Stern words for Leno
Jock sounds off after 'Tonight' snags sidekick
By RICHARD HUFF
DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR
Howard Stern is peeved at Jay Leno for hiring Stuttering John Melendez.
Stuttering John (l.) with Leno on 'The Tonight Show.'
Calling Jay Leno "creatively bankrupt," Howard Stern lashed out at the "Tonight Show" host yesterday for hiring away Stern show regular Stuttering John Melendez to be his announcer.
Stern told listeners on his first morning back on the radio since Melendez gave notice that Leno called him twice since the announcement.
"You're using this to get some edge, and you're lame and you're gay," Stern said he told Leno. "Jay's just lame," Stern added. "I told him 'You're an a, you're a ripoff...' "
Radio's most famous morning motormouth also slammed Leno for thinking that by getting Melendez, he would draw viewers not watching the "Tonight Show" now.
"What John has to do with Jay's show is just beyond my comprehension," Stern said.
"Jay, at what point did your creativity turn off?" Stern asked. "You're creatively bankrupt."
Melendez, who will get $500,000 a year for the NBC gig, is leaving Stern's show at week's end. He'll start on March 29, replacing current "Tonight Show" announcer Edd Hall.
Leno and Stern have been friendly throughout the years. And each has appeared on the other's show. However, Stern has often criticized Leno's "Tonight" work as being soft, and not nearly as good as his time in standup comedy.
"Jay is just a really odd guy," Stern said. "He's bizarro."
By hiring Melendez, Leno gets someone with a builtin following, especially with young male viewers, a crowd tough to lure on TV.
Melendez has been toiling on Stern's show for 15 years. He started as a gofer, grew into doing absurd celebrity interviews while stuttering and is now a fixture on the program.
Stern said he chided Leno during their phone conversations for copying bits from the radio show. Leno, Stern said, attributed the pieces on his "Tonight" show to those done by Steve Allen decades earlier.
"You're just comical in your ability to rip things," Stern said he told Leno. "You reek of desperation."
"Dude," Stern added, "you already take half my crap, you might as well steal my people."
Leno, through a spokeswoman, had no comment on Stern's rant.
Stern said yesterday he's starting the process of hiring a new staffer.
Originally published on February 23, 2004
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/goss...p-146281c.html
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