Steve Grillo, a former intern on “The Howard Stern Show,” has written a self-published tell-all memoir entitled “Gorilla Parts” that shares behind-the-scenes details about working for Stern.
Grillo was an unpaid intern for six years during the show’s time at 92.3 WXRK, New York, and told the New York Post he eventually received minimum wage while suffering a variety of humiliations.
“The place was a snake pit; you never knew when you were going to be set up,” Grillo said. “I was always a nervous wreck, and it got worse when they brought me on the show.
Grillo said he took the job intending to be behind the scenes.
“I’d have Robin [Quivers, co-host] cackling in my ear; somebody would be throwing balls of paper in my face. Then I would have Howard staring at me, with his piercing blue eyes darting all over the place, trying to make me look worse than I already did.”
Grillo said Stern was a different person off-air and hated confrontation. He added that when the mics were on, it was a different story: ” He continually broke my balls. I was always getting yelled at for not preparing his baked potato properly and failing to get him his hot water when he needed it.”
“He made me wear a turban and an Indian outfit that looked like a diaper when I went to get his hot water [from a nearby coffee shop]. It was embarrassing.”
One particularly disturbing incident was when Stern made Grillo, who is dyslexic, compete in a spelling bee against his 11-year-old daughter. After losing, Stern called him “stupid.”
Stern named Grillo “Gorilla,” a name he says he hated. Grillo said the brushes with fame still held an allure despite the near-constant humiliations.
One of Grillo’s jobs was meeting Stern’s limo daily and walking him into the building.
“I noticed a car parked in front of 600 Madison Avenue, where the radio station was. A guy was standing on the corner.” He instructed the driver to go to the rear of the building.
Grillo says he heard the man shouting at Stern, “Howard Stern, you motherf—er, I’m going to kill you. I pushed Howard into the building before the guy could do anything. Security came out, and the police were called. The guy was put into handcuffs. I saw his shotgun with 12 shells on top of the car,” thankfully, no one was hurt.”
Grillo adds that the on-air thank you was less than sincere, “It was a throw-away thanks,” he said.
Today, Grillo’s feelings toward Stern remain strong. “How about this?” Grillo said. “I didn’t even put Howard in the acknowledgments of the book.”
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