Dylan Ratigan Profile…

The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove profiles MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan…

Having lunch with Dylan Ratigan is a bit like being sprayed with a fire hose. Actually, it’s a bit like watching his television program.

“At first, people were like: ‘Who is this guy?’ ” the host of MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show says as we sit outdoors at the Rock Center Café, where he has presented himself unshaven, sporting a beige turtleneck and jeans. “Then they were like: ‘Why is he yelling at everybody?’ Then they were like, ‘Hang on a second, I think he might be here to try and help with honest intent!’ I think we are at that point where people are realizing, however you may feel stylistically, that our intention is to end game-rigging in the government, using 21st Century journalism!”

Ratigan, of course, is yelling—his default mode of communication, ever since his days as a maniacal stock market host on Bloomberg Television and CNBC—and he’s waving his arms in a semaphore of alarm, attracting the anxious curiosity of diners at nearby tables. And despite his resemblance to a budding Howard Beale, the angry anchorman from Paddy Chayefsky’s Network, the 38-year-old Ratigan is appealingly self-aware, happy to acknowledge his hyper-intensity. “Well, it is true,” Ratigan admits. “But we need that guy from Network. At some point somebody has to walk in the room and be like, ‘None of you are solving the problem!’ ”