Men's Journal

courtesy FOXNews

The 10-year vet of the Fox Report, which airs weeknights at 7pm on FOX News, talks about tailgating, on-air bloopers, and hangin’ with Rupert Murdoch.

Interviewed by John DeVore

Football team

I never miss a home game at Ole Miss. My dad and I are nervous wrecks during the season — you have to be a Rebels fan to understand it. The past 40 years have been a series of cataclysmic disasters.

On-air gaffe

I said “blow job” once. J.Lo was coming back to the Bronx, and the idea was they’d rather give her a “curb job” than a “block party.” What can you do? You apologize for the blow job and you move on quickly.

Sunglasses

Maui Jim Sunset. I’ve got six pairs. They never fall off my head.

Trophy

Several years ago my boss came into my office carrying this papier-mâché crown. He said, “You just dethroned Larry King! It’s the first time you beat his ratings for the month!” “That’s cool,” I said. I haven’t lost since.

Racket

Prince Diablo — the devil should hit the ball hard. I play a lot of tennis with friends. I have the competitive disease.

Liquor

It used to be vodka, but I was drinking too much. Now it’s Tanqueray. It’s sweet and a little treeish, so I don’t drink too much, which makes the workdays easier.

Souvenir

These people were behind a shot at a mass-murder scene, holding up a howdy nana & papa sign.
It’s on my office wall.

Ideology

I try to stay away from the conservative and the liberal labels; they get me in trouble. The extremes and I don’t work well together. I think people who wrap themselves up in their ideology are simply not interesting. I just want to do the news.

Guilty pleasure

Driving my 2008 Mercedes CLK550. It’s my only car, so it’s definitely my favorite. I like to put the top down and go really fast on the Long Island Expressway — and not get caught.

Home

Greenwich Village. It has every kind of person on the planet and everything’s pretty relaxed. I love the freedom that comes with New York, the fact that you never have to plan anything. It’s what everybody says: You can get anything at any time, do anything at any time, get anywhere at any time. There’s nothing you can’t do if you have the wherewithal to get it done.

Restaurant

This little neighborhood Italian place on W. 13th Street called Gradisca. Mama comes over from Bologna every few months and sets up a table in the front window and makes pasta for a week. Everyone has their favorite neighborhood Italian, but I’ll stack mine up against any restaurant in the city.

Historic figure

I have an MLK thing. I figure it’s not about MLK as much as what he wrapped up for me. The march in Selma, the assassination in Memphis — these are places I’ve known well since childhood, and I saw what it did to people.

Politician

Bush 41. He’s such a gentleman. I always got the impression the most important thing to him was family. He never talked about the politics of Bush 43; he wanted to talk about getting the family back home.

Book

The Year Before the Flood, by Ned Sublette. He wrote about New Orleans’s colonial years and went down for research the year before Katrina hit. He writes about growing up in Louisiana; by nine he had never had social contact with a black kid. I went to an all-white school, so I understand.

Flick

Fight Club. I like how everybody is just getting together to fight and not realizing what’s really going on along the way.

Anchor

Sometimes the news is offensive and there’s not much you can do about it. But you have to be respectful of those who are hearing what you say. Tom Brokaw always had a really good grasp of the fact that he was coming into people’s homes during the family hour.

Uniform

I’ve been wearing these flip-flops for three years. There’s something about the freedom of shorts and a T-shirt and nobody staring at me that’s good for me.

Thing about my boss

It comes every Wednesday at 3 AM, direct deposit. I’ve had some nice nights out with Rupert Murdoch. He’s a regular guy — for a multibillionaire running part of the media world. We were hanging out after he acquired American Idol. He was pretty excited; I was like, Oh, a British talent show — whatever.

Vice

I eat a lot of fast food — three, four, five meals a week. It’s easy, fattening, and good. A Double Quarter Pounder, a couple Big Macs, or a Hardee’s charcoal-broiled burger. Wendy’s is the Fox cafeteria.

Escape

Oxford is my favorite place on the planet. I’ve got my condo there, my brother is building a home there, and my dad is there. I like the attitude. People may hate you, but they’re not in your face about it the way they are in New York.

Sandwich

I love a good oyster po’ boy. There’s a great oyster loaf at Bouré in Oxford.

Advice

My dad always told me, “Don’t forget where you came from.” I’m a lower-middle-class kid from Mississippi. The plan was to work in Nashville and have a kid and a half and a car and a half. I never wanted to have people stare at me every night. I just like finding out what’s up and telling people about it.

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