11 Years Ago Today, Tom Cruise Had His Way With Oprah Winfrey's Couch

It's a monumental day, indeed.

By Seija Rankin May 23, 2016 7:08 PMTags
Tom Cruise, Oprah WinfreyHarpo

...And we never looked at a couch the same way again.

We can all picture this moment like it was yesterday. The beige carpeted set. Oprah Winfrey's pink knit separates. That oddly flower-like couch. And of course, Tom Cruise, dressed all in black as though he were a ninja sent on assignment straight from the Church of Scientology, losing his freaking mind.

It all happened exactly 11 years ago today.

The actor was making an appearance on Oprah to promote a project that nobody will remember as its cultural impact will never measure up to that of the actual interview (for the record it was War of the Worlds), when he decided to go completely off-script—to his publicist's utter horror, we imagine.

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But as we always say, a publicist's worst nightmare is the Internet's fever dream, and now we are left with one of the most simultaneously horrifying and fabulous clips of all time. It all started the second Cruise walked out onto Winfrey's stage. Perhaps he was spurred on by the panicked shrieks of the audience members who could not believe their luck to be laying eyes on the Tom Cruise, or perhaps he had started his day off with five to seven shots of espresso. Either way, Tom Cruise was on one. 

He raised his arms in jubilation. He got down on one knee to praise the Gods of Xenu for his fortune. He was moved speechless by his joy! Then, to the delight of mankind everywhere, he jumped up on Oprah's couch in a display of crazy that no one could have predicted. And all the while Oprah provided a soundtrack of enthusiastic whoooooos!, knowing that with each passing arm pump and leg kick her royalty earnings were multiplying. 

She also managed to squeeze in the observation that something had happened to him (how savvy of you, O!), to which he so simply replied, "I'm in love."

Our collective consciousness may have forgotten this moment with the passage of time, what with new celebrity couplings and pregnancies and breakups cropping up each day. But we're here to remind the world that we must never lose the feelings we felt when we first bore witness to the Incident. We must hold this simultaneous joy and horror in our hearts forever, because it is with us that this tale will live on. 

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Of course, on this the 11th anniversary of the Couch Jump, we do look back on the whole thing with a bit more knowledge than we had in 2005—in particular the knowledge that Tom and Katie's courtship may have been a smidge less than naturally-occurring. But we shalt not dwell on this fact, for it makes the clip way less hilarious and way more depressing. 

Instead, we shall simply appreciate the moment for what it was: Freaking hilarious. And we will honor it in the only way we know how: With GIFs. 

Harpo
photos
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