RUSH: All right. As promised, to the phones we go, and it’s Mentor, Ohio. This is Scott. It’s great to have you with us, sir. Hi.
CALLER: Hello! How are you?
RUSH: Very well. Thank you.
CALLER: Good. We just got in the new Rush Limbaugh comic book, and I didn’t know if you were involved with the company.
RUSH: No, I’m not involved in it. I didn’t know there was a Rush Limbaugh comic book. Somebody reminded me a moment ago they sent me news about it last week, but I don’t remember it. What is it?
CALLER: Well, there’s a company out there called Bluewater Comics (sic — Productions), and they produce a variation of a comic called Political Power and this month you’re it. It’s Rush Limbaugh. The cover is really great. It’s got really nice artwork on it, but, of course, the interior story, I wasn’t sure if they discussed it with you or reviewed it with you. How true is it? It talks about, you know, you being on EIB and the first couple pages and it talks about your youth and how you came to be the individual on the radio that you are today.
RUSH: Well, and you’re wanting to know if this is true?
CALLER: Well, obviously you just answered that. If you didn’t know there was a comic book they probably didn’t have any conversations with you about the content.
RUSH: No. I’ve never had any conversations with anybody about any comic book. I usually don’t when people write about me. It’s very rare that I participate with people writing about me.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: Well, give me something this thing says that you are curious about as to whether or not it’s accurate.
CALLER: Well, as I open it up it talks about you and a cat named Banjo. Did you ever have a cat named Banjo?
RUSH: No.
CALLER: All right. Well, it talks about you being on the air in the 1970s. It’s not you as a superhero; it’s you as an individual, a biography.
RUSH: Well, I am a superhero as an individual. It doesn’t matter.
CALLER: Well, we’ll put you next to Iron Man on the shelf.
RUSH: Well, Iron Man is a fictional character. I exist! I’m real.
CALLER: (chuckling)
RUSH: They said I had a cat named Banjo?
CALLER: Yeah, well, it references a cat named Banjo.
RUSH: I think they probably take some creative liberties here. I have a cat. The cat’s called Punkin.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: But I didn’t have a cat in the seventies.
CALLER: Okay. You know, that was my curiosity. It’s an interesting book. I wasn’t sure just, you know, obviously how true the content is.
RUSH: Well, what’s good about it? You said it was good. What’s good about it?
CALLER: Well, the artwork.
RUSH: Oh, the artwork?
CALLER: The artwork is good. Yeah.
RUSH: The artwork is good. Well, I guess that’s why people buy comic books.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: I guess that’s why people buy Playboy. I read the articles.
CALLER: There you go. Anyway, just making you aware it’s available. If you want us to send you a copy of it if you don’t have it, take me off the air and we could send you it.
RUSH: I’m not a big comic book guy.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: I’ve never read comic books, in fact. I just never have. You know, I was stunned. I mean, I’ve heard of Spider-Man and all that stuff but I’ve never read them. I didn’t know Iron Man was a comic book. They make these movies. (interruption) The staff is worried here that I’m somehow doing harm to myself by admitting truthful aspects. What is so horrible about not having…? (interruption) Well, I’m sorry, Snerdley. Sorry, Snerdley. (interruption) Snerdley’s telling me that Marvel comic books are a way of life for American boys. See, that’s… (interruption) X-Men. I never knew the X-Men was a comic book. When I saw the first X-Men movies, I thought, ‘Wow, somebody’s got a creative imagination.’ I never knew X-Men was a comic book.
If there were a repository of every item I’ve ever had, you would not find one comic book. There was… (interruption) What did I do…? (interruption) I did play with baseball cards. I played baseball. I read a lot. I started working when I was 13. I hated being a kid. Don’t forget that, Snerdley. I hated being a kid, and I didn’t want to do anything that was identified with being a kid. I wanted to be an adult the first time I hung around ’em. They were having fun, plus they were bossing me around. So I might have… (interruption) Wait a second, wait a second! Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second! I do remember this. I have erred. I do remember one time my mother gave me a Swanson’s Frozen Fried Chicken TV Dinner and I read a couple pages of a Superman comic book while eating it, and I watched Clutch Cargo on TV, which is a cartoon show. One of the worst of all times, but it was still on TV. One of my favorite cartoons was The Wacky Races. (interruption) Oh, yeah, The Wacky Races and the Road Runner and the Coyote, but I didn’t read comic books. (interruption) No, no, no. Guys in Missouri didn’t have to go out and do the harvest. I’m sure even people had to go out and do the harvest read comic books. (interruption) Now I never read Sgt. Rock. I never heard of Sgt. Rock. Let me go back to the phones here. Why is this so unbelievable? (interruption) No, it’s not! Comic books…? Comic books are like Rockwell Americana stuff? Sorry. Sorry. Not me.