Reprinted from
Co-op City Times

TV Show Fantasy Comes True
For Co-op City Man



BY DEREK ALGER



For an original Co-op City resident tonight could be the start of a dream come true as Billy Liblick will appear on an episode of the ABC sitcom "Maybe This Time" starring Betty White and Marie Osmond.

More important, perhaps is the fact that Liblick will be playing himself on the hit show, and the host of his own talk show, appropriately named "The Billy Liblick Show."

"It was a fantasy come true," said Liblick, a graduate of Evander Childs High School and Lehman College, who previously was involved in politics and worked for community newspapers in the Bronx for 18 years. Tonight at 8:30 p.m. on channel 7, after two years and appearances in the audience on over 300 TV talk shows, Liblick will finally debut hosting his own talk show where he goes head to head with Marie Osmond. On the episode, the Osmond character is hoodwinked into appearing on a talk show, and of course, it'' none other than, "The Billy Liblick Show."

"Betty White and Marie Osmond are angels," Liblick said, referring to his experience filming the episode of "Maybe This Time" last month in California. "I got to yell at Marie Osmond and she said she loved it, it motivated her, but I don't think I could ever yell at Betty White."

"The show is so outrageous," he said. "Here I am, I've never been an actor and now I'm in a sitcom. My part is hilarious and everybody gets to see people yelling at Marie Osmond."

In keeping with his trademark style, all guests on "The Billy Liblick Show" are greeted by the Co-op City resident with the chant of "You're an animal!"

Liblick met the show's writers, Amy and Wendy Engelberg, in Manhattan and they thought he was great after watching him sitting in audiences and insulting outrageous guests on-stage on such shows as Sally Jessy Raphael. Originally, the part in tonight's episode was written for Liblick to be an audience member on a talk show but the producers thought he was so funny they decided he should be the host of the show.

"Amy and Wendy came up with the story idea because they'd seen me on a lot of talk shows and they liked the way I rile up the audience and generate excitement." Liblick said, "I can't believe I finally get my own TV show, and the opportunity to stand up in front of the audience, even through it's only for one night. I can only hope all the TV executives I've met see what a natural I am."

Liblick first became fascinated with TV talk shows, and then the possibility of someday getting his own show, four years ago. He had recently left his job and then he was devastated when his mother passed away and wasn't sure what to do about his future.

One day, after seeing his attorney in Manhattan, Liblick was stopped by an NBC page who gave him a pass to the Faith Daniels Show.

"I went and sat in the audience and there was a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan on the show, " Liblick said. "I couldn't help it, my blood started flowing again and I got up and just started screaming at him."

After that, while still grieving for his mother, Mollie, who worked at Truman High School, Liblick began to regularly attend TV talk shows as an audience member. His wild, zany appearances confronting guests led to an appearance on the Joan Rivers Show, a front page article about him in The Wall Street Journal, and a feature article in New York Magazine about his quest for his own talk show. Liblick has also appeared on segments of Dateline NBC and Good Morning America to name a few.

Describing Liblick, whom he's known for years, Borough President Fernando Ferrer stated, "He's quintessential Bronx. He's beyond pushy. He's in your face."

"I like to think of myself as a cross between Loan Rivers and Sally Jessy Raphael, with a lot of Bronx thrown in for good measure," Liblick said.

Ann Sanders, a former Co-op City resident who was a co-worker of Liblick's for many years, was not surprised that Liblick was appearing on a hit TV show.

"I always knew that Billy would make it, either by writing a book or in show business," Sanders said. "I'm very proud of him, his persistence paid off, and he's still the same Billy."

Liblick said he considers himself a "Man of the People," and takes the responsibility of hosting a talk show very seriously. "I don't wake up in the morning like some conservatives who feel they speak on issues with the voice of God," Liblick said, "and I don't act like a fashionable liberal who spouts political correctness out of the pages of The New York Times. I am what I am and I believe in helping others."

"I was always interested in politics because of what you could do to help other people," he said. "Too many in politics today are only out for themselves."

As far as the future is concerned, Liblick doesn't have specific plans, but with a mischievous smile, he added that he had several possibilities and was currently mulling over a number of offers.



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