I was thinking about Art's post last week about the expectation for the show, and the fact that he will be 70 and not 40 when the new show starts. The only concern (very slight, I must admit) would be that he has mellowed in the interim, because the Art we all knew and loved always had an edge.
I don't know about anyone else, but I won't consider the new show officially started until Art gets ornery with someone, be it caller or guest. The best thing about it is that Art is old-school enough not to tear them off a strip, shock-jock style, but you are aware of a mounting grumpiness that usually boils up into a tetchy remark or sarcastic aside that makes it much more entertaining than a bit of straightforward yelling. He is obviously a man who finds fools very hard to tolerate, and the simmering annoyance that you get with him is worlds away from the usual blandness you associate with a host. I was just listening to a Malachi Martin show the other day, and a caller was waffling away, then you heard Art say (with sinister emphasis), 'Do. You. Have. A. Question?
If anyone call recall specific instances of this I would be interested to hear them. The one that sticks in my mind is the interview with Dallas Thompson. After a half or so of Art being patient, he finally realises that he is dealing with a man with a plate in his head and a tenuous grasp on reality. The interview continues to slide downhill as Thompson's dementia grows ever more apparent, and Art decides he wants to know who booked him for the interview, and he keeps going back to this point, trying to get Thompson to tell him who was responsible. The exchange went something like:
Art: Was it Lisa?
Dallas? [hesitant] Lisa's not in trouble, is she?
Art: [tone as dry as the Gobi Desert] That has yet to be determined
Please share any of your favourite memories of 'When Art Gets Pissed'.