Joe Buck Gets his Own Show On HBO: He's No Bob Costas

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The final segment was with actor Paul Rudd, Artie Lange (a.k.a. Howard Stern's side kick on his radio show), and comedian Jason Sudeikis. Rudd and Buck are apparently old friends so that explained the actor's appearance on the show. Lange is a comedian known for being somewhat brash, to put it mildly, which didn't sit well with Buck for most of the segment. Lange seemed to take over that portion of the show, and while he was getting laughs from the audience, Buck looked less than happy to take a back seat on his own show.

More than that, there really was no purpose for those three to be on the show. If the show is supposed to be centered on sports, I'm not exactly sure where they fit in, aside from being fans.

Three more shows of "Joe Buck Live" are supposed to air throughout the year, and hopefully, as time goes on, Buck will learn how to roll with what his guests say. If he continues to come off as annoyed as he was last night, he's going to be out of the studio and back in the broadcast booth before he can shake his head.

Some people simply can't make the transition from a sports commentator to the host of an hour-long show, where the guests are going to say unexpected things.

Bob Costas made it look easy for the four years that "Costas Now" was on the air. Even though "Joe Buck Live" is filmed on the same stage as "Costas Now", it is clear that Joe Buck is not even close to the kind of host Bob Costas is, and would be better off in the broadcast booth where at least there are commercial breaks.

An hour of Joe Buck is just painfully too long. HBO would've been better giving Michael Irvin his own show—at least that would've been entertaining.

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