Howard Stern Was Beat Up By This Famous Comedian's Boyfriend After He Publicly Berated Her

May 18, 2024

Highlights

Howard Stern was at the height of his controversial comedic bits in the late 1980s.
Stern confronted comedian Elayne Boosler at the Grammy Awards, leading to her manager punching him.
Stern is known for provoking fights on-air and has feuded with several celebrities.

Howard Stern became one of the richest and most famous radio personalities of all time by being edgy and groundbreaking. In a time of extreme censorship on terrestrial radio, that meant really pushing boundaries. While he's grown both as a man and as a performer over the past couple of decades, in the late 1980s, he was at the height of his most debaucherous and controversial comedic bits.

One of these bits involved confronting comedian Elayne Boosler at the Grammy Awards. The interaction was so negative that it resulted in her manager/boyfriend punching him in the face. Here's what happened...

Howard Stern Was Punched In The Face By Elayne Boosler's Manager And Boyfriend

According to The Washington Post, the incident between Howard Stern and Elayne Boosler's manager/boyfriend Steve Gerbson occurred in 1989. The former shock jock, who became famous on Dc-101 in Washington, D.C. and then became most associated with New York, attended the 1989 Grammy's in Los Angeles. This is where he came across acclaimed comedian, Elayne Boosler.

Elayne Boosler was born in 1952
Boosler was best known as a stand-up comedian
Boosler was a regular performer at The Comedy Store
Boosler has been married to Bill Siddons since 2007

At the time, Stern was trying to get Boosler to come onto his show. While Stern has become known for his profound and downright entertaining celebrity interviews, he once really pushed their buttons. His staffers even attempted to get stars to storm off the air in a huff. So, only the bravest and most open would dare go on The Howard Stern Show. These celebrities also had to have a sense of humor about themselves. While Elayne Boosler may have been self-effacing, it's clear she wanted nothing to do with Howard Stern who, at the time, was relentlessly mocking her deodorant commercials on his show.

Boosler famously stopped being invited on The Johnny Carson show after refusing to do material making fun of herself

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When Howard Stern came across Boosler at The Grammy's he started shouting at her through a bullhorn, according to The Washington Post. This caused Boosler's manager and then-boyfriend Steve Gerbson to confront the radio legend. This resulted in Gerbson shoving the bullhorn in Stern's face and then punching him in the mouth.

During a 1989 interview on The Howard Stern Show with Simpsons star Harry Shearer, Peter Max, and acclaimed musician Graham Nash, the radio legend explained his side of the story.

After asking Graham Nash to do perform his hit song "Right Between The Eyes", Stern said, "C'mon, I got hit today right between the eyes, you could at least do, 'Right Between The Eyes".

"Where's the mark? What happened?" Nash asked.

"His nose is swollen. Can't you tell?" Stern's longtime co-host and best friend Robin Quivers chimed in.

"Can't you tell?" Howard Stern asked Graham Nash.

"Yeah, I got hit! All I said was, 'Hey, Elayne Boosler, how come you don't want to come on my show, honey?'"

"Don't say it again loudly, her manager may come back," Quivers joked.

"So, then the manager [Steve Gerbson] turns around and goes, 'Hey man, shut up!' And I go, 'Hey, man, what's the matter? Don't you have a sense of humor?' He says, 'I'm as funny as your face'. I say, 'Hey man, relax. What is this? This is comedy. Everybody just calm down here."

"You were trying to be Graham Nash to his Stephen Stills," comedian Harry Shearer joked.

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According to Stern, following his plea to get Steve Gerbson to calm down, he was hit in the face. More specifically, his microphone was shoved in his face by Gerbson before he punched Stern in the nose. At least, this is the sequence of events included in The Washington Post's report.

During Stern's discussion with Shearer, Nash, Quivers, and Max, the former shock jock claimed that he was in dire need of a lawyer.

"I'm going to have a lawyer after I sue that comedian's manager for punching me in the face."

"I don't even see it swelling up," Harry stated.

"His nose is not that big," Quivers said, laughing. "Harry, what are you saying!?

"So, you really got hit, eh?" Graham Nash asked.

"I got punched, right between the eyes," Stern responded by the beloved Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young broke into his hit song, "Right Between The Eyes."

Howard Stern Has Gotten Into Numerous Fights

Howard Stern hasn't gotten into a lot of fist-fights, but he has become notorious for lashing out at people on air. In real life, Stern has a reputation for being reclusive and quite sweet. At least according to the numerous celebrities who come on his show or talk about him in public. But Stern's on-air persona is another matter entirely.

The radio legends often picks fights with celebrities. Sometimes they cause Stern to go into lenghty rants on his show. Other times, he actually argues with them to their face or over the phone. But mostly, it seems, this is for entertainment purposes.

According to The Howard Stern Show and Ranker, here are some of the celebrities he has feuded with:

Simon Cowell
Jay Leno
Rosie O'Donnell -- who later became his friend
Ellen DeGeneres -- who later became his friend
Oprah Winfrey
Kathie Lee Gifford
Donald Trump -- a friend turned enemy
Wendy Williams
Jon Bon Jovi -- who later became his friend

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Howard Stern is also famous for getting into vicious arguments with his own staffers on his show. Although, anyone who listens to the SiriusXM radio program knows that this is also for entertainment purposes. Stern also often provokes on-air arguments between his employees. Given that Howard Stern is so conflict-oriented on his show, it's not surprising that this would spill out into his real life, as it did with Elayne Boosler's manager/boyfriend in 1989.

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