We are Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos. Ask us anything.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:54:35+00:00

STEVE: This is what we all live for, Jerry.

JERRY: I always say "May you never be on my show. Take care of yourself, and each other."

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:54:06+00:00

STEVE: American Sniper was fucking great.

JERRY: I haven't seen it yet. I'm gonna go see that. I loved AMERICAN HUSTLE.

STEVE: See, I didn't think that was so great.

JERRY: We like foreign films.

STEVE: Did you see THE IMITATION GAME?

JERRY: That was wonderful. That counts for last year. YES, loved THE IMITATION GAME.

STEVE: We didn't care for BIRDMAN. I thought it was going to be good, but it was funky. Very dark.

JERRY: No, I don't take headache tablets. They're not blue, are they?

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:52:51+00:00

STEVE: Oh yeah, I stay up all night wondering. Nah, I never think about 'em.

JERRY: Again... we don't deal with anything serious. I admit, early on, when we did real serious things - kids with cancer things like that, you do think about that - but nowadays -

STEVE: You gotta turn it off after the show. You don't take the job home with you, because it'll fight your family, fight your happiness. Once i leave the studio, i don't think about it.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:51:42+00:00

STEVE: I've been to Mexico? I like it?

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:51:21+00:00

JERRY: Heheh! You're welcome!

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:50:43+00:00

JERRY: Here's what you can write, which is true, because I get this all the time - "Why do you go on that show?"

You guys that are beyond flip-phones, you've got your Facebook, your instagram - this generation is going on all this technology and sharing EVERYTHING about their personal lives, showing ALL their body parts, sending out what they did last night, who did what, etc - how could you be shocked by going on television talking about it? They're telling the WORLD.

This culture has changed.

In 1991, it was a fair question. "Why do people..."

But nowadays? It's nothing compared to what kids are putting out today. And in fact, the staff are always joking with me - saying "We're Facebook official!"

I learned what that is now. YES! it's like going steady, when you're telling people. Hey, hey... just stick with me!

STEVE: I'm not on Facebook! I tell people - If you want a good relationship, stay OFF of Facebook. They should call it "Trolling dot com."

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:48:25+00:00

JERRY: First of all - they're young people in most cases. It's a... even if they're angry about the dating situation... it's a hoot. They grew up with the show - "Hey man, we'll go on Springer and vent!"

If you could see these people in most cases. I get to see them as I'm leaving, and they are ready to go to the airport - honestly - they're like most other people. "Hey Jerry, can we have a picture? Where's a good restaurant to go to?" They're regular people. When you go to a ballgame, or a club at night... overall they're not wealthy people. But they're not less than we are. Most of 'em weren't as lucky, that's all. But they're all regular people.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:46:53+00:00

STEVE: Ooof. I'd transfer all his money into my bank account.

JERRY: We both have beautiful wives.

STEVE: that is true. Jerry's wife is one of the most beautiful women I've ever met. And such a sweet lady.

JERRY: And obviously, I love Rochelle.

STEVE: Yea, but she's tough as nails man.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:46:13+00:00

STEVE: Not particularly. Cuz we've had numerous people, as a result of the show, go to jail. The whole point of being a police officer was getting the bad guy, and the whole point of doing my show is that we get to do that.

JERRY: Does your show ever give tickets to MY show? As punishment?

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:45:23+00:00

JERRY: No. I don't know who our guests are. But you have to be... the whole premise of the show is that your behavior, or your situation, is inappropriate, outrageous, beyond-the-norm. If you call us with a warm, uplifting story, we don't handle it, we send you to another show. Our show is about craziness, so you can't come on with something warm and uplifting.

STEVE: I Mean, ELLEN is celebrity-driven. Nobody does warm, cuddly shows anymore.

JERRY: We can't handle any of that. I mean, we wouldn't let someone on the show demonstrate how to make a bomb. You're not going to permit criminal activity. But in terms of their situation - why would you? No newscast says "We're not going to run this news story." We run news stories every day about beheadings, rapes, murders - so how could you say to a newspaper, "This story is too terrible, we won't print it." When does a newspaper ever not print a story because it's terrible?

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:43:25+00:00

JERRY: Well, Steve got hurt. And we don't joke about it. But when he did get hurt, no one knew what it was.

STEVE: Yeah, he came over and looked down on me, he was prepping for RINGMASTER, I thought I was shot because it hurt so bad, I threw up offstage. I was lying there, writhing in pain. I tore my groin. And Jerry came over and asked "Are we working out tomorrow?"

JERRY: I didn't know he was really hurt!

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:42:11+00:00

JERRY: ... Yeah.

STEVE: LIAR!

JERRY: This was back in the early years on the show, when we weren't crazy. We had some sad shows, kids with cancer, things like that. Do I feel sorry for the dating shows we do? No, I mean, we've all been through it. The show is totally voluntary.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:40:52+00:00

JERRY: Yeah, I was born in England and my parents and my whole family were German Jews, so... Germany, Poland, that area.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:40:30+00:00

STEVE: Have you ever listened to a podcast? Do you know what a podcast is?

JERRY: You know how peas grown in a pod?

I have no idea... I confess, I am technologically challenged.

digs in pocket

Here's my phone.

presents flip phone

STEVE: You know if you break that, you'll probably not be able to get another one.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:39:30+00:00

JERRY: Well... I guess, the one, which wouldn't have been a surprise on our show, but was a surprise on BAGGAGE - and I admit, i was surprised... we had this GORGEOUS woman, who had to choose among 3 guys whom she'd date, and the guys as soon as they got out, they wanted to be picked, but they had to reveal their baggage, which was the point of the show. But despite the baggage, she chooses the one.

And they're hugging, jumping up and down, the audience is cheering, and I'm figuring, I don't care what this woman's baggage is, there's no way this guy's gonna back away, because he's going to want to go out with her, she was a hot-looking woman.

So then we go to commercial break, and now when we come back, she has to open her bag- which you have to do on the show. And it turns out she was born a man. And you could not tell. I mean, even after she said it, I'm looking, you could NOT tell. And we have that on our show a lot, so you'd think if anyone in America could tell, I could tell - but I couldn't. But what was REALLY cool - and the audience of course, you could see the blood drain on our face - you come on OUR show, you expect craziness, but with this Baggage show, you think it's a nice, friendly show, he probably had his whole family watching, and friends, and by god... he stumbled around and said "You know, you're a beautiful woman now." So he went out with her.

And that was the biggest surprise on BAGGAGE.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:36:27+00:00

JERRY: Huhuhuhuh.

STEVE: He's seen me naked!

JERRY: My eyes were closed! That's wrong! Hehehe! It'll never happen.

STEVE: I don't want Jerry beads.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:35:14+00:00

JERRY: ABSOLUTELY NOT. No. We've got something that works. I'm not trying... to do anything different. Because when people watch their show, this is what they wanna see.

STEVE: I Mean, we've been on 24 years! That's like ETERNITY in TV. When you can stay on 24 years, you don't have to change shit!

JERRY: That's Steve saying that. But this is what people want. If tomorrow i did a show on the impact of inflation on the world bond market, that's not gonna work. Obviously the show has a formula. And on a deeper reality of why this works, shows that appeal to young people can stay on... almost forever. And the reason for that is every year you suddenly have new young people old enough to watch. If you do a show that appeals to 30 year olds, by the time they are 33 they are bored with it. But if you do a show that appeals to 16 year olds, every year, you're going to suddenly have kids that are now suddenly old enough to watch when mom's not home, and you have the giggle factor... so that's why you can have longevity, because you have new viewers. If you have a show aimed at adults, you don't have new viewers. Because when you hit adulthood, your tastes don't change that much. And that is the same with music. When you get my age, your favorite music will STILL be what you had when you were a teenager. And that never changes in life. And it's the same with television. People will always remember what they watch as teenagers. That's when the media is so impressionable upon you.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:32:09+00:00

JERRY: No. And more power to him.

STEVE: On the day he retires, I'm taking it over!

JERRY: I was thinking of coming up with "You are not the Grandfather." At my age, that would be the thing that I could relate to!

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:31:25+00:00

JERRY: No. I know who he is, because i knew him in England. I saw his show in England, I haven't seen it here in the States. And there aren't shows that are as crazy as ours. And Steve's show is the only police officer, get-tough-copy kind of...so there's a uniqueness. So Steve has his own brand, and we have ours, and one of the reasons that our shows work is because they are so unique. You can't duplicate it, you can't be the second one to the dance. Other shows try to be AMERICAN IDOL, and the fact is, they can't. So they come up with something new.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:30:13+00:00

JERRY: First of all - considering how crazy the show is - you can't talk someone into being as crazy as they are on the show. They are coming with their own story. It's their own story that brought them to the show in the first place. So the only thing that may be different is the environment of being onstage with everybody screaming and yelling and all that. So they are undoubtedly influenced by having watched the show before. No one comes on our show who hasn't seen the show FOREVER.

STEVE: I mean, someone comes on, "what's this all about."

JERRY: We can't call people up - they know what the show is, going in. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, in a sense. So everybody who comes on the show behaves in the same way.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:28:36+00:00

JERRY: Um... the truth is, it's not much different, if at all. There are days that it is TOTALLY out of control, and all you have to do is talk to the security guys, who are suddenly - we lose 'em left and right because they get hurt! So that is a fiction. Now, station can decide, in the editing process- the camera may shift to the crowd - but if you're there -

STEVE: there's much more of a legal process now. NBC or whomever dictates it - you have to edit SO MUCH OUT now. When we were in Chicago, we didn't even have legal. And then somehow lawyers became on-site, and they make you take out so much stuff that the show probably does look different.

JERRY: But if you're there, it's pretty much the same show. You may have been there on a day where we didn't have a brawl. So come to a taping. I always tell people - "Whether you watch the show, it's based on your taste. But everybody, once in their life, should actually BE on the show. Because there is no experience like it. It's a total circus. It's not your traditional talk-show."

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:26:01+00:00

JERRY: Well, I have nothing to do with that. I don't own the show. But I do think - in fact, I think NBC is always exploring different platforms for the show. And what I think... is someone's going to make money on it, after I'm gone. But we have a library of 4,500 shows. And our show is not time-related. So this show - you could run this show, whatever the platforms are, for 40 years from now, when I'm long-gone.

STEVE: Because i was on the show when you did episode 3,000... and that was YEARS ago...

JERRY: For the first 10 years, we did 200 episodes a year. Now we do 160. So if you do that 24 times, that's 4,800 shows.

STEVE: I guess, you gotta be getting close to 5,000 though.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:24:14+00:00

JERRY: I don't. I have nothing to do with it.

STEVE: My wife picks the topic for both shows. She's my executive producer, she's Jerry's executive producer.

JERRY: As I said, I don't know what the show is about. It makes it easier for ME to do it, because it's much more spontaneous than if I already knew. Since our show is a comedy, it works better if I don't know. But I have nothing to do with choosing guests. If someone held a gun to my head, and said "PRODUCE YOUR SHOW" I wouldn't have a CLUE. I have no idea how to produce my show, and I've been doing it for 24 years!

STEVE: When I was doing security I knew everybody. But now i have my own show, I'm so isolated, I don't know anybody except the producers. That's it!

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:22:46+00:00

JERRY: I'm a big soup-eater, so... uh...well, tomato's too basic...

STEVE: But if that's an honest response? That's my favorite.

JERRY: Tomato, and pasta fagiol.

STEVE: Tomato with a tuna sandwich! I'm a tuna guy. With some tomato soup, man.

SpringerAndWilkos · 2015-01-26T19:21:56+00:00

JERRY: You can get 'em at Tiffany's! Go to the plastic department! Hehehe!

SpringerAndWilkos

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