A college student at the time, Norris first met Howard Stern while working the overnight shifts at WCCC, an AM and FM radio station in Hartford, Connecticut in the spring of 1979. He continued at WCCC after Stern’s departure; though left the station in early 1981 to take a job at WAQY-FM in Springfield, Massachusetts.

When Stern became a ratings hit at WWDC in Washington, D.C. that year, he was able to use his success as leverage to persuade the station to hire Norris, who started as the producer on Stern’s show in October 1981. He later moved with Stern to New York to work at WNBC in September 1982, and has been with the show ever since.

In 1993, Norris legally changed his name from Fred Leo Nukis to Eric Fred Norris. On the May 23, 1996 episode of The Howard Stern Show, Stern and the cast had an extended discussion with Norris about this. Norris did not reveal the motivation for the change. Although he did not like the name Fred, he kept it because “Fred Norris” was the name the public knew him by. On the November 13, 2006 episode, Norris was again asked about his motivation for the change. Norris revealed he changed his surname to that of his kindly stepfather, in order to remove from his life any association with his biological father. Norris further explained that his mother wanted to name him Eric at birth, but that his biological father had not allowed it because Eric was the name of his mother’s former boyfriend. Norris’s middle name Leo was selected by his godmother, the same woman who eventually eloped with his biological father.

In 1994, Norris married Allison Furman, a woman he originally met on the “Dial-A-Date” segment of Stern’s radio show. The couple have one daughter together, Tess in November 2002.

Norris has also appeared in several small television and movie roles. He played a younger version of himself in Private Parts in 1997. He played a meter maid in Cruel Intentions in 1999. Most recently, he portrayed a head shop owner named Leon, on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2013.