Baba Booey: As the executive producer of The Howard Stern Show since 1984, Gary Patrick Angelo Dell’Abate (born March 14, 1961), popularly known by the moniker Baba Booey, is an American radio producer. His autobiography, They Call Me Baba Booey, was published on November 2, 2010.
Early Life And Career
Dell’Abate was reared in Uniondale, New York, a Long Island town, after being born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. He is an American-Italian who hails from a big family. His mother, Ellen (née Cotroneo), a food demonstration at Macy’s in New York City and Fortunoff on Long Island, and his father, Salvatore, a Häagen-Dazs ice cream salesman, were both in the food industry.
In addition to working as an intern at WLIR, Dell’Abate attended Adelphi University and was given the Richard F. Clemo Award in his senior year. He met Howard Stern while working with Roz Frank, a traffic reporter for WNBC.
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The Howard Stern Show
Since September 4, 1984, Dell’Abate has contributed to The Howard Stern Show, which debuted on 66 WNBC before being syndicated by K-Rock in New York City and finally airing on Sirius XM Radio. Dell’Abate’s initial salary was $150 per week, and part of her responsibilities included getting Stern lunch and booking visitors for the show.
Who Is Baba Booey?
Dell’Abate’s “Baba Booey” moniker first appeared on The Howard Stern Show on July 26, 1990, after he recounted a tale about his prized collection of animation cels. Previously known as “Boy-Gary” (Howard called his college roommate Dr. Lew Weinstein “boy” when giving an order; preceded by “Boy” Lee Davis at WNBC), Dell’Abate was previously known as “Boy-Gary.”
He mispronounced the name of Quick Draw McGraw’s sidekick Baba Looey as “Baba Booey” while discussing a Quick Draw McGraw cel he would buy. The rest of the cast “goofed” on his error, as is customary for the program, and became especially cruel given that he was considering buying a cell of a character without even knowing the proper name.
Dell’Abate told Stern after the broadcast, “I think we’ve gone this as far as it will go.” Gary, we’ve barely begun to scrape the surface of this, Stern retorted. Dell’Abate continues to be Baba Booey. He finally gave his autobiography the title They Call Me Baba Booey.
Later, Dell’Abate recalled that when he was a boy and watching the show, Quick Draw would frequently refer to Baba Looey as “Baba Boy,” generally in a panicked manner (“Help me, Baba Boy!”).
Dell’Abate mistakenly believed that the character’s name was “Baba Booey” because of Quick Draw’s prolonged pronunciation of “boy,” which frequently sounded like “Booey.”
Fans of The Howard Stern Show have adopted the term “Baba Booey” as a mantra, and it is frequently used during prank calls to live network television or radio broadcasts; for instance, a call made by a prank caller known as “Maury from Brooklyn” to ABC News during the slow-speed police pursuit of O. J. Simpson’s Ford Bronco through the streets of Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, ended with “And Baba Booey to y’ Al Michaels, a sportscaster, gave host Peter Jennings an explanation of the phrase’s meaning.
Jake Herbert, a freestyle wrestler, shouted “Baba Booey” at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics when the camera passed over Team USA. Since then, fans have become customary to yell “Baba Booey!” like in the case of the PGA Tour, as soon as a golfer completes his swing during athletic events where focus and silence are demanded.
Baba Booey’s Personal Life
Since 1992, Dell’Abate and Mary Dell’Abate (formerly Caracciolo) have been wed. Lucas and Jackson are their two sons. Dell’Abate joined LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS and served as its president after his brother Steven passed away from AIDS in January 1991.
They Call Me Baba Booey, Dell’Abate’s autobiography, was a New York Times best seller. In November 2010, it debuted at number six on the NY Times Best Seller list. In the book, Dell’Abate describes how he became the executive producer of The Howard Stern Show, how his brother died of AIDS, and how his mother battled despair.
Dell’Abate, a devoted New York Mets supporter, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a Mets game on May 9, 2009. The rise didn’t go well; it hit an umpire and landed along the third-base line. Later, he and Richard Christy, a fellow Howard Stern Show employee, attended the 2015 World Series (who is a Kansas City Royals fan).
In 2012, author Greg Prato interviewed Dell’Abate for his book Dynasty: The Oral History of the New York Islanders, 1972-1984. Dell’Abate is a supporter of the New York Islanders hockey team.
The book includes Dell’Abate’s reflections and memories of supporting the Islanders and several images of Dell’Abate with Islanders players at a Stanley Cup victory parade in 1980 (he also worked as an intern for SportsChannel, the television station that broadcast the team’s games at the time).
By a vote of 119 to 64, Dell’Abate was elected to the Greenwich, Connecticut, Board of Parks and Recreation on March 14, 2011. On June 9, 2014, Dell’Abate was unanimously reappointed to the Board by the Greenwich Town Meeting. Keep yourself updated with all the latest news from our website Newswatchlist.com and get all the recent updates.