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Last week, Larry King announced that he’ll end Larry King Live at the ripe age of 178. Nah, just kidding. He’s only 134. Anyway, we’ve only just come out of our shocked stupor and stumbled across this TV clip from the 1960s starring King, which reminds us that the suspender-wearing talking head got his start in Miami.
The clip is from a 1961 detective series called Miami Undercover, which was also the name of one King’s local shows. King more or less plays himself in the first episode (video below), a loudmouth radio DJ who runs into trouble. He also looks a lot like Jeff Goldblum.
The 305 has launched the career of many a news broadcaster – Barbara
Walters, Rick Sanchez (sorry, world) – but nothing makes us prouder
than the fact that wack job King started out here. Yes, he was
born in Brooklyn, but at 22, “Larry King” Zeiger moved to Miami and
became a radio DJ on a sports talk radio show for WAHR (now WMBM). He
invented a fictional character, Captain Wainright of the Miami State
Police, who in true King fashion, interrupted traffic reports with
crazy outbursts.
King also hosted an on-location interview program from Miami Beach’s Pumpernik
Restaurant, served as commentator for Miami Dolphins’ broadcasts,
and wrote columns for The Miami Herald, The Miami News, and The Miami
Beach Sun-Reporter.
During his Miami days, Larry Zeiger became Larry King. He soon moved on, eventually landing his own CNN show, where he looked blankly at celebs like
Lady Gaga. We love him for his outrageous statements, which sound like
they should be coming from someone just rousing from general
anesthesia, not someone paid to mediate conversations between the
general public and famous people. Some favorites:
“You ever looked into the eyes of a dolphin? Pure evil.”
“Lying down when you’re tired is the best.”
“Deep down in my brain, I believe the moon is alive.”
(on the internet) “I’ve never done it, never gone searching. What, do you punch little buttons and things?”
Best of luck, Larry.
