(image via howard-stern-radio)
Perhaps Howard Stern should consider doing late night after his contract expires next year on satellite radio, so he can take this Leno feud into the evening ethers and the broader popular culture. The present rhetorically brawly narrative, as it evolves, is becoming the stuff of legend. Stern's feud with Tonight Show host Jay Leno, which began when Leno hired Stern regular "Stuttering" John Melendez without the customary show business heads up, is starting off the New Year smouldering. The New York Times, oddly, appears to be the sounding board of choice between the two entertainment industry alpha males.
To recap: Stern felt that Leno hired Stuttering John out from under him. Stern, always edgy, lashed out on-air afterwards, calling Leno "fake" and "mainstream." No crueler charges could be made against a comedian. This was particularly brutal because the Stern Show is highly listened to in comedy and entertainment world circles where Leno, presumably, also circulates (and his writing staff almost certainly listens). Further, Stern went on Letterman -- Leno's nemesis -- attacking Leno, going so far as to call him a "scab" for his position on last year's writers strike.
What alpha male could sit still for that? Leno returned volley in December, right before Stern went on holiday vacation, telling the New York Times' television reporter Bill Carter -- the same guy, incidentally, who wrote "Late Shift" -- that Howard Stern's Move To Sirius "Seemed A Mistake"
Stern lashed back at Leno's "fake" image as the common man, citing Leno's collection of motorcycles and cars. Tim Arango's critical piece in the NyTimes business section on Sirius' future -- for which Stern declined to participate -- came out after Stern was on vacation. It seemed to add coals to the fire of Stern's anger. Yesterday Stern returned from his break. From Popeater:
"Stern wasn't having any of it on his first day back from vacation. 'Jay seems to have a lot to think about with me,' he said.
"'I left terrestrial radio and I couldn't be happier. I didn't have any delusions that when I'd go on satellite radio I'd have as many listeners that I had on terrestrial radio.'
"(Stern) continued: 'I came over to build a business. My assignment was to save Sirius radio. To bring listeners and to make things happen here. I came here to help this media merge, not to have as many listeners as I used to have. I'm in love with not having as many listeners as I used to have. I'm in love with the listeners I have, I don't get S---t every time I open my mouth by some mainstream tight a** a**hole who's going to misinterpret what I say because he happened to tune by and not even understand what I was trying to say.'
"Stern then singled himself out for Sirius's turnaround. "I hit every home run I could possibly hit. When I came here, they never dreamed of a merger with XM. It happened within two years. It's the biggest success story in broadcasting history. There's not another broadcaster in this world that could have turned Sirius from 600,000 listeners to 20 million listeners inside of two years. Who could do that. There's zero point zero performers who could do that.'
"'Do as many people hear me now? No. Do more people hear me than watch the Tonight Show? Yes. Jay Leno, with all of his horses**t has five million viewers. We on the other hand, because we are listened to by 60 percent of Sirius and XM, we probably have ... five to six million listeners. I'm not going to be an a**hole and I'm going to downplay it. So even downplaying it, we beat 'The Tonight Show.' So if Jay Leno is relevant, I'm surely as relevant as he is.'"
More transcription here.
1 comment:
Leno is straight, unadulterated CLASS. Stern is nothing but a gasbag braggart who appeals to jackasses on a constant diet of over-the-top schlock.
Jay hired Stuttering John, which started this fued. BFD. If Stern had been the gracious employer he could gave been rather than the self-absorbed, narcissistic braggart he has always been, John would never have left in the first place. By contrast, look what Leno did-- when NBC was falling apart and needed to start issuing pink slips, Jay took a huge pay cut to keep his staff employed-- you can be sure his people are 100% behind him.
Jay's the real stuff, and has always made himself available to the causes and issues that were pithy and important, such as promoting the use of EVs to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Jay's the real thing… Howard is nothing but a duck.
Post a Comment