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AS THE KING OF ALL MEDIA RELIVES THE SHOW'S TOP TEN MOMENTS
I TAKE A TRIP BACK TO FEBRUARY 14, 1997 AND REVEL IN ONE OF MINE
By RICHARD LIVSEY
Donald Trump hosted the All-Time Top Ten
Moments of the Howard Stern show.
Now I have some favorites, like that early
morning wake up call to a cranky and
argumentative Chevy Chase or the time
that Jenna Jameson gave some guy's
girlfriend an erotic massage live on the air,
but the moment that I will never forget is
when I got to meet Stern in New York.
It was only by luck that I had been able to
interview Howard Stern at the Rihga Royal
hotel in Manhattan. The writer that was
scheduled to interview him couldn't make it,
so my editor at Venice Magazine in Los
Angeles, gave me the nod.
This was almost ten years ago, on
Valentine's Day, right before the release of
his movie, Private Parts.
Since I was fairly new to journalism, I felt like I had
been handed the ball in the ninth inning with the
game on the line. I was both nervous and excited.
This was going to be my biggest story to date, not
to forget that I had been listening to him for years
and I was a huge fan.
At the hotel, they had several tables set up in a
conference room. Only a few of journalist were
granted one on one interviews with Stern. Like
many others, I had to settle for the round table
interviews.
We were told that Stern and the rest of the cast:
Robin Quivers, Mary McCormack, Fred Norris,
Jackie Martling, producer Ivan Reitman and
director Betty Thomas were going to sit at each
table for twenty-five minutes and then rotate to the
next one.
One lesson that I learned that day was that you had
to be assertive. Trying to get a question in while
sitting at a table full of journalists wasn't easy, so
you had to shoot them out with the precision of a
marksmen whenever there was an opening.
wife and a fictional wife at the same time, to which he
replied, "I liked having two wives. I know that actors say
all the time that they don't get aroused when they do
these love scenes. I got aroused."
By the end of the interview, I had enough material to write
my story. Now there was only one thing left to do . . . I
wanted to shake hands with Stern and tell him what a
pleasure it was to have met him. This was something that
I felt I had to do in order to complete the experience.
Twenty-five minutes on the dot, his publicist along with a
couple of assistants were leading Stern away from the
table. As he stood up, and turned to walk away, a small
crowd of people surrounded him.
I stood up too, but the opportunity to shake his hand was
already gone. Stern took a step forward and like a total
moron, I lifted my hand to the small of his back and said:
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Howard."
Now at this point, he could have totally walked away. I
didn't even think that he heard me, yet he stopped, turned
away from the people that were grabbing at him and
shook my hand.
As he thanked me for coming, I could barely even reply
because I was so stunned. He didn't have to do that. It
would have been so easy for him to just keep going. Yet
instead of walking away, he turned around and
acknowledged me.
Stern was genuine. He was real, and that moment taught
me more about him than any of my questions. I saw a
glimpse into the man behind the persona that has made
him not only a success, but also a celebrity.
Check him out online at: www.howardstern.com
