The Howard Stern Thread

Today is the 9th anniversary of Robin getting a coffee enema. The show put the whole saga up on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/howardstern/sets/9th-anniversary-of-robin

Sour's George Takei impression is the best

I think that might've been the longest time he stayed in character on the air a couple weeks ago talking to Mahmet. His Ralph is pretty promising, too - he's got the laugh down.

WHOOP WHOOOPP!!

i've only been able to listen intermittently lately: what is the provenance of "whoop whoop"? and what's with the lady who sings nonsense?

Is the stern fan network gone?

SFN is gone. Some talk here: https://www.reddit.com/r/howardstern

whoop whoop is what the juggalos say...

I grew up outside Philly, so always had Stern around, but never listened because I didn't get it. Like, I *got* it, but even in, say, middle school or high school I thought it was kind of obnoxious, not totally unlike other morning zoo types I ignored. Now years and years later, I've pretty much avoided him, at least post peak "Private Parts" popularity, but I have friends who listen, friends I never thought would listen to Howard Stern. Like, far left try too hard self-conscious progressive people who make their young kids listen to free jazz and Kendrick Lamar and refuse to acknowledge the presence of what they consider crass pop culture, like Disney or Hollywood or major label stuff. One of this couple listens to rips of scratchy '78s in his Prius, the other half listens to Jesus Lizard and Bjork and claims not to know the names of any movie stars or pop stars or anything. Yet they both listen to and love Howard Stern. So every once in a while I tune in on Sirius to listen to Stern and try to understand, but I still don't get it. Is it just getting lost in the mythology of so many years on the air? Is it the sneakily relentless way he gets the dirt out of interview subjects? Is it the way he describes boobs?

Stern has always been a gigantic political moron; don't know how much his bigotry has lessened over the years since i heard him but this shit doesn't indicate it has.

appeal of the show these days is somewhat like a long running sitcom: character based humor surrounding the staff, regular callers, and of course Howard himself. it's like having a fun group of coworkers--not necessarily people you'd be friends with but there is a group dynamic that's pleasant and often hilarious.

the interviews are good if you care about the subject (or if they are funny in their own right) and the prepared bits--apart from the occasional prank call--are usually painfully unfunny but not always in an unendearing way.

not sure why he appeals to educated people--maybe it's a "safe space" for goofiness or maybe the group dynamic of the show adds a noogie-giving element missing from most adult professionals lives.

Morbs, you've said the same thing in this thread several times already. He's mellowed out. I think the appeal for 'educated' people is exactly what ryan said: it's a long-running sitcom, and a lot of people connect with Howard on a level where they could listen to him talk about anything all day. I mean, the show is 4 hours long, and he's got millions of listeners.

But is he ever actually funny? It's more like, to my mind, hanging around the local blowhards at the greasy spoon, who are always in the corner booth. "Oh, that's just Howard, he's always here. Howard, how's your soup? (off-screen fart sound) Ha, that Howard, what a character!"

Obviously. That's why I'm compelled to listen. Artie's podcast is more like what you described - he's great as a sidekick but boring as fuck as a host. The show is hard to get into. It took me years. At first, I only listened to the interviews. I thought he was a phenomenal interviewer, but I ignored the rest of the show until a couple years ago. I listen to the full show twice a day, it's like music to me. I'm not sure how to describe it any other way. I remember watching the E! show as a kid and totally not getting it. Dunno when or what made it click.

I was the same through the 90s and early 2000s. then in 2002 I moved somewhere new and didn't know a single person for 500 miles. there was a 24 hour a day stern channel on the local radio. the first time I tuned in, just wanting to hear a human voice, and Howard is launching into his classic Vietnam vet routine and I'm in tears from laughing in my car. fan from that moment on. it's just such a happy environment, even when people on the show are upset or angry it's somehow cathartic. the humor on the show is often about ugly things but it always makes me feel better somehow.

it tickles me every single time when Howard starts getting mad at a run of bad callers. in fact the fact that he ends up exasperated with nearly every caller always makes me laugh.

and even though I agree that Howard's politic opinions can sometimes be annoying and/or stupid there's no question he's possessed of a great deal more intelligence than any other radio (or tv?) show host I can think of. perhaps that's really the source of his appeal for many of his post-2000 fans.

Surreal to me. Because I do tune in every once in a while, just to see if anything is different, and whether it's bad timing or who knows what, it's pretty much just as I expected, same as it ever was. Howard's self-loathing, a bit of in-fighting and argument, long stretches ripping on members of his rogue's gallery, and then totally puerile stuff run into the ground. I was sitting in a cell phone lot the other day, waiting for a plane to land, and tuned in Howard. It was just some jamoke calling in and talking in detail about his Tinder hookup with a woman in her '50s. And it just played as I expected.

"How was her body? Was it like an old raisin?"
"No, Howard she was actually really fit?"
"Really? Wow. That sounds hot. And how about her breasts? Were they shriveled up and gross?"
"No, Howard, they were really great."
"Wow. Sounds like you lucked out. I'd be getting turned down at the old folk's home."
"No, Howard, she was great, I could barely last 5 minutes."
"Huh, I would have lasted 5 seconds. Did you know I have a small penis?"

And so on. It was kind of fascinating. I don't think he's dumb, as a person, but the show just felt so ... rote. Mechanical. I know every once in a while something clicks and it all sparks to life, in a chaotic sense, but it feels too much like talk radio, a guy who is really good at filling 4 hours, by any means necessary, even though it is rarely necessary.

I listened to a Louisville morning zoo during my teens in the 80s. Moved to NYC to go to school in 89, and had the morning radio habit, and so alternated between WBAI/Pacifica and Howard. I also became a big fan of Al Goldstein/Midnight blue at this this time, so I guess I had a thing for loudmouth new york jews Roundabout '93, I got really Chomskied out, so Howard started to bother me, and 92.3 K-rock at the time was a disgusting next of classic rock exceptionalism…the most horrible DJs expressing platitudes of

But in the mid-to-late '90s, I really started to get into the entire HS milieu. The Jackie dynamic was/is awesome. I will admit that ethnic and sexual humor of the sort that gets you drummed about out of acceptable bourgie Brooklyn society these days was and is funny to me —I don't wish to advertise this in public, but HS is an outlet for me as such. Faux-Bieber "I'll suck your ween" is funny. Also, despite that he is the dominant radio personality alongside Rush L., sometimes it's like listening to radio show about the town I live in. Which it is.

There is not doub in my mind that, while it could certainly have been no picnic for Alison to have been married to him and I sympathize, him getting out of Long Island helped broaden his views. He was at the peak of his first phase in the 90s —the books and the movie (to me, the making of the movie took over the show itself, represented his egomania at his most unchecked and was the worst period of the show) were the ultimate expressions as such. I remember thinking that listening to him and knowing next to nothing about every other morning zoo shithead show is like being really into Zeppelin and only having the vaguest notion about any other other hard rock act (which may be a common experience). But when he moved to NYC and gradually transitioned to "hamptons Howie," it changed the show. SFN guys coined that term to suggest that he longer represented the white, tri-state area mook paradigm, which is true and was fine with me.

from about '98 til whenever artie left, I absolutely had to hear the entirety of every show —the day that Artie stood up to Howard was rivetting. now I hear about 1/2 of it. Part of it is having put in so much time that I reflexively respond to a lot of the codes/signifiers. Josh: that story about the couple is great.

First time / no time!

Listening history: 92-93, 03-present

Sour, JD, and Ronnie 4 life

I think the Gary's Dinner Party saga is a good introduction to the show. It's part sitcom/soap opera/theater of the mind/psychoanalysis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVhtQp3ekC4

EXCELLENT fake Bernie and DJT debate on the show right now. Due to the show being so celeb interview intensive recently, they don't do bits like this as much.

Whoever is doing the voices (DJT sounds a bit like Smigel and isn't the same guy as the one who does the DJT voice on the show occasionally; the Bernie guy is much much stronger) are doing references to bourgie culture (whole foods, yoga instructors) of the sort that I do not ever remember hearing on the show before; the "listening to 78 rips in their prius" couple that Chicago Josh referenced above would probly lose their shit listening to this.

The thing that Flappy has posted would indeed be a great intro to the soap opera aspect of the show (I have never been as disgusted with HS's entitled rudeness as above), and this bit on the air presently would be to the sketch/ theater of the mind aspect. The imitators are tearing it up, making wide-ranging references and and HS is showing what a terrific host/interlocutor he can be.

they do those stupid fake presidential calls every day

Wow, you're the first person I've heard say anything good about the debate today! I'm about halfway thru now, I guess it's coming up soon. Looking forward to it. This morning was phenomenal - the phone fiasco was just amazing, especially when Howard picked up on a woman named Danielle and then Mariann someone got on the line, and then there was a third person on, too. Mariann was freaking out and Howard couldn't hang up on her, it was so fucking great. I love whenever the phones go down - "the trunk" - and Howard becomes completely exasperated.

*somehow

also loving all versions of La Cunta Calde. the show has been on fire lately. whoOPP WHOOP!!

Howard says blink-182 "is one of those bands that you know have great songs but you can't name a single one of them" and "it's like sometimes you think these are the guys that do 'Closing Time'"....................................................................................... ...... ......... ... .. .... .. .

lol @ H telling Steven Tyler that Aerosmith would be perfect for Oldchella

Howard and Fred's opinions on pop music are about 90% frustrating but in a way that's oddly endearing.

I agree, in a very familial way. Same goes for Howard's nonsensical political views. Dreading how many references to "sheepdogs" we'll get next week. But most of the time he knows he's taking the piss. Like when he laid out his "plan to reorganize the world" after the Paris attacks and cancel all visas in the US. lmao

this is neat - Benjy's first appearance on the show. 1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCp0uZIywVM

Benjy late today for the first time in six years, after two days of Howard and Robin haranguing him for talking about them in his therapy. He forgot his pass this morning and hopped the turnstile again. Ronnie had to talk the building security out of suspending his access. Really thought for a moment this would be the day Benjy would be kicked out of the studio and forced to work in the back office.

H extolls the ny times yet has no idea how their website works

I imagine he just reads the print edition. Was anyone else blown away by the Washington Post interview though? The fact that they got him on the phone for over an hour is mind-blowing. He's doing a public hard-sell like never before to interview HRC.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/08/01/howard-stern-makes-his-pitch-why-hillary-clinton-should-do-my-show/

Thanks for the link

What do you make of it, calstars? As a longtime listener, you would know better than me - is this sort of pose and move unprecedented for H?

It's too bad that even at this stage in his career, when he really doesn't have to anyone, that he still refuses to publicly repudiate Trump, just for the chance to maybe have him on the show in the future. I think he's really doing a disservice to the public for his own possible gain in the future.

However I'm not surprised at this. Just disgusted.

Yeah the hedging in that interview is something else. Kind of pathetic. Trump hasn't come up on the show much since the primaries ended, and H would talk about him, but all he had to say was that it was obvious that Trump was the nominee in March and everyone was in denial, and that he talked to Trump over the phone and asked him "Why are you doing this? You have such a nice life." They have a personal relationship, so even though Trump's behavior throughout the campaign has been abhorrent, and surely H knows it, he doesn't want to put his friendship on the line. He's repeatedly said he's voting for Hillary, but you're right, H is a total hypocrite for not commenting on Trump's bullshit when he goes on rants against Palin and Bachmann, et al.

Great show with Jimmy Kimmel in today. He basically sat in for the entire show. He's the only person that's ever come close to replicating the energy/vibe of the Artie years. Obviously he can't sit in the chair, he's too busy, but he's the only one that could pull it off imo.

Also, thoughts on Hit 'em with the Hein? The fact that Jon Hein is a 'still waters run deep' kind of guy with really deep-seated anger makes me love it. The "angry Jon Hein" on the phone last week was great. Who the fuck doesn't move away from the counter after they order from a fast food place? As Jason said, "that is a person who hates society."

Jan Hein is such a mismatch for the show. Zero personality, zero spontaneity. A straight man in a world of entertaining fools. I'm as baffled now as to why he's there as I was the first day I heard him on air.

fuck jon hein

Jan Hein

lmao, yes! i agree, he is bland as bland can be, but the whole Hit 'em with the Hein saga has revealed how much of an angry prick he is, which is so great.

Yes. About the only thing he's good for is the ribbing. He can at least be entertaining that way...

He gets so icy so quick whenever it's brought up. He's hung up on WUS callers for leading with Hit em with the Hein. he just boils. it's so great

all otm about hein. I can't turn off the Sirius app fast enough once the wrap up music starts.

Exactly. I literally rip the headphones out of my ears just to avoid his ridiculous Good Morning Everybody

Balmain jeans.

Loved the caller on 8/15 that dueled "whoop whoops" with Fred's clip