After being greeted with a standing ovation from the audience when he took the stage on "The Tonight Show" Thursday night, a calm, self-deprecating Charlie Sheen poked fun at the out of control behavior that got him ousted from his job on "Two and a Half Men" earlier this year, and told host Jay Leno that he would have fired himself.
When asked by Leno if there was one defining moment that helped him decide he needed to clean up his act, Sheen replied, "Yeah, the day that I got fired from my big television show … I realized I was pretty much losing … I thought I could come back, kinda like you did."
A return jab from Leno: "At least one of us got our job back … winning!"
Read more: Charlie Sheen to Matt Lauer: Tiger Blood Was 'Silly'
About that job Sheen lost when CBS bounced him from the sitcom that had made him, at one time, the highest-paid actor in primetime and earned him four Emmy nominations, the actor seemed to have shed the anger that led to many a rant against CBS and "Two and a Half Men" creator Chuck Lorre, and instead admitted his own behavior led to his firing.
"I'd have fired my ass, too … maybe not that way," Sheen said. "I own my part of it. I just want to make everything right … I should have been a little more responsible for the condition I was showing up in."
As for repairing his relationships, Sheen said he hasn't seen any of his former CBS castmates, but doesn't have any animosity towards any of them. He also told Leno he had tried to get in touch with the network and series powers that be, but couldn't get a return phone call.
"Again, I don't think I would have returned my phone call," he said.
Read more: Charlie Sheen Roast: Jon Lovitz, William Shatner Join the Mock Fest
Leno also asked Sheen about his relationship with his father, Martin Sheen, who had publicly asked his son to get help during the younger Sheen's meltdown earlier this year.
Martin Sheen recently co-starred with his son in a clever promo for Charlie Sheen's Sept. 19 roast on Comedy Central, and in the clip, which paid homage to Martin Sheen's performance in "Apocalypse Now," wondered aloud, "When will this ever end?"
"It's fabulous, excellent, totally repaired … we're buddies again," Sheen told Leno of his relationship with his dad, while later saying the only joke he declared off limits for the Comedy Central roast broadcast was "a crack" made about his mom.
