I kinda understand all the hatred and anger among the fans now

[renchfrieswith]

I've recently been listening to old shows from 1995, 1996 and 2007 and 2008. I noticed that especially during the 90's, Howard was way more brutal.

Being funny was clearly the most important thing there and he didn't gave a shit about the fact that he constantly offended almost everyone. I've had some genuine hard laughs when he talked about NIN's song "Hurt" that just came out then in '95. He told us to think about morbid stuff and he named some things as examples. There was some hard-core, dark, and sometimes downright racist shit in there, and it was funny as hell. Jackie's goofy laugh in the background adds a lot more to the whole thing than I thought. Also the way he goes off at callers is just crazy sometimes, and it's almost always funny.

Then fast forward to the Artie years. I notice a much more mellow Howard here, and Artie is the one starting/creating the controversy and funny most of the time. Howard goes along with it most times and often makes it funnier. They still talk about "niggers" and "faggots" here, which is almost automatically funny, because it's automatically offensive to a lot of people. Artie's goofing and fighting with High Pitch Mike is absolute comedy gold. Sal and Richard also have a way bigger role in here. Sal's "I wanna beat my wife" (based on Bon Jovi's "It's my life") song almost made me piss my pants. Comedy still seems to be the most important thing here. It's not a PC show at all.

Now compared to today's show. Howard has mellowed out a lot more and there's no other guy there to really get into the no-holds-barred funny stuff. And when it does happen with Bigfoot Jr. who calls Eric the Midget a faggot, Howard almost apologizes for it. It still pisses me off that Eric the Midget is no longer called Eric the Midget. He is at his best when he gets goofed on, and Artie was also very good at doing that. Most interviews are fantastic if he has an interesting guest in there. I'll admit I skipped a couple of them, and I also skipped through a lot of AGT talk. That whole deal was horrible for the show.

Every now and then in today's show, though, Howard makes me laugh very hard. The Howard Stern show is still the best radio show I've come across so far. Especially when I compare it to the kind of radio we have here in the Netherlands. It's the most boring, lame shit you can imagine. It's either top-40 radio, techno or news radio. No comedy and not even rock anymore. We have one or two DJ's who are supposed to be funny working the hit radio stations, but they aren't funny. They're fucking lame.

I'm still a fan of Howard and I admire his career very much. But I also understand why fans of Howard from the 90's don't like the current show.

I also understand it from Howard's standpoint. He doesn't need to conquer anything anymore, he doesn't need to beat anyone anymore, he's the king of radio and he has been that for over two decades. Not to mention a successful movie and a couple of bestsellers on top of that. I mean, be honest, that's a very impressive level of success. He's also clearly a dark guy with psychological problems and he seems to be getting his shit together on some level. He has a big-ass house and he has a much younger wife. Who can honestly blame him for mellowing out after all these years? Good for him, I wish him the best. It's been an insane career so far.


But I do agree that evil Howard makes better, funnier radio.

[Herc]

I've always understood the anger . . .

[renchfrieswith]

I've always understood the anger . . .

Well I just started listening less than two years ago.

[Herc]

Well I just started listening less than two years ago.

Listen to the 90's (Jackie Years) and your anger will grow by leaps and bounds . . .

[Lou Skunt]

Listen to the 90's (Jackie Years) and your anger will grow by leaps and bounds . . .

It's enough to make you want to commit a heinous crime against that penny pinching Jew Bastard. He really fucked us all over when he let Jackie get away. Then came Artie...I admit that I didn't like Artie at first, but the fat ginny grew on me. Then by the end when Artie was bragging about making 70K per stand up appearance, I hated him again. This current incarnation of the HSS is a fucking joke. Bobo's Treasure Trade was in the top 5 segments of the year. That is rigoddamndiculous.

[John Smith]

Bobo's Treasure Trade was in the top 5 segments of the year. That is rigoddamndiculous.

I've heard better end-of-year countdowns from Dick Clark on New Year's after the stroke.

[Chimney Portions]

Well I just started listening less than two years ago.

I envy you. There are countless hours of HILARIOUS old shows that, to me, are still funny on their third or forth listen. THAT's why we hate Howard. It'd be like if your heroine dealer started bringing you iced tea instead.

[BethsZygote]

Well I just started listening less than two years ago.

so... have you heard the 'bro fight'

Its was a major turning point for me. I only really started with THSS when he moved to Sirius, and it made me realize i never liked Howard (or Robin), i really only liked Artie, Richard & Sal, and the wackpack.

Bro Fight

[renchfrieswith]

so... have you heard the 'bro fight'

Its was a major turning point for me. I only really started with THSS when he moved to Sirius, and it made me realize i never liked Howard (or Robin), i really only liked Artie, Richard & Sal, and the wackpack.

Bro Fight

Best part of the video is 9:32-11:10, so fuckin' funny. I love Artie, man.

[CAPTAIN KIRK]

Best part of the video is 9:32-11:10, so fuckin' funny. I love Artie, man.

I love at 19:25 Artie calls Howard a "Geeky looking pelican looking odd-guy!"

[Pembroke36]

This is a great clip.

[tHISisKiSSeL]

when i read the title i thought "i don't hate stern" but thinking further, i remember so many times when he or the horse put out some nonsense tweets or lies or HS lies on the show and i think in that moment "i hate them so much" so i guess i do hate them.

[rilagent]

I reached where you are back in 2010 waiting for Howard to fill the Artie seat. A lot of things started becoming clear then.

But you lost me when you said:

IThe Howard Stern show is still the best radio show I've come across so far.

You need to dip your toes into the wonderful world of podcasts and streaming radio (TuneIn.com etc) you'll find many things that leave the current HSS in the dust.

...when I compare it to the kind of radio we have here in the Netherlands. It's the most boring, lame shit you can imagine. It's either top-40 radio, techno or news radio. No comedy and not even rock anymore. We have one or two DJ's who are supposed to be funny working the hit radio stations, but they aren't funny. They're fucking lame.

I spent a lot of time in Europe (Loved my time in Naarden, Rench) and I was baffled at how bad the radio is over there.

[DogStar69]

He's just no honest about anything anymore and now there are so many lies he can't keep them straight. He must also be ashamed of his lifestyle because he doesn't talk about it anymore. not that I listen


Has any other famous person turned loyal fans into people that hate you more than Stern?

[jyanks]

Has any other famous person turned loyal fans into people that hate you more than Stern?

George Lucas?

[TelegramSam]

renchfrieswith, let me say first that as an American who has traveled in Europe, you have my sympathies. My two cents on European radio, and really television and film as well, is that Europe has really stagnated with political correctness after WWII. My point being that unless you're a German who supports the neo-nazi movement or its ideals, or at the worst had an ancestor who was a Nazi and profited from it, you shouldn't have to be ashamed of your culture. It's as if you have to constantly downplay the glories of western civilization (and sometimes out and out ignore history, especially of the Roman empire and what territories were conquered and forcibly converted to Islam by Muslims). It's easy to buy into the hype that the West has been the bully of history, but the truth is that were it not for the Crusades, Spain, Portugal, southern France, Sicily, and most of the Italian islands would still be ruled by conquering Arab armies. And even with the Crusades, the eastern Roman empire fell.

As someone who is half Armenian I can tell you that the Turks are not even 1 tenth of one millionth of a percent willing to admit that they committed the Armenian genocide and took most of our homeland and have no problem airing outright racist and jingoistic programming on their radio and tv. Go ask the Turks if they plan to build an Armenian genocide memorial, and see how fast they arrest you for insulting Turkishness. I spent a lot of time in France, and whenever I asked anyone about their cultural malaise they were just puzzled and basically said "Oh no, it was all just evil Christians conquering Muslims and we have to be ashamed of that and WWII forever while embracing total political correctness and secularization." The Scandinavians are far worse than your people, though, when it comes to that. I wouldn't go back to Scandinavia at gunpoint.

Anyway, as to Howard, the show still isn't necessarily horrible, it's just a shell of what it was. That, and a lot of us longtime fans feel betrayed because of the way that he has treated his staff, particularly Jackie and Billy West, though maybe we should have seen it coming all along? If you have listened to the end of the Artie Addiction Saga, and heard the now classic "Not My Bro" fight, you should have an idea. I don't feel as bad for Jackie because he still makes money as a stand up and seems to have a good life, but I don't think I can ever forgive Howard for how he treated Artie.

[John Smith]

I've recently been listening to old shows from 1995, 1996 and 2007 and 2008. I noticed that especially during the 90's, Howard was way more brutal.

Being funny was clearly the most important thing there and he didn't gave a shit about the fact that he constantly offended almost everyone. I've had some genuine hard laughs when he talked about NIN's song "Hurt" that just came out then in '95. He told us to think about morbid stuff and he named some things as examples. There was some hard-core, dark, and sometimes downright racist shit in there, and it was funny as hell. Jackie's goofy laugh in the background adds a lot more to the whole thing than I thought. Also the way he goes off at callers is just crazy sometimes, and it's almost always funny.

Then fast forward to the Artie years. I notice a much more mellow Howard here, and Artie is the one starting/creating the controversy and funny most of the time. Howard goes along with it most times and often makes it funnier. They still talk about "niggers" and "faggots" here, which is almost automatically funny, because it's automatically offensive to a lot of people. Artie's goofing and fighting with High Pitch Mike is absolute comedy gold. Sal and Richard also have a way bigger role in here. Sal's "I wanna beat my wife" (based on Bon Jovi's "It's my life") song almost made me piss my pants. Comedy still seems to be the most important thing here. It's not a PC show at all.

Now compared to today's show. Howard has mellowed out a lot more and there's no other guy there to really get into the no-holds-barred funny stuff. And when it does happen with Bigfoot Jr. who calls Eric the Midget a faggot, Howard almost apologizes for it. It still pisses me off that Eric the Midget is no longer called Eric the Midget. He is at his best when he gets goofed on, and Artie was also very good at doing that. Most interviews are fantastic if he has an interesting guest in there. I'll admit I skipped a couple of them, and I also skipped through a lot of AGT talk. That whole deal was horrible for the show.

Every now and then in today's show, though, Howard makes me laugh very hard. The Howard Stern show is still the best radio show I've come across so far. Especially when I compare it to the kind of radio we have here in the Netherlands. It's the most boring, lame shit you can imagine. It's either top-40 radio, techno or news radio. No comedy and not even rock anymore. We have one or two DJ's who are supposed to be funny working the hit radio stations, but they aren't funny. They're fucking lame.

I'm still a fan of Howard and I admire his career very much. But I also understand why fans of Howard from the 90's don't like the current show.

I also understand it from Howard's standpoint. He doesn't need to conquer anything anymore, he doesn't need to beat anyone anymore, he's the king of radio and he has been that for over two decades. Not to mention a successful movie and a couple of bestsellers on top of that. I mean, be honest, that's a very impressive level of success. He's also clearly a dark guy with psychological problems and he seems to be getting his shit together on some level. He has a big-ass house and he has a much younger wife. Who can honestly blame him for mellowing out after all these years? Good for him, I wish him the best. It's been an insane career so far.


But I do agree that evil Howard makes better, funnier radio.

[Chief Macho]

not really on topic, but i didnt want to start a new thread, but the most annoying thing i've been listening to in the old shows is howard preaching about finance to his employees. it's so insulting. dude was 30 and already making cash. acts like he ever had any money issues.

[dude]

Great clip. So simple, yet so funny. Fred playing a sound bite of Jackie laughing, Howard pretending it's really Jackie laughing, Gilbert cracking up over the inappropriate laughter and then joining in and everyone just going with it and having fun. As soon as they mention Jack Kevorkian in this clip I smiled because I knew something funny was coming because that is the way the show used to be. Robins news used to be one of the best parts of the show because it gave a chance to freestyle...anything and everything from real opinions, to crazy opinions, to inappropriate jokes, impressions, and whatever until it was finally time to end it.

Fast forward to today and Howard doing Live Reads, followed by "anything else Robin?",

and a couple of years ago.......Howard, Robin, and Gary saying Gilbert wasn't sitting in on the news anymore because "who needs him interrupting all the time".
It used to be like a Western.

It's not even the same show anymore.

[LobsterTails]

The biggest disappointment to me apart from the now politically correct Howard Stern is that for months he told his listeners over and over, show after show that he had nothing to gain from the Sirius / XM merger when he knew perfectly well he was going to get a $25,000,000 merger bonus plus another $300,000,000 for the additional subscribers.

A lot of the other shit pales into insignificance when compared to that lie.