Howard Stern really, really wants Hillary Clinton on his SiriusXM show.
In fact, the iconic radio personality went so far as to grant two separate interviews to The New York Times and the Washington Post — a rarity — to discuss why the Democratic presidential nominee should appear on his show and how he has become a master interviewer.
“I don’t think I’d handle Hillary Clinton any differently than I would a musician,” Stern told the Post’s Geoff Edgers in an interview published online Monday. “You think about politics. Who really would want to go through this scrutiny and the torture and the criticism? Now we see it on Twitter. Everyone’s getting bullied. But politicians have been getting bullied forever and I’m not so cynical. I certainly don’t believe that a young person goes into politics with the idea, I’m going to get rich. I think there is a desire to serve.”
The 62-year-old said his people have reached out to the Clinton campaign, but so far, no luck.
“And it would expose her to an audience that might not be thinking of voting for her,” Stern told the newspaper. “She could also have a direct pipeline to a lot of people who wouldn’t normally get to hear her speak the way we have the ability to do it. There’s a lot of time to develop an answer. Not do a sound bite. And oddly enough, because of that format, I notice a lot of the media takes the interviews we do and makes sound bites out of them.”
In a separate interview given to the Times‘ David Segal, published online last Wednesday but appearing in print Sunday, Stern discussed how his show has changed through the years, allowing him to become a master interviewer.
“I couldn’t have done the show I’m doing now 20 years ago,” Stern told Segal. “I’ve changed a lot. I’d be sort of pathetic if I’d reached this point in my life and I hadn’t. How else do you have longevity? There are so many guys who started out with me in radio, who have disappeared, because they can’t broaden their view of what entertainment should be, or get in touch with what they find to be exciting and fun and funny.”
In that piece, multiple celebrities are quoted as saying they felt comfortable opening up to Stern, more so than on other sit-downs.
“He’s truth serum,” said comedian Amy Schumer, according to the Times.
Stern told Edgers his way of conducting an interview could serve Clinton well, as he cuts through the noise of the political cycle, which is thoroughly covered on the news.
“I don’t give a f— about emails and scandals,” Stern said. “She’s already talked to the FBI about that. She’s testified. That’s not my thing. My thing is, ‘wow, as a human being how do you succeed?’ Don’t we all need to know how to succeed. This is a phenomenal story.”
A request for comment from the Clinton campaign was not immediately returned.
