Stuttering John Gone

[NYU 0]

From the New York Daily News:

 

Stern's sidekick Stuttering's Gone

John Melendez moving to Leno

 

Stuttering John Melendez is leaving the Howard Stern radio show to become the new announcer on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

He'll replace Ed Hall, who left the show to pursue acting.

 

"I'm leaving because the money is a lot better, and I always wanted to be in Los Angeles," Melendez said yesterday.

 

"I would eventually like to get a sitcom, to be in a sitcom, and acting has been real important to me."

 

For Melendez, whose real-life stuttering provided Stern with comedic material on a nearly daily basis, the late-night TV gig is the latest chapter in an unlikely rise to stardom.

 

Melendez has been part of Stern's morning antics for 15 years, after starting out as an unknown lackey. He's best known for firing ridiculous - often controversial and sexually suggestive - questions at such unsuspecting celebrities as Yogi Berra and Chevy Chase.

 

He's parlayed being the on-scene buffoon into a disk jockey gig at Stern's home station WXRK (92.3 FM), as well as a band and a stint on ABC's reality series "Help, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here."

 

His role on the ABC series led to a guest appearance on "Tonight," leading to the new job.

 

Over the weekend, Melendez dropped the bomb about his leaving on Stern. The popular radio host was gracious, he said.

 

"I got choked up, he was very happy for me," Melendez said. "He said, 'Let's go celebrate.' We all went to Atlantic City."

 

For Leno, he adds a character with a built-in following to the show, rather than breaking in a new star.

 

Meanwhile, Stern has been off this week, so listeners have yet to hear his reaction, though Melendez promises that it should be "a great week of radio" when they return on Monday.

 

Likewise, Stern's frequent on-air rants about wanting to leave radio when his contract expires played into Melendez's decision.

 

"Howard's been saying he's leaving, and now it's a year and a half," Melendez said. "I have to think about what I'm going to do....I don't want to wait. It definitely had a lot to do with it. As soon as we got down to two years, I started to get nervous."

 

Melendez will lose the "Stuttering John" moniker for Leno's show, and he's been working with an announcing coach in preparation for his start next month.

 

He'll move his wife and two children there in July, and maybe expand the family.

 

"I've got two kids, hopefully I can talk my wife into a third," he said. "The Puerto Rican side in me wants 12. My wife's Jewish, she wants two. Three is the most I can hope for."

 

So Jackie's gone (who made the show interesting), John's gone (who at least was good for a laugh with his celebrity interviews or being constantly berated on the air).......at least we still have Artie to continue to kiss all their asses.

 

While I was never the biggest Stuttering John fan, he HAS been one of the more entertaining aspects of the show the past few years.

[Angle-plex 0]

Well this kind of sucks. I couldn't stand John, but I liked him just for being such an ass all the time. I wonder what they're going to do about Artie and John's bet now.

[Guest OctoberBlood]

The only funny thing the Stern show does is the prank calls. Everything else is crap.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Wait a minute.

 

Am I to understand that Stuttering John can't do the Stern show in the morning...because he has to say around 4 lines in the middle of the day for Leno's show?

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Stern is in NYC while Leno is taped in LA. That would be alot of flying.

 

Either way Stern started going downhill when Hank 'The Angry Dwarf' died of liver failure.

[starvenger 0]

For Leno, he adds a character with a built-in following to the show, rather than breaking in a new star.

I'm not sure that adding Stuttering John will make the Tonight Show any better to watch if he's only there to be an announcer...

[Vern Gagne 0]

Edd Hall is pursuing an acting career? Looks like Celebrity Mole 3 has it's first contestant.

[Guest Ghettoman]

But....an announcer!?!?

[Steviekick 0]

This whole thing sounds very odd. Leno doesn't really need any big changes; last I checked he was doing better than Letterman in the ratings.

[razazteca 0]

So not only did Jay Leno steal the idea of "Jay Walking" from Howard Stern, he stole Stuttering John. Does this mean that Howie Mondle and the gay guy have to fight John for the job of on location interviews?

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Considering where John came from and how he started out I say good for him...

[Guest Deebo]

I'm glad he's off Stern. I had to turn it off everytime hed get on the mic.

[art_vandelay 0]

I just don't understand why Leno would get, of all people, STUTTERING JOHN to become his new announcer. I can understand if they're getting him because of the stutter, but they're making him get rid of it. He'll be so bland without the stuttering, they should really let him keep it. I just want to hear: "From Burbank, California, it's The To-*gagging*-night Show with *gagging* (out of breath) JAYLENO!"

[art_vandelay 0]

double post

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Damn, I'm gonna miss Ed.

[Rendclaw 0]

Stern has been going downhill for a long time... I have tapes of his show from back in the mid 80s and early 90s and the show was a LOT funnier.

 

He re-signed for the money they were offering him and that's it, don't believe the hype. He has been coasting ever since Jackie left the show, and he is going to continue to do so, because he has nothing left to prove anymore.

 

Good for John, even though there were times that I (a Stern fan since 1985) couldn;t stand him, whether what was going on was a bit or not.

[Guest Polish_Rifle]

Good riddance! I love the show and it continues to entertain me at work every morning. Thank god Jackie is gone. Artie is 50x funnier and more entertaining than the Jokeman ever was. As for Stuttering John, ever since he stopped making those interviews, he has been a complete waste of space.

 

Call me crazy but I think Crazy Cabbie is infinitely more entertaining than John.

[notJames 0]

...Stern started going downhill when Hank 'The Angry Dwarf' died of liver failure.

For me, Stern lost his appeal when he and his wife Alison divorced. Before, you could see through his bad-boy image and know that deep down, he was a decent family man who loved his wife and kids. All the immature moments of him wanting to pitch the woo with other women was just a fun little facade. Now, he's just a middle-aged man-child who can't shut up about sex and farting. Furthermore, all his jokes have been done ad nauseam. And I'm not too crazy about his current team, especially Robin. I despise her sycophanticisms and her terrible laugh.

 

Private Parts was a really sweet movie. Too bad the real story came to such a sad ending.