howard stern

On 'The View' (weekdays, syndicated), Whoopi Goldberg criticized shock jock Howard Stern for a recent comment he made about Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe. Stern said on his satellite radio show that Sidibe's weight would make it difficult for her to have a successful career after 'Precious.'

"Gabby actually has a TV show and two movies that she's doing," Goldberg said in Sidibe's defense. "You think she's big, okay. But at least get the facts right."

Watch the video after the jump.

Howard Stern has never held back when it comes to his feelings on Jay Leno. He talks about it on his SIRIUS show, he has talked about it on 'The Late Show,' and now he went on CBS' 'The Early Show' (from his studio) to talk to Harry Smith about Leno's return to 'The Tonight Show.' The words "vomit" and "thief" are mentioned.

At the end, Smith also asks him about going back to terrestrial radio and a possible offer from 'American Idol.' (Sorry for the video quality - CBS hasn't posted the video yet for some reason.)

Shock jock Howard Stern appeared on 'The Early Show' (weekdays, 7AM on CBS) and did little to mask his intense dislike of Jay Leno, accusing the 'Tonight Show' host of stealing comedy bits from himself and David Letterman.

"Jay is ... a thief and that's what gets my goat the most," Stern said. "Jay takes and lifts bits directly from my show, from Dave's show ... Jay's signature bit 'Jaywalking' was lifted from my show. I've been doing this bit for years."

Watch the video after the jump.

'American Idol's' cantankerous judge, Simon Cowell, spoke to reporters last night, and he touched on everything from whether or not there's a feud between him and Ellen, how he feels about Paula's departure, and who he thinks should replace him on 'Idol' next season (Hint: not Howard Stern).

Ever since Ellen DeGeneres joined the show during Hollywood week, there have been rumblings that the pair hasn't exactly been getting along. While Simon denies any sort of feud, if you read between the lines, it's clear that they won't be having slumber parties and painting each other's toenails any time soon. Cowell told reporters, "I wouldn't say that we didn't get on well. I don't know Ellen that well. It was a difficult position for her, because she started work on the Hollywood week, which is a quite difficult show to do."

I don't believe that Howard Stern has been asked to replace Simon Cowell when Cowell leaves 'American Idol,' nor do I think that Stern really wants the job, even if he keeps talking about it on his SIRIUS show. 'Idol' fans would hate him being on it (can't imagine that 'Idol' fans and Stern fans overlap too much), and Stern's fans will hate it too and accuse him of selling out and being lame. According to The Live Feed, Cowell doesn't think Stern has been asked either, but if he has, he doesn't think he's a good choice.

Cowell says that the show needs someone with music industry experience, someone who can "spot a star."

Now I'll say what everyone is going to say about Cowell's comments: what about Ellen and her lack of music industry experience? It seems that Cowell is talking about the only type of person who could replace him, not who could replace any of the other judges.

Well, it seems like there's a lot of changes coming to 'The Tonight Show' when Jay Leno returns after the Olympics. Yesterday Kona told you that bandleader Kevin Eubanks would be leaving the show once they find a replacement, and now we hear from Variety that announcer John Melendez won't be back.

But I'm not sure why this is news. Unlike Eubanks, Melendez wasn't the announcer of the 10PM show -- he was retained as a writer for the show -- so I didn't really automatically expect Melendez to be back when Leno returns to 11:35. Of course, a lot of TV fans didn't think about it one way or another, but it's certainly not surprising news. Melendez will stay on as a writer.

Honestly, Melendez shouldn't have been Leno's announcer in the first place (well, in the "first place" he wasn't - Edd Hall was). He's a bland announcer, and it seemed that Leno (or whoever at the show) hired him because of some perceived hip factor because he was on Howard Stern's show for years.

This morning, Brad told you about the possibility of Howard Stern eventually replacing Simon Cowell on 'American Idol.' Stern didn't exactly do anything to shoot down those rumors, but producers of 'Idol' are. Richard Rushfield at The Daily Beast says that not only have there been no talks with Stern about replacing Cowell, it has never even been a consideration.

Stern did talk about it a little on his SIRIUS show, but he never said "yes, I'm talking to the producers" or anything like that. He could be just talking about it to get people talking about him.

Howard Stern on 'American Idol?' That would hurt Stern, actually. His diehard fans would expect him to do something outrageous to sabotage the show, and 'Idol' devotees would instantly say "I'm never watching that show again!" Why not have him judge one of the early audition episodes next season? That might be kinda fun.

Sherri Shepherd questioned Howard Stern as a potential choice for Simon Cowell's replacement on 'American Idol,' and wondered whether the shock jock is as relevant as he used to be after moving from terrestrial to satellite radio on 'The View' (weekdays, syndicated).

"I think if you got Howard Stern on here now ... the legitimacy of 'American Idol' really, really goes down," Shepherd said. "I don't know if he's as relevant as he used to be." An informal poll of the studio audience seemed to support Shepherd's opinion, with the majority indicating they're not in favor of Stern's involvement in the highly-rated singing competition.

Watch the video after the jump.

Love him or hate him, Howard Stern has confirmed his interest in Simon Cowell's seat on 'American Idol'. This goes along with the earlier announcement that 'Idol' producers are interested as having Stern as a judge.

This entire situation seems more sound and fury and it's unlikely that anything would come of it. All Stern has in common with Cowell is the ability to be obnoxious and denigrating of other people. Cowell at least had ties to the music industry before appearing as an 'Idol' judge. While Howard Stern does work in radio, he thankfully has not released a CD of himself singing the Beatles' greatest hits. If he has, I missed it.

Most likely this situation is being used by Stern as a bargaining chip for a renegotiation of his contract with Sirius. Stern would be too much of a turn-off for the majority of viewers for 'American Idol'. If he does end up replacing Cowell, then it could signal the beginning of the end of 'American Idol'.

The question of who will replace Simon Cowell as an 'American Idol' judge began in earnest today with Page Six claiming that Howard Stern is the 'Idol' producers' top choice to take Simon Cowell's throne. Stunt casting? Attention-grabbing? Total bull? You can take your pick because this smacks of a PR turn if ever there was one.

For a moment, though, let's consider the possibility. Howard's contract with Sirius XM Radio wraps next January. That contract was in the $100 million neighborhood. Could 'American Idol' fork over a pay-out equal to that? Umm, yes. They make enough. Will they? Hard to imagine. The figure mentioned in the report was $50 million a year, which is what Simon will earn this season, but that's based on the fact that Simon has a track record with 'Idol.'

Rosie O'Donnell dropped by 'The Late Late Show' (weeknights, 12:35AM ET on CBS) and discussed NBC's late-night shakeup, as well as her relationship with shock jock Howard Stern, with whom she's had a long-running feud dating back a decade.

"I just felt it was a crappy thing to do," O'Donnell said of Jay Leno's role in NBC's after-hours programming debacle. "Conan had been working 17 years for that company, and then Jay was told five years ago that it was his turn to give up the driver's seat. That is not his bus. That's a 60-year bus that's been driving around the country ... and ... when they say, 'Hey, you're done,' you give the keys back and you say, 'Thank you.' You don't flatten the tires of the guy who comes next."

Watch the video after the jump.

You might have wondered why Howard Stern really declined to be Conan O'Brien's last few shows on The Tonight Show. Here's a possibility: Howard hates being proved right. Sure, it's a long shot.

TVTattle dug up an old Late Night interview from 2006 with the longtime radio host warning Conan, "I don't see this guy (Leno) leaving and letting you walk in and I'm concerned about you."

Nice call, Howard. Would you also be willing to take over my stock portfolio and attend my upcoming IRS audit with me?

Conan's staff asked Howard Stern to come on The Tonight Show later this week (for what will probably be Conan's last week), but Stern has said no. He says that if the show was in New York he'd do it, but he doesn't want to fly out to Los Angeles (I guess doing it via satellite would be kinda lame too). Rosie O'Donnell wanted to do the show too and even offered Stern a private jet for both of them to fly out to do the show, but Stern still said no.

Having Stern on The Tonight Show would be... interesting. He has hated Leno for years and would probably not hold back. Stern also says that he wouldn't hold back on Conan either. He'd ask him pointed questions to find out how he feels about the whole thing. But it's not to be (if NBC were to let Stern on in the first place, something Stern doubts). Maybe Stern can be the first guest on Conan's first show on another network.

Fans of Artie Lange (and of Howard Stern's show on SIRIUS radio) have been worried about Lange every since he was rushed to the hospital last weekend. Now we know why he's there and why no explanation was given at first: he tried to commit suicide.

Lange stabbed himself nine times and his mother called 911. He lost a lot of blood but doctors were able to save his life.

For some reason, suicide didn't even cross my mind as a possible reason that he was in the hospital. Not even for a second. I just assumed that he was in there because of drug problems and/or a possible overdose.