The Uncarved Blog

An interview took place a few years before David Letterman started Transcendental Meditation. Howard Stern was on his show and David Letterman was asking him about a number of things, one of which was his meditation practice. Howard tells him the story of how he started Transcendental Meditation. It was because of his mother, who saw Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Johnny Carson show, and went to the TM Center to learn to meditate. His mother was suffering from depression at the time and called him up one day sounding completely transformed. When he came home for a visit from college she took him to the Center to learn. He said it was easy, and has been practicing it since he was 18 years old.

This part of their discussion is funny. Letterman describes what he didn’t want to get involved in and tried something where he listened to some instructions on a headset. He was told if he fell asleep he wasn’t doing it right. Stern said that wasn’t Transcendental Meditation and that sleeping was fine. David seemed interested. It’s posted on the Center for Leadership Performance Facebook page. And now here:

Anyone can learn more about Transcendental Meditation at http://www.tm.org.

Oprah and Letterman talk about Transcendental Meditation

After David was meditating for about a year or so, he had Oprah Winfrey on his show talking about meditation in general, and then specifically Transcendental Meditation. This is the show where Dave publicly reveals that he and his staff do TM, which they learned from “Meditation Bob” aka, Bob Roth.

About a year or so after that when Lindsay Lohan is on Dave’s show, they pull a prank and call Oprah. She reminds Dave about the last time they spoke about TM, saying they shared the same meditation teacher, Meditation Bob, which is Bob Roth’s twitter address. The Washington Post described the three of them as a Comedy Dream Team.

You may remember Howard interviewing Maharishi: 1/2 Howard Stern interviews Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Washington D.C., 1985, and spoke very respectfully about him when he heard of his passing: part 1) Howard Stern Talks about TM, His Mom, & Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and part 2) Howard Stern Talks about TM, His Mom, & Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

On his March 19, 2009 show, Howard noted that he recently spoke with director David Lynch and agreed to speak at his upcoming Transcendental Meditation benefit concert. Howard said he began meditating daily after first trying it in college: “All of a sudden I stopped smoking cigarettes…I lost the desire…It wasn’t like a forced thing. I just said, ‘Today, I’m done.'” Howard continued to praise the cult-free technique: “You see changes in yourself. It’s very interesting.”

Here are highlights from the first Change Begins Within press conference, benefit concert, and interviews. And here arearticles like, How Clint Eastwood keeps his cool, with links to video clips from the second Change Begins Within press conference and gala event.

Every time Howard would talk about TM on his show, especially with guests he knows are meditators, like Hugh Jackman and Russell Brand, the TM Call Center would get inundated with inquiries.

The self-proclaimed king of all media, Howard Stern is best known as a shock jock since he’s outspoken and talks a lot about sex. Private Parts was a hit movie about his life and show. He went from terrestrial radio to SiriusXM Satellite Radio, and brought 20 million listeners with him. That’s paid subscribers! He has an international audience. He recently renegotiated a $500 million dollar five-year contract, making him the highest paid broadcaster/entertainer in the business! You can now get an app and listen to his show on your iPhone!

Update: This interview is now posted by Mario Orsatti on February 22, 2011, at the Transcendental Meditation Blog: Howard Stern and David Letterman discuss TM.

New: Jerry Seinfeld and Howard Stern share stories about their Transcendental Meditation practice.