Howard Stern Talks with Bill O'Reilly, Part 3
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," December 9, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.
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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Back of the Book" segment tonight. We wrap up our three-part series with Howard Stern. He's now the highest-paid entertainer in American history as I've said. Last night Stern told us that his success is based upon proving to his father that he could succeed on the radio. And his father continues to be the driving force behind Stern. Do you have a good relationship with him?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HOWARD STERN, RADIO SHOW HOST: Great relationship with my dad and my mom.
O'REILLY: Even though he didn't support you?
STERN: He supported me in his own way. He was one of these guys who would get me piano lessons. He ways always trying — I think he was afraid for me. I think he saw me falling down a path that was never going to come to fruition in a big way. I'd be a ne'er-do-well, a radio guy like me would not make money. I think he was genuinely afraid for me.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: Conservative man?
STERN: Some ways. My dad would sometimes vote — if you're talking about politics, he would sometimes vote Republican, sometimes vote Democrat. He would...
O'REILLY: Traditionalist though?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STERN: Yes, I'd say so. Yes, very traditional. When I got divorced it was a hard blow to him more so than even my mother.
O'REILLY: Does he have any problem with your material?
STERN: No. My parents always love humor and mixing it up. This is how we spoke in the house. Not necessarily about sexuality but they were never uptight about sex. A big bugaboo with me was sex. My mother got me a subscription to "Playboy" when I was 13.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: Your mother got you one when you were 13?
STERN: Absolutely. She said to me — I said "I want a subscription to 'Playboy' and she said to me, "it's the human body."
O'REILLY: She was pretty progressive.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STERN: You're not kidding. She said to me I want to you know something. he women in "Playboy" are freaks. She goes, "You're not going to meet too many women with those kind of bodies." She said, "Take a look around and those are real women." She goes, "But if you want to look at a naked body, I could care less." And you know what, I got out the "Playboy" once or twice and I think that was the end of it. You know what I mean? It's not a big deal, sex.
O'REILLY: Now, you are a wealthy guy, now and you have a house in the Hamptons, and you go to Nobu and all these swell places. What's that about? I don't do that.
STERN: What, sure you do.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: No, I don't.
STERN: What do you do? You don't have a nice house now?
O'REILLY: I have an OK house, but it's nothing like yours.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STERN: You don't talk about — I live in an apartment in Manhattan.
O'REILLY: Oh, come on. An apartment. You live in a big high-rise. It's...
(CROSSTALK)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: I live in a nice house but it's a regular house.
STERN: You don't have a nice house?
O'REILLY: I have regular house.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STERN: You're going to paint yourself as some bum.
O'REILLY: My car's five years old. I live in a regular house. You're living large.
STERN: What's wrong with that?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: I didn't say anything was wrong with it. How do you feel about it?
STERN: Here's my problem with my lifestyle. I'm one of these guys who works so hard that I don't really have the great lifestyle you might imagine. I go to bed at 8:00 every night. So I don't go out during the week at all. We cook at home and we eat and we go to bed. Friday and Saturday night, no matter how broke I was — I made $96.00 a week for a real long time, I would always find a place to go, whether is was McDonald's or Nobu. It depends on what you can afford.
O'REILLY: But now you're going to Nobu with the swells.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STERN: Yeah, but that doesn't make a difference to me.
O'REILLY: Do you like to hang out with these pinhead movie stars? I mean, do you like these people?
STERN: There's some movie stars that I've met that have been tremendously nice people. I don't have celebrity friends. It's not by choice. I don't have any friends.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: You don't have any friend?
STERN: No.
O'REILLY: Why?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STERN: Anyone who knows me knows I hang out with my girlfriend and I don't have the time to really form some sort of relationships. It's not healthy.
O'REILLY: How about old friends? College? Your neighborhood?
STERN: There's a couple guys I will hang out with once in a while who are certainly not famous, big time celebrities.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: Do you think that's smart not to have friends?
STERN: No. I think it's a real personality flaw. I think I put too much into my work. I don't think it's healthy to isolate yourself like that and I think it says a lot about me and it's not a positive thing. I wish I would take more time with my friends.
O'REILLY: Are you selfish?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STERN: I think to a degree I'm selfish but I can also be very generous. I know — I went into therapy. I go four times a week.
O'REILLY: Really?
STERN: And it made me a much better father.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: You go to therapy four time a week now?
STERN: Absolutely. And it made me a better father. I found that where I'm very closed off and that's how my father was with me, it changed me around a lot.
O'REILLY: So you go to therapy four times a week. What is your goal there? What do you want specifically to get out from that?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STERN: To become more connected with people, to be a better father. That's really important to me. Not that I think I've been a horrible father, but I want to be there.
O'REILLY: How old are your kids now?
STERN: I've got a 22-year-old. I have a 20-year-old and I have a 12-year-old.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: All right. We're just about at the end of this.
STERN: You're kidding! It's been such a joy.
O'REILLY: If this serious thing, I mean, you're 51 years old, right?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STERN: Yes.
O'REILLY: I think you're a little older than that.
STERN: I'm 51.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: OK, 51.
STERN: Right.
O'REILLY: And you're still telling dirty jokes and lesbians and all that?
STERN: Hopefully.
O'REILLY: OK. How long do you want to do this?
STERN: Well, I've got a five-year deal with Sirius and I'm also developing these two channels which are pretty wild. So the channels can even live on after I somehow go off into the sunset.
O'REILLY: But is it possible you would chuck it after 55 and say, look, I've seen enough lesbians...
STERN: I might stop the radio in five years but I don't think I'll ever stop being creative.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: All right. We appreciate Mr. Stern coming on in here.
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