Talk-Show Format Gets a Bath

Actor Craig Bierko, in an interview with Newsweek, says his strange, and strangely riveting, web video—in which he gives John Malkovich a sponge bath while engaging in "silly chatter"—is about exposing the weird artificiality of the talk-show format. "It sort of turns up the fake intimacy to a ridiculous degree," says the Tony nominee, currently starring in the Fox sitcom Unhitched.

More Bathing With Bierko celebrity interviews are on their way—and some of the guests are likely to be female, Bierko says: "We think if the woman is behind me, washing my hair, we might be able to hide everything." One more factoid: The bathtub (and bathroom) in the video belongs to Carrie Fisher, and once belonged to Bette Davis. (More John Malkovich stories.)