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