In case you missed it, the rumor going around the entertainment industry is that Howard Stern’s show is about to be canceled. This is because his $500 million contract with SiriusXM is expiring, and as his audience has allegedly dwindled from 20 million listeners to just over 100,000, there’s a pretty slim chance that the alternative radio provider will be willing to pay up for another.

So, how is his staff reacting? According to the New York Post, they’re withholding jokes from him as they don’t want to burn the material on a has-been who’s about to retire.

“Most of us have been coasting at work the last year,” because “we know he’s retiring, whether by choice or because he’s forced out,” one staffer told the Post.

And, if you think that Stern hasn’t been on his A-game lately, well, the staff agrees, attributing Stern’s apparent lack of care to the fact that he’s essentially been a hermit since 2021, broadcasting from his own basement — and when he’s not doing that, he’s “content to be out in there in the Hamptons with his celebrity friends.”

“When your boss doesn’t even seem like he wants to be there, it’s like, why should I bust my ass?” said a staffer.

A fair question!