A Paul Giamatti Impersonator Kept Calling Howard Stern Demanding That They Speak

Highlights

• Paul Giamatti may have had an impersonator trying to manipulate his relationship with Howard Stern.
• Stern and Giamatti had a good relationship after working together on “Private Parts”.
• Both Stern and Giamatti experienced strange occurrences with phone calls.

Howard Stern first met Paul Giamatti on the set of Private Parts, during the height of the radio legend’s rise to stardom. The 1997 semi-autobiographical film on Stern’s life and career was a box office sensation and was Giamatti’s first big break. During numerous interviews, especially during his 2024 award season campaign for his film The Holdhovers, Giamatti praised Stern. However, the pair’s actual relationship is somewhat confusing.

During their February 7th, 2024 interview on The Howard Stern Show, the self-proclaimed King of All Media went into detail about his relationship with the wealthy Academy Award-nominated actor. During the conversation, it was revealed that a Paul Giamatti impersonator may have attempted to manipulate Howard Stern behind the scenes.

Did A Paul Giamatti Impersonator Try To Get A Hold Of Howard Stern?

Following Paul Giamatti’s February 7th, 2024 interview on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show, numerous press outlets have reported on his claims that Cher had desperately attempted to get a hold of him. Giamatti had no idea why, but according to him, the music legend continuously tried to reach out to no avail. However, the entire conversation first arose because Howard Stern experienced the same thing. Only, it was Paul Giamatti who was trying to get a hold of him. This is something that The Holdovers star denied, leading to an accusation that he had an impersonator trying to manipulate his relationship with Stern.

Howard Stern and Paul Giamatti got along quite well on the set of Betty Thomas’ Private Parts, which was based on Stern’s autobiography of the same name. But after the 1997 film, the pair seldom spoke. This is except for Paul Giamatti’s interviews on The Stern Show in 2006, 2010, and 2024. However, according to Stern, Paul Giamatti had called his agent numerous times in an attempt to get a hold of him. But this is something Giamatti denied.

In the days leading up to their 2024 interview, Stern told his co-host Robin Quivers about the strange occurrence between him and someone claiming to be Paul Giamatti. And near the beginning of his interview with The Holdovers star, Stern brought it up:

“I got to take something up with you. Every once in a while, I get a message from my agent that ‘Paul Giamatti needs to speak to you.”

Despite Stern believing that Giamatti had his personal number, he said he played along with the request. But every time Stern’s agent was contacted, he wasn’t given a reason why it was so pressing. This caused Stern to repeatedly try and call Giamatti back… but he could never get through.

Giamatti claimed that he once did go through Stern’s agent to contact him. He did this because he wanted to congratulate him on his 2019 book, “Howard Stern Comes Again” and didn’t have his personal number. But Giamatti said that he only tried to contact him one time, and not multiple as Stern experienced.

“But even recently I got this message. Every once in a while that ‘Paul Giamatti wants to speak’ to me and I call you. I get your number.”

“I don’t think I’m getting your calls,” Giamatti claimed.

“So, maybe I’m being goofed on. Maybe somebody… maybe you’re really not looking for me,” Stern responded.

“You think somebody is like–“

“Yeah, maybe scamming me or something.”

This is when Giamatti revealed that somebody was impersonating him to get to people in his life:

“Somebody apparently did just did do a scammy thing with the A.I. voice thing of me, apparently. Samming people. Of me, of all people.”

While Howard Stern and Paul Giamatti can’t know for sure that an impersonator was trying to get in between their relationship, they agreed that something peculiar was going on. But perhaps not as peculiar as Giamatti’s experience with Cher constantly trying to get a hold of him through his own agent.

“Every now and then I get a message from somebody that says Cher [wants to] not just — she really needs to talk to me. Like it’s important. Like it’s crucial that she talks to me. And I’m like, ‘What the f***? Why does Cher want to talk to me?’ Nobody will tell me. And then I never hear anything. And then a year will go by and it happens again.”

“That’s what’s happening to me with you!” Stern exclaimed.

“Well, it’s not me. It’s got to be somebody else.”

Paul Giamatti’s Role In Private Parts With Howard Stern

Howard Stern claimed that he didn’t have the “wherewithal” to truly understand how talented Paul Giamatti was when they first worked together. But it was something that dawned on him as soon as he started seeing Giamatti in other roles such as Cinderella Man and Man on the Moon.

But one couldn’t blame Stern for this. After all, Private Parts was Pual Giamatti’s first major motion picture and helped launch his career. Fortunately for Giamatti, the whole experience was enjoyable. He even claimed Stern was “easy to work with”.

• Paul Giamatti was 30 when he starred in Private Parts
• Paul Giamatti played Kenny, Howard Stern’s WNBC radio boss
• Kenny, nicknamed ‘Pig Virus’, was based on Stern’s WNBC radio real-boss, Kevin Metheny
• Howard Stern famously nicknamed Kevin Metheny ‘Pig Vomit’
• Howard Stern was forced to change ‘Pig Vomit’ to ‘Pig Virus’ in both his “Private Parts” book and movie for copyright reasons

While some of Giamatti’s agents didn’t want him to work with the then-shock jock, the future Holdovers star insisted. And he never regretted it.

Source: NewsFinale