Following in the footsteps of such chat show greats as Charles Perez, Jane Pratt, Trisha, Kilroy, Magic Johnson and Alan Thicke, the Knicks’ Stephon Marbury is planning a program of his own, writes the New York Post’s Marc Berman.
The Post has learned Marbury has filmed a handful of demo shows, including a one-hour interview with Kobe Bryant. His reps have been shopping the show around.
“We just haven’t taken anything,” Marbury told The Post. “We’ve had offers. We’re looking for the right deal.”
Marbury can be a tough interview when he’s displeased with the tone of certain questions. But he feels he’s a good interviewer, despite not taking any broadcast journalism courses in his one year at Georgia Tech.
“It’s fun,” Marbury said. “It’s a lot of easier to speak to basketball players. I get certain things out of them because you’re going through the same things that they’re going through. The lives that we live is different than anyone else. You can relate to the person you’re speaking to better than you [the media]. It was a great interview [with Kobe]. A lot of things people wouldn’t be able to get from [Kobe], I can.”
Marbury’s demo shows also include lengthy interviews with Chauncey Billups and teammate Steve Francis. Marbury has a future gig lined up with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Last Friday, Marbury become incensed at a series of questions about his feelings on the Sebastian Telfair saga and eventually stormed off.
Asked how he would have handled it as a talk-show host, Marbury said, “There are some things you don’t ask. I’m not that dirty. My little cousin had a gun to his head. If someone put a gun to your wife’s head and she got robbed, would you want someone antagonizing you about that? Ask it once and move on. That [stuff] is for real, and maybe you guys can’t understand that because you’ve never lived around it.”