List of The Howard Stern Show staff
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The Howard Stern Show has gone through a number of staff members.
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, and the antics of the show's Wack Pack. Stern is considered controversial by many due to his willingness to speak openly and honestly.
Robin Quivers
Robin Quivers first met Stern when she was assigned to be his newswoman at WWDC in March 1981, and has been Stern's co-host and in charge of the show's news segment ever since. Quivers left the show for a brief period of time towards the end of her time at WWDC when Stern made a deal at WNBC in 1982, and didn't realise WNBC refused to hire her. Quivers returned to the show at WNBC a month after Stern.
Stern once stated 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 as well.
Artie Lange
Artie Lange is a comedian who joined the show in 2001 when he was chosen to fill the spot formerly occupied by Jackie Martling, who left the show over a salary disagreement. Lange's job consisted of being Howard's main sidekick along with Robin, and he frequently talked about personal information such as his addictions with gambling, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, overeating, and frequenting brothels and prostitutes. In 2005, Artie started missing large amounts of work, a time during which he later revealed he was regularly snorting heroin, and subsequently detoxing.
Artie resigned from the show on April 10, 2008, in the wake of an infamous on-air physical attack on his assistant, Teddy, in which several show staff members had to physically restrain him and drag him from the studio[1]. Lange returned to the show on April 21, 2008, after discussing his meltdown with Howard Stern and other staffers [2]. Artie was never off the show as the show didn't air in the week of Apr 14th - Apr 18th. He therefore didn't miss a single day of work as a result of his infamous meltdown.
Fred Norris
In the late 70's, Fred Norris became friends with Howard when they were both working as DJs at WCCC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut.[1] After leaving WCCC-FM to work with Howard, at WWDC-FM 101, Washington, DC, Howard was hired at WNBC in New York and gave Fred a job on as a writer and personality on the show. Over time Fred's main role developed into being in charge of the soundboards, playing sound clips that comically coincide with the shows current discussion and playing various characters in skits; Fred now rarely talks on air.
Benjy Bronk
Benjy Bronk is a co-writer for the show, along with Fred Norris. Bronk started working on the show as a pre-interviewer for Howard's guests. Following the departure of "head writer" Jackie Martling in 2001, Bronk would eventually assume many of Martling's writing duties, while Artie Lange took over Martling's speaking role as Stern's sidekick). Bronk's job consists of developing many of the shows bits, as well as feeding one-liners for Stern and Lange to deliver on the air. Like Lange, Bronk (a former wrestler) struggles with obesity but has proven to be adept at rapid weight loss, once shedding 64 lb (29 kg) during a staff competition. According to a New York Post article written 12/30/01, Bronk was born in 1970 or 1971 contrary to the popular belief that Bronk was only 52-60 years old.[2] Bronk had previously been identified as being 30 in a 2001 article in The New York Post. [3] For unknown reasons, Bronk refuses to disclose his true age on the air.
Outside the studio
Gary Dell'Abate
Gary Dell'Abate aka Baba Booey serves as the show's producer. He was hired fresh from graduating college in 1984, and has worked for the show ever since. Dell'Abate is mocked on the Stern Show for his appearance and frequent mispronunciations. He earned his nickname "Baba Booey" after insisting it was the correct name of the cartoon character Baba Looey.
Richard Christy
While playing as a drummer in a number of Heavy metal bands, including Iced Earth, Richard Christy began calling into the show to submit song parodies. In 2004 when Stuttering John Melendez left the show, Howard announced a "Win John’s Job Contest" which pitted a group of 10 Stern super-fan/contributors against each other for the right to John's old job. Richard won the job as voted by Stern show fans over the internet. Since joining the show, Richard has become most famous for the prank phone calls and gay stunts that he does with Sal the Stockbroker. Unlike most of the cast who comes from the Tri-State Region, Richard comes from Kansas and is made fun of for being a perceived redneck.
Sal the Stockbroker
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 popular caller due to his frequent calling in to make fun of Gary Dell'Abate. Despite coming in second in the "Win John's Job" contest, Sal was hired to be Richard Christy's writing partner. He is known for the prank phone calls and gay-themed stunts he performs with Richard. Though Sal employs crass racial humor on the show and in stand-up appearances, he denies that he is racist.
Scott the Engineer
Scott Salem is the show's longtime engineer, joining the show in February 1986. His job consists of creating and editing soundbites and recordings for the show. Scott is usually only heard from when things on the show go wrong, and Howard blames Scott. He is also mocked by the staff for his weight and his smoking habit. During his youth, his mother claimed there was a black cloud hanging over his head, in reference to Salem's streak of ensuing bad luck. In 1998, Salem competed in a push-up challenge in which Salem bet Stern that he could perform 17 push-ups. Against Salem's wishes, his training footage was leaked to Stern and was featured on the show, prompting Salem's now famous anger-laced tirade toward fellow co-worker Mike Gange. While Salem received over $31,000 for winning the push-up challenge, it was not without controversy, as he later admitted that he did not perform 17 properly executed push-ups. In 2007, Salem made a one-time-only appearance on tour with the Killers of Comedy, performing stand-up followed by a Q&A session with the audience. Salem was effectively booed off the stage. 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". [4] However, Stern does defend 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
Jon Hein is the co-host of the The Wrap-Up Show. Prior to joining the Stern Show, Hein had become famous for popularizing the term "jumping the shark" and creator of the website jumptheshark.com. Due to the popularity of jumptheshark.com, Hein became a recurring guest on the Stern show. Hein is a lifelong fan of Stern's, and partially for that reason was chosen as the first host of the Superfan Roundtable in late 2005. The Stern Show staff thought Hein was a good host on Roundtable and chose him to be the host of The Wrap-Up Show with producer Gary Dell'Abate as co-host.
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 writing the daily show rundown that appears on the show's website, and taking photos that appear alongside the daily rundown. Jason has battled depression and weight gain, and has been teased for throwing birthday parties for his cats. 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 on November 8th, 2008. He hosts "Page 69" along with Will Murray. He has also been known to have a Facebook description of being a, "Big Dude, with a Cool 'Tude". As of December 2, 2008 Kaplan's weight had reached 296 pounds.
JD Harmeyer
Jamie "JD" Harmeyer joined the show as an intern in 2003. He is the show's Media Producer whose main duty is to pull audio and video clips from television and the Internet for Howard to use on the show. JD has four TiVos simultaneously recording in his office. Harmeyer often arrives much earlier than other show staff to record. Harmeyer's "nerdy" personality, awkward speaking style (frequently compared to Napoleon Dynamite) and amusing personal life (his parents, sex life and hobbies) are common points of discussion when he is on the air. Currently, show comedian Artie Lange, writer Benjy Bronk, Richard Christy,and Harmeyer are the only remaining bachelors on the show. In 2006 Harmeyer was given a techno theme when he enters the studio to speak, as staff member Richard Christy caught him listening to it in his office. His current theme is "Battle Royale" by Does It Offend You, Yeah?. It was previously "Everytime You Leave (Age Pee Short Mix)" by Karma.
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"[5], 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 is now the Supervising Producer for Howard TV. Gange once had sex with porn star Kendra Jade. He is famous for being the object of Scott the Engineer's rage during Scott's push-ups competition. He's also known for accidently mailing a porno video tape to a friend of Howard's who was ill with cancer. Howard and the woman both enjoyed the television show Seinfeld. Howard had requested a tape full of episodes of the show be sent to her home. Instead, Gange mistakenly mailed the woman and her husband, a former priest, a XXX-rated video. Gange was the cameraman/interviewer for the former Stern TV show on E!
Doug Goodstein
Doug Z. Goodstein is Stern's former E! show producer and current executive producer for Howard TV On Demand. He is also 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.
Other
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), most of Takei's job as announcer is done through pre-recordings.
Gary Garver
Gary Garver is a West Coast based correspondent for The Howard Stern Show. He is sent to awards shows, movie premieres and television conventions to ask "Stuttering John"-type questions to celebrities and has-beens.
He is perhaps best known for stalking O.J. Simpson on the golf course, peppering him with questions such as "How is the search for the killers going" and "What is the best way to remove blood stains from clothing?"
Gary Garver currently hosts "Almost Live with Gary Garver", which is an online web broadcast, at www.garygarver.com where he interviews various adult entertainment and offbeat celebrities.
Ronnie the Limo Driver
Ronald Mund commonly referred to as Ronnie the Limo Driver, is Howard's limousine driver and bodyguard.[6][7][8] He was for years known as "Scoresman" due to his frequent patronage of Scores strip club, but now refers to himself as "Ricky Man" due to show loyalties shifting to Ricks Cabaret. He is often ridiculed for his short stature, monochromatic fashion habits, inappropriate comments and behaviors, childish manner of arguing, and causing unnecessary tension between Howard and the cast. It was revealed on October 30, 2008 that Ronnie wears Mambo brand cologne by Liz Claiborne.
On April 10, 2008; Ronnie was praised by many of his co-workers (notably Gary Dell'Abate) for his "taking charge of the situation" once Artie Lange attempted to physically assault his personal assistant.
During the week of Sept. 8, 2008, Ronnie was voted "the angriest" person related with the show.
Ralph Cirella
Ralph Cirella serves as stylist to Stern and briefly co-hosted Howard 100's The Friday Show (now cancelled) with Gary Dell'Abate and Jon Hein. He has also appeared on Stern's television show, for which he designs the sets.
Cirella was a caller and avid listener of Stern's show in the early to mid-1980s. He has claimed that he was a regular caller when Stern was still on WNBC in New York City. Cirella's friendship with Stern apparently began when he worked as a makeup artist/set designer on Stern's early 90s Channel 9 television show.
Though he is a personal friend of Howard and calls in numerous times a day, he may very well be the least popular member of the Stern Show; Howard has maintained that he receives more hate mail about Cirella than he does of Ku Klux Klansman, Daniel Carver. He is known for his collection of movie memorabilia, particularly science fiction films such as Star Wars. In 2008 he asked Gary Dell'Abate for a life sized cardboard cutout of Iron Man, he has a similar decoration of Pamela Anderson from the show Baywatch.
Though fans criticize his incessant phone calls to the show, his peculiar love of action figures,comic books and fashion, and his frequent acceptance of wealthier celebrities' hospitality, Stern refers to Cirella as a lovable freeloader and confidant.
Ralph is also a frequent caller on WFAN's Miked' Up: With Mike Francesa.
Ralph is a confirmed bachelor.
Howard 100 News
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.
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 being hired as a cast member on the show. After three years, he rose to head writer, a position 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 dialog 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. M 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 re-airings 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 successor Artie Lange in the 2003 film Mail Order Bride.
KC Armstrong
Kyle Casey "KC" Armstrong was an associate producer on the show from 1999 until 2005.[9] Armstrong (born July 17, 1975) is an actor, amateur bodybuilder, model, and comedian. He grew up in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, where his father was the head football,wrestling coach at Port Jefferson High School. Armstrong was a Suffolk County Champion wrestler. Armstrong was formerly a quarterback for the Western Kentucky University football team.
Armstrong's mysterious departure from the Stern show in 2005 was explained by Armstrong during a phone interview with Stern on July 1, 2005, where he cited factors such as depression, substance abuse and gambling addiction.
Armstrong now lives in Newport Beach, California, where he is trying to start a career in acting and has released his own comedy DVD Die Laughing through his web site. Armstrong has acted in three movies: Death4Told, Grace and the Storm and Secret War. He has also appeared in the comedy DVD Meet the Creeps.
In February 2009, Armstrong did an interview on The Duke Fightmaster Show and talked about his years on the Howard Stern Show as well as his latest endeavors.
Billy West
From 1989 through 1995, Billy West provided the show with character voices such as Marge Schott, Jim Backus, George Takei, Larry Fine, Jackie Martling, Louis "Red" Deutsch, Ben Stern (Howard Stern's father), Leona Helmsley, Al Michaels, The Greaseman, Frank Gifford, Kathy Lee Gifford, Rudolph Giuliani, David Dinkins, Nelson Mandela, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Elton John and Connie Chung until eventually leaving the show over money.[10] West has also been an occasional contributor to The Adam Carolla Show, a syndicated morning radio show that replaced Howard Stern's show along West Coast American cities, generally sitting in for an extended portion of the show every other Thursday. On February 19 and 20, 2007, The Howard Stern Show ran a special two-part retrospective of West's work with the show.
Steve Grillo
[[3]] Former Stern Show intern and Stern Show 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.
![[3]](http://j.bdbphotos.com/pictures/E/3/E3N1Q3.jpg){kind=link}
Grillo was often ridiculed by the Stern staff for his pronunciation and writing of the English language.
After the Stern show, he pursued acting and worked as a bartender. Currently, Grillo works as a pizzamaker at Hell's Kitchen Pizza. Ironically one of Gorilla's few acting jobs was a pizza worker on the Sopranos.
Grillo participated in a memorable on-air quarrel with Sirius XM Radio office manager Tracey Millman in 2007, after an ill-fated outing for departing interns.
Steve also conducted movie reviews for Howard 100 News in 2006. As an homage to his former duties as an intern, he would rate the movies by awarding them a certain number of potatoes.
Steve is now happily married to Maureen and living in a trailer.
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 there for himself. The show's producer, Gary Dell'Abate, interviewed Melendez and mentioned his stuttering problem to Howard 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 and the Dalai Lama. He also provided comic interest 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.
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.[11] 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 for 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.[12] He currently works doing speaking engagements and voice-over work.[13]He also recently started appearing on Howard 101's "Miserable Men" program.
Penny Crone
Penny Crone was an original staff member of Howard 100 News. Her career in journalism began as a federal court reporter for the Hearst Newspaper in Baltimore. Penny next moved to WJZ-TV as a writer/producer. Then, she worked for WNYW/Fox 5 and WCBS/2 in New York City as a TV reporter. She also co-hosted a morning talk show for WABC Radio, and appeared in a TV movie and theatrical films. Penny and her son, Travis, were featured in a Howard TV day-in-the-life-of special. She left the news staff in January 2007, due to budget cuts.[14] Currently, Penny is a real-estate agent for Prudential Douglas Elliman.[15].
References and notes
- ^ Stern, Howard. "Mein Kampf "My Struggle"". In Judith Regan (ed.). Private Parts (1st edition ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 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.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origdate=ignored (|orig-date=suggested) (help) - ^
Kaplan, Jason (2007-09-20). "The Rundown". HowardStern.com. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
Steve Langford reported that when Benjy registered to vote in 1988, he cited his birth date as 9/4/67.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Garvey, Marianne (2001-12-30). "THE NERVE! CAN YOU BATTLE FOR A CAB WITHOUT BEING A JERK?". New York Post. News Corporation. p. 053. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
Take Benjy Bronk, a 30-year-old comedian from Manhattan. He says he applies different degrees of competitiveness to each situation. His only firm rule: "The first person who's completely in the cab should get it."
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Corcoran, Michael (1996-04-04). "Stern's cast of irregulars". Austin American-Statesman (TX). p. 65.
- ^ "Website for thevideocaddy.com".
- ^ "Notebook - McGehee has proof of childhood Indy dreams". CNN/Sports Illustrated. 2001-05-22. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
- ^ "Buy Stern's ride". CNNMoney.com. 2005-05-19. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
- ^ Popkin, Helen (2005-12-14). "Howard Stern's cast of characters, from Robin to High Pitch Eric". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
- ^ Brooks, David (2005-02-03). "The KC Information Database". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
The End of an Era: Well, after several months of hoping against hope, it appears that Kyle Casey (K.C.) Armstrong, will not be returning to the Howard Stern Show.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Interview with UGO.com (20th question) Accessed January 29, 2007.
- ^ MarksFriggin archives, Monday, December 17, 2007
- ^ Rundown, April 18, 2007
- ^ Home of Al Rosenberg
- ^ Arts and Entertainment News and Reviews - NY Daily News
- ^ Penny Crone's PrudentialDouglas Elliman bio