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Jerry Springer laughed when asked who he would want to play him if the story of his life ever made it to the silver screen. While he’d love to have someone like Brad Pitt take on the role, he joked that with his luck, he’d get director Woody Allen.

Jerry Springer would love Brad Pitt to play him (but would get Woody Allen instead)

If someone were to make a film about Jerry Springer’s life who would Springer want to play him? Springer chuckled. “Well, who would I want?” he said on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast. “Brad Pitt! Who would I get is Woody Allen.” But added, “I don’t know. I think that would be a career-ender for anyone who, you know, played me.”

Jerry Springer jokes about how he'd want Brad Pitt to play him in a movie
Jerry Springer jokes about how he’d want Brad Pitt to play him in a movie |Steve Granitz/WireImage/Gary Gershoff/Getty Images

Springer laughed, “The thing is, I never looked like Brad Pitt. You know, that’s in my dreams, not in, you know, not reality.”

How does Jerry Springer want to be remembered?

Springer then reflected on how he wanted to be remembered, offering a very “un-Hollywood” response to the question. “I don’t particularly want to be [remembered that way]. The only, it’s a false vanity to be remembered,” he asserted. “You want to be remembered by your kids and your grandkids because you were in their life and you hope you set a good example for them and you’ve taught them things and we’ve had wonderful moments together.”

He stressed that family is more important than anything. “And you know, I still think of my parents long gone,” he said. “So that memory is important. Every other thing in 10 years is forgotten by virtually everybody. You know, I grew up with Jack Benny in terms of, you know, comdians. Henny Youngman.”

“And you’d say to kids today, who’s they say, who’s Jack Benny,” he remarked. “Well, and I’m thinking, how can you not know who Jack Benny was? Even Bob Hope is now virtually, you know, not remembered very much at all for a younger generation. So all this thing we build up like, unless you’re a president and you’re in Mount Rushmore or you won a major war. No, one’s remembered. Half the kids go to high schools named after someone. And they don’t have any idea who that person was. You know, kids go to Horace Mann High School. They don’t know Horace Mann was. This is just ego.”

What is most important to Jerry Springer?

“It’s a false ego,” he said. “I don’t need to be remembered. Just by my family, you know, who was there. If you ask people today, what were the names of your great grandparents? 95% of people have no memory of what their names would be. Not their grandparents, their great grandparents. And what was their maiden name? It’s like, so who are we kidding?”

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“People say they want to leave a legacy,” Springer said. “Your kids you’re leaving a legacy to. To everyone else, do good things, but do good things because you’re thankful for the life that God gave you. That’s why you do good things. Not because you want to be remembered. It’s like the idea that people say they do good things so they can go to heaven. That means you’re just doing it because you want something back. Not because it’s the right thing to do. Why should you do good things, only because there’s a reward at the end. You know, I hope there’s a heaven. Be nice to get to heaven, but that’s not why you do good things. You do good things because it’s the right thing to do. That’s what you teach your kids.”