Sean Penn Smokes Cigs and Talks About Taking Ambien During Bizarre 'Colbert' Interview

Sean Penn has never shied away from being anything less than eccentric and outspoken. You never quite know what you're going to get in an interview: does he have anything to say on a certain drug lord? What does he think about about Trump? Is he or is he not on a sedative?

The two-time Oscar-winning actor spoke with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show on Monday and it's safe to say he was in a bit of an altered state. He told Colbert, "I’m doing well. You’ve inherited a little of the Ambien I had to take to get to sleep after a red-eye last night." Colbert asked, "So in other words, you’re still a little bit on the Ambien train right now?" Penn responded, "A little bit."

Soon into the conversation, Penn pulled out a cigarette and lit up on stage. A prepared Colbert pulled out an ashtray from on his desk without missing a beat. The late-night host told Penn he should really quit smoking because he wants the accomplished actor to live a long life. His response? "This is job security for oncologists." 

Penn recently announced he intends to pull away from acting because he simply isn't enjoying it much anymore. He told Colbert, "The greatest thing that an actor can bring to the party is to play well with others—it’s the collaboration—and I increasingly don’t play well with others," he explained. "And so it becomes less enjoyable, because I love that process when I love it, but I’m not loving it anymore and that’s really why I finally came around to writing a novel because I didn’t have collaborators. I was never disappointed with me."

The actor is promoting his debut novel, Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff: A Novel, which is the story of an American businessman and part-time assassin. On the novel, Penn said, "I think part of it is the girl I fell in love with was going into a movie theater in the dark with strangers and seeing something that might last forever. Now there’s so much content, I can’t keep track of it and nothing seems special."

This interview was absolutely odd and people on Twitter expressed a range of emotions.