Kennedy campaign and early law career Springer worked as a
political campaign adviser to
Democrat Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Springer was a partner in the law firm of Grinker, Sudman & Springer from 1973 to 1985, alongside former NBA agent Ronnie Grinker (d. 1997) and current
Butler County, Ohio, magistrate Harry Sudman.
Political career In 1970, Springer ran for the
United States House of Representatives. He failed to unseat incumbent Republican
Donald D. Clancy; however, Springer took 45% of the vote in a traditionally Republican district. He had previously spearheaded the effort to lower the voting age, including testifying before the
Senate Judiciary Committee in support of ratification of the
26th Amendment. Three days after announcing his candidacy, Springer, who was also an
Army reservist at the time, was called to active duty and stationed at
Fort Knox. He resumed his campaign after he was discharged. Springer was elected to the
Cincinnati City Council in 1971. On April 29, 1974, Springer resigned from the council after admitting to soliciting a prostitute. He ran for the office in 1975, winning by a landslide. He was reelected in 1977 and 1979. Springer was considered a "
gonzo" type politician with stunts such as staying a night in jail and commandeering a bus after the city took over bus service. In 1977, Springer was chosen by the Cincinnati City Council to serve for one year as mayor. seeking the Democratic nomination in the
1982 Ohio gubernatorial election. Television commercials for Springer's campaign referenced his use of a check to pay a prostitute, saying that he was not afraid of the truth "even if it hurts." He failed to win the Democratic party's nomination—finishing a distant third behind former lieutenant governor
Richard F. Celeste and
Ohio Attorney General William J. Brown—and his political career was put on hold. In the late 1980s, he played a major role in saving the historic
Cincinnati Union Terminal. and
2004, but he backed down due to negative associations with the
Jerry Springer talk show. He also considered running in the
2018 Ohio gubernatorial election, but he decided against it due to his age. Even after his departure from politics, he was the largest contributor to the
Hamilton County Democratic Party from 1993 to 2018.
Broadcast career Springer was hired as a political reporter and commentator on Cincinnati's
NBC affiliate,
WLWT, which had, at the time, the lowest-rated news program. Later, having been named primary news anchor and managing editor, he wanted a broadcast catchphrase in the model of other well-known newsmen. With the help of some others at WLWT, he created his signature line: "Take care of yourself, and each other." Within two years he was Cincinnati's number-one news anchor, along with partner Norma Rashid. For five years, he was the most popular news anchor in the city, In 1997, the Chicago-based NBC-owned station
WMAQ-TV hired Springer to serve as a news commentator. However, this proved to be unpopular among viewers, as it resulted in the resignation of long-time news anchors
Ron Magers and
Carol Marin due to Springer's talk show. After performing only two commentaries, Springer resigned as commentator.
Jerry Springer (1991–2018) Jerry Springer debuted on September 30, 1991. It started as a politically oriented talk show, a longer version of Springer's commentaries. Guests on the show included
Oliver North and
Jesse Jackson, and topics included
homelessness and
gun politics. In early 1994, Springer and his new producer,
Richard Dominick, revamped the show's format to garner higher ratings. The show became more successful as it became targeted toward tabloidish
sensationalism. Guests were everyday people confronted on a television stage by a spouse or family member's adultery, homosexuality, transsexuality, prostitution,
transvestism,
hate group membership, or other controversial situations. On July 10, 2002, the sons of guest Nancy Campbell-Panitz – who was murdered by her ex-husband after they appeared on a May 2000 episode with his girlfriend – filed suit in
Sarasota County, Florida against Springer, his producers, and his distributor, claiming he created "a mood that led to murder". Ultimately, the estate of Campbell-Panitz dropped all monetary claims against
Jerry Springer and the show agreed to waive its claims for malicious prosecution against the personal representative of the estate of Campbell-Panitz and his counsel. The British musical,
Jerry Springer: The Opera was inspired by him and his talk show. For the New York City performances of the work at
Carnegie Hall his character was portrayed by
Harvey Keitel. The show won four
Olivier awards for its run on London's
West End. In 2005, a UK version of the show aired on Britain's
ITV network titled
The Springer Show. A subdued and more
tongue-in-cheek version of the US show, it beat its talk-show rival
Trisha Goddard five to one in the ratings. The
VH1 "celebreality" series
The Springer Hustle, which took a look at how
Jerry Springer is produced, premiered in April 2007. In April 2015, Springer debuted
The Jerry Springer Podcast on his website, JerrySpringer.com. He later partnered with
Westwood One to stream the
podcast. It was also broadcast in the UK on
Talkradio, on Sundays at midnight. Springer was the second American talk show host to travel to
Cuba, after
Conan O'Brien, for
The Jerry Springer Podcast. The podcast ended in 2022. On July 26, 2018,
Jerry Springer aired its final episode in syndication after 27 seasons before it began airing reruns on
The CW on September 10, 2018.
Judge Jerry (2019–2022) Springer debuted a new courtroom show,
Judge Jerry, on September 9, 2019. The show gave him the opportunity to host a more "grown-up" program and to use his law school education. On March 9, 2022, the series was canceled after three seasons with its final episode airing on August 22, 2022.
Other Springer hosted ''
America's Got Talent'' on NBC for its second and third seasons, replacing
Regis Philbin, before leaving to concentrate on other projects and was replaced by
Nick Cannon. From January 17, 2005, to December 5, 2006, Springer hosted
Springer on the Radio, a liberal talk show on Cincinnati's
WCKY-AM. He did the show from the
Clear Channel studios in
Kenwood, Ohio on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and in Chicago (where his television show taped at the time) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Air America Radio syndicated the program for most of the show's run. In 2007, Springer also cameoed in a handful of episodes of the
George Lopez Show. He hosted
Miss World in
2000 and
2001 and the
Miss Universe 2008. He was also the
guest host for
WWE Raw on February 15, 2010, at
Wells Fargo Arena in
Des Moines, Iowa. Springer also hosted
The Price Is Right Live!. From 2010 to 2015, Springer hosted a dating game show called
Baggage, which aired on
GSN. In July 2012, he hosted
Price is Right Live! in Vancouver's
Boulevard Casino. He hosted the show at
Jack Cincinnati Casino in 2018. From January 2014, Springer hosted
Investigation Discovery series
Tabloid. He hosted
The Adam Carolla Show on April 25, 2014, where he sat in for
Adam Carolla. Springer guest hosted the 22nd-season premiere episode of
WWE Raw on September 8, 2014, in an attempt to conduct an intervention with
The Bella Twins. Springer hosted the show
Jerry Springer Presents WWE Too Hot For TV on the
WWE Network in 2015.
UK After a few years of his US talk show being aired in Springer's native United Kingdom,
ITV approached Springer, who temporarily co-hosted
This Morning with
Judy Finnigan in March 1999 and again in 2000. In summer 1999, ITV made 12 episodes of the UK-based version of the series,
Jerry Springer UK, filmed at the same studios as his US show. In September 1999, Springer made a pilot for a
David Letterman-style talk show for ITV called
Jerry Springer on Sunday. The show received good reviews and ratings; a further four episodes were commissioned to be broadcast in May 2000. Five were broadcast during May and June 2000 under the name
Springer. The series was picked up by
Channel 5 and renamed
Late Night with Jerry Springer. Two series were made in 2000 and 2001 with 16 episodes. While working for Channel 5 In 2001, he was the host of
the UK version of Greed, and a stand in host for
The Wright Stuff. On April 16, 2006, Springer was the guest host for the third-season premiere of
The Friday Night Project for
Channel 4 and guest hosted
Have I Got News for You on December 12, 2008. In 2007, he signed on to host
Nothing But the Truth, the UK version of
Nada más que la verdad. Springer covered the
2016 United States presidential election for ITV's
Good Morning Britain. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, he guest hosted three episodes of the
BBC One's early-evening talk show
The One Show with TV host
Alex Jones.
In the media Acting Springer appeared in an episode of
Married... with Children as the host of a talk show called
The Masculine Feminist, in which he advocated for women getting the men's bowling night and eventually taking over at a
bowling alley.
Al Bundy and his friends tie Springer to a chair and take over his show with a stripper who jumps up and down for the crowd's delight. Springer starred in the 1998 film
Ringmaster as a talk show host largely based on himself, though named "Jerry Farrelly".
Ringmaster offers a behind-the-scenes look at would-be guests who apply to a Springer-like show. The same year, Springer also released an unrelated autobiography named
Ringmaster. He quipped, "I can only think of one title a year." In 2004, he played the US president in
The Defender, directed by
Dolph Lundgren. In June 2012, he appeared in
Chicago at the
Cambridge Theatre London as Billy Flynn for a short period of time, starring alongside
Aoife Mulholland and
Leigh Zimmerman. He had a cameo appearance as himself in episode 2 of the
Netflix show
Happy!. In 1996, he appeared on an episode of the ninth season of
Roseanne and on
The X-Files episode "
The Post-Modern Prometheus". In 1997, Springer appeared on a episode of the first season of
The Steve Harvey Show, playing himself waiting at the airport alongside Harvey's character and his students. In 1998, he voiced a cartoon version of himself in the "Starship Poopers" segment of
The Simpsons Halloween episode,
Treehouse of Horror IX. That same year, he appeared as himself on an episode of
The Wayans Bros.. In 1999, he appeared in the episode "Mrs. Kraft" of the third season of
Sabrina the Teenage Witch with his talk show. That same year, he was in an episode of
Space Ghost Coast to Coast. He made a
cameo appearance in
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) as himself during an episode of his show featuring
Dr. Evil and his estranged son
Scott Evil.
Television appearances In 2009, Springer appeared as a guest on the British game show
Countdown. He appeared on the
Chris Moyles Show in April 2009 and was a guest on
The Andrew Marr Show on May 31, 2009. He was interviewed by satirist
Chris Morris in his surreal radio series
Blue Jam (Series 2, Episode 6). On January 23, 2004, Springer was featured in an episode of
This American Life titled "Leaving the Fold". Springer and Johnson were eliminated in the seventh week of competition. Springer appeared in an episode of the British genealogy series
Who Do You Think You Are? on August 27, 2008. In the episode, he traveled to Poland, where he discovered that his maternal grandmother had been sent to Chełmno extermination camp by the
Nazis and killed. His paternal grandmother died at Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is now the
Czech Republic. He wept openly when he learned of how they died. Springer was a guest panelist on episodes of
8 Out of 10 Cats in 2014,
Through the Keyhole in 2015, and
QI ("Noodles") in 2017. In 2022, Springer competed in
season eight of
The Masked Singer as "Beetle". He was eliminated on "
Muppet Night" alongside
Kat Graham as "Robo-Girl".
Other projects In 1995, Springer recorded the album
Dr. Talk for Fiddle Fish Records, which mostly consisted of
country music covers. On May 16, 2008, Springer delivered the
Northwestern University School of Law commencement address. Although many students had criticized the university's choice of speaker, he received a standing ovation from about half the audience and reviews of his speech were generally positive. He later stated that his speech was about "the ethical judgments we all have to make in whatever business we go". In 2025,
Netflix released the documentary series
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action. ==Personal life==