There has to have been thousands of episodes of talk shows, from Geraldo to Sally Jesse to Oprah. With each episode containing many guests for most of these shows, there has to be lots of people here that know someone who’s done it.
As for me, I knew a guy around 1990 that was dating a friend of mine that went on Jenny Jones because he was a chubby-chaser.
I went to high school with a girl who appeared on the Jenny Jones show to be reunited with her “Spring Break Fling”. Basically, she went on television to give sordid details of a one night stand when she wasn’t even out of high school yet! We are from a VERY small town, and she was from one of the very few affluent families, and caused them no small amount of shame. I will never understand why she did that. Free trip to Chicago, maybe?
The funniest part was when she described her fling as being a Johnny Depp look-a-like…unless she confused Depp with Pee Wee Herman, girl was just lying.
I had two coworkers who made up a story to get on Ricki Lake, just for the free trip to Chicago.
I knew someone, that knew someone that went on Jerry Springer and my friend’s cousin was on a show called Jenny Jones that doesn’t come on anymore.
I was on Oprah’s show. The topic was “playing the field” in dating.
Incidentally, I met my husband-to-be the night after the show aired, and yes, he’d seen it.
Wry–how did you happen to end up on the show?
I knew two guys who were on Geraldo or something for a show about identical twins with unusual occupations. They were clowns with Ringling Bros!
A girl in year my year at school as on ‘Trisha’ as a troubled teen. After falling out with her friend, she accused her friend’s cousin of rape to get revenge.
My cousin and his wife were on Jerry Springer. The whole thing was made up.
I was invited to appear on the now-defunct Charles Perez Show back in the mid-1990s. I belonged to a confidential dating service for ‘well-endowed’ men (and women who preferred same), and the sleazebag owner of the service gave my name to the show’s producer.
I wasn’t interested.
But I will never forget the producer informing me of the inducement: I would get to stay in a nice Manhattan hotel, “and order room service”.
Apparently, there are people willing, for one day’s room and board, to go on national TV to discuss things they wouldn’t discuss with their closest friends.
I went to school with a girl who’d gone on Sally Jessie Raphael’s show when she was having one of those “teen makeover” episodes, because her mother thought she dressed like a slob. When I met her, a few months after the show aired, she was dressed in a flannel and jeans, and said she never wore the new clothes she’d gotten from the show. I was very proud of her, having had similar fights with my mother at that age. 
I didn’t see it but apparently an art history professor of mine went on Donahue on a show about bisexualiy. How appropriate as I was half in love with him 
.
Dick Sargent of Bewitched fame was my great-uncle. He was probably on many talk shows, but the only one I remember was when he announced he was dying of cancer in 1993. He was on the Sally Jesse Raphael show.
And a friend of mine’s band played on the Conan O’Brien show about ten years ago.
A former student of mine was on Jerry Springer. The whole thing was made up, as he was supposed to be dating one twin officially but cheating with the other. His girlfriend didn’t even have a twin! So, it was crap, through and through.
Another student’s whole family went on Springer to talk about their 23 year old son and his 50 year old (male) lover. I didn’t ask any questions about that one as they were an unusual family, at best. I don’t know how true or untrue it was and I didn’t see the show but it was the talk of the high school for a few weeks.
A good friend of mine from high school was in a Conan O’Brian segment where he went to see a group of 1860’s style baseball recreationists. She was a spectator dressed in period clothing and Conan spent a large bit of the segment hitting on her, playing a banjo, etc.
Nitpick: Ricki Lake was (is?) filmed in New York.
I only know this because I’ve known several people who went on the show. I was suprised I knew so many (I think it was five people over three shows). All of them made up their stories.
I think I saw that episode! If not, something extremely similar. I remembered being puzzled because she was dressed just like me, in jeans and a t-shirt and a flannel overshirt, with Doc Martens. Totally ordinary teenage clothes at the time. What did this lady want, seriously? My dad saw it too and was similarly confused. (There was another girl on the show who dressed in wildly creative clothes, like a skirt with Barbie heads attached to it, and after they made her up to look like a nice normal girl, my dad was horrified. Ha! My dad is funny sometimes.)
So…how you doin’?
VCNJ~
Moving this from IMHO to Cafe Society.
A girl I used to go to church with was on Jerry Springer when she dropped out of high school to have conjoined twins.
I didn’t see the episode, though.
I was on an early-morning talk show in Savannah Georgia once. I did not know I was going to be on it – the person who was SUPPOSED to be on it didn’t show, and I got drafted. The hosts were very mad at me. I didn’t blame them (I was the one who’d set up the appearance). Fortunately, I wasn’t completely awake when I was on, and I don’t think many viewers were, either.