Without a doubt, this may be one of the most iconic disagreements in the history of The Howard Stern Show. And let's face it, some of the best content on the SiriusXM satellite radio show is the arguments. Of course, Howard is also easily one of the best celebrity interviewers of all time and gets a lot out of his guests, whether they are celebrities like Madonna or political figures like Hillary Clinton, but his show-within-a-show thing is the most fascinating to die-hard fans. This is because Howard has made his staffers celebrities of their own right. We know what makes each of them tick, what their eccentricities are, and how they relate to one another and the man in charge. In a sense, The Howard Stern Show is a bit of a reality show with Howard and his long-time co-host Robin Quivers at the helm.
While Robin and Howard are best friends in real life, Howard just can't seem to let go of one of Robin's most notorious dinner party faux-pas that happened behind-the-scenes. Of course, on The Stern Show, these private grievances are aired out for entertainment. But that doesn't make them any less real or entertaining. Let's take a look at what went down...
The Wine Incident
Long-time Howard Stern Show fans know exactly what we're saying when we refer to 'the wine incident'. It was an argument between Howard ad Robin that dates back to 2009 and is still brought up to this day.
In 2009, Howard decided to take out a number of his Stern Show colleagues, as well as their partners, to a fancy restaurant in New York. While Howard had significant issues with his employee Benjy Bronk showing up late and delaying the meal, his mail quarrel was with Robin, who was in charge of ordering wine. Now, Robin fancies herself a bit of a wine expert, so Howard knew he was going to get a nice bottle ordered for the table if he tasked Robin with choosing one. But there was a major communication issue that ended up leaving Howard a MASSIVE wine bill.
"I said to her, 'Listen, Robin. I'm going to give you the wine menu, pick out the wine for us to drink'. And Robin picked out a beautiful wine," Howard told his now ex-co-host Artie Lange (who didn't attend the dinner) and the audience back in 2009. "They served it. It was delicious. The waiter comes over to me and says, 'Would you like to continue with this wine?' And I said, 'Sure. If Robin picked it. If that's what she wants, that's what we'll have.'"
"Well, that's why I sent him over to you," Robin Quivers said in 2009. "I said [to the server], 'You ask Mr. Stern if he wants to continue with that.'"
"Absolutely, it was delicious. [Anyway] we're getting toward the end of the meal and the waiter comes over and hands everybody at the table an envelope. I open up the envelope and it's the actual label to the bottle of wine, to show you. I've been to Daniel [the restaurant] a couple of times and they never do that. So, I went 'Oh, oh. What the f*** is going on here?'"
At first, Howard believed the waiter did this because they could tell that this was an important work dinner and they wanted to make it special. But that wasn't the case at all...
It was because each bottle of wine that Robin ordered on Howard's behalf was $800...
And he ordered three of them...
All because Robin never told him how expensive of a bottle she ordered was. But Howard found out when the bill came.
Even though Howard said he was okay with it, he claims that he actually gasped when he saw the bill. He also tried to school Robin on dinner party etiquette, claiming that she had become somewhat out of touch due to how much money she makes on the show.
"There were bottles there that were 12 hundred dollars!" Robin said in her defense.
"Alright. Are there bottles that are $100 or $200?" Howard asked.
"I was looking at the French section so I don't know."
"The wine bill alone was over $2400!"
"I didn't tell them to keep bringing it!" Robin said.
Howard Just Wanted To Know What He Was Ordering
Howard's point was that Robin should've given him some sort of signal to let him know that he was continuing to order a very expensive bottle for his select group of colleagues. Instead, she thought it was fine and let him re-order it on his bill. In Robin's defense, she claimed that she had purchased expensive bottles for Howard and his wife Beth all of the time and never looks at the bill. But all Howard wanted was some heads up so he knew how much he was getting into dinner before the bill came.
Even though Robin thought by sending the server over to Howard to ask him if he wanted to order another bottle was enough of a hint, Howard maintains that Robin should've at least let him know that he was ordering a very pricey bottle. It's not that he wouldn't have ordered it, it's that he wanted to know what was going on.
"When you go out to dinner with a group of people, you kind of keep an eye on the price. You don't go $800 a bottle. You don't. I'm just telling you for the future," Howard said.
"Uch!" Robin said, rolling her eyes.
To this day, more than a decade later, this hilarious dinner party issue has not been resolved. Robin still thinks she did nothing wrong, and Howard believes she made a major faux-pas.
What do you think?