It’s Viva Jerry time at Bally’s Jubilee Theater, as Jerry Springer hosts “The Price Is Right Live” stage show, dealing Plinko discs like poker chips and even uncorking a highly credible Elvis impression.
That’s right. At one point midway through the stage show, Springer sings as Elvis. For real, and really well, too. No lip syncing here.
“I actually have to break while singing to say a few words, just so people will know I am really singing,” Springer said during an interview with Tricia McCrone and I on the latest episode of “Kats With the Dish” on KUNV 91.5-FM. The interview airs at a date to be determined on KTUD Cox cable channel 14 (Vegas TV). The song’s title shall remain unreported, but relative to Elvis’ greatest hits, it is relatively obscure.
Springer seems an atypical figure to host this famed game show, given that he never hosted a game show at any point in his career until executives at FremantleMedia asked him to consider a role as a celebrity host for “TPIR.” Fremantle also produces “America’s Got Talent,” which Springer has hosted on NBC and also fronted during the past two years in live shows at Planet Hollywood, MGM Grand and Caesars Palace.
Springer was spending so much time in Vegas anyway, it made sense to invite him to host a show at Bally’s. That Springer was never a regular viewer of the show and had never made hosting such a production a personal goal hardly mattered. He helps boost audience numbers, and the fans turning out at Tiffany Theatre greet him with the ever-familiar chant of “Jer-ry! Jer-ry!”
Then it’s on to Cliffhanger!
Springer anchors the show daily at 2:30 p.m. through Saturday and again from Nov. 30-Dec. 11. After that … who knows? At age 67, if you’re Jerry Springer and have already made money as an attorney, city councilman and mayor (of Cincinnati), news anchor and, finally, talk-show host, it’s never too late to start anew.
A few highlights of the give-and-take from our 30-minute session at the KUNV studios at Greenspun Hall on the UNLV campus:
Joking about his freewheeling talk show: “We’ve been doing our show for 21 years now, for which I’d like to apologize. I’ve ruined the culture … You come on our show, you don’t win prizes, but we give away (false) teeth. We ran a special on molars this week.”
Admitting not all of the prizes on the show are wonderful or even practical: “We give away a cereal bowl that is compartmentalized: I don’t want to offend the company, but it’s a cereal bowl that has a partition. In one compartment, you put the cereal. In the other, you put the milk. Well, if you’re going to have cereal with milk, why not just put the cereal with the milk in the first place? I said, ‘This is a stupid item!’ ”
Recalling a moment when he gave away his own money: “One lady just missed getting one of the prizes, and I felt really bad, so I said, ‘Here,’ and I reached into my wallet, and I thought I would have, like, 20s, and give her that, and all I had were singles and a $100 bill. So I gave her $100. She held on to it, and when it was time to leave the stage, she wouldn’t shake my hand, because she was afraid I would take the $100 back. They told me, ‘You can’t give away your own money.’ ”
Charting his own history with TV and pop culture in general: “I’m not a regular viewer of any television, other than sports and cable news. I like politics, so that’s what I watch. I’m culturally illiterate in terms of pop culture. Everyone’s talking about all these people, and all these shows, and I really don’t watch them. I’m not sure how many 67-year-old men watch some of these shows anyway.”
Learning the show’s format and rules: “I knew what ‘Price is Right’ was about, but I didn’t know they had all these other games. I always knew you had to guess the price of an item and not go over, and I thought that was the game. But there are five-six other games to learn. The first day, I didn’t even realize it was called ‘Plinko,’ and I called it, ‘Planko,’ so everyone’s laughing. I said, ‘One vowel! One vowel! You’re getting upset because I missed one vowel? You guys can’t even guess the right price!’ ”
Describing his own capacity to guess prices of everyday items: “Here is the truth. I really do (go shopping), but — God, it sounds awful to say it — I really don’t look at the prices. My wife is always getting on me about that. But I’ll go grocery shopping. It’s a time for us to be together, and I enjoy it. So I’ll go down the aisle and if I like the color of a package, I’ll say, ‘This is a better soup, Honey, so let’s get this.’ I kind of shop like that. I always throw the receipt out.”
Benefiting from a career path that has always put him in touch with ordinary people: “I was comfortable (as host) from Day One — realizing I didn’t know the rules. I’m just comfortable talking to regular people. Every job I’ve ever had, from whether it was a lawyer or a mayor or a newsman, or on my show, I’m always talking to regular folks, not celebrities. So I’m more comfortable around regular folks than celebrities because I don’t know any celebrities, other than maybe meeting them at a convention. I’ve never lived in Hollywood. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, I’ve never in my life had someone who is well-known at my house, and I’ve never been to the house of a famous person.
“… I’m kind of not comfortable around people who are really famous, but if they are regular folks or the people who are friends, like that, I feel at ease doing that.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.
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