Eric Fred Norris (born Fred Leo Nukis on July 9, 1955) is an American radio personality on The Howard Stern Show. Norris is a comedic writer, musician and mimic, and is the longest tenured staff member on the Stern show.

Biography

Early life

Norris was born in Willimantic, Connecticut to Valija and Henry Nukis, Latvian immigrants. He was raised in Manchester, Connecticut.

Career

Norris began working with Stern on the radio station WCCC-FM in Hartford in the late 1970s. Fred began playing guitar as a student at Dubaldo Music. In 1995, Norris married Allison Ferman, a woman he originally met on the "Dial-A-Date" segment of Stern's radio show. The couple has one daughter, Tess. Norris owns a Triumph motorcycle, which he rides on a regular basis, and likes to box.

A regular bit on the show is "Win Fred's Money" where Fred and another contestant answer rapid-fire trivia questions. Fred usually wins these contests handily. However, his primary role on the show is playing sound clips that comically coincide with the current discussion, writing song parodies and skits and contributing jokes during the course of the show. Otherwise, he's mostly silent, painting the show with soundbites and timing commercial breaks. Stern occasionally teases Norris for "sleepwalking" through the show (as he had had a more prominent role when the show had a smaller cast).

Memorable Stern Show events

In January 2006, Norris revealed on Stern's Sirius Radio show that he has a half-sister during a bit where cast members revealed secrets about themselves (his father had an illegitimate child with Norris's godmother). He has stated that he doesn't want to meet this person due to his strong grudge against his father as well as his godmother. Fred also revealed that his godmother gave him the middle name "Leo", which is why he changed his name. Norris has served as a writer on the Stern Show for many years and has helped write most of the show's bits. Particularly memorable events specifically involving Norris include:

• Stern goofing on him for buying a Cookie Puss cake for his mother on Mother's Day
• Norris drunkenly cuddling with show intern Gay Rich at Scores for his bachelor party, then falling down stairs and landing on his head - requiring a trip to the emergency room.
• The on-air discussion of a fight between Norris and his wife at NBC's Rainbow Room
• Norris frequently denies model Carol Alt a "supermodel" status, vigorously asserting that she has never attained that rare professional level. He also questions that she is a legitimate actress as she has not had a starring role in any Hollywood productions.

Norris, to his chagrin, is often mocked by Stern during the show for what he perceives as Norris' oddness, for example saying he is 'from Mars'.

Norris was also regularly mocked on the Stern show roasts for his oddness and on-air silence. Jackie Martling referred to him as an alien and Colin Quinn told BaBa Booey that he was "uglier than Fred's thoughts".

When Norris announced on the show that Allison had become pregnant by means other than sexual intercourse, Robin stated that she knew if Fred was going to have a child it would "have to be a science project." After a pause, Norris called Robin a "malevolent cow." A few months after this incident, possibly as a fence-mending gesture, Robin financed Fred's birthday celebration (in fact, she went to great lengths to detail on-air how much she had shelled out for the party).

Name change

In 1993 Norris legally changed his name from Fred Leo Nukis to Eric Fred Norris, a change which was not widely known until several years later when the cast of the Stern Show saw Norris' new name signed in a log kept to comply with the FCC. Regardless, the cast has still referred to him mostly as Fred.

Most recently, Fred was confronted about his name on November 13, 2006. Fred revealed that the last name Norris is that of his kindly stepfather. Nukis was his biological father's name and Fred wished to remove that father from his life with the name change. Fred claimed that his mother wanted to name him Eric at birth, but that his natural father had not allowed it because "Eric" was the name of his mother's former boyfriend. The name Leo was selected by his maternal aunt - the same woman who eventually eloped with his natural father. Fred says he hates both the names Fred and Leo - though Norris's wife, Alison, calls him Fred.

Impressions

Fred often does voice impressions of celebrities or friends of the show. Voices in his repertoire include:

• Artie Lange, a fellow Stern Show staff member
• Benjy Bronk, a fellow Stern Show writer
• Crackhead Bob, longtime member of the Wack Pack
• Dominic Barbara, lawyer, friend of The Howard Stern Show
• Don Imus, elder radio personality and longtime personal enemy of Norris and Stern dating back to when both of them and Imus worked at the same radio station, WNBC.
• Double A, a member of the Wack Pack and host of the occasional Wack Pack Roundtable show on Howard 101
• Eric the Midget, a member of Stern's Wack Pack
• Gary Dell'Abate, the Howard Stern Radio Show's producer
• Herman Munster, a voice which Fred will use to impersonate numerous other people of varying degrees of closeness to the actual Herman Munster voice, most commonly with women Fred or others deem to be manly, such as Nicole Bass and Chyna Doll
• High Pitch Eric, Wack Packer
• Jackie Martling, former Stern Show writer
• Jason Kaplan, Stern Show producer
• JD Harmeyer, Stern Show media producer
• Jim Florentine, Comedian and friend of the show
• Jeff the Drunk, a member of Stern's Wack Pack (more regularly done by Artie Lange)
• John the Stutterer, a member of Stern's Wack Pack
• Nick Manning, Adult film star and occasional guest of the show
• Richard Christy, a fellow Stern Show staff member and
  • Richards father, Tom Christy, a farmer in Kansas whose phone messages to his son are often played on the show
• Richard Nixon, Former President of the United States
• Riley Martin, radio personality
• Robin Quivers, a fellow Stern Show staff member
• Sal the Stockbroker, a fellow Stern Show staff member
• Scott Salem Stern show engineer
• Siobhan the Transsexual, a member of Stern's Wack Pack
• Steve Grillo, Former intern
• Steve Langford, Member of the Howard 100 news team
• Stuttering John, a former Stern Show staff member
• Sour Shoes, a frequent caller
• Tom Chiusano, General Manager of WXRK (K-Rock) in New York

King Norris

King Norris is a band founded by Norris. Norris plugs upcoming shows at the end of each Stern show on Sirius Satellite Radio. The band is made up of:

• Fred Norris: Guitar
• Rob Boyd: Bass Guitar
• Frank Fallon: Drums