In a roomful of seasoned — mostly retired — journalists at the National Arts Club, the Silurians Press Club honored Connie Chung with a lifetime achievement award last week.
The show was attended by a group of fun characters, and hilariously punctuated by Chung’s award being dropped, a Silurian banner repeatedly falling onstage, an amusing Siri interruption, an irate former colleague and Chung even name-checking a strain of weed named after her.
The broadcast news pioneer also used part of her speech to honor her husband, Maury Povich, and remind the crowd he was a serious journalist, too, before becoming a daytime TV legend on a show famous for its shock paternity tests.
“I had never thought I had a story to tell,” she said, recounting how Povich inspired her to write her 2024 memoir, “Connie.”
Chung, 78, added of her spouse, “my husband, you know, Maury Povich… has been determining the paternity of every child in America. Your grandkids know about it or maybe your kids.” But, “The fact is, he has a wider vocabulary than, ‘you are the father,’ and ‘you’re not the father.’”
She pointed out how Povich for years was a reporter in Washington, DC.
Chung has previously made headlines for dishing on colleagues at ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, including Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters and Dan Rather.
Her opening remarks came to a halt when Silurian president and New York Times contributor Aileen Jacobson dropped her plaque. Chung quipped: “Oh my God, you dropped my award? It didn’t break, did it?”
It was in tact, but witty Chung suggested, “We’d better take that away from her,” before she continued her nearly 35 minute speech packed with tales of family and her news anchor days at the three big networks.
Chung arrived 45 minutes late to the luncheon explaining her tardiness was due to a morning doctor’s appointment. “I love going to doctors. That’s what I do in New York,” she said.
“It’s the best thing. I can sit down and I say, ‘How are you?’ and they say, ‘Fine… how are you?’ And I can talk about myself for the next 15 minutes [or] 30,” she added.
There was also some behind-the-scenes drama at the awards. One former producer of “CBS News Sunday Morning” in the ’80s threatened to leave after she found out she wasn’t seated at Chung’s table.
“I’m not staying for this. I’ve had it! I’m angry,” she was overheard telling a guest. (We hear she ended up sitting in the other room).
The Silurian banner also fell several times during Chung’s speech, sparking her to tell Jacobson, “Oy vey. Aileen, we’ve gotta do something better than gaffers tape, ya know? Next time, OK?”
She then realized she’d been pronouncing the president’s name wrong. “Oy vey! I am so sorry… In television news, we really try hard to get pronunciation of people’s name. That just shows how old I am… I can’t believe that!” Chung said.
One veteran journalist sipping red wine in the crowd was overheard on her phone asking Siri, “How old is Connie Chung?” The journo could be overheard exclaiming, “78, that’s my age!”
Chung inspired students and grad school scholarship recipients in the room with stories from the newsroom — and her thoughts on TV news.
Guests included Fran Carpentier, Bonnie Tandy Leblang, Tony Guida, David Margolick, Karen Feld (and her poodle Mango).
Chung ended her speech by proudly acknowledging that there’s even a strain of weed named after her.
“Connie Chung weed, and it’s online,” she said. “I’m easy to grow, and I have a nice scent, and I don’t give you the crazies too much… and the best part about my namesake weed is my marijuana is low maintenance,” she concluded.
