I see your point and as usual I agree with a lot of what you said. I know that he doesn't relate to a lot of us in the way your talking about. I would think that he used to relate with the "common man" when he earned $98 a week. What I mean by that is... He didn't always eat at Nobu. He could only afford what he could afford. He didn't always put people down for eating at say..... Applebees. It's just little things like that. Its like he forgot what that was like. You don't have to be white,black,jewish,tall,skinny or whatever to realate to that stuff. Thats what I mean.
He always put down the flyover states (i.e.
NI&&%r Loving Hats) and he most certainly put down fast food joints, at least after he stopped going to Arby's. He was a one man campaign against McDonald's before eating healthy was even on the radar of most Americans (granted, it was because McDonald's stopped advertising on his station, but there you go). But in reality, it doesn't even matter, because we aren't listening to
rational thought here, we are listening to the Id. By its very nature, the Id is not rational, so nobody should really relate to it at all. It's just in some ways we are as fucked up as Howard; that's what makes us "relate."
Is complaining about Jason's wedding any more of a social faux pas than saying adopted kids aren't loved as much as "real" children? Is getting upset about Scott's refusal to eat fish any different from telling pet owners that their precious dog is just an appetizer in other countries? Is eating at Nobu and expressing dissatisfaction with Applebees any different than tearing down the snobs who go to the theater and bagging on Broadway plays as boring?
Here's the way I listen to the show. I abandon all thoughts that Howard and I have anything in common. I simply listen to his comments and revel in the sheer irony and arrogance, which would be off-putting if he wasn't so damn funny about it. Sure he's an asshole for complaining about the ride to Jason's wedding, but when he describes NYC traffic, the luxury of spending a Saturday at home by yourself, and the fact that he's wasting 3 hours for something that he could just as easily opt out of if he didn't give a shit about etiquette; he almost makes me sympathize with him. When a guy can say something so crass and hurtful right to Jason's face and still make you side with him, even just a little - That's a genius at work.
C'mon admit it . . . there have been weddings that if you thought you could get away with it, you'd have told the couple they just weren't worth wasting a Saturday. There've been restaurants that if you saw your friends there, you'd laugh at them. You just don't have the luxury of having a radio show; so you, like me, have to live that stuff through Howard.
