VIDEO: Gary Dell’Abate Reveals Origin Story of His Infamous Lists

The lists in “They Call Me Baba Booey” – the memoir by Stern Show executive producer Gary Dell’Abate that hit store shelves 10 years ago – have long been discussed on the Stern Show. But on Wednesday, Gary finally gave some insight into how he became obsessed with the jotting down lists, starting when he was a small child.

“I’ve been into lists my whole life,” he admitted before Howard played a portion of the audiobook in which Gary revealed during long car trips his older brother Steven would have him write down the results of WABC Radio’s top 100 songs of that year into a composition notebook.

“I used to listen to WABC. You wanted the list, they would mail it to you,” a perplexed Howard responded. “They would give you the list. He sat in a car for two and a half hours writing his own list … who would do that?”

As the discussion continued, Howard focused on the motives of Gary’s brother for getting him into lists in the first place. “You know Gary’s brother must have hated him,” he teased of his longtime executive producer. “Because he said, ‘What can I do to this little fucker to waste more of his life?’”

“Maybe it was a way to shut me up, now that you’re saying it,” Gary conceded. “What do I know, we’re in a car for three hours.”

Despite the time Gary did put into the lists, he went on to say that he never fully completed them. “It would just go in a drawer, it never got finished,” he recalled. “ I did it for several years.”

“He didn’t even keep these things, Howard. They meant nothing to him,” co-host Robin Quivers said with bewilderment.

“They meant enough for me to put them in a book, Robin,” Gary shot back with a laugh.

Check out more on the producer’s list obsession in the video (above).