Back in 2002, I noted with some fascination the opening of Jerry Springer: The Opera in London. (Here’s coverage in the New York Times. If you’re going to skim the article, at least skim all the way to the end, wherein the real Jerry Springer is asked for his opinion.) Opening with the onstage studio audience chanting “Jer-ry! Jer-ry!”, a parade of guests sing about being jilted by a lesbian dwarf or having a diaper fetish or wanting to start a career as a lap dancer as Jerry Springer himself presides over the mayhem. Amid the chaos, the host is shot and killed. And that’s just Act One. Jesus doesn’t appear until Act Two. I am not making this up. And now it’s made it across the Atlantic for a special two-night engagement at Carnegie Hall.

Pre-emptive snarky comment: “Steve Ballmer should go on the Jerry Springer show.”