Gregg Giannotti responds to Mike Francesa's comments that the morning show on WFAN "stinks"

Gregg Giannotti responded strongly to Mike Francesa on Thursday morning, calling his colleague from WFAN an insecure narcissist after Francesa had said the station's morning show "stank."

"What he is, is an uncertain tyrant who thinks that these things will affect me, affect us, and that's not the case," Giannotti said at the show around 7:15.

Giannotti also mocked the content of Francesa's show.

The trigger was a caller at approximately 7:15 am, who referred to Francesa's comments, in which he stated that he had listened to the morning show for one hour and was not a fan.

Francesa said that Giannotti had "little ability" and urged him to stop pretending to be himself and to get new material. He also referred to a recent argument by Giannotti and midday presenter Chris Carlin outside WFAN studios.

Regarding the argument, Giannotti said, "Carlin approached me in the street and he was sorry for that. [parody] The song I wrote for James Dolan, about no-one listening "CMB", we talked about it and we kissed it in the end. One and the other. "

Giannotti went on to note that Francesa had insisted that he was not listening to the morning show, but admitted to listening on Wednesday for an hour, then spent three minutes talking about it on the show.

"I know we're sophomore and we're joking and we're doing a radio show and sometimes we can be immature," Giannotti said. "Of course, I'm aware, but what I'm most proud of in this group is the way we manage things like this, it's the radio, we have fun, we're joking. We make fun of people, we make fun of ourselves.

"I do not get mad for that. I was laughing at this yesterday more than anything else. What he is is an uncertain tyrant who thinks that these things will touch me, affect us, and that's not the case. "

Then Giannotti resumed her simulated voice of Francesa and said: "Anyone can not have new material like me, who has been doing the same show for 30 years now, and listen, the guy is limited. He has no talent. I'll tell you, listen, I'll show you some talent. Talent does what I do, okay?

"Talent does what I do, when I open the series, I make generic comments for five or six minutes, pretty much, I pause and I go out into the newsroom and eat M & Mr. And I come back and I answer calls for hours and hours, then from time to time, I drop a paid guest that I talk all the time.

"You could not do what I'm doing. You can not do this. You could not go to the show and say, "The leaves are coming and we are in November," we're back and then take a thousand generic calls and talk to them and we condescend. That, there, is talent. Seriously, because I'm going to show how to do a show.

"What you do is stay at home and sit and take call after call, then invite a woman from time to time to talk about her book about Babe Ruth, that's what you do. That's how you do a show. You want to do an entertaining show, you do it. Take it from me because I can do it.

Giannotti then returned to his own voice and said, "I got to this point now where, when I hear this stuff, my first reaction is to crack. Because I am the opposite of what he is.

"A guy like Mike, who would have thought that someone like me would look at him and say I would follow in his footsteps and that he was a mentor and that he did it for the first time. so his whole career and that's the guy I have to follow and the same way as me, but he showed me the way I had to borrow, which is the opposite of his way.

"Because I never want to be the person who has had all the success he has had, all the money he has earned, and be as miserable as he is, without security and narcissistic and miserable and that is it. I can laugh at it. things, you [co-host Boomer Esiason] can laugh at these things, Joe and Evan can laugh at these things, Carlin laughs at these things, CMB, everyone laughs. But with him: I can not laugh. I can not do it. And it comes from this place, from this place, from this narcissism animated by all its insecurities. he [stinks] it's like that and I'd like that we can all be a happy family and be able to laugh, but not everyone can be us, is not it Boomer?

After being informed of Giannotti's comments early Thursday afternoon, Francesa said, "Not worth commenting on."

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, then returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska. He specializes in high schools, college basketball, the NFL, and more recently, media and sports companies.