Howard's constant bullying of Richard and Sal

I'm not the only one who notices, right?

After all this time, he still has them walking on eggshells whenever they are in the studio. He's always tearing them down about how stupid they are, veiled threats and other innuendos that they could be fired at any time, endless intimidation and bullying. Even when he plays one of their successful bits, there is always a backhanded compliment about ridiculous their concept was. Also, if you listen closely, this is how Howard says this is how he was treated by his father in terms of the insults.

In spite of their loyalty and hard work and in spite of their continued meager salaries, Howard refuses to elevate them to even halfway the status of Jackie or Artie in terms of respect. I wonder why that is?

It would be nice if they had their own show too.

richard, I agree with you.

Sal, mentally unstable whack packer/ultra fan.... so no, totally deserved

I thought this behavior was what made the show great, according to long-time fans. Show is better when he's angry, no?

Sal is a fucking idiot.... it makes for a great laugh, but he is just dumb. I have no idea how he was a "stockbroker"

What the world needs is two hours of heavily edited phony phone calls.

sal and richard fuckin rock. just as good as howard or better maybe. i too, many times have been pissed off the way howard treats them. but he does often say how he likes them and compliments their work when it's good, but yeah. he's too hard on them. the phony phone calls kick ass. tradio = pure gold. the yelling/berating them to me seems part of the show. to be honest, if howard all of a sudden started treating them like it was artie, it would be boring and gay. we need the funny reparte between them.

that's howard's therapist talking.

he is very careful to throw in that disclaimer. for example, when he's ripping de pace, he'll say something similar, "I do like him... he does great work, but come on..." etc

but those are true, Richard and Sal do put in a lot of great moments and bits, DePace is a good director in spire of his brain dead politics... however, when Scott Salem fucks up, he never hears the end of it and never hears the "he's a good worker" bit

They probably have a million ideas that they'd love to run by Howard, but they never make it past his gatekeepers for one reason or another (ie. their ideas haven't evolved as quickly as the show). If an idea like anal ringtoss was brought up today, it would get tossed out in a second (not saying that was their idea)

I'm pretty sure Howard misses the days when he used to bust balls, and he knows that Richard and Sal are loyal puppies who will take his abuse and keep coming back to be pet later.

I don't think Howard even believes half the shit he bullies them about. He's just filling time and creating bits.

why has their air time been cut down so drastically in recent years though ? watching old howard tv episodes they use to come in all the time for bits and even to interact with guests and segments. the last few years though rarely if ever are they on air. is it simply because howard is doing less shows so they have to cram everything into 2-3 days a week instead of 4 now after the new contract or has he just gotten fed up with their antics ? who controls this i saw the word gatekeeper a few posts up ... who exactly does that refer to ?

Agreed, although I found it notable that in a replay from what must have been 8 months ago, he was already saying that they should stop doing tradio calls, and yet that is the lionshare of their public contribution.

He won't give them a show because he wants their bits for his show only.

What are their salaries? That's something I've never heard.

That's why you employ nitwits......so you can bully them and degrade them and feel superior to them.

Notice there is no one on staff with any real comedy or writing credentials. There's no talent pool? NYU? Columbia? Princeton?

Cheap and dumb.....keep them in line.

Their own show would be great, for people who like that stuff. (I have my fill from the regular show).
It seems as though that this is all they do - those are probably two big salaries for phony phone calls, only which a few are used. Unless Sal and Richard exist for another reason, which would make them both Gilligans on Howard's Island if you understand that reference.

the only exception is when he is trying to fill airtime and does a fake "sal is stupid" bit

it would be entertaining to have them in once in a while to discuss anything like the way artie did

True, but sometimes, in the old days, it would turn into evil ballbusting. But you're right, it's not like that anymore.

whatever talents they do have are misused.

all they do is make phony phone calls because that's all howard has assigned them to do.

howard could give them some other stuff to do. host a weekly show, etc. but no, he just asks them to make phone calls.