A Bully Gets Bullied: Rush Limbaugh’s 1990 Talk Show Disaster

FEBRUARY 26, 2006

In 1990, a year or two before he became super-famous, Rush Limbaugh guest-hosted Pat Sajak’s short-lived talk show. It didn’t go so well: The taping was disrupted by a group of angry activists who were seated throughout the audience. A visibly rattled Limbaugh was unable to regain control of the show.

“He came out full of bluster and left a very shaken man,” a CBS executive later said. “I had never seen a man sweat as much in my life.” Eventually Limbaugh made it to the first commercial break, and then, barely, to the next one; when the show returned from the second break, the activists were gone—along with the rest of the audience. A demoralized Limbaugh then delivered self-serving closing remarks to an empty studio. 

This is from one of my Media Shower tapes (hence the phone number and other graphics that are occasionally superimposed over the video). The clip is about 11 minutes long, and it’s fricking awesome.