A Stern judge of performance
‘Shock jock’ obsesses about getting it right on America’s Got Talent
NEW YORK — “They keep telling people it’s the 10th anniversary. But it’s the fourth season, as far as I’m concerned,” says Howard Stern, who joined America’s Got Talent as a judge in 2012.
That’s what you’d expect Stern to say.
But quickly he adds that with AGT launching what everyone but Stern would consider its 10th season, he’s having a ball with fellow judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Mel B.
“I may be the most important judge in the history of the world, but secretly I’ll tell you, I’m glad they’re there,” he confides during a recent interview.
Everyone remembers the uproar when Stern was brought aboard this family-friendly talent competition: Wasn’t he a legendary “shock jock,” a bad-boy superstar on SiriusXM Radio who would say anything to get a reaction?
Maybe, but Stern, now 61, thought he would make an ideal judge, that his long showbiz career (wasn’t he the King of All Media?) would serve him well in evaluating each act.
More to the point: He was already a big AGT fan.
“It helps when it isn’t just a paycheque for a judge, when they were a fan of the show even before they were getting paid to be on it,” says Jason Raff, an executive producer of AGT since its première in June 2006.
“It’s a hard show to judge,” he says, noting its lack of any rules — any type of act with any number of performers of any age is welcome.
Like Stern, Mandel was an AGT devotee before he joined the judges’ panel in 2010.
“I watched every episode for the four years before that,” Mandel says. “Whatever you see me saying and doing is what I was doing from the couch in my living room, in my underpants, before. Now I have the best seat in the house.”
And though he has to wear pants, “the show provides them,” he says with a laugh.
But it isn’t all fun and games, even for the judges. Careers are in their hands, and they know it.
“I thought I would do one season, then, ‘The joke’s over, I did it, Howard Stern on a family-friendly show, ha-ha-ha.’ But I ended up enjoying it and, I swear to you, I take my role on it so seriously,” Stern says.
He thinks that’s evident to viewers.
“After the first year, people decided, ‘Well, the guy’s thoughtful, he’s constructive. He wasn’t sitting there beating people over the head with a stick.’ You might think that Satan has no feelings, but it turns out Satan’s very, very sensitive: I have the thinnest skin ever. If someone criticizes me, I totally fall apart. So I keep that in mind on the show.”
Meanwhile, he figures he has proven his worth to everyone.
“That was a big ego adjustment for me. I’m so narcissistic that I think my opinion is the only thing that counts, and I really had to put that in check. Sometimes it’s difficult to sit there while Heidi, Mel and Howie do their thing. But that’s the beauty of it. And I particularly like when we argue about talent. I think that’s so interesting.”
Like his fellow judges, Stern knows the choice she makes on the show can help launch a star or dash a lifetime of striving. He says he’s awakened in the middle of the night, worried that he made the right decision.
“I’m obsessed with getting things right,” he explains. “I recently started painting. I know I’ll never be great. But I’m so obsessed with being a really good painter. So even a hobby becomes like work: I’ve GOT to be good at this! I can’t stand being so bad at it!”