affleck’s movie to arrive before finding out.

The 34-year-old Walk the Line thesp—who announced his retirement from acting in order to pursue a music career in October—took his rap act to Lavo nightclub in Las Vegas over the weekend, with his brother-in-law/documentarian, Casey Affleck, in tow to capture the magic on film. 

Showing up in hobo chic—bearded, in raggedy pants with a prominent hole in the crotch area—Phoenix proceeded to rock the mic to the best of his ability.

Gravity eventually pulled the plug on the performance as Joaquin, jumping around and pumping his fist in the air, tumbled off the nightclub stage. Check out the video below:

Wow; what does the guy do for an encore?

Aside from being married to Joaquin’s sister, Summer Phoenix, Affleck, 33, is directing a documentary on Joaquin’s decision to leave acting and venture into making his own music, according to The Hollywood Reporter

Gifted actor (he won a Golden Globe for his role as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line) Phoenix, 34, plans to become a hip-hop artist, and will reportedly have his first album produced by Diddy (real name Sean Combs).

Phoenix is allegedly giving a debut performance tonight in Las Vegas, with Affleck’s camera to catch the entire train wreck show as part of the first shoot for the documentary.

Phoenix gave his big retirement announcement this past October, at a reading for one of the late Paul Newman‘s charities in San Francisco.

“I don’t think he’s kidding. He’s got music and stuff,” Affleck commented at the time.

Do you think Joaquin has a chance to make it in the music industry? Or is he torpedoing a really successful career? Let us know in the comments section!

It certainly seemed that way last night at Hollywood hotspot Bardot, where the decidedly scruffy actor turned up with brother-in-law Casey Affleck and his own personal camera crew.

Despite a strict no-photography policy, Phoenix had footage rolling for the duration of the spot’s Monday night party, where Ryan Gosling jumped on the turntables for clubgoers like DJ AM and Lance Bass.

“It was definitely strange,” an onlooker tells Celebuzz of Phoenix. “It was as if he was in character. Very Andy Kaufman-esque.”

This isn’t the first time Joaquin has been spotted with the crew, either. Phoenix was with them just before Halloween, when he appeared at a Paul Newman charity event, he announced to TV’s Extra that his current film Two Lovers “will be my last performance as an actor…I’m not doing films anymore.”

Except, perhaps, the one he’s shooting all over Hollywood.

“It’s about his transition to music,” one insider tells us of Phoenix’s future goals to rock rather than act.

Perhaps old habits die hard, then, as he seems to be recording a lot of living in the process.

Reps for the actor tell Celebuzz they have no idea what the crew is for, but once they do, we “and the rest of the world will know.”

Joaquin, say it ain’t so! You were so good in Walk the Line!

“I want to take this opportunity…also to give you the exclusive and just talk a little bit about the fact that this will be my last performance as an actor…I’m not doing films anymore,” Joaquin said about his upcoming role in Two Lovers with Gwyneth Paltrow.

“Yeah. I’m working on my music. I’m done. I’ve been through that,” Phoenix said.

Joaquin was reportedly being followed by his own camera crew at the event, so could this be a Borat-type situation?

His friend and fellow actor Casey Affleck confirmed Phoenix’s dramatic announcement, though.

“I don’t think he’s kidding. He’s got music and stuff.”

And Joaquin’s rep responded to queries with, “That’s what he told me.”

Working with Gwyneth Paltrow can make anyone rethink their life goals.