The Humping of Larry King

By Larry King’s estimate, Jack Hanna’s January 11, 2001 appearance on Larry King Live was at least his twenty-fifth. The director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, a veteran on the talk show circuit, had also regularly appeared on Letterman for years.

On this night, Hanna brought with with him a menagerie, including a black-and-white ruffed lemur, a Rhinoceros Hornbill, an arctic fox, a sea lion and a Bengal tiger. He also brought an obsidian-faced monkey named Pete. King, arms crossed, greeted Pete. “What’s happening, baby?” Pete then dry-humped Larry King’s right arm.

Larry, what happened?

Jack Hanna had appeared many, many times on Larry King Live. He was a delightful guest. In fact, one time, a poisonous toad jumped on my son, who was on the show with me. My son went nuts. I guess he was seven. And he screamed, “Get me out of here!” and he jumped up. It was just wild.

You know, when you do shows with live animals — we’ve done many — you never know what’s gonna happen. I had a crazy bird fly across the studio once and land on my shoulder. But there was nothing like that monkey. I mean, to me, it proved Darwin. It was — I don’t want to say breathtaking — one of the rare moments in my fifty-seven years in broadcasting that totally shocked me.

I love dogs. I have a wonderful dog. But I’m not an animal freak. Zoos don’t flip me, you know what I mean? I respect the world of animals. I appreciate it. Jack Hanna’s a wonderful man. My daughter went with him on an expedition in Africa. I always trust him. I trust him around animals. He’s a delightful guy.

That experience — I don’t think of it much. You reminded me. I haven’t thought of it in a while. But yes, let’s hope it doesn’t happen again. I’m eighty years old now. I’m doing a show now on the Internet, distributed by Hulu. I’m having a great time. Still doing interviews. We are scheduling an animal show on Hulu! Sometime in early April. Let’s put it this way: I don’t want a monkey.

Had a guest ever tried to hump you before?

Never. In fact, I don’t think anyone’s ever tried to hump me. I’ve had a fortunate life with females, but I was usually the humper, as I remember it. In the old days. Never had that. Nope! Nope! I plead innocent.