Oprah Lays Into Him

Howard played some clips of Oprah talking to James Frey during her show yesterday. The first clip featured Oprah questioning James about his claim that he received a root canal without taking any Novocain. Although Robin remained critical of Oprah’s tactics, Howard commented that he thought the interview made for interesting television, while Artie pointed out that James was too easy a target. However, Artie went on to say that he actually believed James’ Novocain story, because doctors are often hesitant to give former addicts any drugs out of fear that they’ll become addicted again.

Ralph noted that everyone lies in memoirs and felt that James was taking too much heat for his book. However, Howard pointed out there’s a big difference between exaggerating details and flat out lying and that, to him, James was guilty of the latter. To illustrate his point, Howard noted that, in his book, James claimed he was in jail for 87 days when, in actuality, he spent just three hours locked up.

Ralph said what disturbed him about Oprah’s interview was the way she “ironed out her afro” because of the press she knew she’d receive. Ralph then pointed out that he thought Oprah was heavy again, which led Howard to note that people whose weight fluctuates the way Oprah’s does suggests they have serious issues. When Ralph replied that Gary is another person whose weight goes up and down, Gary admitted the claim was true. In fact, Gary went on to say that his weight problem is so bad that he has three sections in his closet devoted to different sizes that he wears depending on what weight level he’s at.