At Vulture.
#1 is Howard Stern ("For over 30 years, Howard Stern’s calling and gift has been getting his guests, many wildly famous, to talk freely about all the things they’d rather not talk about. Of course there’s sex — so much sex — but there’s also drugs and money, which, for most celebrities, are far more taboo, and marriage and work anxiety and family and vanity. "). #4 is Marc Maron ("No one gets more out of his guests than Maron, whose now-familiar emotional touchstones — family background as class determinant, art as the pursuit of truth, self-acceptance and forgiveness — give every interview a sweetness and depth without equal.").
I note those because I love them. They don't have any weird choices from more than 20 years ago. I mean, remember when Charles Grodin had a talk show. I loved that! Here he is with Jerry Lewis:
September 14, 2015
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19 comments:
Leno is #32 (out of 32)???
"Vulture" is carrion.
The list seems to be written by the same people who gave Obama a Nobel prize...and for the same reasons.
Stearn and Maron, that does explain a lot.
So, how long will it be before President Swaggy announces his appearance on Stearn's show? He really won't be able to resist, will he?
Howie: So tell us, Barry, how big is Reggie's Love?
Howie: So tell us, Barry, does Michelle like being the beard?
Howie: Please say the n-word for me, too!
Buzzard does not mention all the great interviews with Hank The Angry Dwarf and Crackhead Bob. What a shame, those were some of his best moments.
Baba Booy
Let's see. Stern is #1, Letterman is #2, Carson is #3, Jon Stewart is #4, Marc (Who?) Maron is #5, Leno is #32, and no Steve Allen anywhere. This was a waste of my time. This guy is a tool.
I can. Not. Stand. Howard. Stern.
Anyone remember the Joey Bishop talk show? I loved that in the 60s.
And what about David Suskind... and Wm F Buckley!
Without a doubt, the most ludicrous list I have ever seen.
...and Charles Grodin was just insufferable.
Living in the hinterlands of Kentucky I never heard the Howard Stern show till he was almost off the air. It just wasn't carried here. The first time I listened he was interviewing Roseannne Arnold. Best interview I ever heard and became an instant fan. Nothing ever matched the surprise and delight of that first show I heard, but he beats the hell outta everyone else. John Carson would be my number 2, just because I grew up with him. Jay deserves to be higher on the list. The rest...meh.
Yeah, pretty much a terrible list in terrible order, though I am pro-Howard.
You know who was a good interviewer and could get stuff out of his subjects other than canned promo material? Bob Costas, when he did "Later." Yeah, he's smarmy and talks a bit too much, but with a full half-hour for a single guest, there was enough time for good stuff to happen. I remember in particular two excellent talks with Jerry Seinfeld about the nitty-gritty mechanics of stand-up comedy, and one with Martina Navratilova that strayed from the usual topics and got down to what it was like to live under communism and why it was so intolerable that she had to defect. I wasn't much of a fan of hers before that, but I was after.
Brian Lamb deserves some kind of mention.
Althouse, now that you've mentioned it, I too liked that show.
Charles Grodin's show was good right up until he came down with Bush Derangement Syndrome. Then suddenly he sounded like Rhythm and Balls. All originality was gone.
I never listened to Howard but once, I tried his late night show twice, but both times it seemed to center on egging some young lady on to take off her clothes. The one time I listened to it was the show were he and his wife at the time had just split, the show went on without commercials for an hour, which was the length of my commute before I stopped listening, and it was captivating. But the puerile sexual humor that seemed to drive his show is just something I have never been into.
I've tried to listen to Stern a couple of times, but all he wanted to talk about was sex, and talking about it, rather than doing it, is boring. Most people who are interesting are interesting because of something nonsexual that they've done, experienced, or thought about. But Stern only wants to talk about their sex life.
I was going to end the previous sentence with "as if anybody cared", but evidently a lot of people do. I don't understand why anybody cares about the sex lives of people they aren't close to.
Tim - he really doesn't do that anymore, not for 15 years. I think part of his appeal to young men was before the internet access to everything else. Still seems silly to have nudity on the radio...
Howard does the best interviews for sure. Does Jay or Dave do a real interview or is it a corny set up with a cute story to plug a movie. Howard and Marc Maron have an hour or more if it's good.
Marc does great interviews, but Vulture left out he always goes to religion and assumes everyone who has faith is a bible thumping nut and assumes anyone who grew up within a church had a bad experience. That is so old, as is his obsession with Lorne Michaels not liking him (he thinks).
I always thought WFBuckly was English. Then my dad, rolling his eyes said, "No, he went to Yaaaaaale (with a yankee drawl. He's just a snob."
Beorn takes it with The list seems to be written by the same people who gave Obama a Nobel prize...and for the same reasons.
Wm. Buckley and Brian Lamb came first to mind, but just as quickly disqualified. Those were interviewers, not talk show hosts. Questions asked were well thought, as were answers; no interrupting or talking over eachother. Not chatterboxes droning on about drivel and constantly stepping on eachother vocally.
Althouse once made the comment that long hair makes some men sexier, and others look like ugly old women. I think she might have been thinking of Howard on that second one. Maybe Jeff Bridges on the first one.
I listened to Stern's interviews with Billy Joel and Lady Gaga and they were fabulous. It sounded like Stern really paid attention to what they were saying, and they were willing to talk about a lot of things. That's the advantage of having an hour or 90 minutes to spend, instead of six minutes and "We'll be right back."
I loved Marc Maron until the Obama interview. Then he started putting more leftists on like Ed Asner, and then success allowed him to lard his podcast with ads (at least five major sponsors, each of which take a couple minutes). I used to load it into Audacity and scissor out the first 15 minutes, but lately it doesn't seem worth the effort.
I still subscribe to his shows, but I haven't listened to one in awhile.
Bob Costas (as one of you reminded me) was also a great interviewer. He did three nights in a row with Mel Brooks and it was fabulous. The last shot of them on the third night showed them in togas. No explanation, no punch line. Just Brooks and Costas in togas.
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