Charlie Rose interviews himself

In a piece titled “‘Charlie Rose’ by Samuel Beckett,” filmmaker Andrew Filippone Jr. splices together footage from a single episode of the famous PBS program, replacing the interviewee with a second interviewer. The result is a wonderful bit of postmodern minimalism (hence the Beckett reference) that’s equally absurd and disturbing.

From the artist’s description:

Something has happened to PBS favorite “Charlie Rose.” The erudite conversations and sober intellectualism have been replaced by an absurd world where illogic, inane dialogues, and open hostility rule. The one-on-one interview between Charlie and his guest begins as usual but quickly goes awry, so much so that Charlie is warned that, somewhere, a man named “Steve” is “not happy.” Though this seemingly random statement might confuse us, Charlie understands it for what it is — a threat. But who is “Steve” and why is he angry? And why does the mere mention of his name stop Charlie cold?