Maury Povich Opens Up About New Podcast, Sexy Sundays & Wife Connie Chung

When many today hear the name Maury Povich, it’s usually associated with shock television and paternity test reveals. The icon built a big following through his trademark talk show that ran from 1991 up until the last of the more than 5,500 episodes on September 8, 2022. Since then the 86-year-old remained a fixture in the zeitgeist thanks to syndication and a surprisingly large social media presence. 

However, he reached a point where he wanted to go back to his journalistic beginnings. A journey inspired by his dad Shirley, a longtime Hall of Fame sports writer for The Washington Post. Povich himself would enjoy a long career that saw him covering history in real time including the aftermath of the John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations, the riots in Washington and international war conflict. 

He thought about what would be the right platform for this. Enter On Par with Maury Povich, the avid golfer’s new podcast. The show, which premiered on March 31, sees the veteran newsman sit down for unfiltered, in-depth conversations with figures from the sports, media and pop culture worlds. Each episode that drops on Mondays also allows Maury fans to learn about the legend on a deeper and more personal level. 

The first guest was none other than Connie Chung, his quick-witted wife of 40 years and a trailblazing reporter in her own right. In the debut podcast episode the couple provided a glimpse into what makes their connection so strong. They also sparked headlines when Chung asked her hubby when he feels sexiest. He responded, “I feel sexiest on Sundays” with a laugh. She suggestively came back with, “Never on Sunday.” Povich explained further that, “It’s always been. Everybody says, ‘Can we play golf on Sunday? Nope. Sunday is with Connie,”

Here we put Povich in the hot seat to chat about returning to his roots, bucket list guests and opinions on the future of daytime talk.  

Maury Povich, winner of the Lifetime Achievement award, and Connie Chung pose in the press room during the 50th Daytime Emmy Creative Arts and Lifestyle Awards at The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles on December 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)

Take me through your decision to start this podcast. Did you see it as a way to recapture a part of your identity? 

Maury Povich: I guess it’s the fact I’m the Maury nobody knew over the last 30 to 35 years from A Current Affair and talk show. I had 25, 30 years of this business behind me. I kind of learned at my father’s knee in terms of journalism because he was a sports writer for 75 years at The Washington Post. It has always been in me. I worked in several markets both as a reporter and anchor. I covered some seminal events over the years and did local talk shows for many years before the Maury show. Those talk shows were more like traditional, Today type shows. So, I interviewed a lot of politicians, music stars, entertainers, chefs, authors. I just want to get back to those roots. 

How much of it was also a factor of wanting to feel productive because after your show ended that was where a large chunk of your time went? 

You know I’m tired of reading all these AARP Magazine stories of what you have to do to stay active as you get older. I never put a price on my age, but everybody says, “You still got your marbles at your age. “I thought, “Well, I might as well demonstrate it.” 

I love how Connie was your first guest. I think that was the best way to set the tone for your show. 

Yeah, I never knew Sundays would ever get the noted attention it did the last few days. 

You brought sexy back to Sundays. 

Nobody ever thought of that until the podcast. 

Her Instagram post with you went viral last year. What is it like at this stage of the game to be part of pop culture through social media? 

I can’t plead innocence when it comes to social media because the Maury show has a huge social media presence, both on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, you name it. We have millions and millions of followers. Even in the last two years, I’ve done a lot of original content for the Maury show on social media. I’m not naïve and know if we’re going to start this enterprise On Par with Maury Povich, we better have a social media presence. I’ve consulted with my show producers, and they’ve given me a lot of advice on how to do it. We’re just trying to get out there any way we can. 

Were you surprised at the strong response to that post in particular? 

Oh yeah! It was an innocent repartee. 

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

When was the moment when you realized Connie was your forever person? 

It’s interesting. I worked with her briefly in Los Angeles. In fact, I only lasted six months. It was a switch because she had become a big star, and she was anchoring the news at the CBS owned and operated station. She was a big star, and I was kind of out of sorts because I had a bad experience in Chicago. My agent got me a job as Connie’s second banana. I only lasted six months, and I was fired because the general manager who hired me was fired. So, it became the last hired, first fired. I moped around for a while. I always say the way to Connie Chung’s heart is first she must pity you. I think she felt bad I was fired and moved on to San Francisco to start working there. Therefore we started to date. It was never exclusive. We dated for seven years. She dated other people. I dated other people.

Until you asked her to marry you?  

Finally, I asked her if she would marry me. She said she was hesitant. Then she asked me, and I was hesitant. Then in October of 1984, we went away and I asked again. She wasn’t all for it right then. She called me up about a week later and said, “We can get married now.” I asked her why. She said, “Because I found a dress.” Six weeks later we got married. That was it. We started out as a commuter marriage for the first year-and-a-half until I came to New York to do A Current Affair. Even Rupert Murdoch told me. He said, “Not only will we find out if this show works, but you’ll find out if you can live with your wife in the same town.” It was because we never lived together, even in those seven years we were not exclusive and never lived together. I think the year-and-a-half, two years we had to live together in New York, that’s when the worthwhile aspect came in. 

How do you compare this podcast environment of interviewing to others you’ve been in over the decades? 

Everybody asks what’s the best part. Well, the best part for me is doing it. I have to prepare the way I’ve always had to prepare. I have to go back to preparing in terms of reading about people, reading their life stories, trying to find out what nuggets are good. Trying to find out what would inspire them to talk about themselves in a way that might be unique. I’ve always prided myself on being a good interviewer.

Think about the tens of thousands of guests I’ve had over the years. I’ve always fashioned myself as a storyteller. This is another way to do it for me. I’m thrilled to open up people to the public to maybe see a different part of them they may have not seen before. That takes work. I’ve always said the best interviewers I know are great listeners. So therefore if you listen to someone, your responses should be based on their reactions. So, therefore I’ve always relied on that as an interviewer. I think it has done me well. 

Who are some of the guests you’re excited for people to see and hear? 

I’m trying to get guests where I can also reveal a part of myself. When I did the talk show or the news, you never talked about yourself. Here I have a chance to talk about myself, what I’ve learned from my own experiences and how they play into our guests. For instance, I’m interviewing a guest named Jeff Pearlman, who probably has written more best-selling sports books than anybody yet. He wrote the book about the Los Angeles Lakers that was what the HBO series Winning Time was based on. I talked to him about that. He talks to me about how so many young sports writers revered my father. I tell him various stories of my father and various people we know in common. It’s very revealing about this particular author. 

I interviewed dear friends of mine Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon from Pardon the Interruption. They worked on the newspaper with my father when he was at The Washington Post. They have a lot of stories about him. I’m going to interview Gary Vee (Vaynerchuk), who has made a huge social media presence. I’m coming back to New York to do another seven or eight after doing about seven or eight. We’re going to launch them every Monday. 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Connie Chung Povich (@conniechungpovich)

Do you have any bucket list guests you want to put out there? 

I have a great admiration for Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley. I want to try to get them together. Shaquille has always been a fan of mine, and I’ve known Charles for a long time. I’d like to get them together. I go way back in my A Current Affair days to the writer and director Ed Burns. I’m trying to get Ed on the show with his father, who was a longtime member of the New York City Police Department. I’d love to get Cardi B and Nicki Minaj. I’d like to get the hip hop artists who have kind of borrowed my name for a lot of their lyrics over the years. I think there is enough there to keep me busy. 

That’s an eclectic mix. I love it. I also love the idea the guests get to ask you one question. 

I don’t think any would be able to top the question Connie asked. Jeez. When am I at my sexiest? Jeez 

I spoke to Karamo a while back. He spoke about taking advice from you and being inspired by all you’ve done. What do you think the future of the daytime talk genre will be like? 

I unfortunately think daytime shows are in trouble because having an audience out there is so difficult. It’s so difficult to create an audience. That’s why when people ask me, was I happy to end the show? By the way, it’s not technically over because it has been in repeats now for three years and doing really well in repeats. I just think I grew up in the golden age of talk in the 1990s. There were no less than 10 or 11 shows every single day in daytime during the 1990s. Back then, of course, this was before social media. It was before all these other platforms. It was before where you can get your news on a phone. Therefore I grew up in an era when over-the-air television was paramount to people. Now you’ve got to really work hard to get an audience in daytime talk. Those who have been able to do it like Kelly Clarkson for instance. My hats off to her because it’s very tough today. She has been able to master it. 

Related

Deborah Norville Leaving 'Inside Edition' After 30 Years — Find Out When She'll Exit

What is it like for you to have this next chapter? And even maybe learn something about yourself along the way again. 

I think it’s good for me because I can reminisce about what it was like in 65 years of television. To be able to let people see another side of me. I can bring out some really great storytelling with my guests. That’s the key. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t feel I was up to the task. I think I’m really on my game. I’m pretty sharp. I keep asking the producers after each episode. They say it was great. Well, let me take a look at it. At the same time, I don’t watch things. If I watch, I think about what I could have done better. My wife is one of those who can watch herself over and over again. I can’t do that. I just want to be able to do it and feel good about it and go on to the next one. 

On Par with Maury Povich, Mondays, YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts