iPhone Savior: Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling Beats Stern To iPhone

Longtime fanboys of the Howard Stern Show remember Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling, as Stern's witty wing-man and head writer on the show for some 15 years. Martling exited the Stern dynasty in March of 2001, leaving behind an enormous hole to fill along with a stain that practically required a hazmat team for clean up. He was eventually replaced by the cutting slackjaw humor of Artie Lange, who backfilled Martling in gargantuan form but never in the rancid hearts of Stern loyalists.

Martling might be having the last laugh, gaining credible bragging rights by beating the 'King of All Media' to Apple's über cool iPhone by way of The Jackie Button. After enduring several months of empty rumors, Sirius XM has finally launched their official satellite radio app to the masses. Hey now! But frustrated Stern fans are quickly finding out that the Sirius XM app for iPhone does not include the beloved Howard Stern in its 120 channel line-up. Wah!

Overcoming several last minute objections by Apple, "The Jackie Button" ($.99) has finally made its epic iPhone debut. Though there's a plethora of text driven joke applications in the app store, Jackie Martling is the first comic brave enough to launch an iPhone joke telling app featuring his own recorded voice riffing to an invisible audience. A death defying feat that "The Joke Man" performs effortlessly without a net to break his fall. Which qualifies Martling as a comic genius with a possible suicide wish.

Jackie's signature brand of joke telling can be best described as classic zingers delivered at rapid speed without apology. And now there's an app for that! You don't have to be a Jackie Martling fan to love this app, though Jackie fans should know these jokes have been carefully scrubbed to remove the dirty parts. But make no mistake about it, most of Jackie's jokes are laugh out loud funny.

"We played it as safe as we possibly could to make it through with Apple," Martling told the iPhone Savior, "We even changed 69 jokes to 68 to be sure we didn't start any trouble. I've also added some kids jokes for parents who want to entertain their kids."

"What's the difference between boogers and broccoli? Kids don't eat broccoli!"

I spoke to Jackie Martling by phone from his palatial estate on Long Island and asked him to describe his style as a comic.

"I tell people I'm not a comedian, I'm a joke teller," Jackie said, "My jokes are rapid fire. No extra sauce it's just meat!"

"People would come up to me after seeing a Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling show, and would complain, "You just told jokes. I would say; 'If I was Jackie the elephant trainer would you expect to see a monkey crawl out of my ass?' "

Inside "The Jackie Button", Martling brilliantly peals off dozens of Doctor Jokes, Stupid People Jokes and Marriage Jokes without using any laugh track, except for his own after-giggles. Which I consider half the fun. The app contains 68 jokes and an added 68 bonus Jackie sounds that have become staples in the twisted minds of fanatical Stern fans. When you hear a joke you want to repeat, simply press "The Jackie Button" at the top of the app to regurgitate it over and over.

Like this one; "Why do women live longer than men? Because they're not married to women!"

Martling quickly revealed that The Jackie Button was developed by none other than Dave Castelnuovo, at Bolt Creative, the company behind "Pocket God", recently named by Apple as one of its Top Twenty all time selling apps.

"The entire world is beating a path to Dave's door, meanwhile he's working with me. So I'm very, very fortunate." Martling said.

Jackie is nurturing a new joke telling legacy on Sirius XM Satellite Radio with a unique, one hour joke-a-thon show he calls "Jackie's Joke Hunt" which airs at 7:00 pm eastern every Tuesday on Howard 101. But why would you huddle around a radio when you can pull a little Jackie out of your pants anytime you want? If you're someone that believes size matters, then Jackie's latest iPhone venture can be described perfectly in the immortal words of Paris Hilton as "huuuuuuuge!"

What makes this story even more delicious is that RIM has already invited Martling to add his "Jackie Button" app to their newly launched App Store clone, BlackBerry App World. It's no secret that Stern and his co-hosts are all committed CrackBerry heads soon to be taunted by "The Joke Man" on their micro-screens. Another painful reminder that Sirius XM is dropping the ball.

The Jackie Button. Available for iPhones everywhere. Howard Stern? Not so much. You can't say you weren't properly warned. Now go tell someone who gives a crap!

Get The Jackie Button