SternFanNetwork

1. Are you going?
2. Did you want to go but cannot?
3. Is this shit too crazy for words?
4. FUCK OFF IVAN WITH THIS BULLSHIT!

Curious... Go Here.

This was originally posted on 7/25/12 by Scott King on ChicagoNow.com.
Following is part of what was posted. Continue to ChicagoNow.com for the rest.

Who were your biggest influences in comedy?
Well of course Howard, Howard Stern. I was listening to him since I was thirteen. He's probably the biggest one, but John Belushi, Bill Murray, Richard Pryor. Stand up-wise, probably Richard Pryor. He turned tragedy into comedy, that's something I've tried to do my entire career. Those guys are pretty much it. A lot of people, but those are the big ones.

When did you first feel like you made it in show business?
When I first saw my name in a TV Guide crossword puzzle. It was on a plane, I used to read TV Guide all the time, it's probably obsolete with the internet now. I was on Mad TV... I saw a clue "Lange of Mad TV," and the word was "Artie." I got to fill it in, it was the only clue I got in the whole crossword puzzle. I had my friend finish it for me and I framed it. That made me think, "Ah sh*t, I must be on television at least."

Have you ever used stand up as a type of therapy?
Yes, always. That's a good question. I use it as therapy big time. I think every comedian does. If you're able to do stand up, it's the best way to vent on the planet. You just make believe the audience is some shrink or psychologist you're yelling at about your problems and hopefully they find them funny. To me, all a comedian is is someone who complains in a funny way.
Most people bitch about stuff, but a lot of people are annoying when they're complaining. Like Seinfeld is just a guy who bitches about stuff. He just bitches about this, that, and the other thing, but he happens to be hilarious whe he does it. Especially now in my life, I'm using stand up as an absolute modem for therapy, it's great.

How has what you went through changed your stand up?
It directly changed the material. The last couple years I've been in psych wards and rehabs and I have a lot of jokes and stories I do about that in my act. Usually a comic gets a solid hour that he does for a stand up special and by the time you see it he's been doing that hour on the road for a couple years. And I think that hour, whatever area you're going through in your life, reflects your outlook on things, and where you're at emotionally. So it's different because I have a totally different perspective on the world.
Going through what I did the last couple years, I saw the Abyss. I was looking at the end. I didn't think I was going to come out of the hole I was in. Now coming out of it, I appreciate a lot more things. I hate certain things more, but I love certain things more. It all comes out in the act. So it affected it quite a bit.

Are you worried about discussing anything onstage that could trigger something?
Yeah everything (laughs). People say what's a trigger for you? I say when the sun comes up and when it goes down... One of the perspectives I have on life is that triggers are going to be all over the place. I live in New York, I work in New York. I do stand up on the road. I have a house on the Jersey Shore, twenty minutes from Atlantic City.
Triggers are never going anywhere unless I build a cabin in Colorado... It doesn't matter. I just have to be strong. I have to say I'm not going to let potential triggers let me ruin my life or let me prevent myself from bringing stuff up in stand up. I've always worked where nothing is taboo in stand up for me. I just go into it head first.

How did Howard reach out to you after the incident?
By phone... He called me in a psych ward. Right after I came out of intensive care I went into a psych ward and Howard called me a couple times there before he even got me. There's a direct line into the psych ward that the patients are allowed to pick up at certain hours and the first couple times he tried me, these other crazy patients picked up.
There's this one crystal meth kid who had bags under his eyes, big Howard fan. He kept talking to me about stuff, and one day he came knocking on my bedroom door there and I opened the door and he goes "Howard's on the phone," he was shaking like it was God on the phone. I just imagine Howard having a small talk with this guy. We talked for a good forty-five minutes to an hour. He was very very encouraging and I just said, "I'm thinking about you." That's how. It was very nice how he called me in the psych ward, it's crazy.

Are you able to listen to the show anymore?
Sure. In the beginning it was kind of hard, I just listened the other day. Howard loved his dog so much, I almost considered calling him as if a person in his life had died to console him, but I was like, "I don't know, that's a little goofy." But listening to him talk about Bianca dying... I just remember when they got that dog, how much they loved that dog, and I felt bad for him and Beth when I heard about it. I heard about it on the show like other fans would. So no, I try to listen when I can, but my hours are weird now. I'm not the kind of guy that downloads shit or listens to repeats, but whenever I hear it, it's always funny.

Was the hardest part of what you went through being in the public eye?
It was the hardest and the easiest. When it first happened I thought I disappointed my family, my friends, and that included my fans at Stern. Howard created a family-like atmosphere there, and God, radio fans... I've been lucky enough to work in TV, movies, stand up, writing a book, radio...

As you heard on the show, Howard Stern is featured in the latest issue of "A Tribute to TV Judges". It hit newsstands on July 5th and you should be able to find it at Barnes and Noble, Target, & CVS. If you can't find it, here are the highlights.

Head over to www.SiriusXM.com/player/beta and see it for yourself. There are currently 9 complete Stern Shows you can listen to including this week. Click on one & start from the beginning that days show. Want to get to something specific, skip forward in 1 minute intervals. Right now I'm listing to Mondays show and Howard is bitching about his new microphone.

There are currently only 15 OnDemand channels to choose from but Howard 100 is one of them. No Howard 101 yet so no you can't go listen to Fred's Playlist. It says each show stays in the cache for 30 days so in theory we should be able to skip back and catch missed shows from the previous weeks.

I know you're wondering if you can skip through the commercials. Sorry, I forgot to mention there are no commercials. At least not during the breaks. The ones that air in the middle of the news would of course still be there. I don't know if they will remain commercial free when this OnDemand feature is out of beta but I would be pleasantly surprised if it was. I HONESTLY HAVE NO IDEA.



I spoke to TSS Taylor from www.TSS-Radio.com and he "believes" the SiriusXM Lynx will get an update with this OnDemand feature but there's no word as to when it would happen. We hypothesized that the new Google TV app and the the Android / iPhone apps could get it too but nobody official is saying anything yet. If you find any additional information or find more features while you play with it, let us know here.

This is a fantastic upgrade to the online player. Thank You SiriusXM!!

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Taylor from www.TSS-Radio.com mailed me the Booey Ball. It's the ball Gary "Baba Booey" Del'Abatte threw in his now famous Mets first pitch. (Video Below) Taylor purchased the ball at a charity auction & since it was sitting around his office doing nothing, he sent it my way to play with. I didn't know what to do w/ it so I took it up to NYC with me this week. Following is a photo journal of the journey.

Scale replica of Howard Stern's Studio 69 made of paper. More photos of the construction after the break.

I'm uploading the first batch now. I'll continue uploading them as I find time. Please check them out & leave comments. Once I geet it narrowed down to the potential replacements, I'll stick them up in rotation in the top logo spot.



I've been using the SternFanNetwork logo at the top left of this page for a while now & it's really grown on me but when Howard Stern gives you advice, you take it. He says, change that logo... it looks like Jackie Martling made it. Truth be told, it doesn't really fit the new site layout the way I want it to anyway so w/ a complete overhaul going on lets change that logo too.

I'm looking for help from the members. Please email me submissions for what you think the logo should look like or better yet, post them in this thread.

The logo will appear in the upper left hand cornerwhere my blowie logo is. The top submissions will run there in rotation w/ credit to the artist until one is settled on. What's in it for you besides making me happy & supporting the site, I'm not sure yet. This isn't an official contest w/ a prize or anything but I'll come up w/ something cool.

DETAILS: I'd like a new more web2.0-ish look, should be smaller than the one one so it fits that space, it should say SternFanNetwork or SFN, and will probably have to lose the tag line. It can be a whole new look & color. Try to think of the big social media sites & how simple & clean thier logos are now. Animated is fine but should also look good as a still shot. It should be 36 to 64px high but I have little restriction on width. If you want to use the same font we currently use, the FOO font can be found here.

Here's the old logo

Here are some of the new features that made me want to switch to this code.

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NOTIFICATIONS - this is like the popup that facebook has under the little earth icon that lets youknow what's happening. it lets you know that some replied to your post or liked it, that someone posted on your profile wall, that someone quoted your post. it's really nice. you can "watch" a thread even if you didn't start it. then when someone replies to it, you will be notified. you can even "follow" a member which makes them one of your profile friends & I adds them to your alerts. that are lots of settings that let you limit what you are alerted to & how.
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/alert-preferences.1685/

WATCHED THREADS - I mentioned them above. in your control panel there's a link to bring up your watched threads. it's like bookmarking all your favs & finding them again easily.

CONVERSATIONS - PMs are now called conversations because like facebook you can have a conversation w/ more than one person making it more of a group discussion. Full members will be able to respond to conversations but they can not start them. Only supporters can start them. this will allow the staff or supporters to contact everyone. Supporters will be able to attach files but only other supporters will be able to download them.

LIKES - you can like a post, thread, or user

RECENT ACTIVITY - this is like the active topics page we used to have but it's more than just posts. it includes posts, likes, profile stuff, polls, profile photos, etc. it's an overview of everything that's happening.
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/everyones-news-feed.360/

YOUR NEWS FEED - in your control panel you have a link to it & all the people you follow activity will be listed there. sort of like recent activity but for just the people you follow

PROFILE PAGE - the profile page has tabs for that users recent activity, posts, & profile posts. it shows who you follow & who follows you. you have a photo album and I'll be adding more. there will be options to enter you social media accounts & with each one I checkbox option to display your content on your profile page. like if you enter your twitter name you can check insert your twitter updates in the page.

ATTACHMENT SYSTEM - it's awesome!! upload in batches, resize, drop thumbs or full size right in the post all quick & easy.
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/attachment-system-improvements-in-1-1.20557/
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/enhanced-attachment-uploader.4131/

ATTACHMENTS FROM QUICK REPLY - i'm going to open up attachments to full members
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/file-upload-and-image-placement-using-quick-reply.1510/

VIDEO EMBEDDING - i need to add more video sites still but as youi let me know which ones we need, i'll add them.
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/bb-code-media-improvements-in-xenforo-1-1.19545/

MULTI-QUOTE QUICK REPLIES - now you can quote posts from the quick reply form
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/quoting-multiple-posts.198/

THREAD PREFIXES - it's like what I use in the adult forums to separate the diff kinds of porn
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/thread-prefixes.19936/

QUICK NAV WINDOW - like the old forum jump. will have to make the link more prominent because unless you know what it is, you'll miss it.
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/quick-navigation-menu.840/

POWERFUL SEARCH - though it's not working yet. only new posts made here will show up. it doesn't see all the old sfn posts yet. lets you search the WHOLE site in one form. members, profile posts, album comments, the faq, the threads, EVERYTHING. you can ever search within a specific thread. i'll get it running ASAP.
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/search-improvements-and-ui-tweaks-in-xenforo-1-1.20677/

MULTI-PAGE NAV - it's just slick
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/multi-page-navigation-enhancement.116/

FACEBOOK LOGIN - it's so fucking handy. you can use your facebook account as your login credentials & keep your entire facebook page / identity completely secret. now users don't have to remember a separate SFN login.

FACEBOOK ACCOUNT CREATION - you can automatically create an SFN account & be posting within a couple clicks using your facebook login. when it does this you have a chance to approve or change everything that gets imported before continuing but from my test site I can see people don't read & just furiously click. because of this I will edit it to NOT automatically fill in the screen name field.

STATUS UPDATE - this is just a tagline like we have now but soon all staus updates will be in a scroller on the side of the page. this doesn't sound like much but I think people will get a kick out of it.

AVATAR UPLOAD - everyone gets a non-animated custom av. the limits are the same as facebook. if you create your account using your facebook account, you can tell it to just grab your facebook av. only supporters will get larger animated ones.

USER ALBUMS - so much nicer than what we previously had. upload galleries to your profile & peopel can leave comments.

MOBILE FRIENDLY - I haven't made a mobile skin yet but the default skin is VERY mobile friendly. about he only this that hasn't worked for me is attachments.

TAPATALK -this phone app is available in almost every format. SFN is setup on in so install it & search for "stern fan network". you can use it for the whole site and it even lets you mobile upload pics right from your phone. very fucking cool!
http://www.tapatalk.com/

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here are some of the staff only new features that will make it easier for us to manage the animal that is...

I haven't done anything cosmetic to the site yet. I'm still working on the the internals. Once everything is functioning, then I'll work on making it look like home & get all the new logos up in rotation.


so, to recap
LOGO - no I haven't put them up yet & no this isn't the new logo
LOOK OF SITE / COLORS - no I haven't edited the look of the site, the layout, or the colors yet.