“A guy came on, and his whole act was getting kicked” in an especially sensitive area, he recalled. “I’m telling you, it was the greatest act you’ve ever seen. I gave him a standing ovation.” The performance culminated with the man leaping crotch-first from a high point onto a balance beam. Mr. Stern’s face lit up at the memory. “I’m laughing hysterically. I would pay to see this.”

In chasing Mr. Stern an NBC goal was clearly to add humor. He acknowledged he provides that but noted, “Howie is the comedian on the show.”

“I don’t do one-liners,” he added. “My attitude is what’s funny.”

Mr. Stern said he would almost surely disappoint any watchdog seeking signs of how he might degrade the show. “The most sexual reference I made was when a group of very attractive women got up and danced. They were awful. They had these bikini tops on, and I said: ‘You’ve got to do something with this act. It’s not going to fly. Maybe if your implants had all exploded, we would have gotten a kick out it.’ ”

The audition audiences have been packed with his fans, and they have brought more noise and a different attitude at times. Mr. Stern said: “A sweet older couple had come on to do a dance act. It was the sweetest thing ever, and the audience is screaming. They wanted to chop their heads off. I turned around and said, ‘What is wrong with you people?’ ”

If that sounds like a more sensitive Howard Stern, he presents himself that way on the air and in person, where he comes off as effortlessly gracious and sincere. That might seem at odds with his former image as the relentless self-promoter who often declared himself “the king of all media.”

But there may be another reason for the equanimity. “I go to therapy three days a week, and it has actually really helped me. It’s not an easy road to take a good hard look at yourself, but I feel happier.”