Eric: Is It Fred’s First or Middle Name?

Photo: The Howard Stern Show

After a caller brought up that he watched “60 Minutes” last night and mentioned Ed, who had a tribute about him on the broadcast, seemed to live “a double life” because of the persona he took when he played music, Howard wondered if anyone ever called Fred by his legally changed name, Eric.

Fred replied, though, that no one referred to him as Eric, and explained that wasn’t the reason he changed his name in the first place. Given this, Howard admitted he was confused why Fred bothered switching his name if nobody called him Eric, and Fred told him the decision had to do with the hostile relationship he had with his father. When Fred said his legal name was still Fred Eric Norris, Howard mentioned he was even more confused because he thought Fred had officially changed his first name to Eric, but Fred wouldn’t make any further remarks on the topic.

Fred proceeded to note that it was Gary – or, as he called him this morning, “Blaba Booey” – who had discovered the name change, but Gary didn’t remember being the whistle blower. Fred then said he used to sign his name as Eric on “the FCC log” at KROCK, which was how Gary became aware of the name change.

Gary again claimed not to recall the incident, but added that, if he’d discovered Artie’s real name was James, he would’ve reacted the same way. Because of the tension the subject was causing, Howard played a prank call Richard and Sal made to a talk show using clips of Howard’s parents, Ray and Ben.