Mancow
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Erich "Mancow" Muller is a United States radio and television personality. He is best known as the shock jock on Mancow's Morning Madhouse, a Chicago-based radio show that has, in recent years, been syndicated across the U.S.
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Early life
Mancow attended Central Missouri State University and received a Theatre degree in 1990. His career in radio began on the morning show, Holy Moly & Maxx, for station KMOK in Kansas City.
Pre-Chicago noteriety
In 1993, Mancow made national headlines while working for radio station KYLD-FM in California. At the time, former President Clinton had tied up traffic on an LAX runway for over an hour because of a haircut on Air Force One. Mancow staged a parody of this incident on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during rush hour. He used vans to block the westbound lanes of the bridge while his sidekick, Jesus "Chuy" Gomez, got a haircut. As a result of this publicity stunt, Mancow was prosecuted and given three years probation, fined $500, and ordered by a San Francisco Municipal Court judge to perform 100 hours of community service. The radio station eventually paid $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a bridge commuter.
Mancow's Morning Madhouse
After leaving California, Muller came to Chicago, where he created his now-famous radio show in 1994. Originally, he broadcast from FM 103.5, which at the time was a heavy metal station. He later moved to FM 101.1, the city's foremost alternative rock station. Currently, he is heard from 5:30-10am (CST) in eight nationwide radio markets. The show is still broadcast from the John Hancock Center in downtown Chicago.
Radio Show overview
Despite being syndicated across the country, Mancow's Morning Madhouse retains its Chicago flavor. Its humor is laden with the schadenfreude common to the city. It also retains "inside jokes" funny only to Chicagoans, such as its constant insults against Joliet, Illinois. A typical show consists of prank calls, celebrity impersonations, political rants, and merciless teasing of members of the show.
While the show has attracted more prominent musicians, actors/actresses, and figures in recent years, the tone has not lightened.
The cast of the show reveals much about its focus and source of humor. In addition to "Mancow" Muller, the main characters are:
- Turd the Bartender (sidekick)
- Deejay Luv Cheese (technical producer)
- Brian the Gay Mexican (movie reviewer)
- Jim Jesus the Yelling Guy (traffic reporter)
- Big Al Roker (sports)
- Dewey, Lord of the Fat Chicks (webmaster)
Recurring characters have included "Wade the Gimp," a handicapped man confined to a wheelchair; "Cowboy Ray," a bad comedian; the "Big Goony," a mentally retarded worker in the building; and "Crazy Mary," a schizophrenic. The show's regular programs include such things as "Skid Theater," where the staff pays homeless people to act out lines from movies, then have people call in and try to guess which one.
Not surprisingly, the show is not considered politically correct. In 1996, the Chicago magazine New City published a scathing attack on the show, including accusations that the show was homophobic (the title of one article was "In Search of the Straight, White Male") and in bad taste. Nonewithstanding these cultural criticisms, the Mancow show has become the most popular morning radio show in Chicago as of early 2005.
The show, despite its emphasis on humor, can be extremely political. While Muller calls himself a libertarian, critics have attacked him as a right-wing demagogue. Although the show routinely satirizes politicians of both parties, Muller takes strong positions on the abortion and right to die debate, and has endorsed Republican candidates.
Additionally, one mainstay of the show is the invitation of conspiracy theorists. However, Muller and the show's staff almost always insult and make fun of such theorists, rather than taking them seriously.
Muller published his memoirs in 2003: Dad, Dames, Demons, and a Dwarf (Regan Books).
Incidents
While the Mancow show has refrained from stunts on the scale of the Opie and Anthony Show, it has its moments.
Muller began a long-term rivalry with Howard Stern shortly following the death of the former's father (and when Stern unsuccessfully tried to syndicate his show in Chicago). After Stern made nasty statements about Muller's deceased father, Muller responded furiously. In addition to rants and prank calls, the show produced songs expressing hope that Stern would get gunned down in New York City.
In 1996, Muller faked his own death. This incident led indirectly to the aforementined New City critique of his work.
Comedian Chris Farley appeared on the show several times. He was slated to appear on the show the morning after his death by drug overdose. Incidentally, Farley's Chicago apartment (where he was found dead) is located in the Hancock Center as well, only floors away from where Muller broadcast.
A self-admitted Star Trek fan, Muller has in recent years hosted paint ball fundraisers with William Shatner.
Lawsuits
Mancow spear-headed two major lawsuits: one against the antics of Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst and his disrespectful behavior towards fans at a radio concert in Chicago, and another suit against a man who reported Mancow to the FCC for alleged indecency on the air, which Mancow cites as totally unfounded. Mancow has recently withdrawn his second lawsuit because it was a publicity stunt.
See also
- Shock jock
- FOX News - FOX & Friends
External link
- MANCOW.COM (http://www.mancow.com)