https://nypost.com/2021/04/27/howard-stern-has-lost-his-sting-and-his-mojo/
shareShe wrote what 99% of the world already knew - the guy became everything he rallied against, meaning he became Imus, only Imus didn't kiss Hollywood's butt.
shareI lost interest in Stern's show a long time ago. I tried to listen back in 2018 but man, it was so watered down and scripted it's just bland and boring now. He should have retired around 2015 I have no idea why he's hanging on to this very, very bitter end.
shareI honestly never "got" him or his popularity. I listened to him in LA back in the 90's and it just seemed like a bunch of people sitting around, telling inside jokes and making fun of each other. Didn't keep my interest.
shareReally the beginning of the end was his move to satellite. He still did incredible things for awhile, but I think he basically just got comfy. Why rock the boat? He was a celebrity. There wasn't really anybody to fight anymore, so after awhile he was just the mega-popular satellite radio guy. From there it was a smooth transition into being liked rather than reviled because I think that's just easier. Plus, the guy's getting older, and most people mellow out when they get older.
The only thing that would fire Stern up now would be if somebody developed the modern equivalent of a "shock jock" thing and started making national headlines about his/her own battles with the F.C.C. Somebody else taking that position in the zeitgeist might make Howard try to do something *nasty* again.
At the end of the day, though, he's got a popular show, he's a great interviewer...does it matter? The only thing I wish Howard was still doing was taking a free speech stand - like a real hard-core one. I'm sure he's mostly on-board.
But I can't help but think about when he'd use EVERYTHING to push buttons and boundaries. There was one bit he did where they were talking about somebody else using the n-word and, because they were fearless and direct, they (Stern & Co.) said it on the air. Well, doesn't somebody call in objecting and saying they were racist just for saying the word. Howard stages an impromptu mock-apology where he starts saying, in a brash, speechifying voice, about how nobody should say the following words... and proceeds to just start listing them off. He's clearly just thinking of as many slurs as he can, the woman on the phone is just going, "That's right!" over and over again like she's actually winning the argument, and Fred Norris is playing "His Truth is Marching On" underneath the whole thing. It was GENIUS.
And I think about that and about the idea of Stern doing stuff like that in this era of hyper-PC cancel culture, and I just think, man...what if...?
I always thought...if there's one person with a huge platform that could rally against wokeness and cancel culture....it could maybe be Howard. Maybe....just maybe he was teflon enough to speak out against how out of hand it has become, and still survive when people who disagree with his stance try to take him down by digging into his past to find content that would bury him, like they did to that Jeopardy executive producer and so many others. I thought maybe Howard was untouchable enough....but clearly he's not interested in that kind of fight these days.
Bill Maher takes small, measured shots. Adam Carrolla...a little bit, but safely. Joe Rogan took a brief shot (but the pushback was fierce and scared him from pursuing any further). Who will be the pioneer to lead the charge? It may take an extremely influential...woman, like Oprah......to say enough is enough.
Seriously.....it's diluting our culture down to the lowest common, homogenized, puritanical, bland, edgeless, hypocritical, delicate, "appropriate", censored, paranoid, punitive denominator. In society, art, music, comedy, etc....there needs to be a balance of safe and edgy....clean and dirty.....sweet and sour.....sexy and chaste, mean and nice. This is how you grow strong and discerning....and decide for yourself the kind of content that you like or don't like. You don't get that growth {or choice} in an attempted utopian bubble.
What's more, the rules are not evenly applied, and are hypocritical. For example, how did Mike Edwards get cancelled, yet Eddie Murphy still gets to have a career? If people did the same kind of digging into HIS career, comments, old stand-up routines, etc.....the same way they did to Mike Edwards, they'd find a lot worse than anything Edwards said. Why does Murphy get a pass (because it was within the context of comedy)....but Edwards doesn't ( even though his comments were within the context of podcast schtick)??
I think a lot of people are calling "BS" on Cancel Culture. It's a shame Howard's not doing it. He's definitely impervious to it. Imagine how stupid somebody would sound going, "Hey, did you guys know that Howard used to..." and following that up with his antics in the '80s. Every fan of Stern's would go, "Yeah, of course we know that. That's what made us fans." Howard is like walking Cancel Culture antivenom. His foundation is "being outrageous", so there's nothing that could shock anybody or make anybody listening consider hypocrisy: they know who he is/was.
It's disappointing he says nothing.
But, I do think people are standing up. Maher does. I think Rogan does more than you give him credit for. I've watched a LOT of Rogan clips of him bashing on Cancel Culture and political correctness and all the other woke/SJW stuff. I'm not familiar with Corrolla's oeuvre, but I'll take your word for it.
Add to your list Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Bill Burr, Stephen Fry, and Dave Chappelle. I'm surprised by Chappelle's exclusion. That dude swung for the *fences* with his last Netflix special. It was also hugely popular, so funny I nearly choked laughing, and proved that the court jester can still laugh at the king.
That's just the top of my head, too. I know others have spoken out against it.
The wackiest uneven application of cancellation was Bill Clinton. Accused of rape and other forms of sexual assault by multiple women - there's a lot of smoke to connect to fire - and 100% used a work power imbalance to convince an intern to blow him. Oh, but Louis C.K. can't work anymore, right? Please.
Good points. I actually meant to include Chappell. Some of those other guys (Atkinson, Cleese) seem like C-listers (at least in the U.S.), and just don’t have the platform to make much of a difference.
I saw an interview the other day with David Spade where he said his stand-up is completely bland now...he doesn’t want to risk losing his career over an off-color joke. BTW...I wonder if we’ll ever see another Comedy Central Roast again? They should do one....roasting Cancel Culture, and bring an end to it.
Comedians should have 100% immunity to CC. I swear, people think we’re progressing as a society, but we’re actually regressing.
It makes sense to me that Chappelle was an oversight. That dude swung for the fences.
You're right: Atkinson isn't as high-profile as some of the others. Cleese is more well-known, but not as much as guys like Stern or Chappelle (especially in the US).
But there are a lot of anti-cancel culture people around on every tier.
Roasts were always done with the idea of respecting somebody through disrespect. Cancel culture deserves nothing in that quarter. It could be mercilessly mocked, though, and the concept of a "cancel culture roast" to obliterate it is a good one.
I hope we'll see it mocked soon. Studios are just too scared to greenlight a satire of the whole thing, but sooner or later somebody will make a great skewering of the whole thing and it'll be huge, hopefully heralding a thousand others and finally laying to rest this cruel idiocy.
He is not for everyone. Not your cup of tea? Don't listen. I still enjoy the show, even though I may not agree with everything he says.
shareWe have men with beards dressed as women and winning singing contests.
We have parades where men shake their dicks at the crowds and it is considered wholesome.
I could go on and on....
What is left to shock us?
Honestly, I always thought he was boring. I would watch when Norm MacDonald was on but that's about it.
someone said he's in his 60's, wealthy and why have the lib media against him? I used to be a fan of his, Springsteen, and Deniro; now they can all fuck themselves.
shareAgreed....on all 3 of them. When did DeNiro turn into such a dick?
I’ll throw Letterman in as well. I used to love Letterman....until he turned into a far left db. Same with Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel............
Everything said in the article is true. I literally have to change the station when he starts imitating his parents. It’s so cringe
shareUnfairly biased article that couldn't be more wrong. It's obviously written by someone who hates him.
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