This is your Jerry Springer moment

A couple of years ago the Vol-in-Law and I went to see Jerry Springer, the Opera in the West End. The content was about as blasphemous and offensive as it comes, but all good fun - really. Much more fun than the Jerry Springer episodes currently aired on British cable which all seem to run like this:

Guest 1 tells Jerry and the assembled baying crowd a secret which will upset Guest 2 if Guest 2 has any shred of decency.

Guest 2 comes out on stage bewildered and bemused and bracing for the worst (as one Guest 2 said in a show I recently watched - You didn't bring me on the Jerry show to tell me good news?)

Guest 1 -suddenly hesitant - reveals all with the encouragement of Jerry.

Guest 2 lets fly with a flury of ineffective punches and security steps in just that little bit too late.

The secret varies - but only slightly - from show to show. Guest 1 is:

• a lesbian sleeping with her cousin
• a boyfriend sleeping with the cross-dressing best friend of his girlfriend
• a bog boned gal is sleeping with anyone who has a six pack and twenty-five dollars cash much to the shock of her husband.

Back to the opera - one of the numbers - which becomes a bit of a leitmotif - was This is Your Jerry Springer Moment - essentially describing that point in time when your life becomes so trashy that your role as Guest 1 or Guest 2 is instantly defined.

I thought about this, because well, I'm watching a lot of daytime tv these days and because of the comments about Australian sex workers on this post - which reminded me of a moment in time when I told a friend "Man, you coulda a been on Jerry Springer with that tale." Which, in retrospect, may not have been the most supportive thing I could have said.

Turns out this friend of ours - an Australian - had a girlfriend who turned out to be a sex worker. Well, he being the understanding sort who always saw the better side of people he said that while this needn't be the end of their relationship - she did need to find a new line of employment. Which she did not. And then there was another whole sad sorry tale of a pimping boyfriend and an abortion and a legal consultation - and even though this had happened some time before he related the tale and in a land far away - it was obviously still very painful. And I said "Man, you coulda been on Jerry Springer with that tale."

-0-

I've racked my brain, but I don't think I've ever had a truly Jerry Springer moment. I did have a boyfriend who cheated on me - but she was just a normal girl (hmmmm...as far as I know). Oh, but looking back on it - she did live in a trailer - so maybe it was just a brush with a Jerry Springer moment.

I did meet my husband through the Internet - but that was like sooo mid-90s that it barely attracts comment these days.