Source: Entertainment Weekly

Maury Povich has lived many lives — radio news reporter, anchorman, talk show host, podcast entrepreneur, husband of Connie Chung. It’s no wonder he so often finds himself the subject of parodies, spoofs, and sketches, especially where concerns his legendary morning show, The Maury Povich Show, known later simply as Maury.

Povich has become such an enduring pop culture fixture that he was asked to spoof himself before a late-night audience of millions, but handed off the honor to a beloved Saturday Night Live alum.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly about his new podcast, On Par with Maury Povich, the talk show icon detailed the Jimmy Kimmel Live cameo that nearly came to pass and how Martin Short landed the gig instead.

Maury Povich recalls this comedian replacing him in a Maury Show spoof on Jimmy Kimmel Live
Martin Short as Maury Povich on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’.

Povich was a ratings king through the first decade and a half of his notorious tabloid talk show, during which he developed a specialty for on-air paternity revelations. Despite the show’s success and, as a result, its host’s cultural ubiquity, Povich says he was never approached about taking over one of the late-night shows. Conventional wisdom at the time was that “their viewers,” that is, a.m. viewers, “were not our viewers,” or p.m. viewers, Povich says.

“And I could make an argument about that,” Povich ventures, “because look at all these sketches about me on these late-night shows.”

For example, “When Jimmy Kimmel’s wife was pregnant, he set up this thing where Matt Damon was going to claim that he was the father of this child. He wanted me to come out and read the result. And for some reason, I can’t remember, some kind of conflict, I couldn’t do it. So he had Martin Short play me in the skit, and it was great,” Povich explained.

“What are you doing here? What is he doing here?” a panicked Kimmel asks McNearney.

“You didn’t tell him?” Damon follows up, which sends Kimmel spiraling.

Kimmel and Damon then bicker over who has a rightful paternal claim to the child, culminating in a pitch-perfect spoof of Maury featuring Short as Povich. The fake episode title? “The Unborn Identity.”

Short’s Povich ultimately upsets both men by revealing Tracy Morgan as the true father of McNearney’s child.

“How could either of you satisfy me when all you really want is each other?” McNearney asks the shocked men.

Both Maury and Maury have been spoofed far and wide, on series like SNL, Mad TV, and South Park. But Povich says he never gets any warning that a skewer’s about to fly.

“I don’t get a heads-up on any of that. I have to end up seeing it either on Instagram or TikTok or one of my friends calls me,” he says. “I never know any of that. But I’m always pleased. It’s to the point where — how can I say this? — I’m just surprised that so many people know me.”

Povich recalls a recent talk show appearance where he encountered an unexpected famous fan: “I’m walking down the hallway and all of a sudden this guy comes up and goes, ‘My man, give me a big hug.’ It’s 50 Cent. Are you kidding me? 50 Cent knows who I am?”

“It’s terrible. It’s just terrible. I mean, the FCC should be ashamed of themselves. They were not created to do what they’re doing,” he says. Since his cancellation, Stephen Colbert has spoken openly of FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s role in rattling the late-night cage. Legendary host David Letterman even pointed to Late Show parent company Paramount’s 2025 merger with Skydance as the reason behind CBS’ decision to shutter the late-night institution.

“The first week [Kimmel] went back on the air, he had come to New York, and Connie and I went to see him. I’ve never met Jimmy, but I wrote him a nice email about how thrilled we were to be at the show, because he had had all the other, late-night hosts on the show,” Povich recalls. “I told him how great it was, and he immediately wrote me back. It was very gratifying to see him back.”

You can listen to season 2 of On Par with Maury Povich, featuring conversations with Montel Williams, Kathy Griffin, and more, wherever you find podcasts.