Jerry Springer

Dysfunction came to the forefront of television nearly two decades ago when Jerry Springer stepped on the stage as the host of his own show. Love it or hate it, the tabloid talk show has had a major impact on pop culture. Now The Jerry Springer Show is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special airing on Oct. 27. TheCelebrityCafe.com’s Michelle Vaccaro had the opportunity to speak with the man behind the mic. He’s not only still taping his talk show, but also currently hosts GSN’s dating game show Baggage, and emcee’s the America’s Got Talent tour. He discussed his eclectic career which includes TV host, news anchor, politician, country music singer, and reality game show contestant.

TheCelebrityCafe: First, I want to say congratulations on the show’s 20th anniversary.

Jerry Springer: I’m sorry. There’s no excuse. We’re starting to get the children of our original guests on…which is wrong because these people were told not to procreate. They just went ahead and did it anyway.

TCC: Are there any special celebrations for the anniversary?

JS: We just taped our 20th Anniversary show in Times Square. That’s going to air on October 27th.

TCC: Are there any famous guests coming back?

JS: Other than having the celebration in Times Square, it’s showing the best of what we’ve had which is the best surprises, the best bites, the best whatever. It’s all the craziness and over the 20 years there’s a lot you can find. You have a lot to pick from.

TCC: Does Steve make an appearance?

JS: No. We produce his show, but no. He may be in some of the clips now that I think about it. This will be just a celebration of this show. Yeah, who would’ve thought. It’s…I can’t believe it. My first contract was for six weeks. It just took off and I’m just going along for the ride. The truth is anyone could do what I do. The guests are so outrageous that it’s hard not to watch...it’s also hard to watch.

TCC: How did the show start or evolve into what it is now?

JS: I think they were drinking. No, it started…I was anchoring the news in Cincinnati for the NBC affiliate and I had been doing that for 10 years. We were really pretty dominant in the ratings. It had come to be that the station where I did the news also owned talk shows. They owned Phil Donahue, Sally Jesse Raphael, etc. Well Phil was getting close to retirement and the CEO of the company took me out to lunch one day and said, 'You know Phil’s retiring soon, we’re gonna start another talk show and you’re going to host it.' I was assigned to it. I didn’t audition or try out or beat out anyone. I was just an employee and they said this is what you are doing. I still wanted to do the news so I continued to do the news. I would get up in the morning, fly to Chicago, tape the show and, in the afternoon, fly back to Cincinnati because I would do the news every night at 5:30, 6:00 and 11:00. I did that for about two years and that got old. I was getting tired. I decided...well, now that the show is starting to really take off, that I would leave the news and devote more energy to the show. That’s when the show started going crazy and I’m just hanging in there. I can’t explain it other than that. It’s just so different that people get attracted to it.

TCC: Now after 20 years of doing the show, what would you say is the craziest thing you’ve seen?

JS: Well, probably the guy who married his horse. Oh, we did a follow up show. We did the horse lesson. That’s why you gotta keep the barn door closed.

TCC: College kids watch your show, even my grandmother does the “Jerry” chant.

JS: Oh, God love her. There’s no explaining…you’d like to get a comfortable demographic, but you figure that’s the audience, but the truth is the audience is all over. Obviously it’s college kids, that’s the main group. Beyond that, it could be anyone from any walk of life. It’s hard to nail down. It’s just a guilty pleasure for some people. For some people it’s not even guilty, they just love it.

TCC: And that’s why you think it has lasted so long and is so popular?

JS: I just think because there was nothing on television like it. It was just so different. I mean, let’s be honest, you can’t be a grownup in this world and be surprised by anything that’s on the show. What is surprising is that it’s on television, but there’s nothing that’s happening on the show that you don’t read about everyday in the newspaper. So we’re aware that this all happens, we just haven’t seen it on television because up until 20 years ago all American television was upper middle class white. And if you were a minority or something you were put on one of the side networks or you had to be a doctor living in the suburbs like Cosby. All of a sudden, our show came along and we just showed part of the population that is all around us, but they don’t get themselves on television, and now they did. That’s what made it ‘Oh my gosh, look at that.’

TCC: What did you think when there was a musical/opera based on the show?

JS: At first I didn’t believe it. I found out about it...I was in England at the time doing another show. Some guy came up to me and he said, ‘Is it okay if we do an opera about you?’ Well, you know, you don’t take it seriously. It’s just some conversation at some party or something so I was like ‘fine, go ahead.’ About six months later, there’s this opera. It won all of the awards over there, the Olivier awards, which are kind of like our Tony awards. I had nothing to do with it. It’s about me, but I didn’t produce it. They did a real good job. When they came to the States, Harvey Keitel was playing me so it was nuts, but they did a good job.

TCC: Did you get to see it?

JS: Yeah, they invited me to England to see it. I enjoyed it. I mean I wish it were about someone else, but it’s kind of weird watching an opera about yourself because there is no one you can share the experience with. Because Figaro doesn’t call Carmen…you know…she doesn’t answer my letters so…there ya go. There are no living people with operas so I don’t know who to share the experience with.

TCC: What do you say to the shows critics and people who say it’s staged?

JS: Well, it’s obviously not staged. I mean you just gotta be there to see it. But to the critics that don’t like the show I say, ‘Well, you’ve got a good point.’ It’s not for everyone’s taste. Not at all.

TCC: The show used to film in Chicago. Why move to Connecticut?

JS: NBC Universal owns us and they decided that Connecticut was offering corporate tax breaks so the company decided to move. A lot of companies now are moving their shows to Connecticut, like Deal or No Deal moved out of California, Maury moved out of New York, they moved us out of Chicago. So that’s the corporate decision made way above us.

TCC: Tell me about the America’s Got Talent Tour.

JS: I’m loving that. I love the show. It really is a manifestation of the American dream in terms of show business. Because you don’t have to be rich, you don’t have to be famous, you don’t have to be living in Hollywood, or have a dad in the business. You could just be just a regular person, sitting at home someplace in Kansas and…you know…singing into your hairbrush in front of a mirror in your bedroom. Your mom walks by and says, ‘Hey, this is pretty good. Why don’t you try out.’ So every kid that dreams about one day being…you know…loving to perform and being famous for it has a shot and they try out. There’s such a great spirit about it. Being on the tour is great because, you know, they’re not yet divas, they don’t’ have attitudes. It’s just nice young people that love this opportunity. They’re so excited about it. Their families are traveling with them and it’s just such a great spirit. There’s nothing not to like about it.

TCC: Why did you stop hosting the live show?

JS: Last year, I was offered the role of Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago on Broadway. So you get asked to be on Broadway, that’s once in a lifetime. So I’ve never done that so I did that. I did it a few months in London and several months on Broadway. So that’s how that happened. I mean I still love the show. They were nice enough to want me to be a part of it so they said, ‘Well, will you do the tour?’ So last fall, they didn’t have a tour, but there were three months in Vegas and a month in Foxwoods, Connecticut and I hosted that. So I’m still with America’s Got Talent, I just don’t do the TV show.

TCC: You have become a household name from your show, hosting America’s Got Talent, and appearing on Dancing with the Stars. Would you ever consider politics again?

JS: Yeah, I don’t know if I’d run again. I’m very active. I spend an awful lot of time raising money and giving speeches and organizing…you know…mostly in Ohio…but my speeches are around the country. Yeah, I raise and give a lot of money to the party so I’m still very active. Whether or not I would run? I think about it from time to time. I came pretty close in ‘06 to run. But, you know, I’m 66 now and by the time I ever got seniority in the Senate, I would be, you know, in my 80’s. So I don’t think the 60’s is too old to serve adequately, but by the time you’re in your 80’s you’re slowing down for that kind of work. So I think my time frame is pretty close to closing, but I admit I do think of it from time to time.

TCC: What were you thinking of running for?

JS: Well either Senate or Governor. Those are the offices. It would always be back in Ohio. That’s my political base.

TCC: Any more music albums in the works?

JS: No, it’s not fair to the people. It’s not nice to go out and hurt people. When I sing, everyone gets involved because they have to guess where the notes were supposed to have been. So there’s really community involvement. I sing a little bit, actually, on the tour so it’s kind of fun. I did that because it was offered and it was fun to do. Then I toured a little bit with Billy Ray Cyrus. I opened for him. A couple of occasions I opened for Alabama, had a band. I do it once in a while, but no, I’m not good enough to do that.

TCC: You’ve done a lot of different things. Is there anything else you want to tackle?

JS: I would like to be king. First of all, it looks great on your resume. That’s probably the one job you can’t be fired from. Well, you could be overthrown. It’s a pretty good job. No, I’m so lucky. I don’t have any talent and I’ve managed to be successful. I fell fortunate I don’t have any talent. It’s like how did that happen? Then I realize it’s all luck and I’m grateful for it but, it’s not like I’ve had any particular ambition in this field. Just to be successful, I guess, provide for my family, etc.. But beyond that, what happens is wonderful, but it’s not anything I aspire to be.

TCC: Have you done any more dancing since you’ve been on Dancing with the Stars?

JS: You know what’s funny though...you know I did that father/daughter dance at Katie’s wedding. That was the purpose of going on the show, so that I would learn to dance to the waltz for Katie. So now it’s the moment and we’re dancing in the middle of the dance. Katie’s wearing this beautiful wedding gown and Katie looks up to me and she says, ‘Dad, they can’t see our feet!’ Which of course was true because of her dress. So therefore, it didn’t matter. I didn’t have to learn any steps. I could’ve just rocked back and forth. No one knew so the whole thing was stupid. But it was a fun experience.

TCC: Would you do it again if you had the opportunity?

JS: Uh…no. You know, the last few weeks I was on, I was begging to be voted off every week. You know, it was painful. I think people just kept voting for me because they wanted to hurt me. My hair hurt. Everything hurt. It was fun to do and it was fun to do with Katie and all that. But it’s for other people, certainly for younger people.

TCC: You host the GSN show Baggage. If you were a contestant on the show, what would you say your baggage is?

JS: I wouldn’t have baggage, I’d have a steamer truck. See, I wouldn’t go on a show like that. It’s fun. I wouldn’t go on my show. It’s kind of innocent stuff. I’d have to remember back when I was in my teens and twenties dating, what my baggage would be. It really is a fun show. I wish I would’ve thought of it actually. It was one of those…when they called me I said, ‘Oh my god what a great idea.’ It’s just your classic dating show, but it’s the first time they’ve had to come out with their baggage ahead of time. Normally, you find out someone’s baggage six months or two years into the relationship, but here you get it up front. And it’s really funny. It’s really interesting to see the difference between the men and the women. I think these three beautiful women come out and the guy gets to chose. Almost without fail, the guy within the first ten seconds knows exactly who he’s physically attracted to, and it almost doesn’t matter what her baggage is. He just sticks with her. The woman on the other hand, concentrates on the baggage so you don’t know who she’s going to pick. You’re sometimes fooled because she’s much deeper. The guys are just animals. It’s like, ‘Hey, she’s cute. I don’t care if she’s a mass murderer.’ It’s amazing how the guys…they just stay with it. They can’t be talked out of it.

TCC: Is there anything you’ve been surprised about that people have chosen?

JS: No. Because it’s probably not. It’s just that you don’t know. So many of these things are personal. What is baggage to one person is not to another. Unless you really know the personality of the person you’re choosing. You don’t know what gets their goat or what they really can’t handle. Some are obvious. There’s…one that once a month has dinner with her ex or still lives with her ex or something like that. Then you’re surprised. Why with that drama? But it’s a funny show. It’s mostly comedy to be honest.

TCC: Now just like your show, I’d like to end my interview with a “Final Thought.” What is your final thought about your career so far?

JS: Jerry…what were you thinking?! Take care of yourself and each other.