Before the knee jerk haters reply to this with "If you hate Howard,
just stop listening! Don't complain!" Let me say this - I did stop
listening. About seven months after Artie left, I started to find the
show repetitive and formulaic. So I stopped. I checked in every now
and then.
About three months after not listening, I turned it on to see if I
missed anything. Howard was imitating his parents. I listened for
about two minutes then turned it off. Heard it before. It wasn't new
or particularly funny.
Tried again a few months later. JD was in the studio, or Richard, or
maybe Ronnie, and Howard was picking on him, and Gary was piling on
via intercom, about some thing that I didn't know about but they were
revisiting; some indiscretion that had happened a few weeks before. I
listened for about 20 minutes then gave up. Heard it before. It wasn't
new or particularly funny.
Tried again a few months later. Howard was interviewing someone I had
heard him interview a bunch of times already. Might have been Joan
Rivers, or maybe even Beth. For all the talk of what a great
interviewer Howard is, if you actually listen to his interview with a
critical ear, you'll notice that he barely listens to the answers.
Most of the time he asks a question, and then, before letting the
person answer, says, "In other words..." and then rephrases the
question he just asked with the answer he expects the person to give.
If the person doesn't agree or give the answer he wants, he interrupts
the person and keeps bringing it back to the subject he wants the
answer to be. Rarely, in this "long form interview," does he ever let
a person talk for a very long time. And Robin chimes in without
knowing anything.
I started listening again regularly about two years ago, and was
surprised he was down to three times a week. I usually listen to the
first hour, although I regularly skip anything that is a phony phone
call, interviews at conventions, or especially anything where Howard
just plays something that was on TV and then comments on it, which is
usually some interview on another show I don't watch. The shows I do
like that he talks about, he gives no personal insight into. He
described the plot of Rambo the other day and said it's fucking great.
Just listening to Howard describe a movie I've seen isn't fun or
funny. Used to be he'd give commentary and opinion, a recap with his
thoughts. Now he just says how great Gotham is and doesn't talk about
specifics.
I do keep listening for the rare interesting gems. The sting on Bobo
forcing him to stay off the show was the last time I didn't want to
get out of the car and stop listening. Some of the interviews I've
enjoyed. I haven't listened to Robin's news in about four years.
I keep listening because I'm a fan, and there's only six shows left.
Until he quits Sirius, which he's obviously going to do, and starts
his web-content-only show, where you have to subscribe to his website
to hear it. Which is obviously what he's going to do, if you listen to
what he's been saying. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and I really don't
care if I am. Maybe he'll be enthused again by the switch to a new
medium, like he was in the early days of Sirius, but I don't think so.
I think Howard's bored with doing the show and has been since Artie
left and he's got other interests with Beth.
On Wed, 02 Dec 2015 02:19:11 GMT, artie's liver
<diseasedliver@artie.com> wrote:
>Yes but not as much as the pranked phone calls, which seem forced
>and set up. Totally 90's bullshit that howard thinks are funny. He
>can't even fake his enthusiasm without making his listeners
>uncormforatable.
>
>
>---
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