Opie Hater Zombies like to make believe that "Leave it alone" wasn't the absolute best way to put out Auntie's stupid fire. Auntie was trying to burn down the show. Unloading little personal pot shots at Opie, which were many years in the making. Auntie was pissed because they got fired off FM, and he knew O&A 3.0 failed to garner mass appeal. He wanted to blame Opie, just like he blamed Opie for getting his own dumbass fired, on his day off, on a Friday
When Opie repeated "Leave it alone," what he was really saying was... "Why are you TRYING to blow this up? We got a good thing going here. Don't make me say that I started it all. Don't make me say shit I can't take back." By saying LEAVE IT ALONE, Opie was trying to remind Stupid Anthony that there are just some hands that you do not bite. But The DMAN will allow you to write your own punchlines with that little reference.
The listeners who tuned out had likely noticed Auntie's weird detached "I'm above this" energy in the XM to SXM years. Auntie was always a tag-along little sidekick faggot who went with whatever THE BOSS was creating that day, but he really became a "I'm barely half listening" uninterested mother trying to tune out her little brats without being a cunt. "Really. Ahhh. That's amazing. Interesting. Hmmm. Never knew that. Wow. Aaah, I get it. Sure. Okay."
Auntie's 'HAPPY TO BE THERE' energy from their most successful times in WAAF and WNEW was referenced over the years. His contributions were mostly straight and to the point during those years. He didn't just blurt out sounds, he did bits that had been prepared or at least executed off-air beforehand, and then repurposed later fudda show. He was a supporting cast for whatever was going on. Someone to bounce ideas off of, have a conversation with, and to laugh at Opie's jokes.
In short, "Leave it alone" was likely the most powerful way for Opie to effortlessly place his metaphorical hand on Auntie's metaphorical head, as Auntie metaphorically swung for the fences, and both metaphorically and literally failed to land a single blow to his reluctant mentor, local high school sports hero, coulda been a model, handed you every break you ever had in your dumb little rat life, and that's Mister Hughes to you. ONE HUNDRED, AND 95 POUNDS -- THE BLOND DESTROYER ..... THIS IS
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPIE
