From Howard Reich at the Chicago Tribune:
The words tumbled out in a torrent--vulgar descriptions of body parts, bodily functions and the kinkiest sexual practices.
The speakers seemed to revel in the telling, reiterating the blue phrases like a mantra, then laughing uproariously at each repetition.
But was it funny? Was it supposed to be?
Each listener who tuned in Monday morning to Howard Stern's debut on Sirius Satellite Radio answered those questions individually, for humor remains as subjective as any other art form.
Yet to those who work in comedy, Stern--and those who follow him into the anything-goes realm of satellite radio--faces a steep artistic challenge. For if anyone on satellite can say anything, will audiences be amused by streams of profanity for long?
"My experience is that unless you keep some kind of taboo, you lose the force of any kind of language," said Bernard Sahlins, co-founder of Chicago's long-standing comedy troupe Second City, interviewed before Stern's satellite debut.
"If the language becomes generally broadcast, approved, misused, it becomes meaningless.
"It has neither mystery nor effectiveness," Sahlins said.
The Detroit Free Press:
The new Howard Stern satellite radio show began Monday with all the expected hoopla.
He put to rest rumors that he married his longtime girlfriend, model Beth Ostrosky -- in a comment complete with a federally banned expletive.
"I am not married. It's a nice feeling that we get along great. We're very happy and I don't want to (expletive) it up," said Stern, who is finally free of government decency laws on Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (Channel 100).
Stern has promised everything from stripper poles to live sex on his new show. Yet he maintained his show was more about ideas. Cursing, he said, would be part of the natural progression of speech.
"I feel this is a culmination of dreams for me," Stern said in an on-air news conference. "The only limit is our mind," he said.
My take:
I've never found Stern funny. He's the obnoxious kid from school who delights in yelling dirty words to shock people, a buffoon who substitutes obscenity for humor and then claims it's all about free speech.
It ain't. Richard Pryor was both obscene and funny. Stern is just obscene. There's a difference and Sirius radio, in a to-the-death fight with the much larger XM-radio network, is gambling that it can attract more listeners by putting Stern on the air and letting him shout "fuck" to his heart's content.
With luck, their attempt will fail miserably.
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