January 14, 2010

BY AMANDA CUDA
STAFF WRITER

Jerry Springer gets it.

Springer — a talk show host, reality show host, radio show host, author and all-around entertainment personality — understands why people participate in reality shows.

He particularly understands why people participate in “America’s Got

Talent,” the talent show/reality show he’s hosted for two seasons on NBC.

“The show is, in entertainment terms, a reflection of the American dream,” Springer, 65, said during a recent phone interview.

Springer will host “America’s Got

Talent Live” — a variety show starring several of the show’s most popular acts — starting Sunday at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino. The show, which runs until Feb. 7, features performers from “Talent’s” fourth season, including that season’s winner, country singer Kevin Skinner, as well as opera singer Barbara Padilla, drummers Recycled Percussion and others.

During an interview to promote the show, Springer explained that “Talent” is a place where ordinary folks from inauspicious backgrounds can come and get a shot at realizing their ambitions of being a singer/dancer/comedian/ whatever.

For “Talent” contestants, Springer explained, it doesn’t matter who you are. As long as you’ve got the goods, you have a chance to make it. It’s a concept that Springer, of all people, understands perfectly.

“Of all the shows I’ve ever done on television, this is my favorite. Because

I’ve lived the American dream,”

Springer said.

Indeed, Springer’s career trajectory has been an unusual and unexpected one. He started off as a lawyer in the

Cincinnati, then moved on to the world of politics, serving five terms on

Cincinnati City Council before becoming the city’s mayor at the age of 33.

After an unsuccessful bid for governor of Ohio in 1982, Springer moved to the world of television, as anchor and managing editor at Cincinnati NBC affiliate WLWT. Eventually, he became the host of his own controversial, overthe- top talk show, “The Jerry Springer

Show,” which debuted in 1991.

For nearly 20 years, Springer has held court as a revolving door of guests have engaged in a series of screaming matches that often have devolved into chair-flinging violence. After years as the show’s host, even Springer is a bit befuddled by the show’s enduring success.

“We’re starting to have the children of our original guests on the show,”

Springer said. “And that’s just wrong, because we’ve told these people not to procreate.”

In August, the show moved from

Chicago to the Rich Forum in Stamford. After a few months at his new home, Springer called the move a success.

“I was a little anxious, but it’s turned out to be great,” he said. “We’re getting great crowds. It has a real new vitality to it. The people who come here have grown up with the show, for better or for worse.”

But the talk show is just one facet of his career. Since the series launched,

Springer has appeared on other TV shows, in movies and even on stage.

Last summer, Springer traveled to

London to star as Billy Flynn in the

West End production of “Chicago.”

With all that he’s done, hosting “America’s Got Talent” is one of the things he’s most proud of, because “it’s a total feel-good show.”

Starting in 2009, Springer began hosting the live show in Las Vegas, as a prize for the show’s finalists. The live show was a hit, and now New England audiences will have a chance to get a look at what Springer called “a great show.”

The nice thing about the live show,

Springer said, is that all the acts featured are those who made it to the final stages of the competition, and, thus, are pretty good.

“Those first few weeks, you get people just trying out and some of it is ... challenged,” Springer said, diplomatically.

As far as his next step, Springer isn’t sure what that will be, but he would like to try live theater again.

“I really had to focus (while doing that),” he said. “That was the most challenging thing I’ve done.”

Springer said he knows he’s lucky to have had the opportunities he’s had in show business, and doesn’t plan to stop trying new things any time soon.

“One day, I’m going to find something I know how to do,” he said.