I liked him. He made mistakes, but I found his interviews to be deeper and more insightful than Howard. And his political connections were significant for landing guests. He also did great charity work along the way.
I listened every day but refused to like him, that would have allowed me to excuse some of the things he did. But I also agree, he was a good interviewer, one of the best, in part because bernard was feeding him questions. Like a lot of personalities, he was a mean spirited, conceited, self aggrandizing blowhard, full of hypocracy and contradictions. What pulled me in is that he had great guests! His wife was a sanctimonious bore, constantly droning on about something she just read but never understood, a know nothing know it all. She hated climate change, but swallowed her tongue and the carbon footprint left from riding their limo or flying a private jet. She had sex with him, which tells you all you need to know about her decision making. She was playing thr long game. Between the two of them there was little oxygen left in the room for anyone else.