Friday, November 25, 2005
Stern Disappears
I'm a fan of Howard Stern's show, although I haven't listened in months, something I didn't decide to do, but somehow I've drifted away. If I would hit his show on a run it was always the same thing: an interview with a stripper who sounded as though she was 12, and a challenged 12 at that, or someone with one of the array of dysfunctions that Stern examines under a microscope for any possible laughs.
His show, when it was good, was great fun. He lambasted celebrities and presented reasoned arguments of a libertarian strain that enhanced the show (and probably the fan base).
Stern recently made his default visit to Letterman to hype his soon to occur disappearing act into the mists of satellite radio. I only saw part of it. Stern seemed more at ease than I have ever seen him. The change heralds a drop from 6 to 18 million listeners to a few hundred thousand — but he gets 100 million bucks over a period of 5 years to produce his show and other shows. I wonder how much he personally is pulling? When his producer discussed his future pay at their new venue, without being so indiscreet as to mention real figures — the final arena of decorousness in modern culture: money — Stern said, “Did they give you what you want”? Who is the “they”? Stern is the boss-man — he just doesn't want to shoulder the resentment-load that accompanies being the boss.
The narcissistic cult that is the Stern show is still solidly in place, both members of the crew and call-in audience — no matter that Stern has been seeing a psychoanalyst for years now to deal with his pathological self-absorption — not a good ad for the shrink. Although Stern would say, “Well, I'm happier.”