Gary’s Love Tape Still Stings

A look back on Baba Booey's legendary love tape.

April 14, 2015

Although the infamous Gary Love Tape is almost sixteen years old, it still packs a helluva punch.

This morning, at the end of the show, Gary needed to get a note to Howard from his lovely wife Beth. Gary debated whether or not to just walk into the studio – he didn’t want to distract Howard. In the end, he decided to put a note up on the instant messenger we have in the back office to communicate with our host.

Eventually, Howard told Robin that Gary put a note up for him but he had no way to respond to it since the messenger is one-way. This led to Howard berating Gary for his decision-making. How can the executive producer of the Howard Stern Show not be the greatest decision-maker in the world?

Then Howard remembered that this is the same guy who recorded a videotape to try to win back his ex-girlfriend.

The tape is a definite piece of Stern Show legend – you probably know all about it – but in case you don’t, it was recorded in the 1980s. Gary and his ex-girlfriend Nancy had broken up and Gary was trying to get her back. She apparently wasn’t interested in talking to him, so he made her a videotape and sent it to her.

Fast-forward to 1999. The guy who dated Nancy after Gary was a listener and called up to make Howard aware of the tape’s existence.

Howard, Robin, Jackie, Fred, and an audience of listeners all paid Gary $25,000 to bring in the tape and screen it for them live on the air.

The tape has been picked apart endlessly ever since, but even after all these years, Howard and Robin found a new point of fascination – the fact that Gary opens the video by announcing that he left work early because he didn’t feel well.

They played selections of the tape this morning to goof on Gary all over again. This time, Gary got on the phone and started conducting business. After a while, Howard admitted that it wasn’t as fun if Gary didn’t listen.