If you weren’t watching Colin Cowherd on TV and listening to him on the radio every day, maybe you would have been paying to see him perform as a comedian.
Cowherd joined Shannon Spake on the Sons & Daughters podcast this week, where he discussed his upbringing and the path that led him to his career today. And during the podcast, Cowherd explained that he loves the process of building a show as much as he loves the show itself, crediting his preference for preparation over just flipping the mic on and improvising.
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“Some days I like the process more than the show. So I’ve always trusted my business because I didn’t just spitball. Even now I’ve got a staff and we’re writing notes and notes and notes, my whole theory on broadcasting is you have to take the audience somewhere. Sometimes I’ll listen to talk radio hosts, and they’re just kind of making it up as they go. And my take is you got to respect the audience, and when somebody turns me on, I get 11 minutes until the commercial, I’ve got to make them laugh, make them think, make them something. You have to take people somewhere.”
“Nobody’s ever turned me off because I was wrong. They’ve turned me off when I’m boring,” Cowherd continued, citing his own desire to seek interesting content when he was younger. “Most of the people I was drawn to were entertaining people. I would read the newspaper, but even newspaper people- the funnier the columnist, the more clever the columnist, the more I was drawn to it. So I just know what I was drawn to. It was always colorful, outspoken, funny people. They have an influence on you. I like an opinion, I like telling stories, I like making people laugh. At one point, I thought I would do stand-up comedy.”
Cowherd was never the type of radio host to just rely on the box score or take call after call. And he certainly makes listeners think through his ability to draw analogies and his willingness to take opposing stances. But the comedy itch seemingly has not totally left Cowherd, with the longtime sports radio host previously helping CBS develop a sitcom that never aired. He’s also named as an executive producer on a workplace romantic comedy for ABC starring Rob Lowe that is still listed as in development.
Even without his sitcom ventures, there is an aspect of comedy or scriptwriting to the way Cowherd builds his show, which relies on a staff of writers. Cowherd went on to cite Robin Williams’ ability to make it look like he was ad-libbing while performing.
“He wasn’t ad-libbing; he knew where he was going,” Cowherd claimed. “I know where I’m going every segment. The audience doesn’t know where I’m going; I know where I’m going. Because I think you have to take people places.”
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