The two were talking about Fox News and its influence in shaping American politics. Letterman asked Maddow why people tend to take the word of “blowhards” instead of more reasonable broadcasters. In answering, Maddow said that she used to listen to Beck every day on the radio before he moved to television.

“I think he was the most talented radio personality of my entire generation,” she said. Letterman asked what the radio show was like.

Maddow said that the show had been “incredibly performative…he inhabited all these different characters, he would do all these voices, it was very entertaining, really funny, really fast-paced, very unpredictable, surprising, very good.”