Dax Shepard Says He Almost Came to Blows with Justin Timberlake on His Infamous 'Punk'd' Episode

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MTV

Who doesn't remember Justin Timberlake's now-famous Punk'd episode?

Memorable because Timberlake actually cried at one point when he was tricked into thinking that the IRS was repossessing his home and his belongings for failure to pay taxes, Dax Shepard -- who received his big break in the business by tricking celebs on the Ashton Kutcher-hosted show -- is now dishing about what went on behind-the-scenes.

... And it turns out to be even funnier than the actual episode.

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Talking to Marc Maron on his WTF podcast recently, Shepard -- who also admitted to having more of a short fuse in his younger years -- surprisingly dished that Timberlake was the only one celeb he almost lost his cool with.

"As Ashton and I became friends, he said, 'You know, you can't -- if someone gets physical with you -- you're just going to have to take it,' which weirdly enough … definitely the most famous bit on the show in all the years was the Punk'ing of Justin Timberlake. What made it so viral, I guess, was that he had cried at one point in it," Shepard explained. "And at the end of that bit, when Ashton comes out and says, 'You're on Punk'd' blah blah blah, and everyone is celebrating … the bit is over, the cameras are off, and [Timberlake] keeps saying, 'Yeah, man. I was about to f*cking punch you.' And I was like, 'Hmm mmm, alright.'"

But then according to Shepard, Timberlake kept on going.

"'Dude, I was for real man, I was about to f*cking punch you out,' [Timberlake said]. And I'm like, 'OK, that's number two.' I’m thinking, how many times can I hear this dude in his golf outfit -- he was wearing a golf outfit -- tell me he can punch me out before I'm just not going to be able to handle it?"

Thankfully, that's when Kutcher intervened.

"And God Bless Ashton. He goes, 'When were you going to punch him? Before or after you were crying?'"

Though according to an interview with Playboy in 2011, Timberlake claimed he was "so stoned" during the 2003 incident.

"I actually stopped smoking pot for nine to 10 months after [Punk'd]," Timberlake told the magazine. "I was so stoned. If you ask my friends, if they’re honest they would probably say that’s the only way to get me as dizzy as I was. What you didn’t see from the episode, because it was a 45-minute affair cut down to 10 minutes, was me showing up and being like, 'What the f*ck are you people doing on my property? Get the f*ck off my property! Get the f*ck out of here!' Then they started rattling off my parents’ address, and I was like, 'Holy s*it. Hold on a second.' I mean, everybody was got good on that show -- me probably the best."

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But clearly, both Timberlake and Shepard have matured since their time on Punk'd.

Check out Shepard and his wife Kristen Bell explaining their mission to stop paparazzi photos of celebrity children in the video below.