Baba Booey
Dell'Abate was a very popular student and was active in the Astronomy Club, Intramural sports, wrestling, and also worked as an unpaid volunteer giving blankets and food to homeless persons. He wrote for the shool newspaper, The Sandpiper, and also worked as DJ for the school radio station.
Dell'Abate acted in the school theater group and had some small parts in "Death of a Salesman" and "The Music Man" In his junior year he was involved in a near fatal automobile accident which left him hospitalized for 4 weeks with two broken legs, a broken arm, and a broken pelvis. The driver of the other car, Kevin Bourque, was unhurt and was charged with reckless driving, and numerous other violations.
Bourque was invited onto the Howard Stern Show where he apologized to Dell'Abate and they shook hands. He had a fraternal twin brother, Desmond John , who died in childbirth.
Gary has stated publicly that he sometimes has dreams of his deceased twin brother although he was only a few days old when the brother died. His father, Sal, was an ice cream salesman and an accomplished musician.
His mother, Louise, was a dancer and singer who appeared with her husband on radio back in the 40's and 50's. He attended Adelphi University where he interned at several college radio stations.
After being proven wrong on his Intelligence quotient and failing to guess the answer to a riddle, which was "Machine", his nickname was changed to Mac hine. Gary and on-air personality Artie Lange have engaged in multiple arguments over the Yankees - Mets baseball feud.
Recently, Gary has been made fun of for pronouncing Reese’s flavored Klondike bars as “ree-zees.”
Anecdotes
Gary is generally the most mocked person on the show. A related point of ridicule is the speech pattern in which he turns "s" into "f".
Fans also mock Dell'Abate - one fan used to wear a gorilla mask to Gary's public appearances as well as make his own animation cels featuring Baba Booey. Because Gary has become increasingly sensitive about his appearance, he now resists wearing the mask.
Gary is also often mocked for his yo-yo dieting.
He has attributed his bouts with weight gain to his love of chocolate. He is also often made fun of for enjoying anilingus and teen anal pornography.
He had trouble speaking as a young boy.
During the K-Rock days a fan (with the help of Jackie Martling) created a likeness of Gary, the "Gary Puppet", which was recently repaired re-stationed in the Howard Stern Show studio. It was formerly equipped with a mechanism to cause its comically over-sized mouth to move whenever Gary speaks to Howard through the studio intercom.
Currently, Fred Norris typically does the voice of the Gary Puppet and any impressions of Gary. He was also ridiculed for stating that he could not mount his TV to the wall because they'd get in the way of his sconces.
During this segment he also stated that he has a light system that lights up a trail from his bedroom to his kitchen for use in the very early mornings when he prepares for work. Lou, "boy" when giving an order; preceded by "Boy" Lee at WNBC), Dell'Abate's "Baba Booey" moniker originated on the Howard Stern Show in 1989, after telling a story of his prized collection of animation cels.
As is typical of the show, the rest of the cast "goofed" on his mistake, becoming especially merciless since he was mulling the purchase of a cel of a character without even knowing the character's correct name. Dell'Abate said something to the effect that they would forget the name by the next day, yet after nearly two decades it is still his nickname. The nickname is frequently varied to similar sounding names such as "Fah Fah Fooey" or "Ma Ma Monkey" and "fla fla flunky".
Dell'Abate has often recounted that people unfamiliar with the Stern show think "Baba Booey" is his real name.
A frequent guest on the TV game show The Hollywood Squares, Dell'Abate was sometimes just called "Bob" or "Baba" by unknowing contestants.
"Baba Booey" as a term has become a mantra for fans of the Howard Stern Show and is often used during crank calls to live network television or radio broadcasts. Most of the songs involve melodically repeating one of Dell'Abate's nicknames over and over (usually Baba Booey), although some contain actual lyrics, most of which insult Dell'Abate's appearance.
Often including drawn out phrases such as "Ra ra retard", "Fa fa flowly", "Ma ma monkey", "Sa sa Smelly" or "Sta sta stupid" to fill in melodic gaps in the song.
"A Horse With No Name" by America as "Boy with Horse Teeth"
"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" by Led Zeppelin
"Bad Boys" by Inner Circle (Also known as the "Cops" theme song)"
"Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty
"Barbara Ann" by The Beach Boys
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
"Conga" by Miami Sound Machine
"Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson
"The Entertainment Tonight Theme"
"Feel Good Inc." by Gorillaz
"Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones
"The Imperial March" by John Williams, the Darth Vader Theme
"Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin
"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath
"If I Only Had a Brain" from the Wizard of Oz
"It Had to Be You"
"Let The Music Play" by Shannon, premiered September 12, 2007, Howard 100, Sirius Satellite Radio
"Macarena" by Los del Río
"Piano Man", "Angry Young Man" and "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel
"Pop Muzik" by M, premiered September 6, 2007, Howard 100, Sirius Satellite Radio
"Proud Mary" by CCR, premiered September 12, 2007, Howard 100, Sirius Satellite Radio
"Rehab" by Amy Winehouse, premiered September 6, 2007, Howard 100, Sirius Satellite Radio
"Ridin'" by Chamillionaire
"Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake
"Stan" by Eminem and Dido
"Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles, premiered August 23, 2006, Howard 100, Sirius Satellite Radio
"Summer Nights" by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta
"That's Life", by Frank Sinatra (parodied as "Those Teeth")
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra as "These Teeth are Made for Chomping"
"These Eyes" by The Guess Who as "These Teeth" featuring Burton Cummings
Notable Stern Show events
In 1988, Dell'Abate made a videotaped bid to win back an ex-girlfriend, which came to light in the late 1990s when an ex-boyfriend of the woman called Howard's show claiming to have seen the tape. On the tape, Gary frequently refers to his ex as "man" (e.g., "I miss you, man"), states that his professional life is a 9 (pronounced like "noyne") while his personal life is at a 2, and since their split, she has gained a lover and a best friend while he has gained a couple of lovers but has no friends.
While his bid to win back his lady love proved successful, they ultimately broke up for good the following year. He was paid over $25,000 by members of Stern's audience and staff to hand over the tape.
Dell'Abate's contribution to The Revelations Game, announced on January 16, 2006, was that he and a friend of his once paid massage girls to come to their hotel room, but that the girls ended up ripping the two off and left them staring at each other in their underwear.
The Stern Show staff roundly criticized Dell'Abate for this sub-par revelation.
Dell'Abate is a devotee of 1980s music, and he sometimes plays "Stump the Booey", an Eighties music trivia game, usually beating his competitor.
Dell'Abate has sung songs on the show written by Fred Norris, in which he ridicules himself for his work habits, eating habits, bad breath, large teeth, and "monkey like" features.
During a hallway fight between A.J. Discussion ensued on whether the fluid was actually different from urine, and concerned callers raised the possibility of it containing HIV.
On October 26, 2006, Gary became the second regular Stern Show personality, after Artie Lange, to be roasted.
He said Richard Simmons helped cheer up his brother and "light up the whole hospital". Gary is an avid New York Mets, New York Jets and New York Islanders fan
On June 19th, 2008 Gary's cousin, Jill Dell'Abate was in studio playing in Carly Simon's band.
Nicknames (Unwilling Nom de Plumes)
Fafa Flo Fly
Fafa Fohai
Fafa Fooey
Fafa Feeho
Fafa Flunky
Fafa Flowy
Fo Foohey
Fafa Filthy
Mama Monkey
Rara Retard
Tata Toothy
Lala Loosey
Lala Loser
Gabba Gooey
Gaga Gummy
Sasa Stupid
Sasa Smelly
Baba Bobo Fooey
Baba Yenta (coined once by Fred Norris)
Baba Bad News (coined first by David Spade)
Bucky Beaver (coined by Riley Martin)
Fafa Foodey (coined once by Robin Quivers)
Fafa Felon (coined during the 'Get John's Job Contest' 4-29-04; by Lee Mroszak aka Crazy Cabbie)
Baba Bad Breath (coined by Stahl MacIntyre aka the 'King of Canada')
Mac Hine
Fla Fla Flowley
Horse Tooth Jackass
Techno Beaver (coined by Howard Stern)
Gadget Gary
.