While many younger viewers will be learning about the cultural legacy of Jerry Springer from the Netflix documentary series Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action, those in the know will recognize him as a 1990s pop culture icon who showed up in countless unexpected guest roles. Across film and television, Springer often turned up as himself to parody and poke fun at the divisive legacy of his reality talk show. As a controversial series that often included profanity, heckling, and physical altercations, The Jerry Springer Show was among the wildest reality TV shows ever made.

While Springer himself pᴀssed away in 2023 at the age of 79, The Jerry Springer Show went off the air in 2018 after 27 seasons and an astounding 3,891 episodes. While that’s plenty of content for viewers to go back and watch, Springer also kept busy with appearances in everything from Austin Powers to The X-Files. Although Springer was always a controversial figure, his legacy as one of the most iconic talk show hosts of all time is unquestionable.

10

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015)

Jerry Springer as Mr. White

While Jerry Springer may have had a lot of experience with criminals and drug users from his time presenting The Jerry Springer Show, the time he made a guest appearance as a character named Mr. White had nothing to do with Breaking Bad. Instead, one of Springer’s final movie roles was a brief, albeit eventful, appearance in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Dressed in a casual Hawaiian shirt, Springer met an untimely end when he stuck around to try and get his picture taken at a Universal theme park ride, only to be quickly devoured by a killer shark.

Springer was certainly not the only notable name in Sharknado 3, as its cast boasted stars like Frankie Muniz, David Hᴀsselhoff, and Tara Reid. In addition to these main roles were more guest cameos from the likes of George R.R. Martin, Ne-Yo, and the Irish singing duo Jedward. As a truly absurd franchise that was never afraid to poke fun at itself, it was only appropriate that a figure as culturally divisive and self-parodying as Springer showed up in a Sharknado movie.

9

Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998 – Present)

Jerry Springer as Himself

Although many viewers may have tuned into The Jerry Springer Show in the hopes of a few laughs, the former Democratic mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, Springer, never claimed to be a professional comedian. Despite this, Springer still opted to show up in two episodes of the improvisational comedy series Whose Line is it Anyway? Here Springer’s poked fun at his own show as he recreated an episode with comedians like Ryan Stiles.

One memorable appearance saw Springer hosting a fake episode parodying the story of Little Red Riding Hood, complete with audience questions from the Woodsman and Red Riding Hood’s grandfather debating the classic fairytale. While Jerry was never afraid to tackle serious subjects on his own show, this hilarious appearance showcased that he understood the ridiculousness of some of the topics he dealt with and was more than willing to laugh at himself and his divisive legacy.

8

The Masked Singer (2019 – Present)

Jerry Springer as Himself

Part of the appeal of the singing reality show The Masked Singer is that viewers never know who’s going to show up from one episode to the next. As a show that featured mystery celebrities dressed head-to-toe in giant costumes and masks, it’s always fun for viewers to try and guess what famous figure is hidden behind the absurd outfits. The eighth season of the show from 2022 featured Springer as Beetle, a giant yellow insect with a ladybug shell on his back.

The Masked Singer was Springer’s final TV appearance before his death in 2023 at the age of 79. This made Springer the third contestant from the show to pᴀss away, following Bob Saget as Squiggly Monster and Kirstie Alley as Baby Mammoth. While Springer made plenty of surprise appearances over the years, appearing on The Masked Singer at such an advanced age was a truly surprising decision, although, in hindsight, it fit right in with the television host’s unpredictable nature.

7

Dancing With The Stars (2005 – Present)

Jerry Springer as Himself

Well before Jerry Springer’s shocking appearance on The Masked Singer, the TV host first showed off his moves on the dance floor as a contestant on the American version of Dancing with the Stars. Springer appeared on the third season back in 2006, where he competed against the likes of Tucker Carlson and Mario Lopez. Paired with professional dancer Kym Johnson, Springer did well and was not eliminated until the sixth round.

It seems Springer had a fondness for his time on Dancing with the Stars, as he continually popped up as an audience member in later seasons. Jerry can be seen as a spectator for the reality show in seasons four, six, nine, and 28. Adding to this, Springer even contributed a video message for the season 31 finale of the show, proving that he never forgot his time on Dancing with the Stars.

6

Sabrina The Teenage Witch (1996 – 2003)

Jerry Springer as Himself

It’s a testament to just how ubiquitous The Jerry Springer Show was during the 1990s that it was even parodied in a 1999 episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. This fantasy sitcom was primarily aimed at young female viewers and starred Melissa Joan Hart as a girl who discovered on her 16th birthday that she possessed magical powers and was part witch. While trying to balance the challenges of everyday life with her supernatural nature, Sabrina also had to deal with the antics of 600-year-old aunts Hilda and Zelda.

Zelda’s relationship with Sabrina’s high school vice principal led to Springer’s appearance in the sitcom as a love triangle involving a fellow witch saw all the main cast show up on The Jerry Springer Show to try and resolve the issue. With onscreen тιтle cards like “Get your hands off my mortal!” and “Which, witch?,” this tongue-in-cheek appearance poked fun at the in-fighting, foul language, and aggressive nature of many episodes of Springer’s show.

5

Space Ghost Coast To Coast (1994 – 2001)

Jerry Springer as Himself

The animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast was a very different type of reality show than The Jerry Springer Show, yet that didn’t stop Springer from showing up for an interview. As a series that incorporated surrealism and non-sequitur humor, Space Ghost Coast to Coast reimagined the Hanna-Barbera hero as a late-night host who satirized the ridiculousness of these types of shows. Springer’s brief appearance in the sixth season episode “Curling Flower Space” only added to the show’s parodic nature.

Springer’s appearance on Space Ghost Coast to Coast was a particularly funny example of the show’s tongue-in-cheek humor as Space Ghost conducted a particularly dull interview with the divisive presenter. While speaking with Springer, Space Ghost couldn’t help but reminisce about how great last week’s interview was, and flashbacks to his time speaking with Sarah Jessica Parker played. This self-referential concept leaned into the show’s wackier nature, especially considering the flashbacks showed clips from a fake episode that never actually aired.

4

Roseanne (1988 – 1997)

Jerry Springer as Himself

While the Roseanne star Roseanne Barr has since become controversial for all the wrong reasons following offensive and racist posts on social media, back in the 1990s, she was one of the biggest sitcom stars around. Roseanne was based on the life of Roseanne Conner and the happenings of her working-class American family in Lanford, Illinois, and featured plenty of notable guest stars, including major names like Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Among these guest stars was Jerry Springer, who showed up as himself in the season 9 episode “What a Day for a Daydream.”

This out-of-the-ordinary episode saw Roseanne daydreaming about all sorts of absurd happenings as she not only imagined herself and her family on The Jerry Springer Show but also posing for Playboy magazine and winning the Miss Universe Contest. Featuring a cameo not only from Springer himself but also from Hugh Hefner, the litany of guest stars in this Roseanne episode showcased just how popular this sitcom was back in 1996.

3

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Jerry Springer as Himself

Mike Myers’ Austin Powers series is chock-full of pop culture references and allusions, so it was only right that Jerry Springer turned up in The Spy Who Shagged Me. This brief but memorable appearance recreated The Jerry Springer Show to showcase a fictional episode where Seth Green’s Scott Evil appeared with the тιтle card: “My father is evil and wants to take over the world.” While Scott came on to discuss his disappointment with his dad, things took an unexpected turn as Dr. Evil joined the stage and found himself in a fistfight with a member of the KKK.

Before carnage broke out in typical The Jerry Springer Show fashion, Scott and Dr. Evil had time for a heart-to-heart where the father told his son that he just wasn’t evil enough for him, comparing him to the “Diet Coke of evil” and that “just one calorie” was “not evil enough.” Springer’s appearance in The Spy Who Shagged Me echoed many of his greatest cameos, as it used the widespread cultural understanding of The Jerry Springer Show to portray the character’s bitter anger and unspoken trauma.

2

The X-Files (1993 – 2002, 2016 – 2018)

Jerry Springer as Himself

Not only did Jerry Springer show up as the first guest star to play themselves in a classic episode of The X-Files, but he was actually crucial to the overall plot. Springer appeared in the season 5 episode “The Post-Modern Prometheus,” which was The X-Files spin on an updated Frankenstein story. This emotional black-and-white episode saw Shaineh Berkowitz unknowingly become pregnant by a Frankenstein-like creature, The Great Mutato. With an obsessive interest in the pop singer Cher, the monster was first ostracized by the community before finally gaining acceptance and attending a pop concert finale that featured Cher’s “Walking in Memphis.”

The FBI agents Mulder and Scully were brought in to work on this monster-of-the-week style story after Shaineh learned about the pair from The Jerry Springer Show. While Jerry’s cameo appearances are normally played for laughs, there was a real message at the heart of the story about accepting those who are different, and this guest role was one of Springer’s most insightful and thoughtful one-off appearances.

1

The Simpsons (1989 – Present)

Jerry Springer as Himself

One touchstone of 1990s popular culture met another when Jerry Springer showed up on a season 10 episode of The Simpsons. Springer’s role came in “Treehouse of Horror IX,” the annual Halloween special that was outside of the show’s main continuity and told offbeat and outrageous horror-based stories. Springer’s section involved the revelation that Maggie was actually the product of a one-night stand with alien Kang, and the Simpson family went on The Jerry Springer Show to try and clear up the issue.

In typical The Jerry Springer Show fashion, a fight breaks out between the guests and the audience as Kang vaporizes a woman who criticized him before killing the entire cast and crew of the show. Jerry initially survived and attempted to do a monologue, urging them to put their differences aside for the good of Maggie, before she lunged at him and started attacking. The sequence ends with Marge bemoaning, “I can’t believe it, Jerry Springer didn’t solve our conflict,” to which Lisa unexpectedly replies, “And now he’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.”