Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Steve Wilkos On Relationship With Jerry Springer, Wendy Williams Documentary, Dr. Phil +More

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INTERVIEW: Steve Wilkos On Relationship With Jerry Springer, Wendy Williams Documentary, Dr. Phil +More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that answer up in the morning, The Breakfast Club Morning.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Everybody is the j n V.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We are the Breakfast Club.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: You got a special guest in the building. Indeed, the
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: seventeenth season on Air, Ladies and Gentlemen, Steve Wilcals, Welcome
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: back again.
• 0:17
  Speaker 4: How are you? I'm great? What're you coming from Connecticut?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, so it wasn't that long.
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: No, I mean, you know it's not great, but as
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: long as the car is moving, I'm yeah.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: You're celebrating your thirtieth year in television. Like on television.
• 0:30
  Speaker 5: I know you started as Jerry Springer's bodyguard and actually
• 0:34
  Speaker 5: the producer on The Jerry Springer Show.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Right, what did you produce.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: The no No No.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Name and the credits on a couple of episodes?
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: Well, on my show, I'm an executive producer.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, I know.
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: But that's I don't produce. That's just uh, you know,
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: they give you the title because if my show ever
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: won an Emmy, if I was an executive pducer, I
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: want to get an Emmy. That's why they do it.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: So I have nothing to do with the producing of
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: the show. But I started on the Spring show. I
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: was a Chicago cop. Yeah. They just hired some cops
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: to do security and I happened to be one of them,
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: and thirty years later, I'm still here. Yeah.
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Did you ever expect your career to end up like No,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I was.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: Going to be policeman. Like my dad was a Chicago
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: policeman for thirty years and he retired, and that's what
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: I was going to do, you know, just pay a cop,
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: get my pension, and retire. But I kind of like
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: the way it worked out.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: So you to retire on a job.
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: You know, I had twelve years and I could have
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: got a pension, but I pulled it, and you know,
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: just twelve years was long enough.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Actually, did you have to really contemplate like do I
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: leave this where I could go or do I wait
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: twelve years I get my pension. It was good for
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: the rest of my life.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: It was difficult because you know, when I left, I
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: had no idea. I left in two thousand and one
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: and I got my show in two thousand and seven,
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: so I never knew I was going to get my
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: own TV show. I mean, that was crazy even to think.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: But my wife, who's my executive producer became the execut
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: producer Jerry Springer. I actually came home one night and
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: I was covered in blood in my police uniform. And
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: she goes, this is crazy, man. You need to you
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: know she and she said, listen, when the Springer shows over,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: we're not staying work living on your policeman cellar. She goes,
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: I'm a TV producer. We're going to go to LA
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: or New York and I'm going to be a TV producer.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: You'll find something to do. And I said yeah. And
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: at that point, I was kind of burnt out being
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: a policeman, you know. I was tired of fighting and
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: everything and getting hurt. So I was like, okay, I'm
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: okay with that. When did you really start making money?
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: Ay thirty the TV? At what point did you realize? Yeah?
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: So in ninety four when I started, I was like
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: an hourly guy. Then the next year they wanted me there,
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: so I was a week I got weekly pay, and
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: then I think it was ninety seven they gave me
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: a contract for seventy five thousand dollars. So that's a
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: part time job, you know, And I was making I
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: think forty five thousand as a policeman. And then the
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: next year they like, not even the next year, it
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: was like six months later they toret a contract contract
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: up and they gave me one hundred and fifty thousand
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: because the show was just rocking, And uh so, I
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: honestly thought I was like the richest guy in the
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: world making one hundred and fifty thousand dollars part time job.
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: And uh so, I guess that was when it really started.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: And then after that then I kept climbing, and then
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: obviously when I got my own show, I started making
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: really good money.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I had the second longest running syndicated daytime talk show
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: in current production Jesus, and.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: I wish all those people that laughed in my face
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: in LA when I did the media tour, like they
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: were just dogging me man, like Jerry Springer's guy, he's
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: not gonna last thirteen weeks because back then it was
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: thirteen week pickups and they're like, you're not gonna last
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: thirteen weeks, and I'm like, okay, we'll see. You know,
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: thirty years in TV straight, we're never missing a paycheck
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: is unheard of.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: So what's the key to the success, though, Well, A
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: tooth question is a two four question, what's the key
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: to success and what did you learn learn from Jerry
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: because he had a long career.
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, and I'm not trying to sound like,
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: you know, like I didn't learn anything from Joy, but
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: there was nothing to learn from Jerry's show because we
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: do a completely different show. Right. There's a lot of
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: things I learned from Jerry, like being professional, showing up
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: on time, being always ready. And he said, hey, man,
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: when you got don't try to be like me or
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: the show. Just do your own thing and you'll be fine.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: The really secret of my success is my wife. And
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: I say that, and you know, I'm not just a
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: husband saying about his wife. You know, if it wasn't
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: for my wife, I wouldn't be sitting here right now.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: And that's the truth, because you know, I had my
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: problems about six years ago out of d Y and
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: you know all that, Like she stuck with me through
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: that pulled me out of it. You know, I was
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: going through things. And but even like she knows how
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: to produce me on my show, she knows how to
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: do a lot of things. She kept the Springer Show
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: on the air for a lot of hears, so I
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: got the best executive producer on TV, so truthfully and
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: she and she knows me, she lets me be me.
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: The first two years of my show were terrible. I
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: was produced in a way that was just I hated
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: doing the show. I literally hate it coming to work.
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: And they that person left and my wife took over,
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: and thank god, because I wouldn't. I definitely would not
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: be on there than nepotism. No, they did not want
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: to give my wife the show because she was the
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: EP of Springer. You know when this when Richard Donnoic
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: left the Springer Show, they promoted my wife VP. They
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: did not want to make her the EP of my
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: show too, so they said, we're not giving you your
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: wife as DP. I s, okay. So they brought in
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: a guy. I think he was on like Blind Date
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: or Cheaters or something I can't remember. And I said,
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: we'd like you to interview this guy, and if you
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: like him, you know, we're going to give this guy
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: a sewan. I said, okay. So this was a process
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: of like a month, like bringing them in, going to
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: dinner with them. I said, fine, I like him, he's
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: you know, he's okay. You know, it wasn't bad wasn't
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: good but kind of vanulla, but I said, okay, I
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: can work with them. Well, during the meantime, my wife's
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: doing my show. The ratings are going like this second season,
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: you know, and so I'm like, damn, man, you know,
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: I don't want her, but uh, you know, they were
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: saying no, no, no. So this guy ended up turning
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: the offer down. The guy that he's like, no, I'm
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: not taking it. So I tell the president. I go, hey, man,
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: so what's the story here, Like this guy doesn't want
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: the job, my wife's doing it, and the rings he goes, yeah, okay,
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: we're going to give your wife, and that was it. Yeah.
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: So she's the key to the success. Clear she is
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: a huge, huge part of it.
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: Did you guys ever have any fallouts about you not
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: want you know?
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Of course?
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, uh you know. There was like she would do
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: shows especially there was shows like with kids and stuff,
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: you know, and I hate it doing those. I just
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: I don't know what it is. I don't like it.
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: I feel like I can't relate the kids. You know,
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: I'm not gonna lie, and but my wife, I just
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: do it, you know, And they would work and she
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: was right, so like at this stage my career, I
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: just even if I don't like it, I just keep
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: my mouth shut. I just do it, yeah, because I'm like,
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: it'll be over in twenty minutes and white complain.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the last week you reported the Steve Wolkals was
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: in the Just with the Mess right.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you had taken to social media because you watched
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: the Wendy Williams.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah yeah, and you were actually.
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: The first celebrity that spoke up besides myself, spoke up,
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: you know, in favor of her about you know, her
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: treatment and how they made her look on the documentary.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Like and I just you know, wanted to know in person,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: you know, high.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: School, you know me and when like when I was launched,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: I was, I did one of these radio shows. She
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: was so nice to me. Yeah and uh, and then
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: she launched right after me, I think the year after me,
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: and so I would always appear on a show and
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: I had a personal relationship with I mean I went
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: to her fiftieth birthday party and things like that, and
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: you know, I saw her, and I really I really
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: liked Wendy. I you know Johenna I and I don't
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: watch daytime talk show, but I would watch her show.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: I thought it was really good. I was interested in it,
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: and I'd like the topic segment and all that. So
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: I really cared about Wendy, you know, so then to
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: show her in that in this you know, and we
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: were where was I I was. I was in Florida
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: and we were flipping thro him and my wife from
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: the hotel, and I start watching, I'm like, oh my god,
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: this is terrible.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: I think like when when I was going through my
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: struggles and you know, at my lowest, if there was
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: a camera in my house filming me, like no, but
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: my wife would never allow that to happen to me.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: You know, she'd be like, no, they were never doing
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: anything like that. And so it's just because you know,
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: especially as a woman, right what woman wants to see
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: her wigged him, like taking off and showing in that
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: light or there showing her feet. She's got that some
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: kind of calm with her feet, and you know, come on, man,
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: if she was in her right state mind, she would
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: never let anybody see it. And she's obviously suffering from alcohol,
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: you know, being alcoholic or drinking problem, and you know,
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: when you're going through something like that, I don't think
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: you should be on camera and that managers like, oh uh,
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: we're gonna do a podcast with money, and she's she's ready.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: She's not ready to do anything, man, come on, you know,
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: and she should be in a treatment facility somewhere, getting
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: medical attention from doctors and everything else. And it's just
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: to me, it was really exploitative. Yeah, you know, people
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: are blashing back at me like, well, you know when
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: you talk crap about her TV show and go, she's
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: not showing anybody in their deepest and filming them, Like
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: what are you talking about? You know, it's a TV show.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: You know. It's so crazy to me how people can
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: cheer the downfall of another human being, you.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Know, especially in these times.
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: You know, people have been so desensitized, like they've become
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: so desensitized from like actual problems, and they're not able
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: to separate human being from you know, Wendy Williams the
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: media personality, you know, and because she she would ask
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: the questions that people wouldn't ask, she would get in
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: the business.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: But that was her job, that was you know exactly.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: Well, and then the other thing was people are like, well,
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: she's the execut producer of that lifetime thing, and I go,
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: if you're not in your right mind, you can't consent,
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: you know, like people don't understand that, Like, you know,
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: if you're suffering a mental breakdown, you can't really you're
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: not going to go into a legal binding contract for anything.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: Was the last time you spoke.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: Well, I think I was on her show. Well, I
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: hosted her show with Jerry when she was on the break,
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: and I spoke to her just before that, and you know,
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: she was struggling at that time, and I told her,
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: I said, hey, listen, anytime you want to talk to me,
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: because I've been through it, and she knew it, and
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: we talked about it off stage the last time I
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: appeared on the show with her. So you know, it's
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: just tough.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: And how did you get through because you said you
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: had a DUI, how did you get through your troubles
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: during that time?
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: I you know, listen, I was drinking too much and
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: it was a stress was it stress? Depression? Anxiety? I
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: was using alcohol to help with depression, and which is
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: probably the last thing in the world you should do.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: You can afford a driver with stef I could It's listen,
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: I make no excuse I can't tell you why I
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: drove that day or what made me get in my
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: car and get in it. I'm absolutely wrong, and I knew,
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: like my life could have changed a lot worse that
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: day other than I just gonna do you. I could
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: have killed somebody or I could have killed myself. And
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: h I just said I'm not drinking anymore. Now, a
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: lot of people can't do that, just say I'm not
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: going to drink anymore. But I knew it was becoming
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: a problem in my life and I was going to
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: ruin everything in my life, my family, my career, and
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: I just said, Okay, I know, you know, I'm not
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: twenty years old anymore. I got to take this serious
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: and stop. And I did.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: What it happen was that, Yes, so you haven't drink since.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: Since twenty eighteen? Was last time I drank? What did
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: it happen?
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: It?
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: Am I time there in Connectic. Know what I'm saying.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: They didn't give you, no Steve Willco celebrity privilege, like.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: Well, when you're involved in an accident like I was,
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: and they had taken me to the hospital, they had
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: to draw my blood, so there's no taking care of me,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: you know, and truthfully, listen, nobody wants to day right,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: nobody wants and especially when you're in our position, you know,
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: it's on TMZ and you get blown up. But truthfully,
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: it was probably the best thing for me because it
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: made me. And listen, now that I don't drink anymore,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: I'm very productive. I work out all the time. My
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: marriage is great, my career is great, and you know,
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: al cal was really negatively impacting all those aspects of
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: my life, you know, And I was asked about it.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: I mean, like, you know, I wanted to fight it
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: so bad because I started drinking when I was fourteen
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: years old, and you know, to give up a lifetime
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: habit like that, it's not easy, but I knew. And
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: now when I look back, I go, why in the
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: world did I ever drink? Like you know, but a
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: lot of people do it. I mean, it's fine, exactly,
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: it is. You got to It's fine. The best times
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: of my life were drink.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: So what do you say to people when you think
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: about Wendy Williams and how they showed her situation on television.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: But you know, God bless the dead Jerry's bringer, Like
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: people didn't even know he had cancer. So what do
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: you say to people who feel like celebrities have an
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: obligation to show you the bad since you've seen all
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: of it.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: Jerry didn't even tell me right like a month before
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: he passed away. Uh, he called me up and said hey,
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: because he had nothing going on and stand for it.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: At the time, you know, Judge, Jerry was over everything.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: So he called me up and he said, hey, uh,
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: you want to I'm having dinner with all his old guys,
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: his crew security because they'll work on my show. And
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: I was taping that day and I said, Jerry, I
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: don't want to go to dinner with twenty guys. And
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: when I'm done taping, I'm exhausted at that of my
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: tape day because I'm doing like six stories a day.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: So I said, you know I'm going to pass and
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: he goes, I really want to see it, Steve, Well,
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: Jay you know doesn't talk like that. You know, I
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: really want to say it. So I'll tell you what.
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: You go to dinner. I'm gonna go home, rest a
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: little bit, and then when you're done, you go meet
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: me for a cigar at John Starks as a place
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: in Stanford, Connecticut. Cigar Bar so I met him there,
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: and it was crazy because we were two guys that
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: never talked about the glory days, like, oh, you don't
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: remember this, Remember that we didn't do that. He has
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: a grandson and my son is about the same agent
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: or both athletes, and we would always talk about our sons.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: But we talked about politics a lot and just what
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: was happening currently in our lives. We never talked about
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: the glory days. But that night we talked a lot
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: about the glory days, which I didn't think anything of
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: it at the time, and it was kind of fun
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: because we never do it. But he never said, hey, Steve,
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: by the way, I'm gonna I'm dying of pancreatic cancer. Wow,
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: and never mentioned it. But I knew something was wrong
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: because I said, Jerry, like you okay, you know, because
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: he was like taking really bad and stuff. He goes, no, No,
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: I'm okay, I'm okay. And that's the kind of guy
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: he was. He didn't want to put that burden on me,
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: you know, like I, because I would I'd be sad
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: and the press and worried about the guy. And and
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: so we had a great time and he got up
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: hugged me, I love you, Steve, and I was like,
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: I love you too, Jerry. Of course I love you.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: And that was it. And I you know, then a
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: month later passed away. So I think he you know,
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: that's the kind of guy Jerry was. I don't think
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: he wanted to have people make a big deal about him.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: He he didn't want the burden people with his illness,
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: and so yeah, I respect it. But again, just like
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: with the Wendy Williams thing, when you're at your lowest,
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: you know, and I think we've all been there, you know,
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: and uh, I don't think you want a camera on
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: you when you're going through that as simple as that.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: How have you dealt with it? Death? Uh? You know
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: kind of yet right, No, it's in April, it's coming up.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: It was almost like losing my father. I mean, and
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: I always say, no man had a personal interest in
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: me and you know, kind of watching on for me,
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: being there for me then my own father, and so
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: we were very close and Jerry was so great to
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: me and so generous and caring, and you know, so yeah,
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: I mean it was a big loss in my life.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, what was your craziest show from the Jerry Springer
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: show something that was just so wild.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: Which is my favorite drop of water in the ocean. Really,
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: it just a million of them, just a funny story.
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: Like he was coming out with his movie Ringmaster. I
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: think it was like this was nineteen eighty eight, nineteen
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: ninety nine, something like that, and he had came to
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: me and he said, hey, Steve, I have to take
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: my shirt off in the movie, so would you mind
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: working out in me a little bit. I just want
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: to lift enough so you know, I don't look terrible.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: And I said, okay, we'll start weightlifting. Well, we had
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: this big fight on stage. It was two women fighting,
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: and I had bent down to break him up, and
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: my groin just snapped in half. Like I felt like
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: somebody shot me. I actually thought somebody pulled out a
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: gun and shot my grind. And I like I didn't
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: know what was going on, and I crawled off backstage.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: I couldn't stand up, and I crawled and and a
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: lot of people don't even know because the fight was
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: going on, and I'm backstage and I turned over. I
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: threw up on the floor and all of a sudden,
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: Joy comes walking. He looks down him, he goes, are
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: we working out I was like, damn, I'm dying over here.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: What happened?
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Did you?
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: I caught my grind and I took to the hospital
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: and like, I was all black and blue down there.
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: It's just a freak injury. It just happened. Yeah, so
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: but it's pretty painful. Did it take a litt while
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: for things to get back working? Yeah? I mean it
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: was black and blue, man, I mean like somebody hit
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: me with a baseball bat down there. It was nuts,
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: you can get I didn't want to get hard. I
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: was afraid. Man.
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: Is it true that you have a human hair collection
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: from the Jerry Springers show?
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so trying to make a wig out of it.
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: It was so stupid, man, Like some women would always
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: fight and I'd be pulling each other's hair out. So
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: one day I took the strand of hair and I
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: just wrapped it up in a little tiny ball. Well
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: then after that, every time there was a fight, I
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: would add that hair to the ball. Well, it got
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: to be the size of like a bowling ball after
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: you know, like ten years, you know, and it was
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: so gross, man. You know, you think about all his
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: hair and there was all different colors, and you know,
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of probably wig air in there, and
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: I used to just keep it. We had three chairs,
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: it was Jerry, the executive Blue ser and me and
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: then my wife serves four chairs and right my chair
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: was in the corner and I would just throw this
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: human ball of hair back there. And then I got
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: my own show. So I don't even know what happened
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: to that big ball of hair. Oh wow, I hope
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: nobody kept it.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Do you remember the first time the audio just started
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: chanting Stee, Steve, Steve, and why like like organic?
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was organic. And I couldn't tell you when
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: the first time it happened, but I remember, like I
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: do remember like I was coming up on stage a
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: lot when the show shifted, when they started having a fight,
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: and then I would sit in between the guests sometimes,
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: you know, because it was just getting crazy, and I
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: remember nobody knew who I was. So Jerry came up
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: on stage and was like, you know, you're here a
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: lot and you know what's your name? And I said Steve.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: And I think people just were like Stee, you know
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: back then, And you know, it's crazy because in Chicago
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: had these great audiences. You know, we're right off Michigan
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: Avenue and NBC Tower, and so the audience it would
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: be packed. It was like it was like probably the
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: Kyle seeing back with the Romans, you know, feed the
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: Christians to the Lions, because that's that was kind of
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: the atmosphere and the Spanish studios back then.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: You remember the first time you got recognized in the public,
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: when he was like, wow, I'm on.
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: I remember walking out of the studio and the first
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: time a kid asked me for my autograph because this
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: was before cell phones and you know, I'm sure a
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: lot of your listeners can't even imagine that. There wasn't
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: no cell phones back then. But he asked me for
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: my autograph, and I said, dude, why would you want
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: my autograph? You know, I was like Noah, He's like,
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: oh please. You know, I said, okay, here you go,
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: and and that was kind of like the first time
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: I'm like, man, I guess I'm a part of this show.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: All of that led to all of that had to
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: lead to you get in your own shoulder, Like they
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: had to be some producers back there, like yo, Steven
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: really parting.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: I don't know if that was the case. I think
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: what really cemented. It was when Jerry went on Dancing
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: with the Stars, and you know, because I was a
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: big part of the show. So when he went on
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: Dance with the Stars, they said, we can't shut the
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: production of the show down. He'll probably be gone a week.
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: You know, he's terrible. He'll get voted off right away. Well,
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: and back then, we'd take three days a week and
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: we would do two shows each day, so six shows
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: a week. I did all six and then they miss
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: they you know, underestimated Jerry because audience loved Jerry and
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: they kept voting him to stay on. So I think
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: he was on six weeks. I ended up doing thirty shows.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: And when those thirty shows are, they rade it really well.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: So I don't think anybody was sitting around going, hey,
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: let's give this guy a show. I think a lot
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: of them looked at me like he's he's a cop
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: who cares. But when when I did all those shows
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: and they rate it well, then somebody said, hey, let's
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: give this guy shows on Monday. So Jerry would tape Monday,
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: Tuesday Wednesday, he'd come in and do Tuesday Wednesday. I
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: would do Monday shows and then after that I got
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: a phone call and said, hey, we're giving you your
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: own show.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Oh that person got a raise.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: Damage they didn't give me one. They barely paid me
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: a little more than when I was making on the
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: Spader Show. I was like, this is crazy, man. Like, first,
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: the first offer was less than what I was making,
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: so I don't think anybody even knew what I was
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: making on the Sprayer and so I was like, that's
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: less than what I'm making now and I'm gonna make glad.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: I said no, So they gave me a little one. So, yeah,
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: that first year was kind of rough.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: You said, you and Jerry used to talk politics, So
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: being that this is an election year, is that something
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: that we might see in the seventeenth season.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: No, No, No, we've never talked politics on the show.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: I mean we you know, when you're on the air
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: so long, because people like when I'll come September, I'll
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: be doing the big media, you know for season eighteen,
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: and everybody saying, oh, you know, is there any changes
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: coming up for the season, And answer is no, because
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: when you've been on this line, people tune in to
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: expect a certain show light of Tuck to touch the
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: DNA touch, So you're not gonna fool Like people always
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: said to me, Well, why does moy do DNA every
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: day I go because people watch? Yeah, like, you know,
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: don't mess around with it.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: I was gonna ask what you being an ex police officer,
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: what do you think about how the world is taking
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: towards cops now? Like things have changed right now with
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: bail reform. You know, criminals are getting out faster. It
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: feels like cops are scared now to do anything before
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: everything's on camera.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: Well when they I think in New York, didn't they
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: take away their immunity like you can be personally sued, right, yeah? Yeah,
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: I mean you know we didn't have that when I
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: was a cop, And I mean, who's gonna jeopardize, you know,
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: their financial wellbeing to you know, listen, I think I'll
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: put it this way. When I was coming out of
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: the Marines in nineteen eighty nine, I wanted to be
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: a cop, just like my dad. And it was a
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: good job, you know, like you got pension benefits, all
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: this stuff. If I was coming out of the Marines today,
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: I would never take that job, not in a millionaires. So,
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think policemen really are It's not a
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: good job. You know, you fight all the time, and
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: like you said, you make arrest and people are back
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: out on the street, especially here in New York and
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: Chicago's the same way, so you know it's not a
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: good job.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Do you have a timetable on when you want the
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: show to run?
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: Its course? I love doing the show, and you know,
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: I'm only sixty. God, I was thirty when I started
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: on TV. But yeah, okay, yeah, it is Come on, man,
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: when you say sixty, see you don't think it's old
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: because you're not there yet. When you become sixty, it's
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: alms old and it is old, you know. But so
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: they answer your question is I love doing the show.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: I enjoy it. It provides me with a great life,
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: so I don't. I'm never gonna say I'm gonna quit.
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: But you know, TV's changing, It's it's difficult and it's
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: tough now, you know, and now they're exploring all these
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: different avenues to bring revenue into the show. But I
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: would definitely like to hit twenty. I' mean at seventeen,
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: I'm going to season eighteen. Nice round number twenty. If
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: it would go longer, I guess I would do it,
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: you know, because I just finished taping last Wednesday and
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: now I won't go back to work until last week
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: in August, so I get very quest Yeah.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I do have one last question. I'll look at
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: doctor Phil right, and people say doctor Phil went from
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: fixing release problems and focusing on fixing America's problems, like
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: we saw him at the border and things like that.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: Do you what do you think of it? I you know,
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: it's funny you say that because I just saw him
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: on the view talking about how COVID affected kids, and
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: the women on the view are like, oh, well, you know,
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: we saved kids from you know, getting COVID, and he's like,
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: hey man, kids weren't getting COVID anyway, you know, you know,
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: and we really hurt our children by not having them
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: in school. And he made a great point when I
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: never even thought about kids that were in bad situations
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: and now we weren't following up on them, like kids
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: that were being molested or abused at home, all these
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: you know, agencies that were responsible for that, We're sending
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: them into the home being constantly with the abuser. And
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: so I thought he made a really wonderful point. And
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: so I think doctor Phil is. You know, he first
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: of all, he was a very educated guy, right, I
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: think he's a very smart guy. So I just thought
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: that was really a great point, and he was making
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: some really good points about how kids we've hurt them
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: with their development. Teen suicides, you know, just went through
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: the roof with this pandemic. Because I don't know how
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: you guys reacted to it, but you know, just being
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: home all the time in the same spot, not going out,
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: everybody fearful, that's tough on your psyche, you know. And
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: so like with kids were they weren't getting COVID, they
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: weren't really you know, a risk. We should have been
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: sending back to school and getting out there and socializing
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: and everything else. So I had a lot of respect
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: for doctor Phil for doing that. And listen, he he
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: has the platform where he can make that change. I
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: don't have that platform, you don't know, No, not with
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: my show, you know, and doctor Phil, I think it's
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: a good move for him, and I enjoy listening to him.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: You don't think they would accept something like that from
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: you if you decided.
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: Not on my show, I'd have to have a I'd
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: have to have a different platform other than my show,
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: my show, my fans, I don't think would be down.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you have a very set for yeah.
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and then you know people like it and I
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: just it wouldn't be good.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Clearly it works man seventeen seasons.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: Congratulations, congratulations, that's right, the Steve wilk O Show in
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: his seventeenth season, and thank you for joining us again.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: One second, what is your skin regimen? You do not
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: look like a six to zero white man.
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: You do not. I'm sorry, I shave, I don't do
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: any like. You know, my old publicist, Gary Rosen, he
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: give me all his skincare products and stuff and they're
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: probably all shelved in my drawer in my bathroom, never
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: touched or broken. And my wife like, she's like, damn it,
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: your skin so beautiful.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: You don't do anything.
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: I don't do anything.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, you're aging like a black person.
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: Well, the.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: Breakfast Club wake that answer in the morning.
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: The Breakfast Club
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: H