John Melendez
John Melendez, formerly known as "Stuttering John" (b. October 4, 1965 in New York City), is the announcer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
John was born to a Puerto Rican father and a Danish mother; his father was very strict and at times would fly into fits of rage. John's stuttering and obsessive disorder first started when he witnessed a family argument involving his parents. John also developed a sense of fear about doing things and that those things would turn out wrong. He lived in Massapequa, Long Island, where he was picked on by the neighborhood bullies because of his stuttering. Eventually, he befriended those bullies and got into trouble himself.
In 1988, John attended New York University's film school. He also belonged to a band called "Rock Slide"; his roommate was going to leave his job interning at the Howard Stern radio show and John begged him for a recommendation. Howard's producer, Gary Dell'Abate, spoke with Howard about John and his stuttering problem and Howard decided to hire him on the spot.
For the Stern Show, John would make outrageous street interviews - premised on the idea that celebrities wouldn't want to look bad turning down an interview from someone who stutters. John also provided comic interest with his misadventures, poor grammar, and sloppy pronunciation. For example, the name "Nicholas Cage" becomes "Niggaless Cage" and "Suzanna" becomes "Suzanner" when spoken by Melendez.
John also received national exposure when Stern's show started to air on national television. In the 15 years with Stern, John has also participated in the Off-Broadway show Tony n' Tina's Wedding where he met his wife, Suzanne.
He has had bit parts in the movies:
- Airheads,
- Meet Wally Sparks,
- Dude, Where's My Car?, and
- Howard Stern's movie Private Parts.
He has appeared on television on episodes of:
- Wings
- Baywatch Nights, and
- in the U.S. version of the reality series I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!.
John plays guitar and sings; in his music career he has released at least two CDs of music, one on Atlantic Records and one on Razor & Tie Records which could be described as hard rock with humorous lyrics.
With time, the Howard Stern Show changed because celebrities were more than willing to appear in Howard's show and put up with the jokes. John started doing less and less of the street interviews which made him famous and started spending more time with his wife and daughter, Greta.
Melendez worked with a speech coach to overcome his stuttering and was offered the position of announcer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He accepted and made his Tonight Show debut on March 29, 2004, after 15 years with Howard Stern. On The Tonight Show, he is identified simply as "John Melendez" (not "Stuttering John Melendez").
Recently (2004), Mr. Melendez has provided the voice of Bob, the computer that controls the protagonists' spaceship, on "Tripping the Rift".
| Preceded by Edd Hall 1992-2004 |
The Tonight Show announcer 2004-present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
On the August 2, 2006, airing of the Howard Stern Show on Sirius Radio, Melendez called in to verify the rumor, spread behind the scenes over a previous sketch poll where the former cast and crew of the program admitted to embarrasing stories, that he did indeed tried to give oral sex to his neighbor's female dog when he was 14.