Good-night, Bob
: Howard Stern told his Bob Hope story this morning: He had just arrived at NBC radio when he was told to interview Mr. Hope because Mr. Hope did not want to get up early enough for Imus to interview him. Mr. Hope had a great deal of clout at NBC. Don’t mess this up, Howard was told.
Howard was doing a character that day: Out of the Closet Stern. He did the entire interview with a high-pitched lisp.
After the show, the engineer came to Howard and said that Hope’s manager was on the phone and he was irate about “that lady” who had interviewed Mr. Hope. Put him through to me, Howard said. No, said the engineer, we’ll get in trouble. Do it, Howard insisted.
The manager asked for the station’s general manager. Howard said he was the general manager.
Hope’s manager started to complain and Howard-as-GM interrupted and said he knew exactly what the problem was and that “that lady” had already been fired. Well, good, said Hope’s manager.
Years later, Howard interviewed Mr. Hope again. They loved each other. And Hope loved the story of the lady he got fired.
