Hillary Clinton said it herself. The "public" part of public service has never been easy. Now, with the Democratic nomination in hand, it's time to meet America.

And please, advisers, that doesn't mean popping up on "Carpool Karaoke." It's time to go on Stern.

Don't do "The Howard Stern Show" because he's been a Hillary supporter. Do Stern because of what he does: Simply the best broadcast entertainment interview show around. Because, as he said in a rare, more than hour-long interview with The Washington Post, "the ultimate Hillary interview hasn't been done yet." Stern talked about how he would proceed if Clinton agreed to go on his SiriusXM show. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: The Clinton campaign has said no so far. What if you got a call tomorrow that she would love to do the show? What's your strategy?

A: I don't think I'd handle Hillary Clinton any differently than I would a musician. I had a three-hour conversation with Billy Joel and we really talked about his music writing process, how this happened, how it evolved, and his relationship with his parents, his marriages, the love of the piano and the songwriting process and also the torture of it.

You think about politics. Who really would want to go through this scrutiny and the torture and the criticism? Now we see it on Twitter. Everyone's getting bullied. But politicians have been getting bullied forever and I'm not so cynical. I certainly don't believe that a young person goes into politics with the idea, I'm going to get rich. I think there is a desire to serve. Is it any different from Steven Tyler saying I want to write songs since I was 9 years old?

Q: I wonder what you thought of Bill Clinton's speech at the convention. Rachel Maddow called it "shocking and weird" because he was talking about Hillary as the object of his desire and, of course, he had his famous affair.

A: When I watched his speech I, too, had that reaction. But look, there are so many hypocrites out there. You know how many guys and women are having affairs? I was able to evaluate Bill Clinton as a president without sitting there. How many great CEOs of companies have had affairs? It's an epidemic. So for everyone to be so holier than thou and say they can't buy into the fact that he had a love affair with Hillary. Of course they had a love affair.

Q: Trump. He's been a regular guest on the Stern show over the years. Is it fair to say you like him as a guy but not as a candidate?

A: No. I won't say that. Before Trump even got in the race, way before he got in the race, I had announced I was supporting Hillary. I believe she would be an extremely powerful president. I don't dislike Trump as a candidate but I am absolutely enamored by Hillary. And I've told Donald that. Hillary as a president was sort of dream of mine for a long time. I thought she was an excellent senator.

Q: You voted for Obama but did you support her over him in the 2008 primary?

A: I did.

Q: So your producers reached out to the Clinton campaign. Do you ever get involved to make a stronger push?

A: I wouldn't feel comfortable having someone in who is pressured somehow and kind of overhype the experience. They've got to come to that conclusion on their own. Having said that, we've reached out and said, we'd love to have Hillary on. And it would expose her to an audience that might not be thinking of voting for her. She could also have a direct pipeline to a lot of people who wouldn't normally get to hear her speak the way we have the ability to do it. There's a lot of time to develop an answer. Not do a sound bite. And oddly enough, because of that format, I notice a lot of the media takes the interviews we do and makes sound bites out of them.

Q: Well, Howard, one of the biggest sound bites is Trump. He has said he never supported the Iraq war, but there's a clip of him voicing his support in an interview on your show in 2002.

A: Somebody comes on and everyone suddenly goes, 'Oh, Howard Stern got a lot of out of this person or that person.' It's because we're having a real conversation. Alec Baldwin said to me, I don't really want to do any other show but yours. Why is that? He said, 'Anywhere else I go, it's like hurry up and answer. And when I come on your show, I really get to explain myself.' Lady Gaga said to me, 'I feel most safe when I'm doing your show.' And that floored me.

Q: So with Hillary, do you ask her about the email scandal?

A: I would leave that to the interview on "Meet the Press" or the Fox News channel, CNN, George Stephanopoulos, even Matt Lauer. They can do that interview.

Q: How about her marriage? You have to ask, right?

A: But I don't think it's necessarily the central thing. When you're talking about the scope of someone's life and that becomes something in their life, it becomes more comfortable to talk about. You've heard my interviews. I don't avoid topics. When Gwen Stefani walked in I didn't know if she was talking about her marriage or not. I know her (former) husband very well. Gavin. I like him very much. But I wasn't going to avoid the topic either. But it wasn't the focus. I didn't have her walk into the studio and go, 'Gwen, I can't believe what happened with Gavin.' That's just poor form and that's not the way I approach a conversation in my home.

Q: Back to Trump. You're obviously a big believer in free speech. He's been blocking the press and trying to control the press and trying to shut the press out. I can't imagine you support that.

A: Trump is not a traditional candidate. Quite frankly, I've spoken to Donald Trump off the air and I've said, why the hell you would want to be president? You've got such a great life. You've got a spectacular wife. If you've ever checked out this place, Mar-a-Largo, it is fantastic. He's got lots of money. He's got all the toys that a person would want. Why on God's name would you want that? And I will tell you the reason he's such a good guest on your show is because he's unfiltered and he's ready to say anything.

Q: What did he tell you when you asked him why he's running?

A: I don't know that that's fair for me to say what he said to me off the air.