Howard Stern Remembers Johnny Fratto
The frequent caller and guest passes away as a result of lung cancer
November 9, 2015
Johnny Fratto — friend, frequent caller, and Eric the Actor’s former manager — passed away at the age of 61 as a result of lung cancer on Thursday at a Los Angeles hospital.
“Johnny Fratto, rest in peace, you were a great addition to the show,” Howard offered on Monday morning before recounting how he came to know Johnny.
Fratto was the son of “a top mafiosa guy” and would call in with priceless stories from his childhood like when he was too sick to see the Harlem Globetrotters, so his father had the Globetrotters come to him. Or that time his dad came into possession of a missing NASA space capsule that spent two weeks in their living room as a playground of sorts.
Later, of course, Johnny became Eric “The Actor” Lynch’s manager, his “Colonel Tom Parker” of sorts, when it became necessary for Eric to get help with his aspirations in Hollywood. “Johnny got the joke,” Howard remembered. “He was always the power behind the power chair.”
In one of the most iconic calls in Stern Show history, Fratto played Howard a voicemail that Eric left him, asking Johnny to take care of a guy who had called in to taunt him — ending with the infamous line: “You know what to do, you know what to do.”
Robin wondered if Johnny would be joined by Eric the Actor in heaven. “Of course, that’s what heaven is,” Howard assured her. Now we say farewell to Eric and Johnny.
The Howard Stern Show’s deepest condolences go out to Johnny Fratto’s family and friends.
