Howard Stern Show’s Ralph Cirella is dead to me

reliable link?

is your Google broken R1?

It’s not, but I have not seen that information on any reliable, credible, site yet hence my question

Cause of death?

John Stamos confirmed it.

Fans think it was suicide. I don’t know. Howard and Robin won’t be the same after this, especially Howard. He will be really shaken.

r5 Great link

Stamps on Instagram

Of course I meant “Stamos"

Whoever wrote that article must have been having a small stroke at the time. Or it was written by a 10 year old.

That was written by AI.

Howard just confirmed it sadly

Howard eulogizing Ralph now. RIP.

Died during a common medical procedure.

Who?

R4 Lymphoma

I am STUNNED. Def sad and there's a lump in my throat...but I feel weird about it because I didn't personally know him. But I did grow up listening to Stern and Ralph by proxy.

r12 Great link

Nice link, R13

John Stamos wrote "My mother adored him, and I'll always cherish the memory of her affectionately mistaking his “berry” for a piece of red jello on his upper lip, playfully attempting to wipe it away."

I don't bet it. His "berry?"

So, a treatable lymphoma, but his heart gave out during a procedure to treat it. Brief summary of what Howard said.

r21 Where are you getting that?

Too bad it wasn't Ronnie instead.

Interesting that some of you are acting like he was some wonderful person. He wasn’t.

Someone on the Stern Show subreddit shared audio of what Howard said this morning. They're usually aggressive about having newer content taken down unless it's on the official channel, so listen while you can.

R20 Ralph has a mole on his face that people would refer to as a berry.

R24 details?

R24 Interesting that you can't tell the difference between entertainment and real life.

R27 There are no details.

I'm not a Stern follower so I've never heard of this man, but apparently he was well loved by all who knew him. That says a lot about him.

Here's a photo of him and Stamos together. From the looks of both it appears this photo was taken quite a few years ago, so apparently they were very long term friends.

Did they successfully remove the traffic cone though???

Ralph Cirella is not Baba Booey.

I always had the impression that Ralph was a freeloader.

Ralph the....

He was a mooch but he was also a big part of the Stern show at its peak, like it or not.

Ralph steals $200..the full saga

is there anything to the rumors that ralph was howard's lover?

I wonder if this will finally get Howard to talk to Artie again. Losing his dad and Ralph in less than a year could make him want to make peace with the colleagues he has left.

r36 There is credible evidence they were lovers.

And this

Ralph was kinda hot in that photo with Stamos. Perky nips!

Baba Booey

Does anyone remember when Artie was kind of hot?

Someone called after Howard eulogized Ralph to ask if he was gay. You can hear the surprise in his voice and he handles it the way Ralph probably asked him to, since it always seemed that Ralph didn't want his religious mom to know he was bisexual.

Bisexual? 😝🤣😆

He was a fan who became Howard's lady's maid. It's obvious, he was always in love with Howard but Howard is straight.

"I knew about Ralph, sex and other stuff" , stuff=AIDS, I imagine.

Ralph spent a lot of time with gay staffer Chris Wilding.

Have any of the OG Stern staff died before? Not Whack Packers, but those who were on-air personalities who worked in the office.

Died of a "rare lymphoma" = AIDS

The lymphoma was treatable and only killed him indirectly; his heart gave out during surgery for it. If he hadn't neglected his health for many years with drugs, smoking, excessive drinking and refusal to carry health insurance or see doctors, his death could've been prevented.

[quote] Have any of the OG Stern staff died before? Not Whack Packers, but those who were on-air personalities who worked in the office.

Outside of wack packers, the only one I can think of is Ralph Howard, who was the announcer for the show for many years.

It's scary to go to the doctor when you have all those vices. Yes, lack of preventative care killed him, which is the Twilight Zone-like outcome of not going to the doctor (because you're afraid they're going to tell you you're dying).

I have health anxiety-- I hate it. I know it doesn't make sense. I have said here before that I wish they could ambush me with a tranq dart while I'm going about my business unaware and roll me into an ambulance that would take me to the doctor where all tests could be performed while I was unconscious. I don't know why else someone would put off even routine checkups if they didn't have a fear. Of course, I could be projecting.

And Howards Dad who was often on-air.

[quote]I don't know why else someone would put off even routine checkups if they didn't have a fear.

He was a noted cheapskate, which might've also been a factor, but it wouldn't be surprising if he was too anxious to seek help earlier. He saw how Sam Simon suffered at the end of his life and it could've scared him.

Howard also mentioned Ralph's regret, post-diagnosis, that he avoided serious relationships and was alone at the end of his life. That's sad enough on its own, but it could've also been a factor in his premature death. Men live longer when they have partners nagging them about their health.

^that's why having a SO is helpful, they'll nag you until you make that appt. R51, just go for a check up. Believe me, Drs have seen it all before. They won't be shocked. Like me, you'll probably have very treatable things like hypertension and high cholesterol. It's best to get it under control now. Don't end up being a cautionary tale like Ralph.

(X-posted with r53)

I never liked him, and though I think Howard sometimes exaggerated his antics a bit, it's always seemed to me that he squandered career potential by being a squirrely scumbag. All that said, fifty-eight isn't old and I'm sorry he went the way he did.

Stamos and Ralph were fuck buddies. Ralph had a big dick and Stamos liked to get fucked. They would get high and fuck.

I hate going to the doctor, but I go. I get so nervous at the doctor that they can't take my BP until the end, because it would be sky high otherwise. Before I go to my annual physical every year I have a conversation with myself saying that if I have something, that shows up this year that didn't show up last, it means that, hopefully, they caught it early and in it's treatable stage.

I get it if Ralph didn't like doctors. I hope he's somewhere now doing what he did best, being an asshole.

Hank the drunken dwarf died

Hank the angry drunken dwarf

The criteria was OG Stern staff who were not wack packers.

That doesn't include Hank.

That doesn't include Stern's dad.

[quote] "Hank the drunken dwarf died"

Twenty-two years ago. R58.

R56 JESUS, please don't tell us you think Stamos is gay. You CANNOT be that obliv

r56 Ha. He is at least VERY Bi. Prefers bottom, likes big white dick.

r49. That's your conclusion based on the official story. Read between the lines. He was a bisexual hairdresser who came out in NYC in 1979 who partied hard, did drugs and, as you say, didn't take care of himself. People weren't even using condoms until the early 80's. Let me put it another way, if he didn't have HIV, Howard would have said it because it's an obvious conclusion. Ralph was always secretive, as we all were at the time. There is zero chance that Howard knew everything about his health, no one knows that about a friend. I remember the lie detector test episode in real time. They called Ralph a fag for an hour and bullied him into a lie detector test, which he failed , and Howard, helped him keep the closet door shut, as a friend. It was brutal and painful to hear. If Ralph had killed himself after this, the show would have been responsible. IMO

I see no reason to doubt that Ralph died during something like a port placement procedure for a treatable lymphoma. The medical examiner's report could shine more light on that.

He turned 14 in 1979, it's not like he was hanging out at Studio 54. That he was a bisexual makeup and visual effects artist and personal stylist is not compelling evidence to me that he was HIV+.

Ralph wasn't especially secretive about his sexuality, as both Howard and Robin hinted when they discussed it a few days ago. His on-air attitude was different at times because of his mom (and possibly due to confusion over his molestation), but he eventually reached a point where he said things like "I think it's pretty obvious" when asked if he was gay or bi.

Looks like the show lost another person from the past - Crazy Cabbie has died over the weekend (4/01). Cabbie had a very bad decline health-wise over the years - he had some kind of muscular degeneration and was confined to a wheelchair. For years he said that he and other guys got hit with a lot of chemicals used when he was part of The Gulf War and he always said that he's certain that gave him all of the problems he had.

Goodbye, Lee (Cabbie) Mrozak

Who here thought Artie Lange would outlive Ralph Cirella and Crazy Cabbie?

R66 WOW. Did they talk about it? I haven't heard the last two days. I also heard that Sour Shoes has been banned or something.

R67 Well...his nose certainly didn't.

Yesterday's show summary: "Just one day after he was deemed the most difficult Wack Packer, Sour Shoes surprised everyone by calling into the show live — and actually speaking — for the first time in several years." r66

R68 - I didn't listen but I checked out the marksfriggin show recaps for this week and Cabbie was not listed as any of the topics covered for the last 3 days (4/01 - 4/03). Instead they talked about stuff like the eclipse, some bit they were doing called "Dick or Sausage?", talking about Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Richard and Sal eating cake and letting that horrible King of All Blacks babble.

Seems like either they consider Cabbie a non-topic or don't care. Harsh.

Cabbie was a dick... who cares about him.