So, Long Howard

I listen to Howard Stern. There, I admit it and I don’t feel the least bit guilty about it. I have caught a lot of shit over the years for listening to him. It is usually from people who have never caught the show. You see they let the media tell them what to think and if you were to listen to media accounts all his show is, is a bunch of lesbian strippers who use the f-bomb all the while taking a live shit right on the air.

Sure, there is some element of that on the show. However, there is a lot more to it then the toilet humor. If all Howard did was interview strippers and put them in the tickle chair, it would get real old, real fast. I find Howard to be his best when he is doing an interview or taking phone calls. Or, when he is interacting with his staff. I find Artie Lange (one of his side-kicks) to be the funniest part of any Howard program. Howard is a genuinely funny guy who has found a niche and has come up with a radio show that millions find interesting.

But, for the knee jerk reactionaries out there all they see is the strippers and FCC fines. If they would bother to listen to the show they might actually find it interesting. Sure there is a lot of toilet humor, but so what? OK, I like raunchy fart jokes, sue me. If that makes me a bad guy, then so be it. You see to me comedy only has one objective, to make me laugh. Not, a forced courtesy laugh, but a gut busting authentic reaction to something. Howard and his show are able to produce those kinds of laughs from me.

With all that said a sense of sadness has set in because Howard’s last show is this Friday. He is taking his program over to Satellite radio and away from the censors. I could go out and buy a receiver but I am not yet ready to pay for radio. Plus, I am only in my car for fifteen minutes on my way to the train station and I cannot justify spending money for something that I really won’t get a lot of use out of. So, I will just have to listen to something else in the mornings.

The fact that Stern was forced to move away from the censors is another blow against American freedom. No longer does the market place dictate what we as adults can listen to and watch. We have to make sure everything is sanitized because parents can no longer raise their kids on their own. Thus, we need to protect them from such foul language. We are the only “free” country with such puritanical beliefs. Look at TV in Japan, Britain and France. You will see naked women, foul language and all the rest of the ills of scoiety, yet they seem to raise civilized kids.

So, thanks America for forcing Stern’s hand and making my mornings a little less fun. Knowing the horrors that await me in the office I could always count on Howard to cheer me up and help me forget what was awaiting me. I could escape, for a brief period in my car into Howard’s show and start my day off with a laugh. His show will leave a void in my mornings and make my day even bleaker.