Andy Lee on the celebrity guest who shocked him immediately.

Tom Cruise is known for being a bit unpredictable in interviews, from couch jumping to somewhat aggressively telling journalists when they’re “stepping over a line”. But an interview with our own Andy Lee managed to take the radio host completely off-guard.

The new Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation cast member was out promoting the show when he told News Corp of how a 2008 interview turned the 55-year-old into his favourite celebrity guest.

The actor was promoting his new film Valkyrie – which Lee’s fill-in co-host and best friend ‘Horgs’ hadn’t actually seen. So they were off to a good start. And it only got worse when they learned that was all they were going to be able to talk about once a strict no-go list came through from Cruise’s publicist.

“His publicist comes in and goes ‘there will be no questions about [his ex-wife] Katie [Holmes], there will be no questions about [his daughter] Suri, there will be no questions about Scientology,” he told News.com.au

At this point, Lee wasn’t sure what he was in for, but he wasn’t expecting Tom Cruise – a Hollywood megastar – to ask about his love life with then-girlfriend Megan Gale.

Just cleaned my balcony. Would love some plants if you own a small (or big) nursery. No yukka trees though, they are soooo 2006!

A post shared by Andy Lee (free stuff hunter) (@andytomlee) on Jan 17, 2018 at 3:21pm PST

“Door swings open, Tom walks in, he has introduced himself to the sound guy, the producer …and I said ‘I heard there’s a few rules’ and he says ‘oh, we’ll be fine and, anyway, when are you going to marry Megan?’

Quick-witted as always, Lee had the perfect response: “I said ‘sorry Tom, you haven’t been briefed’.”

The actor took the jab well and by the end of the interview, they were talking about Lee’s love life again. It went so well that in 2010 Andy received another shock from Cruise during a phone interview – he’d remembered him and even his friend Horgs.

“The first thing he said was ‘how’s Horgs?’ So that’s pretty good. He remembered.”

Not all interviewers have been able to build up a rapport with the star so easily.

In a 2005 interview with Channel Nine’s Peter Overton, things went from light to awkward very quickly when the interviewer asked about the actor’s contact with ex-wife Nicole Kidman.

“Do you have a relationship?” Overton began to ask. “Do you talk? It’s a parenting relationship-”

Cutting him off, Cruise firmly said, “Listen. Here’s the thing, Peter. You’re stepping over a line here. You’re stepping over a line and you know you are.”

“I suppose they’re questions people want to know-” the interviewer started.

“Peter, you want to know. Take responsibility for what you want to know. Don’t say ‘what other people’ this is a conversation I’m having with you right now. So I’m just telling you, put your manners back in.”

Yep, things could have gone very differently with Lee.