I'm finding that my tolerance for (what I consider) annoying parts of the show is evaporating.
Howard criticizes Gary's eating? The guy who can only get takeout from the same chinese restaurant every night - yet can't read a menu; the guy who eats the same fucking breakfast and lunch every day, year after year; the guy who can't handle having coffee from a takeout cup; he's criticizing Gary?
They must have 10,000 sound drops at their disposal, yet they play Richard Simmons' laugh and Robin's theme every 10 seconds. It gets to the point where I can't even hear the conversation over them.
The live-reads and other commercials are taking over the entire show. It used to be 20 minutes (just an example) between commercial breaks. Now, the 2nd half of the show has ads every few minutes, and some of them go on for several minutes each. Also, the live-reads seem to be from a bygone era, and Howard clearly has no idea or interest in much of what he's reading. It's very lowbrow.
Probably because they don't have a third on-air talent (like Artie), the conversations each day tend to repeat certain themes, over and over. In the past, they'd pick one day to rip Harvey Weinstein; now it's a half-hour each day for 2 weeks. Same with R. Kelly, or the voice of Kermit. Every bit seems to go on too long; Shuli, Ronnie, JD, gay talk, transsexual talk.
Today, and old classmate of Robin's called-in, and they spent maybe 5 minutes recalling old times. Well, Howard was jumping out of his skin! It was just so insufferable for him, to put up with 5 minutes of this; poor poor Howard! He had to spend the next 10 minutes telling the world what Robin just put him through; he almost couldn't survive. Like having to pee in a public restroom.