Howard Stern put together a touching, emotional farewell (see below) to America’s Got Talent, saying he took the job four years ago because he hoped he could “take someone who was struggling and seriously give advice.” He was true to his ideal: Stern was unstintingly honest (which wasn’t easy), appropriately enthusiastic, and compassionate. He was uniquely qualified: Howard Stern has simply seen more acts and more talent over his long career than PT Barnum and Quincy Jones combined. And he gave out generously the wisdom he’s stored up from all that show business.
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“I was told over and over again that I had no talent,” Stern says. His father once reviewed his college radio show in a five-page letter that was “brutally honest.” But he did it “out of love,” Stern says. Stern learned that lesson well. He’s been brutally honest as a judge because he genuinely loves the performers who take their chance, take their shot — and because he respects the audience, believing they deserve the best.
