NEW YORK — Sean Penn made a smoky appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to promote his book.

The actor told the host on Monday he had taken a sedative “to get to sleep after a red-eye flight” and Penn lit a cigarette.

The two-time Academy Award winner described his novel, “Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff,” as “the conversation once a year with the drunken uncle.”

Penn lit a second cigarette and Colbert asked him to consider quitting. Penn said it was “job security for oncologists.”

Meanwhile, Penn told comedian Marc Maron in a podcast that that he and his ex-wife Robin Wright “don’t have a lot of conversation.”

Penn said they “have very separate relationships” with their children, 26-year-old Dylan and 24-year-old Hopper.

The couple divorced in 2010. — AP