John Melendez: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Short description|American radio personality and comedian}}

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{{for|member of the Montour family known as Stuttering John|Montour family#"Stuttering John" Montour}}

{{Infobox person

| name = John Melendez

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* podcaster

}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Suzanna Keller (m. 1997–2012)|1997|2012|end=div}}

| parents =

| other_names = Stuttering John<ref name=AOLBio/>

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'''John Edward Melendez''' (born October 4, 1965), also known as '''Stuttering John''', is an American entertainer.

He is best known for being a callstaff screenermember on ''[[The Howard Stern Show]]'' from 1988 to 2004. Initially working as an intern, Melendez became known for asking celebrities impertinent questions at events and press conferences with his stuttering. He left the show to become the announcer on ''[[The Tonight Show with Jay Leno]]'' and also worked on Leno's later shows. In April 2018, he launched ''The Stuttering John Podcast''.

==Early life==

Melendez grew up in [[Massapequa, New York]], on [[Long Island, New York|Long Island]] and attended [[Plainedge High School]].<ref name=AOLBio/><ref>[http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/famous/controversial.html Controversial personalities who stutter.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418002558/http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/famous/controversial.html |date=2008-04-18 }} Minnesota State University, 1998-10-12. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.</ref><ref name="NSA">[http://www.nsastutter.org/material/index.php?matid=282 John Melendez.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063412/http://www.nsastutter.org/material/index.php?matid=282 |date=2016-03-04 }} National Stuttering Association. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.</ref> Melendez was born to a [[Puerto Rican people|Puerto Rican]] father and a [[Denmark|Danish]] mother. According to Melendez, he began to [[stutter]] when he was in the second grade as a result of psychological mistreatment from his father after he witnessed an argument between his parents.<ref name="SF">{{cite web|url=http://Stressfactory.com|title=Comics|access-date=2020-03-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003011025/https://www.stressfactory.com/|archive-date=2019-10-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> He attended [[Plainedge]] High School]], graduating in 1983, where he was picked on by the neighborhood bullies because of his stuttering.<ref name="SF"/>

[[File:1983-plainedge-high-school-yearbook-v0-yy8ijrjcsred1.webp|thumb|John Melendez in the Plainedge High School Class of 1983 Yearbook.]]

In 1988, Melendez attended [[New York University]]'s film school, but did not graduate, and belonged to a band called "Rock Slide." His college roommate, comedian [[Mitch Fatel]], was on the verge of quitting his internship with ''[[The Howard Stern Show]]'', when Melendez asked him for a recommendation for an internship there. The show's producer, [[Gary Dell'Abate]], mentioned Melendez's stuttering to [[Howard Stern]] who, without seeing him and even before he was interviewed, told the producer to hire him.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stern Spotlight: Stuttering John - Day 1. 04/14/08. 6:00am|website=Marksfriggin.com|url=http://www.marksfriggin.com/news08/4-14.htm#mon|access-date=2008-09-25|archive-date=2008-09-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922180516/http://www.marksfriggin.com/news08/4-14.htm#mon|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Career==

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The absurdity of the questions Melendez asked was often amplified by the fact that he himself appeared to lack common [[popular culture|pop culture]] knowledge and often did not even seem to know who the subjects of his interview were or why they were famous. Melendez would thus frequently be unaware of why his questions would provoke such angry reactions, such as when he asked [[Ally Sheedy]] if she had vomited lately, unaware that the actress suffered from [[bulimia]]. Some celebrities were a personal target of Stern's, such as [[Ted Williams]], who was interviewed by Melendez because Stern disapproved of athletes charging money for autographs. Celebrities would often react angrily, but other times, they would take the questions in good humor.

Melendez notably interviewed [[Gennifer Flowers]], [[Ringo Starr]], and the [[Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]].<ref name="Nothing's Out of the Question">Richard Lei, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/04/28/nothings-out-of-the-question/093d3ed1-ea17-430d-8b7f-4f81ae146fc3/?noredirect=on Nothing's Out of the Question] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028074129/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/04/28/nothings-out-of-the-question/093d3ed1-ea17-430d-8b7f-4f81ae146fc3/?noredirect=on |date=2018-10-28 }}, ''Washington Post'', April 28, 1994</ref> At Gennifer Flowers' news conference playing the 'Clinton Tapes', he asked her if she planned to sleep with any other candidates before the [[1992 United States presidential election|election]], to which she reacted by laughing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhQoXDLDIHM&feature=player_detailpage#t=150 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/YhQoXDLDIHM |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Classic Stuttering John Interviews|last=larmcc|date=22 April 2008|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He asked the Dalai Lama if anyone ever greeted him with "[[Hello, Dolly! (musical)|Hello Dalai]]!", in a joking reference to the play and movie; the Dalai Lama's translator whispered the translation to the Dalai Lama, who chuckled. At a press conference, Melendez asked Ringo Starr, "What did you do with the money?" When Starr asked, "What money?" Melendez responded with "The money your mother gave you for singing lessons!" Starr good-naturedly replied, "I spent it on fish and chips."<ref>Stern, Howard, Private Parts, 1993, Simon & Schuster, pg 397</ref> Singer [[Debbie Gibson]] also went along with the joke when Melendez asked her about losing an award to [[Wilson Phillips]], jokingly agreeing with his idea that "the [[Carnie Wilson|fat one]] would eat the statue." Melendez also provided comic interest with his misadventures, poor grammar, and sloppy pronunciation.<ref name="stuttjohn">{{cite magazine | url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,307197,00.htm | magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] | title=H-H-H-HERE'S JOHNNY! ASK A STUPID QUESTION, AND HOWARD STERN WILL HIRE YOU AS STUTTERING JOHN | date=16 July 1993 | access-date=16 April 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021192255/https://ew.com/ew/article/0,,307197,00.htm | archive-date=21 October 2012 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

====National exposure====

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===2014–present===

====''The Stuttering John Podcast ''and Trump prank call====

In April 2018, he launched his new podcast, ''The Stuttering John Podcast''. During Melendez's podcast on June 28, 2018, he prank-called the [[White House]] by pretending to be an assistant to Senator from New Jersey, [[Bob Menendez]]. Melendez ultimately received a call back from [[United States President|President]] [[Donald Trump]] as he was traveling on [[Air Force One]]. Melendez then impersonated Senator Menendez and had a four-minute conversation focusing on immigration reform and the Supreme Court vacancy. Notably, President Trump was congratulatory regarding the outcome of Senator Menendez's [[Bob Menendez#Allegations of corruption|ethics lawsuit]]{{Broken anchor|date=2024-07-30|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Bob Menendez#Allegations of corruption|reason= The anchor (Allegations of corruption) [[Special:Diff/1235662313|has been deleted]].}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/29/politics/stuttering-john-podcast-prank-call-donald-trump/index.html|title=Comedian claims to have successfully prank called Trump|last1=Tatum|first1=Sophie|last2=Diaz|first2=Daniella|last3=Ganim|first3=Sara|publisher=CNN|date=June 29, 2018|access-date=June 29, 2018|archive-date=June 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629222127/https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/29/politics/stuttering-john-podcast-prank-call-donald-trump/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The White House has confirmed the security breach.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/white-house-prank-call-bob-menendez-687897|title=White House scrambles to figure out how prankster got on the phone with Trump|last=Nelson|first=Louis|publisher=Politico|date=June 29, 2018|access-date=June 29, 2018|archive-date=June 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629204700/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/white-house-prank-call-bob-menendez-687897|url-status=live}}</ref>

On July 2, 2018, Melendez announced that he had retained lawyer [[Michael Avenatti]] to represent him in relation to the prank call after being visited by [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service agents]] over the previous weekend.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/stormy-danielss-attorney-picks-up-a-new-client-stuttering-john-who-prank-called-trump-last-week/2018/07/02/8be1fa80-7df0-11e8-b660-4d0f9f0351f1_story.html|title=Stormy Daniels's attorney picks up a new client: 'Stuttering John,' who prank-called Trump last week|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2018-07-03|archive-date=2018-07-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702155106/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/stormy-danielss-attorney-picks-up-a-new-client-stuttering-john-who-prank-called-trump-last-week/2018/07/02/8be1fa80-7df0-11e8-b660-4d0f9f0351f1_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

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Melendez's book ''Easy for You to Say'' was released in October 2018.<ref>{{cite book|title=Easy For You To Say|isbn = 978-1947856196|last1 = Melendez|first1 = John|date = October 2018}}</ref>

==Personal life==

==Following the divorce, Melendez apparently failed as a parent and allowed his most damaged child to mutilate herself . Melendez narrowly avoided prosecution for this but was later arrested on a DUI==

After moving to California in 2004 to work on ''The Tonight Show'', Melendez lived in [[Calabasas, California|Calabasas]] with his wife Suzanna Keller and their three children. The couple filed for separation in October 2011 and divorced in 2012.<ref>[http://article.wn.com/view/2012/05/07/Stuttering_John_getting_divorced/ Stuttering John getting divorced] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130210005802/http://article.wn.com/view/2012/05/07/Stuttering_John_getting_divorced |date=2013-02-10 }}; ''Article.wn.com'', May 7, 2012</ref>

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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080509184736/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/babyface/articles/story/5925080/grammy_out_of_control Grammy Out of Control.] ''Rolling Stone Magazine'' 1997-01-07. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.

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{{S-media}}

{{Succession box

| before=[[Edd Hall]]

| after=[[Andy Richter]]

| title=''[[The Tonight Show]]'' announcer

| years=2004–2009}}

{{S-end}}

▲{{Authority control}}

<!-- Please do not add Category:Tonight Show to this article. There is strong consensus against categorizing performers and hosts by the shows on which they appear.-->

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[[Category:American male film actors]]

[[Category:American male voice actors]]

[[Category:American comedy podcasters]]

[[Category:American people of Danish descent]]

[[Category:American people of Puerto Rican descent]]