Private Parts

Private Parts (1997) is a biographical comedy directed by Betty Thomas — watch it online on iFILM. Howard Stern plays himself across the full arc of his career, from awkward college radio experiments to his takeover of New York morning radio. Mary McCormack plays his wife Alison; Paul Giamatti shows up as the station executive determined to kill the show before it gets any bigger.

The film covers Stern's early failures at small-market stations, his move to Washington D.C. and his partnership with Robin Quivers, and his eventual collision with NBC executives in New York who found his content alarming and his ratings impossible to ignore. A running gag in the film captures what made Stern's audience so durable: fans stayed on to hear what he'd say next, and detractors stayed on for exactly the same reason.

Thomas keeps the tone knowing rather than reverential — Stern comes across as genuinely difficult and genuinely funny in roughly equal measure, which is a more honest portrait than most celebrity biopics manage. Stream Private Parts online on iFILM.