There was a surprisingly large group of autograph seekers out after King today – looking to get their books and photographs signed by the CNN legend – whose notable accomplishments include interviewing more then 40,000 media personalities and seven marriages. King is showing no signs of slowing down as he is signed to CNN through 2011 at an annual salary of almost 10 million dollars.

When HoundsTV asked one professional autograph collector, “What’s the big deal about Larry King’s autograph?” (after all, he isn’t an accomplished actor or musician – the usual targets for mass autograph collecting crowds – the collector simply replied, “He’s old and will probably die soon.”

TORONTO (HoundsTV) Apr 9, 2009 – The day after his rather strange CBC radio interview in Toronto – Billy Bob Thornton emerged from his tour bus to enter Massey Hall for his Boxmasters set.

While on the previous night Thornton came off the bus to be greeted by just a handful of fans and autograph collectors – Thursday night proved a very different story. Billy Bob came off the bus to a much larger crowd of media, photographers, and fans.

When one reporter asked Thornton about his comment on Ghomeshi’s CBC radio show – the perceived slight to Canadian audiences – labeling them “mashed potatoes without gravy.” Billy Bob, dragging on a cigarette simply stated his was referring to the interviewer Ghomeshi, and not the audience.

While Thornton seemed to take exception the day earlier to Ghomeshi mentioning he occasionally dabbles in movies (Billy Bob said the interview was to be strictly about his music) thankfully for some autograph collectors – that didn’t apply to signing memorabilia as one collector got their Pushing Tin DVD cover signed by Thornton.

But a girl trying to get a package of gravy signed didn’t fare as well.

During his Thursday night Boxmasters set at Massey Hall – Billy Bob did elicited boos and catcalls from the audience who felt Thornton’s comments in the interview the day before were an insult hurdled at them.

“Boo all you want, but I want to say something… We’re really happy to be here, but I need to say something. I talked to this a-hole (Ghomeshi) yesterday. I sat down and talked with this guy. He and his producers say, `We promise you we won’t say that’. The very first thing they said was that. I don’t really like sensationalism. If you look someone in the eyes and promise them something, and you don’t do it, you don’t get the interview. That’s the way it goes.” – BILLY BOB THORNTON during Thursday night Boxmasters gig at Massey Hall

Jian Ghomeshi is one of Canada’s better journalists – very straight up and honest. For Thornton and his people to expect Jian to not even mention Billy Bob’s other job – as Ghomeshi explained earlier, “to give the audience a little context” – is just dumb and arrogant. Thornton is lucky not to be sitting down with HoundsTV – screw music, we’d be asking Billy Bob to share sex stories about Angelina Jolie.

RELATED: BILLY BOB NOT USED TO REAL JOURNALISTS QUESTIONS?

UPDATE (April 10th) – I guess there really isn’t enough gravy in Canada for Billy Bob Thornton and his Boxmasters – they have pulled out of the rest of Willie Nelson’s Canadian tour according to Nelson’s website.

REPORTING FOR MEDIA OR BLOGGING? There is a FREE BILLY BOB IN TORONTO photo set for sharing here