RADIO ACTIVE

Howard Stern Pulls Off One Last Prank as He Battles Career Crisis

The shock jock roped in Bravo star Andy Cohen to pretend he was taking over from Stern.

Howard Stern pranked listeners—and the media—on Monday morning with a gag that his SiriusXM show had been canceled.

Stern roped in Bravo star Andy Cohen to open the show with a joke on Monday morning, which marked Stern’s delayed return to the broadcast after his summer break. Amid rumors that Stern’s show is coming to an end, Cohen appeared to confirm that the speculation was true—and that he was taking over, with the Howard 100 channel rebranded to “Andy 100.″

“I know you’re expecting a big announcement from Howard, and this is actually not how things were meant to go,” Cohen said, adding: “Howard and the executive team at Sirius felt that it was best to kinda part ways now.”

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Variety quickly reported on the apparent news of Stern’s departure with a headline reading: “Howard Stern’s Show Canceled at SiriusXM, Andy Cohen Takes Over Stern’s Channel.”

But Stern soon stepped in to clarify that news of his demise was greatly exaggerated.

Responding to the Variety report on air, the 71-year-old said, “Lest anyone think that was real, that was all masterminded by me.”

“I said to Andy, ‘Would you cut a bit for us?’” Stern went on. “And he immediately said yes. I said, ‘Go as long as you want, because the longer it goes on, the more people will think it’s real.’ And Andy had no problem with that. He’s the best.”

Variety has since updated its article on Stern’s return, reflecting that Stern had trolled his listeners. The Associated Press was also duped by the bit, running an article under the headline, “Howard Stern walks away from SiriusXM after two decades.”

CNBC’s Squawk Box also blared the chyron “Howard Stern Parts Ways With SiriusSM.”

Stern eventually addressed the rumors and explained that his expected return last week had been postponed at the last minute because he was sick. He said he had “no voice whatsoever” due to a cold.

“I was just getting so f---ing annoyed with everyone writing me, asking me if I was OK because I’d been fired,” Stern said.

He explained that he had stopped reading the news and “totally shut down” during his summer break.

The long-running Howard Stern Show, which moved to the satellite radio service SiriusXM in 2006, appeared to be coming to an end after reports emerged last month suggesting that Stern’s $500 million five-year contract wouldn’t be renewed.

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But on Monday, Stern said executives had contacted him “as they normally do and they’re fantastic,” adding that they’ve “been nothing but lovely.”

“We’ve been talking,” he added, noting that he’s “very happy at SiriusXM.”

“What p---es me off is now I can’t leave,” Stern said. “I’ve been thinking about retiring, now I can’t.”

President Donald Trump, a repeat guest on Stern’s show, even weighed in on the rumors. “You know when he went down?” Trump said of Stern, “Before... when he endorsed Hillary Clinton, he lost his audience. People said, ‘Give me a break.’ He went down when he endorsed Hillary Clinton.”

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Dan Ladden-HallBreaking News Editor

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