Question in title. I’m not much of a Stern fan, though I did catch Private Parts not long ago on cable and thought it was pretty good. I enjoyed reading the book too.
Anyway, I know there’s this minion of his who goes by the name Baba Booey. What I’m curious about is that it sounds like it’s some more common name being spoken by someone with a strong speech impediment, very quickly. Sort of like Baba Wawa for Barbara Walters. Though I’m fairly sure Baba Booey is a guy, so the first part obviously isn’t Barbara.
But what, if anything, does the name “Baba Booey” stand for other than itself?
Boy Gary (his old name) used to collect cartoon cells. He came in one day all excited and bragging about his new “Babba Booey” (Baba Looey) cell. The name stuck.
It’s a nickname for Gary, who is Howard’s producer. Gary has a collection of animation cells from a cartoon featuring a character named Baba Looey. Gary got tongue-tied and said “Baba Booey” once and he got stuck with the nickname.
Not for nothing, but I was listening the day it happened. It was like 15 years ago and Gary predicted they’d forget about it a week. A few years later he apparently embraced it because he copyrighted the name.
