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Howard Stern bashes Leno; Jim Norton defends him– who’s right?
This week marked the return of Jay Leno as host of the Tonight Show, after Conan was unceremoniously pushed out of his promised spot at NBC. It also marked a rise in vocal Leno critics. On Tuesday, Howard Stern made an appearance from his studio at Sirius XM on CBS’ Early Show, wherein he expressed his hatred for Jay Leno, outlining the reasons the late night host has not been not acting like a man nor a professional.
A Day later, however, comedian Jim Norton, the man behind the third mic on Sirius XM’s Opie & Anthony Show (a long time rival of Stern), popped up on a Web-only interview on CBS news, defending Leno’s character and business decisions. Norton was a regular contributor on the Jay Leno Show. So let’s take a look at both interviews. Who makes better points? Does this resolve anything? Let us know in the comments section!
After the jump, check out Stern’s appearance on Conan from 2006, where he warns Coco about the deal he’s made with NBC to take over the Tonight Show.
Aaron said
am March 4 2010 @ 4:19 pm
Jim Norton’s response is a perfect illustration of what Patton Oswalt said when this whole mess was starting.
Patton said that it shouldn’t matter if someone is personally nice to you, if they’re involved in passive aggressive, behind the scenes machinations. Stern has first hand experience of what Leno is capable of. So does Rosie O’Donnell. And Johnny Carson. And David Letterman. And unfortunately Conan does now as well. Leno has form. There comes a point when things can no longer be deemed coincidence. Stern is right about Leno. He was right about him in 2006 and he’s right about him now.
bob said
am March 4 2010 @ 4:23 pm
jim is a sad man … stern rules. bababooey.
Detlev Bronk said
am March 4 2010 @ 5:26 pm
Jim Norton was one of the semi-regular “players” on Leno’s disastrous 10pm show, so his defense of Leno isn’t exactly coming from a credible independent source.
BigJ said
am March 4 2010 @ 5:34 pm
Stern is a has-been
Gregg said
am March 4 2010 @ 5:57 pm
Stern really has some kind of Axe to grind against Leno. He comes across as a bitter old man when he goes off.
And if you believe Rosie O’Donnell and he BS statements about Leno “ruining” her career, you really are a moron.
Connor Peterson said
am March 4 2010 @ 6:01 pm
Norton isn’t biased. So what if he has worked with Leno in the past; he has also done the Letterman show. He is only taking a side; and it appears that this opinion is not of certain peoples’ own or their liking. Let it be. What’s right is what’s right; and Leno is a success…bottomline. He was number one before, and most likely, will be number one again. Deal with it. If you were the top salesman in your company, would you simply just hand it off to some young, eager buck waiting in the wings?? Hell no, you wouldn’t. And neither should Jay. Cheers Norton.
Glub, glub…
Mark said
am March 4 2010 @ 6:05 pm
So Jim is biased but Howard isn’t?
One of the times that O&A were on Leno, he introduced them as the hosts of “the most popular radio show in the history of satellite radio.”
If that didn’t make Stern a biased hater of Leno’s then I’m the Queen of England.
chris said
am March 4 2010 @ 6:06 pm
Howard who? Leno rules they should have left it alone the guy was number one and will b again
Big Bill C said
am March 4 2010 @ 6:08 pm
I don’t always see eye to eye with Howard, but I agree with him on Leno. Jay’s a manipulative, underhanded piece of crap who got his gig on the Tonight Show by screwing over David Letterman and even Johnny Carson. I have no respect for him at all, and I wish that Conan had listened to Howard’s warning about taking the Tonight Show position. The fact is, there have been two major Tonight Show controversies, and Jay Leno was the central figure in both of them. What does that tell you?
Randy Luck said
am March 4 2010 @ 6:16 pm
Howard Who?
Get ‘em Yimmy
Andrew Gooch said
am March 4 2010 @ 7:24 pm
How is this anyone’s fault other than the NBC execs? They tried to fire Leno when he was #1 in his time slot, and beating a very solid David Letterman. And NBC wasn’t letting Leno walk away, they had him under contract. How is it not fair for Leno to compete for the job he wants?
Sandy said
am March 4 2010 @ 7:27 pm
I’m a Jay Leno fan today, tomorrow and always. He’s a stand up guy and I don’t think he’s as malicious as HS makes him out to be. Only a person who is underhanded will expect that sort of behaviour from others. I think Jay is a hilarious comedian and because I don’t stay up as late as 11:30, I tivo his show and can still watch it. I’m thrilled to have him on at any time.
john Bonjiorno said
am March 4 2010 @ 7:32 pm
it is really weird to watch a guy as funny as Jim Norton defend such a horrible comedy show, and whats more, he try’s to defend it on its merits. Wow.
Jay Leno is the one of the most talented comedians in history, and yet he does a show that is an insult to anyone who truly loves comedy. Jay Leno ruined the tonight show, and Jim Norton knows it.
I appreciate Jim’s loyalty to a guy that put lots of money in his pocket, but it is still hard to watch.
MaMaMonkey said
am March 4 2010 @ 7:46 pm
Norton is a big ass kisser! Stern is 100% on point.
NickG said
am March 4 2010 @ 8:14 pm
It’s ironic that Stern thinks the new guy should be allowed to take control when he was barring O&A from succeeding him.
fried chicken punk said
am March 4 2010 @ 8:56 pm
So, how many people actually watched Leno’s show? I watched a few times, but I don’t normally watch 10pm programming unless its the NBA or something not named CSI or whatever. Anyway, who is credible Detlev? Howard, who has an agenda against Leno? Or Jimmy who works for Leno? Neither is credible. But Jimmy is far more fun to listen to. Did you listen to yesterday’s show when Jimmy actually cried when they were speaking about Roger Ebert? Howard? He cries when one dollar bill slips out of his pocket and is lost forever…listen, Conan, to me, is more entertaining. Dave Letterman is more entertaining. East Side Dave is more entertaining. But Leno got slammed for nothing, seriously nothing.
Imagine if it would have worked you programmed tools. Think of it? Maybe major networks wouldn’t then be afraid to televise live concerts like Europe, Asia, anywhere but here. Maybe just change would have been nice, but no, now we’ll get some lame ass tv-cop show…Yay, that’s better than a comedian trying to host a show. Where personalities that a lot of people would like to get to know (on screen of course) music/variety might have some place in Americana, being that it is our culture that enjoys this stuff…but no.
Critics killed the show, they didn’t have to like it, but the amount of vitriol that was in the articles about this show didn’t show objective journalism. Check out any major city paper, see how objective they were.
Thanks NBC for caving…let Conan leave, make Jay go back to where he was, which was something that I’d never watch. This is all just lame.
To say Howard is correct means that status quo in tv is correct…and if you believe that your are high
fried chicken punk said
am March 4 2010 @ 8:56 pm
you are high that is
Howard The Jew said
am March 4 2010 @ 10:24 pm
Howard is a douche and a liar. He claims Jay stole the man-on-the-street interview from him. How the hell do you lay claim to the man-on-the-street interview like it’s your invention?
Then again, he also claims noone ever played live music on the radio before he did in Washington DC. I guess Led Zeppelin took a time machine to the future, played on Howard’s show, then traveled back to 1969 and played the same songs live on the BBC.
“Everyone rips me off, Robin, I did it all! Tell em Fred!”
Justin said
am March 4 2010 @ 10:50 pm
I have to agree…I am a big fan of Jim Norton. Saw him many times. But it makes no sense that he said what he said. Can’t blame him. I think O&A put him up to this. Just want to warn little jimmie…don’t pick a fight with Howard! Just being a friend….don’t fuck with Howard dude. You will probably be sorry!
Whitey Brown said
am March 5 2010 @ 12:36 am
The Tonight Show is lame. If you watch it for your laughter fix then you’re lame as well. It boils down to people are concerned about which multi-millionaire gets more millions; the thing is they both get millions.
stern rules said
am March 5 2010 @ 12:47 am
“comedian Jim Norton, the man behind the third mic on Sirius XM’s Opie & Anthony Show (a long time rival of Stern” LOL @ THEM BEING RIVALS OF STERN, ONLY IN OPIES STUPID LITTLE WORLD ARE THEY RIVALS. OPIE GOT REPLACED BY MARIAH CAREYS HUSBAND ON KROCK. SOME RIVAL
HOWARD STERN DID A BIT ON HIS SHOW CALLED “ARE YOU SMARTER THEN A 5TH GRADER” DECADES AGO. HE ALSO DID JAYWALKING WHERE U ASK PEOPLE EASY QUESTIONS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW AND SEE WHAT RIDICULOUS ANSWER THEY COME UP WITH.
Jeff said
am March 5 2010 @ 3:57 am
The first reply here said this: “Patton said that it shouldn’t matter if someone is personally nice to you, if they’re involved in passive aggressive, behind the scenes machinations. Stern has first hand experience of what Leno is capable of. So does Rosie O’Donnell.”
That’s such bullshit. Rosie O’Donnell has first hand experience of what Leno is capable of… because he told her she couldn’t HAVE HIS SHOW ONCE A WEEK?
God, you people are delusional. Rosie wasn’t owed shit. And guess what? He made the right move. Look what happened to her? She imploded on her own show. She imploded on The View. She’s a mess and he was RIGHT to tell her to fuck off.
Tommy said
am March 5 2010 @ 7:33 am
Norton is an okay comic, but completely biased and just trying to protect his sugar daddy (Leno). Odd how Opie and Anthony never talked about Leno’s epic failure.
Howard, as usual, is correct.
Tommy said
am March 5 2010 @ 7:40 am
While I’m not a fan of Norton, he does have a small following from his O&A job. Stuttering John was also an incredibly popular personality on Stern. Leno takes these guys and does what with them? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Leno doesn’t have a creative thought in his head.
Letterman, Conan, Howard. These are the kings of comedy.
chip said
am March 5 2010 @ 8:53 am
stern says leno has plenty of money and shouldve walked away from the tonight show but stern burdened sirius with $500 mil in 5 years and is positioning himself for his next contract. why doesnt howard take his own advice, show some integrity, and walk away from his show that has been the same shit since the 80s
fujow said
am March 5 2010 @ 11:29 am
Well said Chip. Howard should take his own advise. Walk away. His own fans are tired of his lame show.
Hoo Hoo they are ripping me off.
derek farmer said
am March 5 2010 @ 12:53 pm
you know if half of these sleezy bankers who rake in hundreds of millions in OUR money for their fat cat bonuses, performed like Howard did they would actually be worth the money! now stay with me here, when Howard came to Sirius Radio in 06′, there were under 1million subscribers. ok, Howard brought a few million paying subscribers with him initially. these Howard “followers” also had to buy Sirius radios! those were around a hundred bucks each on average. he paid for his own 500 million dollar contract in the first couple years!!
this huge amount of money that Howard brought in enabled Sirius to have major amounts of “operating” cash to invest in content and quality. this also gave Sirius the upper hand in their take over of the competition, XM.
lets review: in under 5 years Sirius went from 900,000 listeners to just under 20 million. nothing more to say exept: please Howard keep over performing, and negotiate a new 1 billion dollar contract, yer worth every penny!!!!!
derek farmer said
am March 5 2010 @ 1:51 pm
to a pigeon, im sure that Jay Lenos chin looks like a giant ledge. they probably fly right up and crap on it! He must always be wiping crap from his chin like so much left over bean dip! to quote the great Artie Lang”…your a dummy, your a dum dum, your a dum!”
derek farmer said
am March 5 2010 @ 2:04 pm
ohh yeah and who the hell is Jim Norton?
derek farmer said
am March 5 2010 @ 2:05 pm
really ive never heard of him. im not joking.
John Johnson said
am March 5 2010 @ 2:18 pm
To derek farmer:
You are a misleading moron. Howard didn’t bring a few million subs to Sirius. When Howie started 4th quarter 2005 there were 3M subs after his arrival barely 4M. In fact new subs #’s went down after howie. Most of the 1M added subs yearly after Howie was Sirius OEM units in new vehicles. You can see this in the gross vs net #’s.
The 20M sub you mentioned is after the Sirius/XM merger (18.5 is the official #)which Howie had nothing to do with. XM had 10M+ subs before the merger.
Howie has actually taken from Sirius/XM subs with his bankrupting contract and his channels should be shut down. Frankly he is an out of touch hack who attempts to claim credit for everything. “Hoo hoo Robin I invented X” is his standard.
As for Jim Norton I think he is a great comedian and incredibly intelligent. Just read his books or watch him on Red Eye, Hannity, CBS, etc. He stated in the interview he is biased and expressing his viewpoint of Leno vs Conan. I think he was very fair in his explanation. Good job Jimmy. If only Howie had tact instead of attempting to save his dying career by being an attention grabbing child.
Tommy said
am March 5 2010 @ 6:00 pm
I’m actually trying to listen to O&A today because I heard that Jackie Martling was on. What a borefest.
derek farmer said
am March 6 2010 @ 12:01 am
yeah like the way you work the numbers John Johnson. who do you work for Neilson? well you dont agree with the CEO of Sirius. i mean really John Johnson you must know more than the person that runs a multi-billion dollar business. John Johnson, what a boring fucking name. do the world a favor, drink a gallon of wet cement, and put your head in the oven on about 350.
anon said
am March 7 2010 @ 10:16 am
Listening to Stern on satellite and laughing my ass off consistently got me into comedy talk show radio and I decided to check out Opie and Anthony to see how they compared. Compared to Howard, they are truly horrendous, and I don’t give a damn about radio rivalries or any of that crap. Neither does Howard, actually, since he’s recently said it’s all BS and there’s nothing personal between him and Opie and Anthony. They used to irritate him but they don’t anymore. In my objective view, they are complete amateurs compared to Howard. It sounded like college radio. Listening to Howard also made me realize that a lot of comedy on TV isn’t that great. I always knew Jay was lame, but suddenly, even Conan started seeming lame and artificial to me. I listened to Howard talk about how true entertainment is all about honesty, going out there and saying exactly what’s on your mind, and I turned on the TV and saw Conan dancing around and doing little childish skits while his career was being ruined. I so agreed with Howard that Conan should have just done the entire show sitting at the desk, blasting everyone that was screwing him over. Now that would have been entertainment. No one “gets it” more than Howard, that’s why he’s truly the King. A lot of people laugh at the idea that Howard Stern is the pinnacle of comedy, but if Howard really wanted to, if he actually accepted one of those limitless offers to have his own TV show, people would quickly realize that he’s better than pretty much anyone out there in any form of media entertainment.
David said
am March 7 2010 @ 8:39 pm
Hey Anon, you are entitled to your opinion. But guess what, I feel exactly the same way you do. Except I love Opie and Anthony and I dont really care for Stern anymore. I use to love Howard Stern and all the gang. But once I discovered Opie and Anthony, I never went back. I have never laughed so hard in my life, day in and day out, as I do with Opie and Anthony. They are truly the best of the best when it comes to radio, PERIOD!
friedchickenpunk said
am March 7 2010 @ 8:47 pm
“in under 5 years Sirius went from 900,000 listeners to just under 20 million. nothing more to say exept: please Howard keep over performing, and negotiate a new 1 billion dollar contract, yer worth every penny!!!!!”
Okay, you have got to be kidding. The reason(s) why a few people have the (combined) services of XM and Sirius is due to a merger, not Howard. When Sirius and XM merged, XM had more subs, not Sirius. XM also had more legitimate subs, in that, the subs were from cars off the lot, not the way Sirius would count, which were cars off the lot and unsold on the lot. There has been a lot written about this in the past, do you ever read anything other than Howard’s home page?
Look, if you hate O&A, fine. I love listening to O&A, far more fun to listen to, far more “real” in that the people are just thrown under the rug for stupid comments, they “car-crash” their own joke when they don’t go over…it is a real laugh when it happens. I used to listen to Stern, he was fine, but I don’t need Howard fans to tell me how horrific they are, O&A have no problem reminding me how “bad” they are on a particular day/bit, whatever. Howard wouldn’t be half as annoying if it wasn’t for dolt fans that think he has done it all (first) because he says so. Do your research, you might find that he didn’t invent it all. He’s a great entertainer, but he didn’t invent the world, he’s a comedic radio show host that has had some great luck and ability…O&A have done alot of great things themselves, but all anyone can say is either “those are the guys that broadcast the people having sex in the church” or “that one dude sounds a lot like Howard”…get over it. Listen to Howard 100 and I’ll listen to XM202.
Sean Shady said
am March 8 2010 @ 3:08 am
O&A were amazing on WNEW…..but after Sex For Sam 3, it’s never been the same.
John Johnson said
am March 8 2010 @ 1:38 pm
Hey Derek, what grade did you drop out so you could spend quality time with your mama at the trailer? Here is my response to your moronic statements.
“yeah like the way you work the numbers John Johnson. who do you work for Neilson?”
For starters it is Nielsen you waste of life, and no I do not work for them. My figures came directly from Sirius/XM. It is called looking up facts before you type. But it is obvious you don’t understand that. Here is a little helpful reminder. It’s called reading! Top to bottom, left to right… a group of words together is called a sentence. Take Tylenol for any headaches… Midol for any cramps.
“well you dont agree with the CEO of Sirius.”
Nope cause Mel couldn’t make a profit with a money tree farm. Plus his latest statements give him an out should Stern leave. Read the latest statements from Mel on Stern and then get back to me. Feel free to use my advice above to help you disseminate the info.
“i mean really John Johnson you must know more than the person that runs a multi-billion dollar business”
Where in my response to your dribble did I say I know more then Sirius. I stated my opinion that Stern is bankrupting Sirius and XM. Howie hasn’t paid for even half of his $500M contract and never will. In fact Mel had to get debt financing to cover Stern’s lack of performance. Just read (again use above help) the SEC filings. Just watch this January and see if Howie even gets renewed and at what price. If Howie was not worried about his place at Sirius/XM then why the Idol, Terrestrial Radio, and other BS media attention now? Not a peep from the guy for years but 6 months before he is kicked from Sirius/XM Howie tries to get in the news every week.
“John Johnson, what a boring fucking name”
Said Derek Farmer…..yeah real mind blowing name you got there fucktard.
“do the world a favor, drink a gallon of wet cement, and put your head in the oven on about 350.”
Guess you realized you have no good argument when you get called out for posting BS. I am glad you finally came to the conclusion you are truly a person with a first grader education. GG little man. Look forward to your reply when you get out of your exciting job mopping the floor at McDonald’s. Maybe one day the manager will trust you with fries. It will be a while though, since we all heard about the last time when you burned yourself after getting all worked up hearing the fryer ding!
SteveC said
am March 8 2010 @ 4:20 pm
Howard who?
Drunk said
am March 8 2010 @ 10:59 pm
John Johnson: you f**king killed! Great job.
Chaunce said
am March 9 2010 @ 12:12 am
Who knew that the Opie Anthony show was still on the air anywhere? Norton sucks, how many repetitive aids jokes and peterson jokes can anyone take.
Jim Thompson said
am March 21 2010 @ 9:13 am
They’re Both Wrong, because they’re both based on love and hate. Jim has said himself, he loves leno and loves doing his show. Howard has expressed how much he hates leno, and has said it on Letterman’s show. Leno’s a piece of shit, and he should have went to a new station if he really wanted a job, but conan also should have seen it coming.