XDA

People on news programs exaggerating their life experiences has come under a lot of scrutiny lately. So I'm looking through DSM V for the diagnosis of Hugh Hewitt's serial exaggerations about being involved in famous rock bands. It might just be a mild case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (301.81), but he's too good a guy for most of the Diagnostic Criteria. I miss being able to diagnose Munchausen's Syndrome. That's not in the book. In the past he has claimed some association with the cowbell in (Don't Fear) the Reaper by Blue Öyster Cult and with Cream during that supergroup's existence. There may be others.

So what did he lie talk about this time? Earlier this week he reported on the 40th anniversary of the release of Led Zeppelin's 6th album, Physical Graffiti, on February 24, 1975. That was two days after Hugh's 18th birthday when he was a senior at JFK Catholic High School in Warren, Ohio. Hugh, live on the radio, was floridly fantasizing about being somehow involved in the making of that album, calling the band members by their first names (but, tellingly, not by their nicknames) and implying that his input into the song Kashmir was somehow vital to that song's popularity and success. Too bad for Hugh that Kashmir was written and recorded in November, December 1974, when Hugh was just 16 and nowhere near the UK, not that he was anywhere near the UK or Led Zeppelin during that group's existence either.

It's just possible that Hugh is doing this as a joke. If so, he should never, ever try stand up comedy. I guess he could be inviting us to laugh at him, at his transparent lies, but now I'm wondering if that's a mental disorder in DSM V in itself?

Labels: Hugh Hewitt; Physical Graffiti