Stern Causes Near-Riot at NYC Signing : Radio: The author of the best-selling ‘Private Parts’ becomes caught in traffic himself as thousands of fans jam the bookstore.

Radio talk-show comic Howard Stern caused a near-riot in midtown Manhattan on Thursday with an appearance at a bookstore to sign his hot new tome, “Private Parts.”

More than two hours before he was even scheduled to appear, about 2,000 people were in line waiting to get Stern’s autograph, and police on the scene later estimated that there were 10,000 people in the crowd that peered into the windows of Barnes & Noble and spilled onto the streets in the blocks around the store, stopping noontime traffic along Fifth Avenue.

A marketing executive for Stern’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, called it the biggest book signing ever, outdrawing the likes of Magic Johnson and retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.

“Private Parts,” released last week, will be No. 1 on the coming New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and is one of the fastest-selling books in the history of Simon & Schuster.

Stern had promoted the book signing, a rare public appearance, on his popular radio show, which originates in New York and is heard in Los Angeles and on 11 other stations around the country. But he and others involved in the event seemed unprepared for the scene it caused.

Due to begin signing books at 12:30 p.m., Stern was still stuck in a traffic jam of his own making at 12:45 as he traveled the few blocks from WXRK-FM to the bookstore. “I’d be cursing me out if I was somebody stuck in traffic,” he said as he looked out the window from the back seat of his limousine. “You’d think I invented the cure for AIDS--actually, I’d better get working on that.”

With the help of police, Stern finally arrived at the bookstore shortly after 1. He was mobbed as he was rushed in.

Stern took a seat upstairs next to his wife, Alison, and quickly began scrawling his signature. The scene outside was frantic, but the fans in line were patient, even reverential. Most of the crowd was male--as are Stern’s radio demographics.

“Sorry you had to wait so long, man,” Stern said to one fan.

“Howard, I love you. This is the biggest thrill of all time,” the man replied.

“I wanted his signature because he’s my idol,” said Russell Borsio of Long Island. “I came here early this morning to get two copies signed for my boyfriend and my brother,” said Beth Leahy of Staten Island. “They love Howard Stern.”

The autobiographical book has chapter titles such as “If You’re Not Like Me, I Hate You” and, like Stern’s radio show, includes explicit descriptions with its sexual topics. Women’s groups and others have criticized him for his politically incorrect views on a variety of topics, and the Federal Communications Commission has levied more than $1 million in fines against stations that carry the show, for what the FCC says were indecent broadcasts. But, asked in an interview before the mob scene to explain his appeal, Stern seemed to be saying that he was all id (in Freudian psychology, the uncensored part of the human psyche) on the air.

“I’m polite and quiet now, but when I get in front of a microphone, I just feel completely free,” Stern said. “I start talking about the things that everybody else is thinking too.”