Magic Johnson's Late Night Nightmare with W. Kamau Bell and Reggie Watts | 28

The Big Flop

Wondery

Society & Culture, Comedy, Business

4.6 • 884 Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After a Hall of Fame career, basketball legend Magic Johnson was given his very own late night talk show on Fox, The Magic Hour. It seemed like a slam dunk! Johnson had the fame, charisma, and charm to top the ratings, but things went quickly sideways. When radio shock jock Howard Stern took aim at Johnson, relentlessly making fun of his lackluster hosting abilities on air, Fox did the unthinkable and invited Stern onto the show for a confrontation that is almost too uncomfortable to revisit….almost.

Comedian W. Kamau Bell (United Shades of America) and performer Reggie Watts (The Late Show With James Corden) join Misha to give a play-by-play of the doomed Magic Hour.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the Big Flop early and ad-free.
0:05.3	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:19.9	It's July 2nd, 1998, and basketball legend and philanthropist, Magic Johnson, is flustered.
0:30.1	He's backstage at his very own late-night talk show, The Magic Hour, which has been on the air for less than a month and pretty much
0:39.7	universally panned. The ratings are awful. He's not getting better at hosting. He's on his
0:47.1	second sidekick, and worse, he's got an enemy. That's right. Magic, the most likable person in America, is being
0:56.9	trolled by the self-proclaimed king of all media, shock jock, Howard Stern. Through unceasing
1:07.7	public criticism over Magic's hosting abilities,
1:16.6	Stern has wormed himself onto Magic show for a face-to-face confrontation.
1:19.6	And Magic can't say no.
1:23.4	His producers want the drama to boost viewership.
1:28.6	Everyone, even TV critics, warn this will be a disaster.
1:34.5	Stern and his entourage will not only be there as interview guests.
1:37.2	They'll perform a song, too.
1:45.2	Stern's band, The Losers, will feature live flatulists, aka musical farders.
1:50.4	Magic takes a few big breaths before showtime,
1:53.8	far away from Stern's farting friends, and begins one of the most stressful hours of his life.
1:59.8	Stern's band does the farting, but magic ends up stinking up the joint.
2:05.6	You all know my next guest, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, now getting ready to join the talk show arena.
2:16.6	Please welcome my good friend, Urban Magic Johnson.
2:20.1	The Magic Hour debuted to mixed reviews from the critics, but late-night TV is a tough
2:23.9	feel to play on as the show vibe, hosted by Sinbad, just found out.
	...

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