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The Howard Stern Show has gone through a number of staff members.

Contents

Current staff

In-studio

Howard Stern

Howard Stern is the show's host. In essence, Stern's show is a discussion of topics that include popular world affairs, celebrity gossip, self deprecation, bodily functions, conflicts among his staff, his own personal family matters, and the antics of the show's Wack Pack.

Robin Quivers

Robin Quivers first met Stern when she was assigned to be his newswoman at WWDC in March 1981, and has been his co-host and news reader ever since. Quivers briefly left the show towards the end of her time at WWDC when Stern made a deal at WNBC in 1982, and did not realize WNBC initially refused to hire her. Quivers returned to the show at WNBC a month after Stern.

Stern once said that Quivers is the only person on the show that he would allow to talk freely during the broadcast, although in recent times has allowed show comedian Artie Lange this privilege as well.

Artie Lange

Artie Lange

Lange's first appearance on the show was as a guest alongside fellow comedian Norm Macdonald on January 8, 1998, following a bit involving Scott the Engineer and his challenge to perform 17 complete push-ups. Although appearing with Macdonald to promote the film Dirty Work, Lange had been a fan of Stern since the 1980s when on one occasion following the death of Lange's father in 1987, show producer Gary Dell'Abate sent Lange an autographed jacket which Lange auctioned off for $2,000 to support his family.

Following the departure of the show's writer and comedian Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling in 2001, several comedians "auditioned" for Martling's seat by sitting in for a couple of shows. Lange's first appearance in what became known as "The Jackie Chair" occurred for 2 days, on May 7 and 8, 2001. The temporary appearance consisted of being Stern's sidekick along with Quivers, and Lange frequently told personal stories, usually regarding alcohol, drugs, food and prostitutes. On October 29, 2001, Lange joined the show full-time.

Lange has been on hiatus from the show since December 2009, during which time he attempted suicide. [1]

Fred Norris

Of the show's staff, Stern met Norris first, in 1979, when the two worked as disc jockeys at WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut. Norris would work the overnight slot, under the name "Earth Dog", after which Stern would host the morning slot.[2] Although Stern left shortly afterwards, Norris stayed at WCCC until joining Stern and Quivers at Washington, D.C.'s WWDC in 1981.

Norris' current role on the show is to provide sound effects, organize and direct commercials and live reads, and occasionally perform writing duties. Norris also provides impersonations of show regulars, celebrities and others.

Benjy Bronk

Bronk, the show's co-writer, first appeared on the show as an intern on January 20, 1998.[3] He would work in the office where he would show his comedic writing skills for use on the show. Following Jackie Martling's departure from the show in 2001, Bronk was moved into the studio, taking over Martling's writing duties, while comedian Artie Lange took over Martling's speaking role in October 2001. Bronk's functions also include the development of show bits and segments.

Outside the studio

Gary Dell'Abate

Gary Dell'Abate, aka Baba Booey, serves as the show's head producer. Hired right after graduating from Adelphi University in 1984, he has worked for the show ever since. Dell'Abate is mocked on the Stern Show for his appearance and frequent mispronunciations. He earned the nickname "Baba Booey" after insisting it to be the correct name of the cartoon character Baba Looey.

Richard Christy

While working as an electrician in Florida and playing as a drummer in a number of heavy metal bands including Iced Earth and Death, Christy began calling into the show from October 1999, initially sending voice mails to the show's assistant producer KC Armstrong which would get played on-air. From 2001 to 2003, Christy would send song parodies and bits about Armstrong and show co-host Robin Quivers. Christy would also make his first visit to the show on April 24, 2003 where he played a round of blackjack to win a date with a porn star.

In July 2004, when the show was holding a "Win John's Job" contest following the departure of Stuttering John from the show, Christy won the position as voted by fans. Since joining the show, Christy has become known for his prank calls, song parodies, personality and "show stunts" he performs with Sal the Stockbroker.

Sal the Stockbroker

Salvatore "Sal" Governale (better known as "Sal the Stockbroker") started calling into the show while working as a stockbroker in New York City. Sal became a well-known caller in the wake of his frequent call-ins making fun of Gary Dell'Abate. Despite coming in second in the "Win John's Job" contest, Sal was hired as writer for the show. He is known for the prank phone calls and show stunts he performs with Richard. Though Sal employs crass racial humor on the show and in stand-up appearances, he denies being a racist. Invariably, when he tries to explain why he is not racist, he comes across as being even more racist, including the infamous "Taped Apology" incident.

Scott the Engineer

Scott Salem is the show's long-time engineer, having joined on February 10, 1986.[4] Having previously worked at WABC and WPLJ in New York City, Salem received a voice mail from Jimmy Fink, then the morning personality at WXRK informing him of his new position.[5] Salem is responsible for editing recordings for the show. He is usually only heard from when there are technical problems, in which Stern blames him. He shocked the staff when it was learned that, except for Fred Norris, he has by far the highest IQ among the show staff.

On January 7, 1998, Salem competed in a challenge set by Stern in which he had to perform 17 push-ups for $31,000.[6] Though controversial, Salem was eventually paid the money due to poor refereeing. In 1996, the Austin American-Statesman wrote that Scott is "always threatening to quit or on the verge of being fired, he's the show's whipping boy for technical problems". [7] In 2007, Salem made a onetime appearance on tour with the Killers of Comedy, performing stand-up followed by a Q&A session with the audience. Stern defended Scott's skill and contribution to the show and makes a point of saying in his second book Miss America "just because we are always so brutal to Scott, I must go on record to say Scott is the best engineer I've ever worked with."

Jon Hein

Multi Millionaire Jon Hein has made guest appearances on the show since May 3, 2001,[8] discussing television shows that have "jumped the shark," a term he uses to describe when a show has passed its prime. In late 2005, while experimental programming was broadcast on Howard 100 and Howard 101, Hein presented the first edition of Superfan Roundtable.[9] His success in on-air hosting led him to become the co-host of the The Wrap-Up Show when the show moved to Sirius XM in January 2006.

Will Murray

Will Murray is the show's researcher and segment producer. He pre-interviews all guests, and compiles pages of notes of research for Howard to use during interviews. Sometimes Will also operates on the phones. When a member of the show is being ridiculed on-air, Will sends Howard an instant message on Howard's computer screen, with other back-office staff usually joining in. He and fellow producer Jason Kaplan host the Howard 100 News segment "Page 69."

Will is now married as of September 5, 2008 to his long time girlfriend. Will is from the Philadelphia area and is a huge Philadelphia sports fan. He first appeared on the show while battling cancer as a child.

Jason Kaplan

Jason Kaplan is an associate producer for the show. He has many duties, including eating all the black and white cookies and being a little tattle tail, writing the daily show rundown that appears on the show's website, and taking photos that appear alongside the daily rundown. In September 2007, Jason and HowardTV director Scott Depace engaged in an intense feud stemming from their political differences; Jason is a liberal Democrat, Depace is a conservative George W. Bush supporter.

Jason was married to his girlfriend, Janis on November 8, 2008. Notable guests at the ceremony included Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, Gary Dell'Abate, as well as the majority of Stern's staff. The reception featured speeches from fellow staff members, Ronnie Mund and JD Harmeyer. Kaplan hosts "Page 69" along with Will Murray. On the wrap-up show on August 19th, Kaplan stated that he grew up in Stanhope, NJ.

JD Harmeyer

Jamie "JD" Harmeyer was a former intern in 2003, and is now the show's Media Producer. His main duty is to pull audio and video clips from television shows and the Internet for Stern to use on the show. Harmeyer has four TiVo recording systems installed in his office. He often arrives much earlier than other show staff to record, even coming in the evening before the 6:00 am radio show. Harmeyer's "nerdy" personality, awkward speech (frequently compared to Napoleon Dynamite), awful taste in movies (he famously gave Look Who's Talking and Look Who's Talking Too four stars out of four) and amusing personal life are common points of discussion when he is on the air. He is known to enjoy techno and drum and bass music.

His "themes" include "Battle Royale" by Does It Offend You, Yeah? and "Everytime You Leave" (Age Pee Short Mix) by Karma.

He attended Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, where he earned an associate's degree in television and film production.

Howard TV

Scott DePace

Scott DePace is the television director for the daily broadcast of The Howard Stern Show for Howard TV. He is known on-air for his staunch support of George W. Bush and the Republican Party. He has a second business selling a product called "The VideoCaddy"[10], a clamping system to attach a video camera to a golf cart. His wife, Pamela, won an Emmy for her work on "The Daily Show". He is originally from Delaware. His hobbies include playing the video game "Halo 3" on Xbox 360. He has played against Howard Stern Show Producer Gary Dell Abate's children Jackson and Lucas online. His employment at former Chuck E. Cheese's competitor Showbiz Pizza Place is frequently referenced on the show; his on-air appearances are often accompanied by the Showbiz Pizza Place jingle.

Mike Gange

Mike Gange started at the show as an intern, and, after years of toil, worked his way up to cameraman/interviewer for the former Stern TV show on E! Mr. Gange is now supervising producer for Howard TV.

Doug Goodstein

Doug Z. Goodstein was Stern's E! show producer and is currently executive producer for Howard TV On Demand. He was the former manager of the now-deceased Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf. He caught a lot of heat for letting his daughter sit in Howard's ON-AIR chair for a photograph. His enthusiasm for amateur photography led him to document Ground Zero during the World Trade Center attacks in 2001.

Howard 100 News

Brad Driver

News Director

Steve Langford

Reporter who delivers the "Howard 100" news update during the shows "news block". Is usually the first of the news block, followed by Jon Hein. Is introduced by his "theme" music (in the style of a news bumper) of "Steve Langford has a huge penis... Penis, Penis... Penis, Penis..." (Repeated indefinitely until song is faded off.)

Lisa G

On-air reporter for Howard Stern's news team at Sirius Satellite Radio, updating live news headlines each morning to Howard and the crew. Introduced by a "news bumper" of "Lisa G (sometimes Glassberg) takes shits at work... takes shits at work... takes shits at work... (repeats until song fades out). Also files reports for hourly Howard 100 news updates.[11][12]

Ralph Howard

Anchor

Michael Morales

A.K.A. "High Pitch" Mike. Show Producer and on-air regular. Publicly came out on the show.[13]

Shuli

Shuli Egar, known as Shuli, (born October 8, 1974) works on Sirius Satellite Radio on Howard 100 and Howard 101. He is a reporter for Howard 100 News, member of the Killers of Comedy tour, and often is invited to perform on show-related roasts. He is known for signing off with his tagline, "Shalom, Biatch!" which has recently been called into question by both Howard and Artie. Howard admitted he wasn't sure if he liked the phrase or not. Artie said Shuli was too funny to use such a silly tagline.

"The Tapes" Department

David Heydt

Executive In Charge of Production

Rich Gibbons

Producer

Paul Grassini

Producer

Jeremy Lipkin

Head Writer

David LeClaire

Segment Producer

Ben Barto

Assistant Producer

Ryan Rasmason

Assistant Editor

Other

George Takei

George Takei

George Takei currently serves as the show's announcer. Before joining the show, Takei became popular among the cast after soundbites of his audiobook about his career on Star Trek were played on the show. The clips stood out due to his deep baritone voice, and were frequently played. In 2006 when the show moved to Sirius, it was announced that Takei would be the show's official announcer. Once every quarter Takei will sit in the studio (often for a week at a time), often doing an "announce" as the show goes into commercial.

Ronnie the Limo Driver

Ronald Mund commonly referred to as Ronnie the Limo Driver, is Howard's limousine driver and bodyguard.[14][15][16] Ronnie Mund (AKA Ronnie The Limo Driver) is a short Jewish fellow that likes to pretend he's Italian. He dyes his beard to hide his age-striken wrinkle-full face. He arrives at the Sirius building at 5:00 am and makes a B-line for the package of cookies and cup cakes left in the office for the staff. He then takes most of them to be distributed as HE sees fit, to whom he sees fit. He then usually lies about the incident, and throws heavy objects at people to keep it from being known by Howard and the show. In mid 2009, he was given the green light to do his very own radio show on one of Howard's channels'. The show was such an embarressment to the channel and to Howard himself, that Howard Stern gave Show media producer JD Harmyer the power to cancel the show, which he mercifully did.

During the week of Sept. 8, 2008, Ronnie was voted "the angriest" person related with the show. On the Oct. 27th 2009 Wrap Up Show, Ronnie revealed that he was formerly a Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force. Ronnie was born October 28th, 1914. He is known for trying, futilely, to portray himself as younger, by going to strip clubs and attempting to date younger women (which he never does)

Ralph Cirella

Ralph Cirella has served as a personal stylist to Stern since a prop designer was needed to construct a "talking penis", for a broadcast at the Felt Forum on New Year's Eve 1986.[17] He has been a listener since Stern's time at WNBC from 1982 to 1985.[18] Cirella did not make on-screen appearances until 1990, when he worked on costumes, special effects and make up on The Howard Stern Show on WWOR. Throughout 2006, Cirella briefly co-hosted the now defunct The Friday Show with Gary Dell'Abate and Jon Hein, on Howard 100 and Howard 101.

Cirella is known for his collection of movie memorabilia, particularly science fiction films such as Star Wars. In 2008, he asked Dell'Abate for a life-sized cardboard cut out of the Iron Man; he has a similar decoration of David Hasselhoff from the show Baywatch.

Former staff

Jackie Martling

While touring as a national headliner, Jackie Martling recorded several joke LPs that became the resume he submitted to Howard Stern and which led to his hiring as a show castmember. After three years, he rose to the position of head writer, a job he held for 15 years. He is famous for pioneering joke writing "on the fly", a technique of instant scripting where he wrote jokes and funny lines for Howard Stern while the show was in progress. Jackie also wrote dialogue for the infamous "Jackie Puppet", voiced by Billy West. West has remarked how surreal it was to sit behind Jackie, viciously attacking him as the puppet, with lines Jackie had just written himself.

After several earlier disagreements over compensation, Martling left the Stern Show in March 2001, over a salary disagreement with the show's employer WXRK. He has since admitted that the amount of money under dispute was fairly small, but still caused him to refuse to sign a new contract.

Martling's chair on the Howard Stern Show was eventually filled by former MADtv cast member Artie Lange; however, Lange did not take over Martling's job as head writer, as primary writing duties are shared by Fred Norris and Benjy Bronk. After leaving the show, Martling pursued his other interests, including acting and music and toured extensively doing standup. He also expanded his very successful line of electronic joke products. On September 25, 2006, Howard Stern announced that Martling would be returning to radio by joining the Howard 100/101 Sirius Radio channels. Stern elaborated further on the September 26, 2006 broadcast, saying that Martling's new show on Howard 101 would be called Jackie's Joke Hunt. The show, co-hosted by fellow friar Ian Karr, premiered on October 3, 2006 at 7pm EST. It continues to air, live, every Tuesday at 7pm EST on Sirius Howard 101, with reruns scheduled for Thursday mornings at 12AM EST and Saturday afternoons at 2pm EST. Martling can also be heard on Howard 100 on Fridays when Sirius airs Master Tape Theatre, selected, "best-of" recordings from Howard's shows from the WXRK days.

Martling has since returned to the Stern show to roast producer Gary Dell'Abate and on March 13, 2007, Martling made a long-awaited guest appearance on the show. In May, 2007, the Stern show aired a two day salute to Jackie Martling on Stern 100. The show contained dozens of classic Jackie moments intercut with new interviews with Jackie and others. Martling appears with his Stern Show successor Artie Lange in the 2003 film Mail Order Bride. Martling last appeared on the Howard Stern Show on February 10, 2010, during an interview that became a continuous 40-minute "plug" of everyone he has ever met. After the "interview," show writer Fred Norris shared his feelings for Martling, comparing having him on the show to walking into a plane propeller.

KC Armstrong

KC Armstrong

Kyle Casey "KC" Armstrong (born July 17, 1975) began as the show's intern in 1997 and later became associate producer from 1998 to 2004.[19][20] Growing up in Suffolk County, New York, his father was the head football and wrestling coach at Port Jefferson High School. He was a Suffolk County Champion wrestler, and formerly a quarterback for the Western Kentucky University football team.

During his tenure at the show, he was often the subject of gay jokes made by the staff, even though Armstrong maintains he is not a homosexual, though he eventually did admit to having a homosexual experience once or twice in while attending high school.[citation needed] Show producer Richard Christy gained notoriety by making voice mail messages, prank calls and song parodies that mocked Armstrong's alleged homosexuality, since 1999. Armstrong now lives in Newport Beach, California, where he is trying to start a career in acting. He has his own comedy DVD called Die Laughing. He has acted in three movies - Death4Told, Grace and the Storm and Secret War and stars on the comedy DVD series Meet the Creeps.

In February 2009, Armstrong did an interview on The Duke Fightmaster Show and talked about his years working on the show, as well as his latest endeavours. He is also an amateur bodybuilder and model.

Billy West

Billy West

Billy West provided the show with comedy impersonations on a temporary basis, beginning on November 7, 1988.[17] He would be known for his impressions for Marge Schott and show comedian Jackie Martling. West's final appearance was on November 1, 1995, before he left the show over contract and salary disputes.[21][22] On February 19 and February 20, 2007, a special two-part retrospective of West's work on the show was broadcast on Howard 100 and Howard 101, covering over 11 hours.[23]

West has also been an occasional contributor to The Adam Carolla Show, a syndicated morning radio show that replaced Stern along cities in the West Coast.

Steve Grillo

[1] Former Stern Show intern and associate producer at WXRK. Known as "Gorilla", Steve was famously in charge of preparing Howard's daily baked potato. Howard dedicated his second book Miss America to Steve.

After the Stern show, he pursued acting and worked as a bartender. Currently, Grillo is co-owner of Hell's Kitchen Pizza.[24] Ironically, one of his few acting roles was a pizza worker on The Sopranos.

Grillo also conducted movie reviews for Howard 100 News in 2006. As an homage to his former duties as an Stern show intern, he would rate the films by awarding them a certain number of potatoes.

Gorilla, on occasion will ask random "man on the street" questions for the Stern show.

Stuttering John

In 1988, John Melendez (better known as Stuttering John to Stern fans) was attending New York University's film school, and belonged to a band called "Rock Slide". His college roommate, Mitch Fatel, was on the verge of quitting his internship with The Howard Stern Show, when Melendez begged him for a recommendation for an internship on the show, whose producer, Gary Dell'Abate, interviewed Melendez and mentioned his stuttering problem to Stern, who decided to hire him as a field reporter.

On Stern's show, Melendez conducted outrageous street interviews and appeared at press conferences, asking off-the-wall questions to various celebrities, including Gennifer Flowers, Ringo Starr, Burt Reynolds, Tommy Lasorda, Larry King and the Dalai Lama. He also provided comic relief on the show itself with his misadventures, poor grammar, and sloppy pronunciation. Melendez left the show after being offered a half-million dollar contract as the announcer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Though Howard states during his radio show that his relationship with Melendez is fine, much focus was spent in a February 2008 broadcast in which Stern replayed a recent radio interview between John and radio show host Adam Carolla. During the interview, Melendez stated that Stern and former radio station WXRK (K-Rock) never paid him enough. Stern became infuriated, using several expletives to describe the former intern/phone screener, and even going so far as to order Melendez's wife to stop calling Stern's then-fiance Beth Ostrosky, who were friends.

Al Rosenberg

Al Rosenberg was a writer/performer for Howard on WNBC, and also worked for Imus in the Morning during that period. He did numerous voice impressions including Sue Simmons and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. In The History of Howard Stern, Howard stated that he hired Al after Imus fired him so that he (Imus) could hire his girlfriend to replace Rosenberg.[25] He stayed on at WNBC after Howard was fired because he was still under contract to the station. Al also worked on WNEW-AM radio as one half of the morning team with Bob Fitzsimmons. He also worked with Ted Brown. He would later work again for Howard on the "Channel 9 Show" as a writer. Al called in to Howard's show in 2007 (during a Paul Mooney interview) to discuss Imus' racism.[26] He currently works doing speaking engagements and voice-over work.[27] He also recently started appearing on Howard 101's "Miserable Men" program.

Gary Garver

Gary Garver was a West Coast based correspondent for The Howard Stern Show. He was sent to awards shows, movie premieres and television conventions to ask "Stuttering John"-type questions to celebrities and has-beens. He was fired by the Stern show in 2008. It was revealed in an on-air confrontation with Howard Stern and Gary Dell'Abate on the November 16, 2009 broadcast that he was dismissed because Garver's interviews were too confrontational and when the Stern show asked him to reel it in, he did not comply.

Gary Garver currently hosts "Almost Live with Gary Garver", an online web broadcast, at www.garygarver.com where he interviews various adult entertainment and offbeat celebrities.

Steve the Engineer

Steve the Engineer first worked with Ben Stern and later worked with Howard when he arrived at K-Rock. He was given the nickname Wood Yi, do to sounding like actor/director Woody Allen, and developed a persona around it. As Wood Yi, Steve would do various bits and pranks making homosexual, pedophilic or racist comments. Steve stayed at K-Rock when the Stern Show moved to Sirius in 2006, but still makes occasional calls to the show, although more often, the staff would use clips of his voice.

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/01/07/2010-01-07_artie_lange.html
  2. ^ Stern, Howard; Larry "Ratso" Sloman. "Mein Kampf "My Struggle"". in Judith Regan. Private Parts (1st edition ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 127. ISBN 978-0671880163. OCLC 28968496. "But there was one good thing about Hartford. I met Fred "Earth Dog" Norris there. Fred was going to college and he was the overnight guy. Hw was a funny guy and a good writer and he had a knack for doing impressions." 
  3. ^ Mercer, Mark (1998-01-20). [Benji The Intern's Close Encounter With Howard "http://www.marksfriggin.com/news98/1-19-98.htm"]. MarksFriggin.com. Benji The Intern's Close Encounter With Howard. Retrieved 2009-12-01. 
  4. ^ "The History of Howard Stern Act II Interactive Guide - Week 1". Sirius.com. http://www.sirius.com/wo/i/howard/history_II/part_a/hoh-120908_a.swf. 
  5. ^ "THoHS:A2 - Howard's Move To Mornings, Scott Salem. 12/22/08. 10:10am". MarksFriggin. http://www.marksfriggin.com/news08/12-22.htm#mon. Retrieved 2009-11-18. 
  6. ^ "Scott The Engineer's Push-Up Challenge. 01/07/1998. 6:00am". MarksFriggin.com. http://www.marksfriggin.com/news98/1-5-98.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 
  7. ^ Corcoran, Michael (1996-04-04). "Stern's cast of irregulars". Austin American-Statesman (TX). p. 65. 
  8. ^ "Jon Hein From JumpTheShark.com Comes In. 5/3/01. 7:35am". MarksFriggin. http://www.marksfriggin.com/news01/4-30-01.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-18. 
  9. ^ "More Letterman Discussions. 11/18/05. 6:55am". MarksFriggin. http://www.marksfriggin.com/news05/11-14.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-18. 
  10. ^ "Website for thevideocaddy.com". http://www.thevideocaddy.com/. 
  11. ^ "Howard Stern on Demand". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0792141. 
  12. ^ "LisaG Bio". Siruis. http://www.sirius.com/lisag. 
  13. ^ "MIKE COMES CLEAN The Howard Stern Show for December 1, 2008". HowardStern.Com (Official Site). December 1, 2008. http://howardstern.com/rundown.hs?month=December&day=1&year=2008&x=31&y=5. Retrieved 7 January 2010. 
  14. ^ "Notebook - McGehee has proof of childhood Indy dreams". CNN/Sports Illustrated. 2001-05-22. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/motorsports/2001/indy500/news/2001/05/19/notebook_mcgehee/. Retrieved 2007-01-16. 
  15. ^ "Buy Stern's ride". CNNMoney.com. 2005-05-19. http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/19/news/newsmakers/stern_limo/. Retrieved 2007-01-16. 
  16. ^ Popkin, Helen (2005-12-14). "Howard Stern's cast of characters, from Robin to High Pitch Eric". MSNBC.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9853210/. Retrieved 2007-01-16. 
  17. ^ a b "The History of Howard Stern Act II Interactive Guide - Week 2". Sirius.com. http://www.sirius.com/wo/i/howard/history_II/part_b/hoh-120908_b.swf. 
  18. ^ "THoHS:A2 - Howard's New Style And Ralph Cirella. 12/24/08. 8:05am". MarksFriggin.com. http://www.marksfriggin.com/news08/12-22.htm. 
  19. ^ "K.C. Interviews Marv Albert. 5/23/97. 7:15am". MarksFriggin.com. http://www.marksfriggin.com/news96_97/may-97.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 
  20. ^ Brooks, David (2005-02-03). "The KC Information Database". http://www3.sympatico.ca/brooksdr/kc/main.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-06. 
  21. ^ "Stern Shocked As West Walks!". King of All Media Interactive Newsletter. http://www.koam.com/haven/west2.html. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 
  22. ^ Interview with UGO.com (20th question) Accessed January 29, 2007.
  23. ^ "For the week of 02/19/2007 to 02/23/2007". MarksFriggin.com. http://www.marksfriggin.com/news07/2-19.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 
  24. ^ New York Post Accessed August 8, 2009.
  25. ^ MarksFriggin archives, Monday, December 17, 2007
  26. ^ Rundown, April 18, 2007
  27. ^ Home of Al Rosenberg

External links


Template:Infobox Celebrity

Salvatore Governale (more well known as "Sal the Stockbroker" born October 8, 1969 in Bay Shore, New York) is an American radio personality, comedian, and former stockbroker who joined The Howard Stern Show as an associate producer in September 2004, after being a runner up on the show's "Get John's Job" contest. He previously worked for brokerage firms while frequently calling the Stern show to harass producer Gary Dell'Abate. Governale is also part of The Killers of Comedy.

Contents

Early life

As a teenager, Governale made a rap CD under the names "Cool The Candy Rapper" and "G-Man". Governale claimed the company that produced his CD scammed him out of thousands of dollars, which he later admitted was paid in counterfeit bills manufactured by his father, the infamous Sicilian counterfieter, Tony Governale. He was a member of the break-dancing group "The Circuit Breakers". Sal was also president of the Beastie Boys Prodigy fan club "Beastie Revolution" at age 17.[1] In 1989, he played "Malibu" during the first season of "American Gladiators". On an October 29, 2006 episode of the Howard Stern show, he admitted that the excessive steriod use and backstage homo-eroticism were the main reasons he left American Gladiators after one season to become a stockbroker in New York City.

Howard Stern Show

1996-2003: Early appearances, visits and calls

Governale began making his name on The Howard Stern Show in April 1996[2] by harassing show producer Gary Dell'Abate with prank calls. Governale popularized the nickname "horse tooth jackass", a reference to Dell'Abate's large teeth. In the past, Governale has tried to capitalize on his notoriety by peddling "horse tooth jackass" merchandise, including t-shirts and CDs of his prank calls.

Governale would make studio appearances, producing more prank calls and song parodies for the show until 2004 when he was given the opportunity to compete for Stuttering John's position on the show, who left to be the announcer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

2004: "Get John's Job" contest

When Stern show staffer John Melendez left the show, Governale entered the "Get John's Job" contest. During his week's audition, Governale produced various song parodies and games, including an on-air appearance of his dad "Tony Lotto" and uncle Paulie. When the winner was announced on July 1, Governale became runner up to Richard Christy, with 24% to Christy's 30%[3]. Despite finishing second, his performance during the contest earned him a job with the show anyway. Governale began working on the show on September 14, where Governale called WXRK General Manager Tom Chiusano a "douche bag"[4].. Despite the initial dislike Governale felt for Christy, the two of them began working together as a team writing song parodies, prank calls and comedy bits. They soon became such good friends that they often resort to homoerotic acts simply to amuse Howard and his listeners, either on the road during comedy shows or on the air[4].

Radio stunts

Since he joined The Howard Stern Show, Governale has engaged in what many would consider gay and hilarious acts, usually with fellow staff member Richard Christy.

  • On May 9, 2005 Sal revealed while under hypnosis that he would perform fellatio on Howard Stern if asked.[5]
  • On June 14, 2005, Sal put a banana through the fly of his pants, spat on it, and Richard Christy sucked it. Christy did this in order to meet one of his rock idols, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. He had the option of doing that or being teabagged by Sal.[6]

Other controversies

  • During a KISS concert on October, 3, 2000, at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, was thrown out after infuriating Gene Simmons from the front row. Sal thought it would make Gene laugh if he stuck his tongue out, put his fingers and wiggled them at Gene during the concert. Gene, however, found Sal to be a nuisance to him, found no humor with Sal's antics, and had him thrown out. Later in 2007, Sal explained the incident on The Stern Show quoting Gene Simmons as "Looking like a Retarded Godzilla" due to his devilish make up and dragon boots.
  • Sal has become notorious for his "crazy logic", frequently jumping to bizarre conclusions based on racial prejudices and other largely irrelevant information, much to the amusement and occasional frustration of the staff and audience of The Howard Stern Show.
  • Sal is among the only Stern Show staffers to be banned from attending the wedding of Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky due to his persistently insulting Ostrosky in his comedy, despite Stern's repeated demands that he cease making jokes at her expense. Sal was eventually invited to the ceremony, but the invitation was revoked within a few days after he speculated on-air that he may be expected to pull an outrageous stunt at the ceremony.
  • On April 26, 2007, during a segment entitled "Daddy or Dummy?", a game in which Gary Dell'Abate, Jon Hein and Governale brought their children to the show, Governale urged his son, Antonio, to ask Robin Quivers if he could see her breasts. Stern lambasted Governale, saying that he'd gone "too far".
  • It was discovered that Governale has an extremely poor grasp of history when astronaut Buzz Aldrin called in on August 15, 2007; Sal thought he was a former President. He also frequently confuses the Revolutionary War with World War I and, on one occasion, confused Christopher Columbus with George Washington, though soon afterwards realizing his error. When asked "Who gave the Gettysburg Address?" Sal responded "President Gettysburg." On August 22, 2007, Sal scored 48% on a US Citizenship test.
  • In addition to his poor grasp of history and his oft-mocked "crazy logic," it has gradually been thought that Governale lacks basic intellect and, despite his comedic skills, likely has a low IQ. On September 27, 2007 show, he demanded a "traction" (confusing the term with "retraction") from Howard 100 News for reporting an allegedly untrue story about him (which he later indicated was largely accurate). For several minutes, the staff laughed hysterically as they tricked a clueless Governale into using the term "traction" numerous times. Tim Sabean would soon afterwards reveal the error to Sal despite Stern's requests for no one to do so.[7]
  • On June 13, 2007; Governale revealed that he and his wife were having marital difficulties and had been in marriage counselling. These problems stemmed from his discovery of several e-mails and text messages featuring the number "143" (slang for "I love you") from a man his wife deemed her "emotional friend", though she claims they have not had sex. His co-workers Robin Quivers, Artie Lange, Gary Dell'Abate, Fred Norris and Howard Stern praised him for making the responsible decision to pursue therapy, but the terms "emotional friend" and "143" have since been frequently used to ridicule him on-air.
  • After the election of Barack Obama on November 4, 2008, he admitted to believing that Obama would become President the next day and immediately enforce his tax plan, much to the chagrine of the Stern crew.
  • On January 26, 2009, Governale revealed to Howard that he had the chance to meet celebrity chef Bobby Flay. He casually mentioned that he was a huge fan of Flay and that after eating a hamburger at one Flay's restaurants he told Flay (right in front of Flay's wife) that Flay's hamburgers, "taste better than having a woman's thing in your mouth". Howard and the team rebuked Sal for being clueless about his inappropriate comments. Sal defended his actions, saying that he normally would've used the word "pussy" but altered it to "thing" as he was in the presence of women, and apparently could not comprehend why it would be better to mention his appreciation for Flay's food without comparing it to the taste of a woman's vagina.[8]
  • Also on January 26, Stern reluctantly played a brief segment Sal produced in order to display its racism and poor taste. Similar to the Tube Bar prank calls, Sal called a department store asking them to page his son "Nick Gerz," a gag name homonymous with a racial slur, over the public address system. Stern explained that, while he sometimes finds it amusing to observe racism (as is the case with Daniel Carver, Hate Man or the "God Hates Fags Lady") he is not a racist and, by having his employees produce such a bit, he is implicitly condoning racism. Governale later confessed that, contrary to popular belief, he is not Albert Einstein.
  • On April 2, 2009, Mr. Governale acknowledged that he had $55,000 in credit card debt distributed over seven (7) different credit cards, one of which had a 31% interest rate, along with a large home equity loan, a traditional home mortgage, and a car loan for a Range Rover. He further acknowledged that his wife controlled the family finances including paying the bills, and that she was responsible for their poor financial condition. It was later revealed that after receiving a very serious lecture from Howard, Sal sat down with a financial advisor and transferred his debt to a single credit card that would be paid off by year's end. Sal has claimed not to know where these massive credit bills originated but claims not to care, and intends to do more comedy shows so that every earned penny can be used to pay down the debt.

Taped Apology

The day after Governale made a racist comment about Miss Howard Stern on the Wrap-Up Show, several staff members played a practical joke on him. A woman posing as a representative of the Sirius human resources department called Governale to advise him that his comments had been so wildly inappropriate that, in order to keep his job, he would have to make a taped public apology. After much consternation and apparent inability to comprehend the inappropriateness of his comments (all of which was taped without his knowledge), he made the following apology:

"Hi, This is Sal Governale.

"And unfortunately yesterday on The Wrap Up Show I made a few comments that some consider to be racist and offensive. If I did offend you, I deeply apologize from the bottom of my heart. What I was simply trying to do was make a joke over the fact that white women generally don't have sex with black men. It was simply a joke. And the joke got out of hand because in this situation it was true. People were offended. It doesn't matter what type of baby you have whether it be white, black or Italian. The important thing here that we can learn from this is:

"A. You shouldn't drink and do drugs because you might end up in a situation you will regret whether it is a white child or a black child.

"And B. I have personally learned, that when I address things, I should address them in a much better way, in a specific way as not to offend people. Black people, white people, Spanish, Italian whatever the case may be. I sincerely mean this. I sincerely stand behind the fact I was joking and I sincerely apologize over the fact people were offended. I am not a racist. Thank you for your time."

By all accounts, even after the above apology was played and mocked on the air (and continues to be to this day), Mr. Governale still does not understand that his racist comments were inappropriate.

Killers of Comedy incidents

On Friday, March 23, 2007, during an appearance at the Lakeland Center in Lakeland, Florida with Gary Dell'Abate, Richard Christy, Reverend Bob Levy and Artie Lange, Sal was mocking Dell'Abate onstage by wearing a mask of Dell'Abate's face and dancing. Unable to see properly (he and others later said that the eye holes on the mask were far too small), he veered too close to the edge of the stage and fell an estimated seven feet. The fall caused him to break his left wrist in two places, left him with three bruised ribs, and a bruised left eye. Kaplan, Jason; Thomas Panasci (2007-03-26). "The Rundown". http://www.howardstern.com/rundown.hs?month=March&day=26&year=2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 

References

External links








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