For a brief period in the mid-1990s, Tom Snyder was my favorite talk-show host. I remember a brilliantly uncomfortable interview with Gary Busey. Tom repeatedly lobbed softball questions, and even took a call from Busey's mom. Then Tom casually asked Busey whether all his cocaine abuse just might be the cause of the plum-sized tumor in his sinus cavity. Blazed a fastball right by him.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find that clip. But here are a bunch of others found on YouTube. Above, the late Mr. Snyder's greatest hits, courtesy of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Below, see him interview Howard Stern (1991), David Letterman (1993) and U2 (1981), plus hear an early rendition of "Don't Stop Believin.'"
Howard Stern.
KISS from the late 1970s.
Letterman, Part One.
Letterman, Part Two.
Painful 1980 interview with John Lydon and Keith Levene of Public Image Limited.
U2 from 1981.
And finally, Journey performs "Don't Stop Believin'" twenty-five years before The Sopranos finale.
