“Man… How the F’ did I get here?” I thought to myself as I sat in the “Intern Bullpen” right next to Baba Booey’s office at the Howard Stern Show. Within the first five minutes after starting my internship I found myself surrounded by Artie, Fred, Gary and Robin and all the other players that make up the show. How did all this happen? It was crazy… It was nuts… It was surreal. It was also instantly obvious to the unfamiliar eye of an intern that this place was insane: Gary was running around making shit happen; Robin’s infamous and infectious laugh could be heard reverberating off of every wall; Fred was discussing “baby-duty” (as well as baby-doodee) with a co-worker; and Artie was belting out his best Billy Joel impression while blasting his iPod in his ears. You also had Jason, Will, and the “not-really-an-intern-anymore” Steve, host of the Intern Show, manning the phone stations like some Millennium Falcon, cannon-firing, Han Solo-ass-motherf’ers. Was this for real? Was I dreaming? Once again, “How the F’ did I get here?”
For those who may be deceived by my little title it’s not “Mad” as in angry. It’s “Mad” as in crazy! Because you’ve got to be a little bit crazy to do what I had to do to become an intern on the Howard Stern Show. I literally picked up and moved to New York from California in two weeks after finding out I got the position. I left my apartment, my dog, and my girl. Not to mention a job I just got at the Los Angeles Times writing for a local Southern California newspaper in my hometown of Laguna Beach -- all to work for free in one of the most expensive (and amazing) cities in the country. Yeah I may be a little f’ing crazy. But wouldn’t you be too, given the chance to work for the greatest show in the world? It’s like Jack Kerouac wrote in his brilliant beat manifesto, On the Road: “I hope you get where you’re going, and be happy when you do.”
Peace out for now to all you other crazy son of a bitches—
Eric the Intern.
