Howard Looks Back on Creating the Fartman Costume Now Being Auctioned Off by a Collector

Photo: The Howard Stern Show

The New York Post reported last week that the Fartman costume Howard famously wore to the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards was being auctioned off and on Monday, the King of All Media wondered how the costume came to be in the possession of a “pop-culture collector” in the first place.

“Isn’t it Ralph [Cirella]’s job to hold on and collect it and give it back to me after the performance?” Howard asked.

Ralph, who has been in charge of Howard’s wardrobe for years, called in to defend himself.

“First of all, I didn’t have anything to do with that. That was the MTV one,” Ralph claimed. “I did the Channel 9 one and I don’t know what happened to that.”

Evidently, there were a few different Fartman costumes, including additional versions for the “Private Parts” film reenactment of Howard’s awards show appearance.

Ralph further recalled how the Fartman costume was originally a full suit, but Howard asked him to cut out spaces for his butt cheeks, leading to the iconic version remembered to this day.

“I knew if I revealed my ass cheeks, we’d get big ratings,” Howard said with a laugh.

And while one of the Fartman suits may be in the hands of a collector, Howard told listeners he has a facility filled with Stern Show-related history.

Gary Dell’Abate looked through the list of items saved over the years and pointed out a few odd ones, including staffer Steve Nowicki’s papier-mâché recreation of the SiriusXM studio (above) as well as a portrait Fred Norris once painted of Gary.