Background

On October 4, 1965, Melendez was born to a Puerto Rican father and a Danish mother in Copenhagen, Denmark. Melendez was raised on Long Island in Massapequa, where he attended Plainedge High School. Melendez claims that he began to stammer when he was in the second grade due to his father's psychological torture after witnessing a fight between his parents. He went to Plainedge High School, where his classmates bullied him because of his stuttering.

Melendez was a member of the band "Rock Slide" at New York University's film school in 1988. When Melendez approached his college roommate, comedian Mitch Fatel, for a reference for an internship at The Howard Stern Show, he was on the verge of quitting. Gary Dell'Abate, the show's producer, revealed Melendez's stuttering to Howard Stern, who encouraged the producer to hire him without even seeing him or interviewing him.

The Howard Stern Show

Melendez's key responsibilities on Stern's show included answering phones and screening listener call before broadcast. In addition to New York City and Philadelphia, the show added Washington, D.C. as its third market when he joined.

Melendez gained notoriety over time for segments in which he confronted celebrities at red carpet events, gatherings, promotional appearances, and press conferences. The wacky questions, penned by Howard Stern, Fred Norris, and Jackie Martling, focused on a celebrity's personal life and were based on the assumption that they would not want to make a fool of themselves by denying an interview with someone who stammered. Melendez wore long hair and wore metal T-shirts while reciting questions off a sheet of paper. He adopted a disguise consisting of an overcoat, fedora, and fake mustache as he got more well-known. His interviews were marked by "joke" inquiries that lacked a punchline, such as asking actress Melanie Griffith how her father, Andy, was doing.

The ridiculousness of Melendez's questions was heightened by his lack of familiar pop culture knowledge, as he frequently appeared to have no idea who the subjects of his interview were or why they were famous. Melendez was often unaware of why his queries elicited such vehement responses, such as when he asked Ally Sheedy if she had vomited recently, oblivious to the actress's bulimia. Stern has a personal vendetta against some celebrities, like Ted Williams, who Melendez interviewed because Stern was against players collecting money for autographs. Stars would frequently react violently, but they would also take the inquiries in stride at times.

Melendez spoke with Gennifer Flowers, Ringo Starr, and the Dalai Lama, among others.

He asked Gennifer Flowers if she planned to sleep with any other candidates before the election while playing the 'Clinton Tapes' at her news conference, to which she responded by laughing. In a lighthearted reference to the play and movie, he asked the Dalai Lama if anyone ever greeted him with "Hello Dalai!" The Dalai Lama's translator whispered the translation to the Dalai Lama, who chuckled. Another time, Melendez interviewed Debbie Gibson about losing an award to Wilson Phillips, and she joked that "the obese one would eat the trophy," as he put it. Melendez's escapades, poor grammar, and imprecise pronunciation added comic interest to the show.

Personal life

Melendez lived in Calabasas with his wife Suzanna Keller and their three children after moving to California in 2004 to work on The Tonight Show. The couple divorced in 2012 after filing for divorce in October 2011.