Here’s another story for the “Well…duh…” file. When you think of The Jerry Springer Show (if you actually ever think of it), you probably think of shoe throwing, hair pulling fist fights, profanity and lots of yelling – all to entertain a pack of rowdy audience members chanting “JER-RY! JER-RY! JER-RY!” Highbrow television, right? Well, according to the man himself, he never expected any critical acclaim or awards for introducing the world to adult babies and crazy hillbillies.
Jerry recently “confessed” to Entertainment Tonight that his show, which has been on the air for an astonishing 25 years, has “no redeeming social value.” The 72-year-old host, who dabbled in politics, serving as Mayor of Cincinnati back in 1977, said he still provides a forum to address such important topics as “Bisexual Betrayals” and “I Married the Wrong Twin” (actual episode names) because “it’s fun to do.” He added, “I’m not that good at golf. I think I’d go crazy [if I retired.] I’m always afraid not to be working. It’s psychological, I’m sure. If I ever have nightmares about something, it’s about not having a job, which is crazy, I know.”
As for his humble beginnings, Jerry had no intentions of being a pop culture fixture when he began his career in serious journalism, but remained humble even after he became part of pop culture history:
On his humble beginnings: “I was anchoring the news in Cincinnati for the NBC affiliate there, and I had been doing that for 10 years,” he told ET. “One day the CEO took me out to lunch and said, ‘You know Phil [Donahue] is going to be retiring, and we’re going to start another talk show, and you’re going to host it,’ and I was assigned to it, because I was an employee. They adjusted the pay and all that, but it wasn’t anything I ever aspired to.”
On what it takes to be a successful talk show host: “Anybody can be a talk show host. You do three things to be a talk show host. You have to be able to say, ‘You did what? Come on out! We’ll be right back.’ If you can do those three lines, you’ve got a career.”
On the moment he knew he “made it”:“The day I figured out, ‘Wow! We’re on to something,’ there were two cultural moments that impacted me, and I think one was being on The Simpsons. And the other was being on the cover of Rolling Stone. That’s honestly the first time I noticed that ‘Oh my gosh! People are really noticing me.'”
And when it’s time for Jerry’s true “Final Thought”, he already has the inscription for his tombstone ready, joking that it will read “I won’t be right back.”
I’ve heard Jerry on a lot of interviews, and he comes off as a very likeable, smart guy. If they’re trying to imply that he ever thought his show was anything even close to hard-hitting journalism, it’s not working for me. I seriously doubt he set aside space on his mantle for an Oscar for his work on Ringmaster. He had GWAR on the show, for Pete’s sake (side note: GWAR is awesome.) The show has been on the air much longer than many shows of its ilk (RIP, Jenny Jones, Ricki Lake, Jane Pratt, and oh, so many more.) I suspect that after the apocalypse, it’ll just be Maury and Jerry, entertaining cockroaches, Cher and Keith Richards. Hey, as long as there’s an audience for shows like “My Stripper Sister Strikes Again,” Jerry will be there – and I’m okay with that.
Photo credit: WENN.
I didn’t know this show was still on. I thought it went off years ago. Is Maury Povich still on? I wonder how that stayed on for so long when it’s the same topic – paternity tests.
My dad loves some day time Maury and Montel. Or did when they were both running.
He would start conversations with ‘Montel said’, or ‘Maury did this’ as if they were people he met in real life.
It would be a few crazy minutes until everyone caught on that he was talking about tv hostsand not our neighbours or his coworkers,
My boyfriend does this with “Rachel.”
“Rachel had yesterday off.” “Do you know Rachel makes $x/year?”
And every time, it takes me a minute to figure out he means Rachel Maddow.
Ahaha okay good, so my dad’s in good company then.
We’d always razz him about how Ann (a local morning show host) and Maury were doing, ala ‘Hey Dad, so how’s Maury today?’, ‘You see Ann this morning?’
I will always love Jerry Springer. His show might be the very definition of trash, but he just seems like such a good guy.
I love how honest he is about his show. Not everything we consume — shows, books, food, etc. — needs to be CORRECT and HEALTHY and SMART. Some things are trash and we love them because they’re fun and that’s not a bad thing.
Me too. I think he is just so cute. I remember Jenny Jones! I liked her. Not Ricki Lake though.
I always enjoyed SJR too. The way she’d adjust her glasses 🙂
Haha, Jenny Jones! A girl I went to high school with was on a Jenny Jones commercial because she was in the audience and said, “Your name should be Campbell’s because you are mmm mmm good!”
I was always hoping the contestants would be allowed to fight it out! That would’ve been entertaining
That time GWAR were on was amazing
Both you and Corey beat me to posting about this!
Springer is sort of like the Daily Fail of tv. You know it’s bad for you but you can’t help looking.
YES! I have long had a guilty pleasure for comment-reading on the DM. I literally skip the actual article, and go straight to comments on inflammatory articles.
Jerry Springer has no redeeming value. He cannot pretend he is not part of the garbage he hosts. He needs to own his responsibility for this shit show
The jerry springer show taught me English. And then some 🙂
And the sky is blue and water is wet!
I worked on his show as a production assistant like 24 years ago in the beginning when he was competing with Oprah and Jenny jones etc…I remember a show on breast cancer with respectable doctors as guests LOL
I wasn’t there long enough to be part of the slide into full blown madness but the shows on the flip side of the breast cancer shows were beginnings of what was to come.
So many of the guests were out of their minds with their 50 seconds of fame …first time out of there little pockets of the world , free flights & hotel rooms & some extra cash, my main job was making sure they showed up for the show.
I remember him being really nice, people who worked there liked him.
Gwar is awesome! I see them every year at Riot Fest in Chicago – this year was one of their best shows with Hillary and Trump fighting to the death!
I am from Cincinnati. I like Jerry Springer; I grew up watching him on the local news. Before he became mayor, and was on city council, he got into big trouble because he wrote a check to a sex worker. The check bounced. His political career did not die; people appreciated his honesty and continued to vote for him. Yup, that’s Cincinnati!
I used to listen to Springer on air america, or some such liberal talk show. He came across as intelligent and kind.
I love that he doesn’t over value the shite on that show. A lot of people in the world watch, though, which is kind of scary- this is what America is like!
And dude, not bright to write a rubber check to a sex worker. And young lady (guy)? Accept payment up front, in cash. Come on, now.
Do you also think that Jeremy Kyle and Trisha Goddard are accurate representations of the UK?
We know.