Andy Richter Gets Candid About Media's Obsession with His Weight
Andy Richter spoke out about the media’s obsession with his weight throughout his career on the most recent episode of his SiriusXM podcast, The Three Questions with Andy Richter.
'So Many Ways to Call Someone Fat'
The Dancing with the Stars contestant, who narrowly avoided elimination on Tuesday night’s episode, became known as Conan O’Brien’s sidekick when he debuted on the NBC late night show in 1993. Throughout the decades, Richter has anchored his own TV shows and starred in a variety of films, like Madagascar (2005) and Talladega Nights (2006); but, somewhat disappointingly, the media remained focused on his weight.
“One of my standard lines is, ‘I didn’t know there were so many ways to call someone fat,’” Richter said. “‘Cherubic. Rotund.’ It was galling to me at the time.”
EMMA SLATER, ANDY RICHTER (Photo by Christopher Willard/Disney via Getty Images)
The comedian recalled a 2015 incident while filming an episode of O’Brien’s TBS show in which he accidentally broke the couch on which he was sitting. “You just broke the couch?” the host asked Richter. “You’ve been here 22 years. The couch has never broken.” But on the Nov. 4 podcast episode, Richter admitted that he had in fact broken the couch before. “No, I actually broke it once, but I didn’t notice it until [the] commercial,” he said.
Richter Joked About His Other Notable Qualities
Broken furniture aside, Richter admitted that he’d appreciate being recognized for his other attributes. “They say nothing about my right-handedness, about my Caucasian [ethnicity], about my blue eyes. They don't say anything about my good, strong teeth, but they have to mention that,” he joked.
On a September episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, Richter admitted that he was initially hesitant to commit to Dancing with the Stars, but decided it would be good for his health. “I didn't want to do it. But then I thought, ‘No, I need to do this. I need to do this just to get moving,’” he said. “And it got me to go to the gym and do cardio, which I loathe. I started to do a lot more stretching to prepare myself.”