Larry King Called Me ‘A Freak’ And Asked Me If I Was ‘A Nerd’ At Comic-Con

I always feel I do a bad job at relaying how bizarre this entire encounter with Larry King actually was when I tell people about it — which isn’t just one of the nuttiest things I’ve ever experienced during San Diego Comic-Con, but one of the nuttiest things I’ve experienced ever. He was just “also in the room” during an interview I was supposed to be conducting with someone who is not Larry King and has no relation to Larry King — then started answering questions not directed at him. Ultimately, I had to ask Larry King why he was even in this room with us in the first place. Then he, with all sincerity, called me “an freak” then asked if I was “a nerd,” as if he had never met “a nerd” before and had no idea how to identify “a nerd.“

(Speaking of comic book movie-related material, I did just interview Destin Daniel Cretton about Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Larry King was not in the room.)

To put this into perspective, imagine whatever job it is you do. Imagine you are scheduled to have a meeting with one other person for a work-related reason. You get to the room in which the meeting is taking place and the person you expect to be there is there. But also, with no explanation or advance warning, Larry King is also there. Then he calls you “a freak” and “ a nerd.“ This is what happened to me.

(The Hard Pass only exists because of paying subscribers and I do need to have posts just for them. If you decide to become a paying subscriber today, there is plenty left to this story, plus a lot more like the story I was told about Tom Cruise that is now my favorite Tom Cruise story, my weird night at The Rise of Skywalker premiere party, and approaching Philip Seymour Hoffman to ask him about Along Came Polly.)