The Josh Innes Show - So Long Howard

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

I have a few more thoughts on Howard Stern and what he's become over the years. I find it annoying when people are afraid to criticize how bad his show is so the talk about his interviews. Stern sold out the people who made him rich and that will be his legacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right. Let's see here. So the big story yesterday was that Stern is no longer going to be on XM or allegedly. There's still no full-on explanation or there's no release or anything saying that Stern is no longer going to be on XM. But from what it seems or what it appears, Howard Stern is no longer going to be on XM. And cool, whatever. It is what it is. It's run its course. He's not interesting. He's not funny. That's the thing is, and this is the way people continue to blow stern without having to say that his show sucks now, is they love to talk about how good his long form interviews are. And I will say this, he's a great interviewer, but being a great interviewer is not difficult. The problem is there are too many horrible interviewers that don't listen. The key to being a good interviewer is just listening to the person you are talking with. That is all it is. You listen, you hear what they say, you react to it. like interviews don't have to be overprepped interviews don't have to be you don't spend hours trying to learn about the person you're talking with learn some stuff about them and ask them questions then react to the questions and their answers rather react to the answers that's all it is right but people love to talk about stern like that's their way of talking about and without uh without having to uh blow the guy or without having to crap on the guy what they do is they turn around on the guy and they go oh

he's an amazing interviewer. That's what they do. What they don't tell you is the rest of the show is God-awful, and the interviews get kind of tiresome whenever you're dealing with Stern interviewing the same celebrity guests of his all the time that he blows on a consistent basis, right? So that's what you run into with it. And this guy used to be a hero of mine for what it's worth. Anyway, let's play a few commercials and we'll continue. And that's the other thing is like, well, no matter what, Stern is on the Mount Rushmore of radio. Sure he is. He's one of the biggest radio stars ever. But the last 20 or so years, really the last 15 years or so, has been woefully boring, uninteresting, woke. And even the woke part, and I almost hesitate to say

the woke part because that's the thing that'll stick with people, right? Like, you know, the demures of the world that will listen to this and go, oh, you don't like him because he's woke. It's been a shift that's just uninteresting. It's not because he's not throwing baloney on stripper's asses anymore. And it's not because he's, you know, not doing the gross out shit that he used to do. That kind of stuff doesn't bother me because you can still do good stuff without doing what happened in, you know, what you did in 1995. You don't have to do that. It's a mindset change. It's a change of feeling like you're dealing with a guy who is censored and celebrates censorship. That's the thing that bothers me. And when you support

the people that he supports, like to give you an example. And I think I have some audio here to play that was a Gutfeld clip, and I don't really care for Gutfeld. I don't find him to be all that funny. I know that right-wing people do. They celebrate him. But at least he's a guy making jokes about people that aren't just Trump, Trump, Trump, and I can support that and I can get down with that. It's the same reason I like Bill Maher. Like, Bill Maher is not a right-wing guy.

He ain't Gutfeld. But I'll tell you that I like Bill Maher, because I'll feel like he'll dump on Trump and then he'll dump on these other people who are also imbecilesles, even though he's extremely left-wing. And, of course, I get criticized by people for liking him. They'll say, oh, my God, you like, you like him because he's like the right wing. No, he's not. He's Bill Maher. He did a documentary about how stupid religion is. He is not right wing.

I can assure you he's not. But it's just, it's crazy that Stern went so far off the deep end in a quest to become mainstream. I think that's what upset a lot of people is people view. Steve Stern is this guy who represented the every man and that Stern fought the man and he fought the FCC and he hated the stupid celebrities and the lame celebrity interviews. So Stern would talk to the offbeat celebrities and the weirdos and the wackos and the rejects of the world and there was a guy driving a truck to work and there was a guy going to a work site in the morning or a plumber or somebody like that would listen to Stern and they'd go,

wow, this guy kind of represents me. Now, granted, that was a different era. The 90s were Degeneration X and Smut TV and talk shows and chalk chocks and suck it and all that. So the world was a different place. There's no doubt it was. And whether Stern ever wanted to be the voice of the every man, he's basically said he never wanted to be that and he never liked those people and he can never relate to them anyway. But he knows damn good and well he used those people to gain the power he had.

For every affluent banker or lawyer that listened to Stern, there were five or six dudes on work sites. Like Artie Lang was a guy on a work site with his dad listening to Stern before he became a big deal. Like that was his audience. That was the people that listened to Stern. That's what made Stern. That's not to say that lawyers and doctors didn't listen to Stern and laugh. But what made Stern was, as I mentioned earlier, I said, for every one doctor, there were five cab drivers, construction workers, iron workers, guys building houses, guys plumbing, electricians. Those were the people that listened to Stern and made Stern. And then somewhere along the way, he openly turned his back on them to run off and basically rubbing their

face that he is one of the Hollywood elites now. And he's friends with Jimmy Kimmel and he's friends with all these people. And maybe that was his goal all along. I don't even think it's maybe. That was his goal all along. He never wanted to be the outsider. He hated being the outsider. So he wanted to get inside. And once he got inside, he didn't want to lose that. So he started doing the bullshit boring stuff he does now. I couldn't care less who the guy votes for if he votes for Trump or Hillary or whomever. None of that bothers me. What's always bothered me is that this guy openly turned his back on the people who made

him. And you can say, well, his talent made him. Yes, and the talent of Tom Brady made Tom Brady. But if there was no NFL for Tom Brady to throw a football in, then it doesn't matter that you can throw a football. If people don't fill up football stadiums to see Tom Brady, Tom Brady winning six Super Bowls does not matter. If there are not people listening to the Stern's show on the radio in their cars, 80s, 90s, 2000s, then Stern's ability to piss people off on the radio would not have mattered.

And what happened is somewhere along the way, and this happens to a lot of celebrities, especially in this era where people are afraid of their own shadows, what happens is you get people like Stern, like Jimmy Kimmel, who are so afraid of being canceled and so afraid of cancel culture that they completely. tried to rescind and erase everything they did in the past, and anyone who thought the stuff they did in the past that was funny is considered an enemy or someone they tried to distance themselves from. And that's what you end up with was Stern. So, look, I find Stern to be just, I don't like him anymore. I don't find him. Like, celebrities are never, like, what you would call, what's the phrase I'm looking

for? They're not truly relatable. celebrities are not like you and me I get that but like look at Adam Sandler Adam Sandler's one of these guys that's a celebrity that seems about as close to a real life human as possible where's the giant bag he clothes he includes his friends even when his friends are people that are dealing with controversy

when his friends are guys like Rob Schneider who's now like right wing comedian that's been ostracized by Hollywood he still puts his buddy in movies and his buddy appreciates that and he looks out for his partners and he just seems like in every guy He's a really rich every man with a hot wife, but he's in every man and people still relate to that. Stern lost that a long time ago, and he basically started for the last decade since Hillary versus Trump. Basically, Trump has been doing a show for the elite of the elite.

He does a show now. When I listen to it, I feel like he's talking directly to Jonah Hill. He's talking directly to Seth Rogan. And that's all he cares about is that his rich friends are listening to the show. And that's it. And that's his prerogative. do what you want to do. That's fine. Mine is not an issue of politics. Because we can assume that most celebrities that we like vote one way and some don't, but for the most part they do. That doesn't

bother me. Bill Maher seemingly hates conservative people. But Bill Maher will go on a show and make fun of all of these people. And I can see Bill Maher having viewpoints that are not in line with a left-wing cult or a right-wing cult. He just has his viewpoints on shit. And sometimes they piss off the base that that is his core base, and I appreciate that when you are willing to piss off your core base because it tells me that you actually have beliefs that are not that of a cult, like that are not just written down for you in a list. You have your own brain and you think. What's happened to Stern is Stern just openly hates Trump people, which is fine.

You can feel that way. But he openly hates Trump people. He openly tells them to not listen. and he openly hates people who liked the stuff he did in the past, the stuff that made him famous. The reason why Stern can get a $100 million deal with XM is not because Stern can have a nice conversation with Jonah Hill. You know who else can have a great conversation?

You know who's a wonderful interviewer? The call her daddy chick, Alex, whatever her name is. She's a good interviewer. There's a lot of people who are good interview. Charlemagne the God is a good interviewer. Bobby Bones is a good interviewer. There are tons of great. I think I'm a good interviewer.

There are good interviewers everywhere out there. Your ability to have a long-form conversation with Jerry Seinfeld doesn't mean shit. You didn't get there because of that. You got there because the average person listened to your show and enjoy that you were throwing baloney on stripper's asses, that you were making fun of the man, you were fighting the FCC, that Billy West was doing great marge shot impressions and Lucille Ball impressions. And they loved that Grandpa Al Munster was like a marquee guest for you. and that Corey Feldman was a marquee guest and Jessica Hahn and Sam Kinnison and and and dice clay. That's what made you.

And that's not to say you can't grow and that's not to say you can't mature and change who you are. Everybody does. People like, I'll talk to people sometimes and they'll go, man, Josh, you used to be this hardcore left wing guy when you were on 610. I guess that was an act. I said, no, it wasn't an act. The world was a different place in 2012. And making fun of Tim Tebow made me a left wing person, I guess. You grow and you mature and you find different things and things change and the world changes around you.

This isn't really all that difficult. People can change and you're allowed to. But when you do change, people are allowed to not like the change you made. Hell, Dave Portnoy's made a change. He's not the same guy he was 10 years ago. But Dave Portnoy hasn't seemingly sold out his entire fan base. Dave Portnoy doesn't open up a pizza review by telling you that if you voted for one person, you're a piece of shit and he hates you. stern has done that because stern has f you money and stern can do whatever he wants to do and that is his right

and his prerogative but at the end of it it's like bro i just i'm not i don't find you appealing anymore like i'll go back and listen to some old stuff and you can say josh you only liked it because it was offensive no i liked it because it was daring and it made fun of things that you shouldn't make fun of that's what makes comedy daring making fun of trumpers is the lowest hanging fruit in the orchard, right? Like, it doesn't matter. But going out there and taking the risks that he used to take. And I'm not even talking about the sexual stuff. The sexual stuff is what it is. Like, you know, as a kid, I probably found it titillating and salacious and sexy and, oh, there's Jenna Jameson and there's all this. That's fine. And having the

sexual conversations with these women, fine. But it was, really, it was the racial stuff. It was the social stuff that you'd go, holy hell, how does he do that? And no one else has the to do that, and certainly nobody does it now. But we don't get that anymore, and now we just say, like, and it's almost like we're forced to have to blow Stern for his interviews, right? Like, oh, my God, he's the greatest interviewer ever. Well, there's a reason why he gets stuff out of people, and it's because he's a big celebrity, and they'll talk with him because he's as big a star as they are, essentially.

But, like, that's the way people get around having to criticize Stern for having completely sold out and becoming Don Imus, is they, instead of focusing on the negative, they all focus on how he's a great interviewer. Like, I saw Doug Gottlieb tweet something like Howard Stern and Dan Patrick are the greatest interviewers I've ever heard. First of all, Dan Patrick is boring as shit and is maybe the most overrated sportscaster in history. Second of all, that's your way of getting around saying that Stern is completely copped to this weird softball world that we're in now and sold out to everything he disliked. So anyway, there you go. I'm going to get out of here. And thank you.