Mark Simone NYC radio host inflicts his Friars' pal Lionel on his radio audience

One of my favorite guilty pleasures is listening to Mark Simone in the mornings (if I'm not working) on WOR-710am from 10am to 12 noon. When Simone is talking with his silver-toned voice everything is wonderful.  He's up on the news and the stories behind the news and has a really incisive view on issues of the day and he's fun to listen to. But more often than not, Simone "farms out" big pieces of his show to windbag friends like "Lionel."

The trouble?  Mark Simone is also a big shot at the Friars' Club on East 55th Street in Manhattan and every comedian in the country is always trying to get "air time" on Simone's morning call-in show. Now sometimes he has a Joy Behar or a Regis Philbin or another huge name so that's fine. They're famous because they are funny and usually have something interesting to say or comment.

But more often than not he bores his audience to death with idiots like "Lionel" a former Florida lawyer turned comic who has been bouncing around radio and comedy clubs for years never really achieving much. Simone likes guests like "Lionel" because he can kick back and put the show on remote control, check his email, check google, twitter, etc. for 20-30 minutes at a time while still collecting a paycheck. You can almost hear him clicking along on his laptop or smartphone while Lionel rambles on about nonsense. Lionel rambles on and on without coming up for air so I just switch off the radio for 20 minutes until Simone comes back.I'd even prefer those annoying GEIKO commercials with the stupid cockney guy or that sing-song Kars4Kids commercial that's been playing since I was 10 years old. It's so funny: WOR's new slogan is: "The NEW WOR-710" (with the same old commercials) LOL


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