In June, the Weekly told you about Poorman getting name-checked by actor Tom Hanks, who was slumming on the KTLA Morning News set. Poorman returned the favor a week later via a hilarious Fourth of July YouTube video.
Alas, the back-and-forth may soon end, at least here in SoCal, as Poorman (a.k.a. “Mayor of the Newport Beach Strip” Jim Trenton) packs up whatever belongings are left in the Poor Palace on the Pen and heads for the Big Apple.
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“Yes, Mr. OC Poorman is
leaving,” he says to mutual sniffs (and, no, I don't mean the kind he accused Dr. Drew of doing in the 1980s).
Indeed, Mr. Trenton is ever upbeat about what lies ahead.
“It'll be fun having a Cali guy making fun of those
Guidos!” he notes, as we sure hope he resists the urge to call a Guido and Guido.
Yup, the man says he has a syndication deal that is taking him to New York City, and who are we to doubt him? After all, getting gigs has never been a problem for the co-creator of Loveline on KROQ. Keeping them has.
He blew through the Pasadena station that first had him doing live surf reports during various morning show incarnations in the early '80s, then went to GrooveRadio (remember that?) and KIIS-FM and KPWR-FM and probably some stations I'm forgetting, as well as TV stints on KDOC, KTTV, KJLA and probably some stations I'm forgetting.
Poorman was most recently doing shows at KCAA AM of San Bernardino, where his end may have been a hoax. He was said to have been suspended due to an on-air spat with a board operator, but listeners later claimed it was all made up.
September 26 is the date Poorman gives for the start of his NYC syndicated show, which may or may not borrow the Loveline format he shared with then-intern Drew Pinsky.
We can meanwhile drown the sorrows of possibly losing Poorman to the East Coast fuh-evah by re-living his later-in-life magic described so eloquently in Luke Y. Thompson's November 2007 cover story:
- “Enter Poorman: Life's a (bikini) beach for KDOC's returning late-night host”
In the interest of full disclosure, Thompson also penned a follow-up in January 2008:
For more shits and giggles, re-read my post, “Tom Hanks Namechecks Poorman on Live TV”–not because I need the clicks (although lately I do . . . help a brother out?), but because–if KTLA's video is still up–it perfectly sets you up for Poorman's enhanced version below . . .
Sure hope Poorman's employers aren't fans of Hanks or Hollywood's ass-kisser,” or that they aren't patriotic types prone to offense over a slim little thing in a red, white and blue bikini telling Poorman she loves the Fourth of July because of America being “my favorite country ever and our freedom, but it also
means we can fucking party until you're a wasted fuck, you can get
wasted and black out and have the best time of your life, especially in
Newport, by the fucking beach.”
I believe she's quoting James Madison directly.
Anyway, should Poorman's employers be the sort who take offense at stuff like that–or anything else he's prone to do while holding a mike, right down to stripping nekkid–we may see our buddy back in the Poor Palace sooner than even Vegas oddsmakers expect.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.