_The Jerry Springer Show_ has been bringing its unique brand of trainwreck TV to sets across the culture for 26 seasons now, cementing its place in history as one of daytime’s biggest

success stories. But if you ask Springer himself, the secret to the show’s longevity is very simple. “First, it’s stupid,” he told _Today _in an interview on Wednesday. The 73-year-old

former Mayor of Cincinnati and former news anchor stared his talk show in 1991, where he spent its first two seasons focusing on more serious issues. But by season 3, the more outrageous and

salacious guests had proven to be ratings gold — setting the show off in a direction it hasn’t walked away from since. “It’s got a niche, and no one else kind of goes in that niche so I

neo-Nazis, and my family was exterminated by the Nazis. If I can do a show where I’m okay that they’re on, then what am I going to say no to?” he said. As for why people come on his show in

the first place, Springer said that his provocative guests are never seeking fame. “They’re not coming on to be famous, and they don’t even use their real names in most cases,” he said.

“They’ll wear disguises — though the wigs do come off.” So what is it? “If I had to guess, for so many of our guests, no one ever asks them a question,” he said. “They live their whole lives

— they don’t have kids who ask them their opinion, they don’t have parents who ask them their opinion, they’re not in a job where their opinion is valued — for one day in their life, people

are really paying attention. They’re talking about something that is important to them. We take it for granted.” “Every day of your life, someone asks, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ or says,

‘Nice job,’ ” Springer continued. “So many of these people, no. We don’t deal with serious issues. Truthfully, we don’t do pregnancy tests or any of that stuff. So they’re angry, and that’s

legitimate. But the next day, they’re dating someone else. It’s not a life-changing issue that we do on our show. It’s just a circus.” Also on _Today_, Springer explained the origin of his

popular “final thoughts” line, in which he tells the audience each episode, “Take care of yourselves and each other.” “Well I used to do that when I anchored the news for 10 years for the

NBC affiliate in Cincinnati,” he said. “And I would end every broadcast that was because that really does reflect my liberal philosophy. We shouldn’t just take care of ourselves, but each

other as well. The whole show is crazy, so at the end of the show I just wanted to do, ‘Hey — you’ve watched all this, so this is my opinion of how it should be dealt with.’ ” _The Jerry

Springer Show_ airs weekdays (check local listings).