More Videos- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Topless Business Is Taking Off
- Gambling Drunk, Texting to Live And America's On Sale - Your Emails
- The Lloyd's Prayer, Leggo My Eggo, Plate Hate & Your Emails
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Madoff—The Holiday Drink
- Drugs, Booze and Vegas
- Happy World Toilet Day
- Coffee, Tea or My Ad?
SQUAWK BOX VIDEO
MOST SHARED
- Kuoni CEO Sees Recovery in Travel Sector
- Gold Retreats from Record High as Dollar Rebounds
- Dubai Struggles to Ease Debt Fears; Investors Rattled
- Chinese Overcapacity is Worsening, EU Chamber Warns
- Wal-Mart Price Pressure Hurts China Workers: Report
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
- Great Britain, No Longer That Great: Investor
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Euro Shares Record Biggest Drop in 7 Months
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
- Dubai Struggles to Ease Debt Fears; Investors Rattled
- US Companies Already Moving on Curbing Emissions
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
- Investing in Good Karma – and Making a Profit
- Retailers Should Believe in Christmas Miracles
- Wal-Mart Price Pressure Hurts China Workers: Report
- Bankruptcies Jump, Hitting Highest Level in Four Years
- Steepest Black Friday Discounts, Revealed
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
RSS FEED
Funny Business
Text Size 
Federal agents aren't the only ones who caught Eliot Spitzer on audio tape. So did we. Sort of.
Veteran CNBC producer Steve North has met a lot of people in his career. Back in 1981 he was working overnights at NBC Radio. He bought an answering machine (calling it "new-fangled") because he thought he could probably get more sleep during the day if he didn't have to answer the phone.
After colleague Jeffrey Lyons told him he often asked interviewees to record greetings for his machine, Steve started doing the same thing.
"One of my first was Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West," Steve says. "After she died, I started running it once a year, when they broadcast 'Wizard' on TV; still one of my best."
"I have over 90, ranging from the great comedians -- Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, Jackie Mason -- to political figures (the range there is from the late Abbie Hoffman to Rev. Al Sharpton), to many of the hundreds of actors I've interviewed over the years -- Ron Howard, Henry Winkler..."
 |
CNBC.com |
He says his most recent addition is from Danny DeVito, who recorded a second greeting for Steve 20 years after his first. "In the new one, he says 'This is Danny DeVito. I've been answering Steve's machine for 20 years. Leave him a message already, for crying out loud!'"
Steve still uses that same machine. And whose voice greets you today? None other than Eliot Spitzer, whom Steve first met in 1991. The disgraced outgoing New York governor credited Steve with helping him get national exposure, during the years Steve worked as a producer for Geraldo Rivera.
Click on the video above to listen. The message was recorded the day before Spitzer was elected Governor.
Comments? Funny Stories? Email
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes