Record for earliest commentary exit

[oh-tomo]

Just listened to Joel Schumacher's commentary for Batman and Robin, where he exits the commentary with 8 minutes of movie left to go. Any other commentary tracks with early bailouts?

[Joey9775]

I'm not sure what minute mark but the 2nd Austin Powers has them bailing before the end.

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by oh-tomo

Just listened to Joel Schumacher's commentary for Batman and Robin, where he exits the commentary with 8 minutes of movie left to go. Any other commentary tracks with early bailouts?

There are a few group commentaries where one or more participants leaves shortly after it begins. Can't think of any right now but it's not unheard of.

[Monterey Jack]

Sean Astin bails about halfway through the Goonies commentary ("One-Eyed Willie got him...").

[BudBaxter]

Samuel L. Jackson has a great early exit on the Deep Blue Sea commentary.

[Show spoiler]after he gets eaten, he says something like "Well, I'm dead, & I think I got paid more than anyone else in the cast, so no-one is safe!"

[Martoto]

One of the Will Ferrel movies has commentary where someone (Paul Rudd?) calls up in the middle of it and freaks out at not being invited. It's a bit, I know.

[Michael24]

It's been forever since I listened to it (when it first came out on DVD), but I seem to recall that Stuart Baird's commentary for U.S. Marshals ends with about 45 minutes of the movie left to go!

[RFK]

In Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion, Ken Russell leaves after 51 minutes.
The poor producer is stuck for the rest of the 110 minute film with no one to interview.

[Stanis]

The pilot for the Simpsons, the korean animation makes one of the producers leave in disgust just after it begins, Matt Groening and company all laugh about his exit and call it "first walk out in commentary history" or something like that...

[master gandhi]

If we’re mentioning TV shows, then South Park is known for doing Mini Commentaries on their episodes starting with season 3 I believe. They did full length commentaries on season 1, but didn’t enjoy it, and season 2 has no commentary, so they may have tried to not do any more commentaries before deciding on the Mini Commentaries.

[Martoto]

Laurent Bouzerau. Introduces himself and the commentary track at the start then promptly buggers off.

Every

Single

Time.

[MuffinMcFluffin]

For the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog story, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and the director all bail about 45 minutes in, and the rest of the track is filled with the commentary for There's Something About Mary.

It's all a play, but I didn't know it the first time and was kind of not loving Ben and Vince in the moment lol.

[DrWally]

Mark Wahlberg bails out of the Ted commentary after less than half an.hour.

[RossyG]

Why do they leave? Do they get bored? Offended?

[Socko]

Originally Posted by DrWally

Mark Wahlberg bails out of the Ted commentary after less than half an.hour.

What a d*ck

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Why do they leave? Do they get bored? Offended?

Prior obligations mostly.

Unlike interviews, these may be recorded in multiple takes and require a large time commitment. Obviously, the special feature producer(s) account for this and try to schedule a time that works. The talent though may not have the same ideals or if a session is going on too long then they need to leave.

[MuffinMcFluffin]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Why do they leave? Do they get bored? Offended?

The Dodgeball one is a whole play. I haven't heard it in over a decade, but if I recall correctly, the director and VV start it up. Vince is just scarring down chips and remarking about every time he is on screen, and the director is irate that Ben Stiller has yet to arrive.

He shows up late, then he and Ben get into a spat. Ben pretty much calls him a nothing and he can do what he wants, the director just talks about how hard he worked on the film and wanted to do this commentary, and Vince is just all "Look at me right there!" Ben and the director leave upset, and Vince eventually departs.

Two producers are heard going like, "So what do we do now?" and eventually put in that other commentary as it runs the rest of the way.

Again, I was gullible to fall for it somehow until I found out it was a joke. Apparently there is a real commentary as a hidden Easter egg, but I have yet to hear it.

[Jay H.]

How about the times I was bored by a commentary track, and I exited out of that feature? Does that count?

[SpaceBlackKnight]

MGM are notorious for hacking up commentaries and sometimes ending them earlier than the feature. I believe there was a label release of an MGM title, forgot which, where the chopped up commentary track ended like 45 mins in and the rest of the film audio played.

[Trekkie313]

I recall Ben Affleck intentionally eating during Kevin Smith commentaries and even walks out of the recording booth a few times.