# What is wrong with Larry King? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094 "2004-11-16T18:44:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/1 "2004-11-16T18:44:36Z")
I know we don’t have enough bandwidth to do the topic justice. This isn’t a Pit thread. I have no problem with his show or his softball questions. I choose not to watch but it doesn’t bother me. Yesterday I was a captive audience(doing cardio in front of a TV I had no control over) and what I saw confused me. He had Clay Aiken on. Before the show started it was billed as “Clay Aiken’s first interview since the death of his father.” OK maybe he had something important to say about his dad and the impact he had on his life. Maybe his father was a great man who needed to be remembered by America. Nope. First we find out his father died in February 😕 . Then we find out he has had almost no contact with his father since he was twelve 😕 . They spent about 20 seconds on the subject of his father. It was a half hour interview. Throughout most of the interview there was a graphic under Aiken’s name stating “this is the first interview since his fathers death.” He hasn’t done any interviews because not that many people care about him and he has been busy making two new albums and writing a book. I couldn’t care less about Clay Aiken but how this interview was packaged was just bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![3894](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/f4b2a3/32.png) [@3894](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3894)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/2 "2004-11-16T18:54:33Z")
In the recent Moments of Talk Show Disaster (or something like that) thread, I posted about Larry’s interview with Ann Margaret. But Loach has now made me wonder: _what did Larry know and when did he know it?_ The Ann Margaret thing was billed for days as “At last, Ann Margaret talks about her affair with Elvis!” She didn’t. So did Larry know Ann Margaret’s big revelation would be that she used to call Elvis “E.P.”? Or did Larry bring her on in good faith? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/3 "2004-11-16T19:03:23Z")
> [@3894](#): > > In the recent Moments of Talk Show Disaster (or something like that) thread, I posted about Larry’s interview with Ann Margaret. But Loach has now made me wonder: _what did Larry know and when did he know it?_ > > The Ann Margaret thing was billed for days as “At last, Ann Margaret talks about her affair with Elvis!” > > She didn’t. > > So did Larry know Ann Margaret’s big revelation would be that she used to call Elvis “E.P.”? Or did Larry bring her on in good faith? I was wondering if LK got blind-sided by his guest. I know it has happened in the past on other shows. Some have told the PAs in the preinterview “ask me about X” and then said “I don’t want to talk about that” when they got to the interview. Thats not what happened here. Something like two questions were asked and answered and there was nothing else to say. I am confused. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/4 "2004-11-16T19:37:08Z")
Howyadoin, In a marginally related manner… So whose bright idea was it to stick Larry in the CNN studio on election night? Jesus, Mary and Joseph, hours of Larry dropping in out of nowhere with the most asinine questions imaginable. I swear I saw Wolf Blitzer roll his eyes at least twice. -Rav ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/5 "2004-11-16T19:39:24Z")
> [@The\_Raven](#): > > Howyadoin, > > In a marginally related manner… > > So whose bright idea was it to stick Larry in the CNN studio on election night? Jesus, Mary and Joseph, hours of Larry dropping in out of nowhere with the most asinine questions imaginable. > > I swear I saw Wolf Blitzer roll his eyes at least twice. > > -Rav You ain’t kidding. Its what kept me on CBS for most of the night. He was completely out of his league. ---
**Author:** ![professor\_folk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df788c/32.png) [@professor\_folk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/professor_folk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/6 "2004-11-16T19:48:36Z")
well, when he lobs softballs at the likes of Sylvia Browne, how can you expect to get real questions out of him when a ‘real’ guest is on? ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/7 "2004-11-16T19:59:43Z")
> [@The\_Raven](#): > > So whose bright idea was it to stick Larry in the CNN studio on election night? Jesus, Mary and Joseph, hours of Larry dropping in out of nowhere with the most asinine questions imaginable. > > I swear I saw Wolf Blitzer roll his eyes at least twice. Oh wow, I’m sorry I missed this! What were some of Larry’s questions? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/8 "2004-11-16T20:02:44Z")
> [@professor folk](#): > > well, when he lobs softballs at the likes of Sylvia Browne, how can you expect to get real questions out of him when a ‘real’ guest is on? It was an interview with Clay Aiken. I expected nothing but fluff and thats what it was. He seems like a nice young man. Seems like a pleasant fellow to share a conversation with or something. I didn’t expect a hard-hitting interview but why mention his father at all? Especially the way they did it. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/9 "2004-11-16T20:34:04Z")
What’s wrong with Larry King? Larry King greatly overestimates his relevance to the American populace, and CNN affords him the luxury of continued delusion. And I defy you to come up with a more politically-correct way of saying that. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/10 "2004-11-16T21:11:42Z")
I once heard Larry King say that the way he prepares for interviews is by NOT preparing for interviews. That ought to tell you something. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/11 "2004-11-17T02:01:09Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > Oh wow, I’m sorry I missed this! What were some of Larry’s questions? I don’t have a transcript with me, but (at least during the parts I saw) he asked ridiculously simplistic questions on voting patterns and the like, that suggested (to put it lightly) that he hadn’t been doing any sort of research. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/12 "2004-11-17T04:08:22Z")
I honestly thought you meant “What medical condition causes his head to be so big and all tilted forward like that?” ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/13 "2004-11-17T04:37:33Z")
Larry, in a nutshell: a kitschy pseudo-writer whose best journalistic days are long, long behind him and whose cardiovascular output is mainly steered toward shtupping his inexplicably randy, young wife. That’s Larry’s excuse. I’m still waiting to find out what CNN’s excuse is. Everyone at the network can’t have an inexplicably randy, young wiFe. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/14 "2004-11-17T04:45:28Z")
I’ve been wondering for a while if Larry has some sort of deteriorating mental condition. Dementia or Alzheimer’s, or something. It seems like his non sequiturs and astonishing inappropriate questions are more and more frequent. One that sticks out in my mind was from a while back when he was talking to some woman who had been brutally raped. “What was going through your mind as he made love to you?” I’ll never forget the “Dude, WTF?” look on her face. It seems every time he interviews someone lately, there’s at least _one_ that makes you wonder where the hell he thinks he is and who he thinks he’s talking to. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/15 "2004-11-17T04:50:18Z")
> [@TeaElle](#): > > Larry, in a nutshell: a kitschy pseudo-writer whose best journalistic days are long, long behind him and whose cardiovascular output is mainly steered toward shtupping his inexplicably randy, young wife. Who is a devout Mormon, strangely enough. (“Let’s see, he’s non-Mormon- Jewish in fact, much older than my father, he’s been divorced seventeen times and his face looks like somebody sucked the air out with a Hoover- that’s exactly what I’m looking for!”) Did anybody see his interview with Jerry Lewis recently? Lewis, historically an ass-hat anyway, got pissed off but I don’t blame him; Jerry had just finished talking about how he was in enormous pain for 40 years due to a serious back injury from a mangled prat-fall in his Martin-Lewis days that worsened due to injuries from performing other physical comedy. (Today Lewis is pain free due to the steroids that cause his current bloated appearance and to electrical stimulation devices.) Later while discussing his movies from the 50s/60s and the “zaniness” thereof, King asked (and he was not being facetious) “Did you ever get hurt while doing any of those stunts?” Speaking of Sylvia Browne, I have no idea why King, Montel and others give this old empress of blatant quackery such a pass (or why they don’t get in trouble for dispensing medical advice without a license when she tells callers they have pituitary problems or should have their gall bladder examined, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/16 "2004-11-17T05:04:48Z")
> [@masonite](#): > > I honestly thought you meant “What medical condition causes his head to be so big and all tilted forward like that?” > [@Samipro](#): > > (“Let’s see, he’s non-Mormon- Jewish in fact, much older than my father, he’s been divorced seventeen times and his face looks like somebody sucked the air out with a Hoover- that’s exactly what I’m looking for!”) As it happens, the quack who’s done his plastic surgery is _not_ a registered doctor here in the states – he’s supposedly a doctor in Venezuela or somesuch, but here he could only get a nursing license. I’m told the fake doctor was arrested yesterday (along with Diana Ritchie, ex-wife of Lionel) on money laundering charges. It apparently hasn’t hit the papers yet (if it even will), but I know this through an associate who’s a money manager who has a client the fake doc tried to lure into a money laundering scheme – she called him to thank him for saving her ass. As for King’s style, someone on the Television Without Pity boards posted the perfect summary of last night’s interview… > [@](#): > > “Clay, we’re happy to have you here. You’ve got a new CD out, right? And your father’s dead. Do you like the color blue? I like brussel sprouts, and speaking of Brussels, I’m sure you’ll head to Belgium someday. You’ve got a 20 city tour coming up and a new book out. Did you write the book yourself? What do you think about my tie? I like your sweater. Are you close to your Mom? Do you still talk to friends back home? Arnold Schwartzenegger is here tomorrow!!! Get in your phone calls even though we’re only taking two. So tell me why you’re here again?” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/17 "2004-11-17T06:31:51Z")
Jerry Lewis is off the bloating steroids, and his weight is down to 200 pounds or less, per an article and photos in a recent issue of _The National Enquirer_. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/18 "2004-11-18T21:02:49Z")
I thought even Larry King wondered why he was on the set on election night. That isn’t his thing. He isn’t an analyst. He is a coffee talk guy. [hijack for story only I will laugh at] I have, for years, told my brother that Larry King looked like a male version of our grandma. Anyway, some years later, I happened to be visiting with my grandma and Larry King’s show comes on. My grandma says to me, “I don’t like this program. That Larry King is the UGLIEST man I have ever laid eyes on!” I almost crapped my pants. [/hijack for story only I will laugh at] ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/19 "2004-11-18T22:38:11Z")
I have to say, watching Larry King react to Marlon Brando laying a big, juicy smooch on his lips just about made my sides split open. That entire interview had to be one of the greated “What The _Fuck??_” moments in talk-show history. As strange as both Larry’s appearance and line of questioning can be, you gotta give him mad props for being somehow able to elicit even more bizarro behavior out of some of his guests. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094/20 "2004-11-18T23:59:04Z")
> [@watsonwil](#): > > I thought even Larry King wondered why he was on the set on election night. > > That isn’t his thing. He isn’t an analyst. > > He is a coffee talk guy. > > [hijack for story only I will laugh at] > I have, for years, told my brother that Larry King looked like a male version of our grandma. > > Anyway, some years later, I happened to be visiting with my grandma and Larry King’s show comes on. My grandma says to me, “I don’t like this program. That Larry King is the UGLIEST man I have ever laid eyes on!” I almost crapped my pants. > > [/hijack for story only I will laugh at] Funny story. And you hit it when you said he’s a coffee talk guy. He’s the interviewer who you want to watch when your favorite star/politician/whatever is on, and you watch because that person being interviewed will usually end up looking and sounding good. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-larry-king/275094.md?page=2)