Tony Kornheiser
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Tony Kornheiser (born Anthony Irwin Kornheiser on July 13, 1948), is a American sportswriter, radio and television talk show host, and columnist for The Washington Post. He has co-hosted Pardon the Interruption on ESPN since 2001, and beginning in 2006, he will be an analyst for ESPN's Monday Night Football. He was raised in Lynbrook, a town on Long Island, New York, and attended Hewlett High School (http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.08.09/fast1.html). He spent his college years at Binghamton University, where he began his journalism carrier. He is well known for his savage wit and sarcastic humor on print, radio and TV.
Print Career
His columns are usually sarcastic with touches of humor. The most distinct style of his columns is that he often uses his alter ego in italics to question his points of views for self-deprecation, like "Excuse me, Tony..."
In 1991, Kornheiser created a string of now-famous Bandwagon [link] columns to describe the Washington Redskins' incredible Super Bowl run that year. He started the idea when the Washington Redskins trounced the Detroit Lions 45-0. He officially unveiled the first Bandwagon column when the Redskins were 4-0. From then on, the Bandwagon column appeared weekly. When the Redskins advanced to Super Bowl XXVI, Kornheiser and his Post colleagues rode a 33-foot recreational vehicle decorated as the Bandwagon for a 1,200-mile journey to Minneapolis, MN.
In the 1990s, Tony usually wrote three columns per week, which were a Tuesday column and a Thursday column in the Sports Section and a Sunday column in the Style Section. Because of his work on both radio and Pardon the Interruption, he stopped writing Style Section columns and only wrote one column a week. His last Style Section column was published on September 30, 2001 [link]. His three books, Pumping Irony, Bald as I Wanna Be and I'm Back for More Cash, are the compilations of his Style Section columns.
In 2005, Tony started to write short columns called A Few Choice Words with his photo in the Post's Sports Section. These short, sports-related columns appear on the 2nd page of the Post's Sports section and are much shorter than the full-length columns Kornheiser used to write for the paper. This is the first time The Washington Post posts a columnist's photo besides his column. He calls these short columns "columnettes." He usually writes three "columnettes" per week unless he has other duties. It is not known how many short columns per week he will write when he is on ESPN's Monday Night Football.
Tony was nominated in the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
Radio Career
He hosted The Tony Kornheiser Show first on WTEM out of Washington, D.C. between May 1992 and November 1997, then on ESPN radio between January 5, 1998 and March 26, 2004, and back on WTEM between November 10, 2004 and April 28, 2006. His show was once carried by XM Satellite Radio between February 28, 2005 and April 28, 2006. The original show was produced by Mitch Levy. Gregory Thomas Garcia was a board op on the show, and later ascended to producer of the show.When the Tony Kornheiser Show launched in 1992, Tony basically had two rules:
- No athletes as guests because Tony thinks their interviews are boring and hard to get the points Tony wants.
- When callers call in, Tony request them to go straight to the topic without pleasantries. If a caller asks "how are you doing?" a "Banned from the Tony Kornheiser Show" soundbite will come up and the call is off.
Although Tony does not like callers to say "how are you doing?" he likes callers and e-mailers to have funny and creative comments. John from D.C. always said "T.K. Stack Money" when he called in. Steve the Sycophant from Virginia, always said "Tony my idol" on the phone.
Because Tony needed to focus on writing his Style column in the Washington Post weekly, he usually did not host the show on Thursdays. Usually Andy Pollin, the Sports Director at WTEM, would guest-host Tony's Show on Thursdays. Between 1996 and 1997, Warner Wolf was named the guest host of the Tony Kornheiser Show on Thursdays until he moved to New York as a substituting sports anchor on Imus in the Morning. Tony started to host on Thursdays when he was on ESPN Radio.
When the Tony Kornheiser Show on ESPN Radio debuted in January 1998, the show aired between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.. In early 1999, WTEM moved The Tony Kornheiser Show to the 4-7 p.m. slot as a tape delay show. Kornheiser did not like the idea because he would lose the callers from the WTEM broadcasting area.
On September 13, 1999, ESPN radio moved The Tony Kornheiser Show to his favorite 10 a.m.-1 p.m. slot to make room for The Dan Patrick Show. WTEM accommodated the move by reducing The Jim Rome Show to 2 hours. Jim Rome was furious at the move. He voiced his displeasure on the air, attacked Kornheiser and demanded WTEM to get his third hour back. Kornheiser responded to Rome's attack by his usual sarcastic humor. The producing staff of The Tony Kornheiser Show even played several Jim Rome parodies. The "Snackdown" was one of the most famous parodies in The Tony Kornheiser Show. Two phrases, "Clahhsic!" and "Epic!", both said in a tone mocking Jim Rome, became the staples of The Tony Kornheiser Show. Also, Tony's nickname "Mr. Kornmissioner" was derived from this segment. Other famous moments from the show include Tony's reference to his place of broadcast, the ESPN Zone, as the ESPN SportsZone, and referring to SportsTalk980 by its old name/call letters, WTEM.
Andy Pollin's nickname on the show is Andy Polley. The name "Polley" is in reference to an irate caller who called the show and screamed "Andy Pollin, you are an idiot!" However, the caller mispronounced Pollin's last name as Polley, and the nickname has stuck ever since. The most recent version of the show included a sports score update segment that was called "Andy Polley's Happy Funtime Sports Extravaganza".
The show would conclude with Tony reading emails from his listeners. The segment is called Tony's Mailbag, and the jingle introducing the segment is sung by Gary Braun, a member of the original and most recent incarnation of the show. The music that plays in the background during this segment is "Tea for Two Cha Cha" by Roy Battle (pronounced Bah-tell by Tony) and the Altones. The band is dubbed "The official house band of the Tony Kornheiser Show". [link]. Later on, Gadget White and opera singer Denyce Graves would create alternate opening jingles for this segment. During Tony's second tenure on WTEM, Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish also recorded the opening jingle for Tony's Mailbag.
Although The Tony Kornheiser Show is a sports-talk show, Tony spends a lot of segments discussing current events, music, entertainment and life surrounding Tony, including his dog, Maggie. His love of the music in 1960s insprired a radio segment called Old Guy Radio. His other-stuff talk makes his talk show much more interesting when there is no big sports event. In essence, his non-sports talk becomes a talk show version of his Washington Post Style Section columns.
Mr. Kornheiser, a self-admitted agitator stemming from his time as a young adult in the late 1960s, would do many things to provoke wrath from his bosses, fellow ESPN employees, (especially the on-air TV "heads") and from ESPN Radio's usual core audience, which only wanted intense sports talk as opposed to stories about how to cook a chicken, his mischievous brittany spaniel, Maggie, or him kvetching about the people he dislikes, his old age, his kids, and his lack of hair.
The on-air TV "heads" were featured prominently on the show in a comedic game called the ESPN Fantasy Head League. It is based off of fantasy sports leagues, except the athletes comprised of only ESPN/ABC sports personalities. The people who appeared regularly on the show (Andy, Phil Ceppaglia, Kevin Stanfield, and Tony himself) participated in a mock fantasy draft of the on-air personalities, which featured people such as Dan Patrick, Mike Tirico, Stuart Scott, Dana Jacobson, and Neil Everett. Each person on the show would earn points for the types of shows each head appeared on. More points were given to higher profile spots, such as the 11 p.m. SportsCenter, or an ABC Sports program.
In late 2001, Tony decided to leave the microphones on when his show went to a commercial break, as a treat to his internet radio listeners. The result was the infamous yet wildly popular "Internet Show", where online listeners could hear what the people on the show really thought about sports, entertainment, politics, and other stuff.[link]
Two popular internet show segments involved Rich Eisen telling the Bea Arthur joke, and Tony ripping an angry emailer who proclaimed that he hated Tony's show. Eisen heard the Bea Arthur joke at the Friar's Club comedy roast of Jerry Stiller in 1999, where the joke was told by Jeffrey Ross[link]. Tony's tirade against the angry emailer, red89hawk@aol.com, was peppered with foul language and vitriolic sentiment, a hallmark of the Internet Show, and Tony's rants in general. The red89hawk segment also featured an E-mail Jihad, a barrage of angry emails from listeners directed at the person criticizing Mr. Tony. The Internet Show was a forum of real emotions from real people engaging in informal conversations, and would regularly contain explicit topics and foul language. As Tony once said during the Rich Eisen internet show segment, "That's why we always say, this is the X-Rated portion of the show."
The Internet Show was cancelled on January 4, 2002 when it was alleged that racist remarks were made during one of the segments. It was reinstated in February 2002. The Internet Show was pulled off the air for good in the summer of 2002, when then-producer, and friend of Mr. Tony, Denis Horgan Jr., was fired for inappropriate e-mail conduct. Tony criticized management on the air for Horgan's firing, and was subsequently suspended from ESPN Radio for one week. This suspension became known as Tony's "Vacation" when the topic of his "disappearance" arises. The continuous arguments with ESPN Radio management led to Tony's departure in March 2004. His last show on ESPN Radio was aired on March 26, 2004.
Seven months after leaving ESPN Radio, "Mr. Tony" returned to WTEM with Andy Pollin, Gary Braun, and Marc Sterne (who now dons the persona of "Nigel" Sterne, a British-sounding producer whose authenticity was questioned on March 24th, 2006, but had proof that he was from England, showing his English Badge on Channel 8. However, the authenticity of his daily appearances on Channel 8 is also in extreme doubt, so the mystery remains) on November 10, 2004. The show was heard online on SportsTalk 980 from 9 a.m. EST to 11 a.m. EST, after which the show was repeated until 1 p.m. EST (the 11 a.m. repeat aired on XM Satellite Radio's Extreme XM). He often ends his radio show by saying "If you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white" as a tribute to the Rolling Stones.
The Tony Kornheiser Show is on hiatus after the April 28, 2006 broadcast so that Kornheiser can change his sleep schedule to accommodate his future role as a color analyst on ESPN's Monday Night Football. Kornheiser has stated that he plans on returning to radio after the NFL Football Season. From time to time, Kornheiser will call in to his replacements, Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban, whenever he feels like to discuss matters such as The Sopranos, American Idol, and 24 (TV series).
TV Career
In the 1990s, he frequently appeared on ESPN's The Sports Reporters.He used to be a panelist in Full Court Press hosted by George Michael on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. He sometimes guest-hosts Redskins Report on WRC-TV when George Michael is away.
His lively segments with colleague Michael Wilbon on the radio and on Full Court Press, which mirrored their actual discussions in the press room of The Washington Post, sparked the idea for Pardon the Interruption well before the end of his run at ESPN Radio. Pardon the Interruption is currently the highest rated sports talk show on ESPN.
When Monday Night Football moved from ABC to ESPN, Tony received and accepted an offer to be a color analyst on Monday Night Football in early 2006. He was originally passed over in favor of Sunday Night Football commentator Joe Theismann; however, when play-by-play man Al Michaels left ABC/ESPN, Kornheiser was brought in alongside Theismann and new play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico.
Unlike Wilbon, Kornheiser has done most episodes of PTI in-studio due to his self-admitted fear of flying. His last trips outside of the studio were to cover Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans and to attend the NFL owners meetings in Orlando in 2006; Tony both times travelled via train, though returned from the Orlando trip via airplane. It is rumored that he will travel to MNF games via a bus, though he has mentioned on his radio program that he is taking steps to overcome his aviophobia. On the April 6th edition of PTI, when asked about how he liked the Monday Night Football Schedule, he said he hated it because all of the games were not close to where he lived.
Entertainment
The 2004-2005 sitcom Listen Up, which aired on CBS, was based on Kornheiser's life. It featured Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) as Tony Kleinman, and the sitcom's material mostly came from Kornheiser's columns (collected in I'm Back for More Cash) that he contributed to the "Style" section of the Washington Post; the columns took a humorous view of his family life.Personal
Tony is the only child of Ira and Estelle Kornheiser, both now deceased. Tony currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife Karril. They have two children, Elizabeth and Michael. Elizabeth graduated from Cornell University and works at Clyde's in Washington, DC. Michael goes to the University of Pennsylvania.Politically, Kornheiser describes himself as a "Blue State Guy." Appropriately, he and Wilbon are close friends with Democratic political advisor James Carville, who has appeared several times on PTI.
Bibliography
- 1983 - "The Baby Chase". Macmillan. 212 Pages. ISBN 0689113544
- 1995 - Pumping Irony: Working Out the Angst of a Lifetime. DIANE Publishing Company. ISBN 0788167731.
- 1997 - Bald as I Wanna Be. Villard. 304 pages. ISBN 0375500375.
- 2003 - I’m Back for More Cash: a Tony Kornheiser collection (Because You Can’t Take Two Hundred Newspapers into the Bathroom). Villard. 400 pages. ISBN 0812968530.
External links
- [Tony’s recent sports columns from The Washington Post] (requires registration)
- [Official website of Sports Talk 980]
- [This Website Stinks! An Unofficial Tony Kornheiser Website] Dedicated to Tony Kornheiser's Radio Show and his Monday Night Football gig
- [The Tony Kornheiser unofficial home page] includes an archive of columns from 1996-2001
- [Tony's famous Bandwagon columns from The Washington Post during Washington Redskins' Super Bowl Run in 1991] (requires registration)
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