Etm Dead?

I will miss him too. Other Wack Packers have died, but I think Eric is the first one to die who was born (on the show as a personality) after I started listening.

I began listening as I began my college commute in September 1998. (I did go and see "Private Parts" in the theater on opening night, but only because of the MTV special promoting it and television promos. Quite frankly, it was difficult getting a reliable radio signal carrying Stern at my house, and it was only during the commute that it began to come in clearly.)

Eric first called in Thursday, September 19, 2002, as we ironically celebrated just a few days ago via Howard 100 News. I think I can even recall me listening to that show live. I believe I was driving to a professional development class and thinking to myself that this guy on the phone is out there!

Later, I bought my first home, a modest townhouse. After being house-poor for a while, I began to remodel. I would spend entire evenings painting walls, assembling furniture, varnishing wood shelves, etc. while I listened to the Stern channels. That was around the time of the flying with balloons effort. We all know that particular episode, as it has gone down as a classic. It certainly helped me pass the time with the manual labor.

Every time he called, he annoyed me. However, much like scratching a mosquito bite feels good but makes the itching worse, so too was listening to Eric. Every whine, every stupid demand, every ungrateful retort, and every futile self-imposed ban was infuriating to hear. Yet, I wanted to hear his next whine, demand, retort, and ban just to see where he could take it. The magic that was Eric was the fact that he was born with so many horrible conditions that you wouldn't wish them on your worst enemy, but he was a big enough ungrateful pain-in-the-ass that you forgot about them and just viewed him as annoying having no reservations or remorse ranting to fellow fans about him.

I was there at the beginning and stayed through the end. I witnessed Eric streak across the Stern Show heavens like a meteor for his duration (on the show). Now, that beautiful spectacle has dimmed beyond perception below the horizon.

I will miss that ungrateful bastard!

R.I.P. Eric the ACK-ACK-tor
 
You said it Bark, just right. My girl wondered why the guys jabbed Eric when she first caught bits of the show in 2010 because he was disabled. Then she heard the attitude and began to hate him. Haha. What a pisser. Probably the most prolific caller of the Sirius era and not even close. Hey Eric, who cares if you didn't know 6x9.
 
I think it was Howard (or maybe Robin?) who said that he died surrounded by friends and family, but he would have loved being surrounded by American Idol contestants.

"Screw...my...fam...i...ly....I...want...Di...an..uh...De..gar...mo....and...Ke...ly...Clark...son..."
 
One more time....it may be a while before Fred plays these again. :(



...listen very carefully about two seconds in. The second and third (or maybe third and fourth) ack-acks...almost....almost sound like "wackpack"...or not.



Other people said it...you dreaded hearing "Eric, you're on the air now" and you loved when they busted his balls, but you loved him at the same time. He could bring the show to an absolute halt with the nonstop Johnny Fratto stuff or the stickam or the silly demands of a limo, sixteen pizzas, girls, backstage passes to meet (aka "stalk", IMO) various celebrities, trips to the Bunny Ranch and Pepsis....but damn if he didn't provide some quality entertainment.
 
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Howard claims that he only kept ETM/ETA on hold for hours because he was so busy. But I think they were dicking with him many times and that Gary took pleasure in keeping him on hold and not getting to him.. Seems to me Howard took other calls on those days.. Jimmy Kimmel was so right when he said that the cool thing about ETM was the way he treated Howard like an equal... He refused to kiss the hand... No one else who wanted to appear on the show again could get away with that (except for Jerry Seinfeld)..
 
Neigh said:
Howard claims that he only kept ETM/ETA on hold for hours because he was so busy. But I think they were dicking with him many times and that Gary took pleasure in keeping him on hold and not getting to him.. Seems to me Howard took other calls on those days.. Jimmy Kimmel was so right when he said that the cool thing about ETM was the way he treated Howard like an equal... He refused to kiss the hand... No one else who wanted to appear on the show again could get away with that (except for Jerry Seinfeld)..
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I think he was busy some of the time. He's not about to break an interview or show momentum to take a call about Eric not being able to get WWE tickets.

In other news, I'm gonna have that Green Acres song in my head all day long.
 
JHDKoopman said:
saw a tweet from the show today saying that they will be doing an etm tribute this weekend. then i found this artice:

Howard Stern Honors Eric the Actor With Weekend Howard 101 Tribute - Us Weekly

i cant really remember a time ive seen press for the channels scheduling. glad etm is still getting attention.
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And if they didn't...well...Johnny, he'd know what to do. Johnny would know what to do.

I actually said that into a microphone yesterday while talking in front of a lot of people. "You know what to do. You know what to do."
 
Bark said:
I guess Gonzo Poo-Phallus becomes a regular person again. His schtick is literally dead now.
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i always enjoyed when gonzo and etm were on together. id be happy if he figured out a way to stay on the show.
 
just found this on twitter:

ByuL7WzCYAAoHWB.jpg


the pepsi is a nice touch.
 
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