Steve Rannazzisi tried to explain his 9/11 lie to Howard Stern

Updated
Steve Rannazzisi, Comedian Who Lied About 9/11 Escape: I'm Ashamed
Steve Rannazzisi, Comedian Who Lied About 9/11 Escape: I'm Ashamed

Why did Steve Rannazzisi lie about surviving 9/11? It's a complicated question, one that Rannazzisi himself had trouble answering during a 40-minute interview with Howard Stern that doubled as an intense therapy session. As he told it, the lie was just a spur-of-the-moment mistake that spiraled staggeringly out of control. "It wasn't calculated at all," he told Stern. "It was as simple as sitting at the Comedy Store and everyone [being] like, 'Hey, you're from New York?' 'Yeah.' 'Were you just there? You were around?' 'Yeah, I was downtown.' 'You worked there?' 'Yeah, I did.'" At that point, he said, it was too late: "You have like 15 seconds to go, 'Wait, hold on, stop, wait, I'm sorry, that's not true.' And if you pass that 15 seconds, now it becomes a thing where you're like — 'Now I have to be the guy who is very strange and weird and just said I lied about 9/11.'"

Click through to see photos of Rannazzisi:

At the end of the segment, Rannazzisi also took the time to apologize one more time to the friends and families of people who actually died on that day. "I know what I did was terrible. And I know that I hurt a lot of people," he told Stern. "In my heart I feel awful that my dumb mistake created this story that hit a wound that should never have been touched."



More from NYMag:
Bill Clinton explains Donald Trump's 'macho' appeal on Colbert
The 2016 race is devolving into a prank war
Aggressive bears are scaring hikers in New Jersey's Ramapo State Park

Advertisement