Howard Stern Pranks Listeners With ‘Andy Cohen 100’ Switcheroo Bit in Return to Air: ‘That Was All Masterminded By Me’

The King of All Media pulled a accelerated 1 connected listeners connected Monday greeting (Sept. 8) erstwhile helium appeared to denote his status from afar erstwhile helium didn’t amusement up, arsenic promised, pursuing a agelong summertime break. Howard Stern, 71, was primitively slated to beryllium backmost connected aerial past week amid rumors that his astir two-decade tally astatine SiriusXM mightiness beryllium coming to an end.

He pushed that instrumentality backmost a week with nary explanation, and erstwhile fans tuned successful astatine 7 a.m. ET connected Monday greeting they were greeted with Stern fan/friend and chap SiriusXM dependable Andy Cohen seemingly announcing Stern’s transmission had been re-branded arsenic “Andy 100.” Cohen leaned into the bit, claiming helium was “winging it” amid a “surreal” greeting erstwhile helium was tapped to regenerate the vigor legend.

Eagle-eared Stern listeners, however, sniffed retired the spot close away, and definite enough, aft astir 15 minutes of agita implicit the alleged extremity of an era, Stern was backmost down the mic pursuing the airing of an operatic mentation of his accepted intro music. With his acquainted “hey now,” Stern kicked disconnected the amusement astir 7:16 a.m., thanking Cohen for his “little bit.”

“Lest anyone deliberation that was real, that was each masterminded by me,” a satisfied Stern said of the fakeout that concisely ensnared immoderate large media outlets into reporting the extremity of his vigor reign arsenic helium took calls from irritated fans who feared the worst, but suspected it was each a ruse.

“Everything you’ve been speechmaking successful the insubstantial astir maine oregon astir Robin is wholly false,” Stern said arsenic longtime sidekick Robin Quivers asked if the hold successful returning was owed to an alleged roadblock successful Stern renewing his contract. “Last week I was each acceptable to travel connected and I made the mistake of going the past week of my abrogation and really interacting with radical and I got truthful sick. I thought I had COVID,” said Stern, who has often discussed his fearfulness of getting sick since the pandemic and has made a spot of talking astir however helium tries to debar interacting different radical astatine each costs.

The “cold that won’t spell away” has laid him low, helium said, noting that helium had nary dependable astatine each past week and that helium told his woman Beth connected Sunday nighttime (Sept. 7) that helium thought helium was dying aft attending a Maren Morris foundation performance astatine Stephen Talkhouse successful Amagansett, N.Y. past week. “I was conscionable getting truthful f–king annoyed with everyone penning maine asking maine if I was good due to the fact that I’d been fired. And I’m like, ‘what a d–k’ thing,'” Stern lamented, saying if helium was getting fired — which helium was adamant helium was not — he didn’t privation to sermon it with anyone.

“Am I okay? If I got fired I’m not okay, that’s a s–tty mode to spell out,” Stern said of the swirling, unsubstantiated rumors that he’d been booted from SiriusXM. As helium was battling the illness, Stern said helium was deed by a question of texts past week from radical asking if the rumors were existent aft a summertime of what helium said were mendacious rumors.

Going backmost to precocious July, Stern recalled getting a telephone from his squad astir a tabloid study claiming that Quivers had died. After reaching retired to his longtime vigor spouse Quivers to corroborate that the reports were false, Stern said helium was...