7 Times Jerry Springer Appeared as Himself on Sitcoms

Jerry Springer is one of the more fascinating pop culture personalities. While much of his early career was spent in politics, it was his tabloid TV program, The Jerry Springer Show, that launched him into infamy. The controversial show attracted a massive audience for the outrageous content of its guests, including profanity, fights, infidelity, and even more things that we can’t mention here. But just to give you an idea of how scandalous the show was, some of its episode titles include “I’m Happy I Cut Off My Legs,” “Pregnant by the Same Teen Dad,” and “I Married the Wrong Twin.”

Despite the show’s depravity, Jerry always stuck to his role as the straight man, ending each episode with a solo lecture on the morality (or lack thereof) of that day’s events. But The Jerry Springer Show wasn’t the only place you could catch his fatherly presence; the host appeared in quite a few TV shows and movies, often as a parody of himself and his show. Here, we take a look at seven times Jerry played himself on sitcoms.

The Simpsons

“Treehouse of Horror IX” has a segment called “Starship Poopers” in which Maggie’s first tooth grows in, only for it to be a massive fang. Maggie continues her growth spurt when large green tentacles emerge from her tiny body, and it’s not long before aliens Kang and Kodos arrive, with Kang announcing that he’s Maggie’s real father. Marge confirms this, but this only causes further drama, prompting Bart to suggest that they all go on The Jerry Springer Show to resolve this family squabble.

However, not even Springer himself can get the Simpsons family to reconcile with the extraterrestrial; Homer and Kang quickly get into a fistfight, and Kang vaporizes Springer’s audience. Springer tries one last time to convince them to put aside their differences for Maggie’s sake, but another brawl breaks out resulting in his death.

[RELATED: The Simpsons Could Be Coming to Disney Parks Very Soon]

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Mr. Kraft, the Vice Principal of Sabrina’s high school, is forced to live with the Spellmans because his house is being renovated. Obviously, Sabrina and her aunts Zelda and Hilda aren’t too happy about this new arrangement, so they call on Mr. Kraft’s ex-wife Lucy to get him out of their home. But things get complicated when Lucy is revealed to be a witch as well, and now Zelda’s got the hots for him, too.

So how do the four witches decide to resolve their differences? By going on The Jerry Springer Show, of course! Jerry’s pretty nonchalant about the fact that several magical beings are fighting over a mere mortal, but that’s probably not the weirdest thing he’s seen on his program.

Roseanne

Roseanne was a major hit with audiences for its accurate portrayal of a modern working-class family. So much of the series revolved around the Conners trying to get by with a small income, and getting involved in plenty of hilarious hijinks along the way.

However, the series really jumped the shark in Season 9 when they won the lottery and found themselves in increasingly zanier situations. One of those was the episode “What a Day for a Daydream” which sees Roseanne daydreaming about what she’ll do with the lottery winnings. In one of those daydreams Roseanne, Dan, and Jackie appear on The Jerry Springer Show wherein the beleaguered host continuously tries to get a straight answer out of the family on how it feels like to win $108 million. Of course, Roseanne’s brash personality leads to an argument with an audience member, which then leads to a massive riot in the studio.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

The episode “Rio Ghost” opens with Space Ghost finishing up a surprisingly dull interview with the one and only Jerry Springer, with the two of them nearly falling asleep. Space Ghost apologizes to Jerry for the interview before putting all of the blame on him. He then serenades Jerry and the show’s crew with an exaggerated account of the previous week’s episode wherein he interviews his crush, Sarah Jessica Parker.

Space Ghost and Zorak get into a heated argument (not unlike something you’d see on an episode of The Jerry Springer Show) all in front of an increasingly uncomfortable Jerry. Somehow, this is a bit too much for the host of the “worst TV show of all time.”

The X-Files

On one of the better “monster of the week” episodes of The X-Files, FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are sent to Albion, Indiana to meet a woman who claims that she was impregnated by someone who’s not quite human. Her wild tale involves a local man named Dr. Pollidori who is rumored to be a mad scientist performing bizarre experiments on people.

So how did this woman even find out about these agents and their work? By watching an episode of The Jerry Springer Show in which Mulder appeared talking about his adventures involving the paranormal. But the real surprise is when two women show up as guests on the infamous show with their mutated babies, prompting Jerry to ask them if it’s difficult for them to love such grotesque creatures.

Married…with Children

In the episode “NO MA’AM,” Al Bundy and his buddies get frustrated with his wife Peg and her friends invading their guys’ night out tradition, which includes hanging out at a strip club and going bowling. It turns out that the women were inspired to do this by watching a local talk show called The Masculine Feminist.

And the host of that show is none other than Jerry Springer, that icon of women’s rights. He plays a hilarious version of himself here that pokes fun at his real-life persona as the ringmaster of sexist TV garbage. As expected, he gets his comeuppance when Al and the guys invade The Masculine Feminist, tie up Jerry, and perform a live “sexorcism” on him which involves forcing him to watch professional wrestling.

Suddenly Susan

In the episode “The Wish List,” Susan Keane realizes she’s about to be 33 years old and realizes that there are many things she hasn’t done that she promised herself she’d do by this time. The pressure to achieve something big in her life increases when she’s invited to a friend’s wedding. Though she considers not going, she learns to accept herself for who she is and goes anyway.

But much to her surprise, the man her friend marries is Jerry Springer. Susan then scoffs at the idea of anyone being attracted to Jerry but doesn’t realize he’s standing right next to her. She awkwardly tries to change the subject, but when Jerry notices how neurotic she is, he says, “You’d be perfect for my show.”

The documentary Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action is now available to watch on Netflix.