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The legendary talk show vet takes EW inside the pop cultural flash point that was his and wife Connie Chung’s attempts in the early 1990s to have a child.
Key Points
- Maury Povich is looking back on being parodied by Jim Carrey on In Living Color.
- The legendary talk show host told EW about the 1992 sketch, which picked on his and wife Connie Chung’s years-long attempt to conceive a child.
- Povich said his and Chung’s fertility journey “kind of went viral” in the early 1990s, leading to the “surreal” sketch.
You know you’ve made it when they start parodying you on the sketch shows.
By 1992, The Maury Povich Show, soon to be retitled and forever known simply as Maury, had only been on the air for a single year. But its titular host, Maury Povich, had already built up a formidable career in broadcast journalism, bouncing around local TV stations in the 1960s and ‘70s before landing a transformative role as the host of the Fox series A Current Affair.
In terms of sheer star power, it also helped that in 1984, he married Connie Chung, one of the brightest lights in the history of American news broadcasting. So in the rowdy, reckless days of ‘90s TV comedy, the couple’s decision to go public with their efforts to conceive a child became a prime target for primetime parody.
In a ranging new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Povich looks back on the “surreal” experience of becoming “fodder” for the late-night TV shows, and how it felt to see Jim Carrey parody him on an episode of In Living Color.
“I remember In Living Color. It was way back, Connie had to quit her big nighttime show on CBS called Eye to Eye With Connie Chung because we were trying to have a baby. And it kind of went viral that she was going to do this,” Povich recalls.
Indeed, Chung in particular made waves in July 1990, when she announced she was stepping back from Eye to Eye to focus on her and Povich’s fertility journey.
“Maury and I have reached an important point in our lives,” she said in a statement shared with The Washington Post at the time. “We want very much to have a child. Unfortunately time is running out for me when it comes to childbearing.”
Even though Chung acknowledged that it had been “difficult to publicly reveal such an important private moment,” the country’s leading comics took the story straight to their respective writers' rooms.
“It became fodder for the late-night TV shows and stuff, about Connie and I trying to have a baby, and what goes into that,” Povich continues. “And then In Living Color, Jim Carrey played me jumping on Connie in a bed... It was this big skit at the time, and I’ve got Jim Carey playing me. It was surreal.”
The sketch in question, “We Want Maury,” aired on a season 3 episode of Keenen Ivory Wayans’ beloved comedy series in 1992 and starred Carrey as Povich and Steve Park as Chung. Carrey’s Povich jolts awake as Park’s Chung screeches his name and appears in their bedroom doorway in a dressing gown. “I’m still not pregnant,” Park seductively coos, but Carrey rebuffs her. “Come on, Connie, just let me rest for a few hours, then I’ll be ready to do it again, I promise,” he rebuts.
Park then strips off the gown to reveal a racy lingerie set, and launches into a deeply questionable rendition of the 2 Live Crew song “Me So Horny,” retitled, “Me Want Maury.” In the song, Park’s Chung explains that she “quit my job in news because I want to have a child / now I spend my days at home driving Maury wild.” The song ends not with Carrey leaping on Park, but with the buff backup dancers holding him at the bedside as he screams in resistant agony.
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Carrey.
It may have been one of the first times Povich was parodied on a series like In Living Color, but it would be far from the last. His relationship with Chung and his “You are the father!” infamy on the seasons of Maury to come would get the Saturday Night Live, MadTV, and Jimmy Kimmel Live treatment in time.
According to Povich, he doesn’t ever “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.” How does he react? Surprisingly well.
“I’m always pleased. To the point where — how can I say this? — I’m just surprised that so many people know me,” he says.
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Povich and Chung’s fertility journey lasted a number of years, and continued to be covered in the news. They eventually adopted son Matthew Jay Povich in 1995, whom they raised alongside Povich’s two daughters from a previous marriage.
The talk show host reflected on their fertility and adoption saga in 2025. “We tried to get pregnant... Connie had to take time off from CBS, and it became a big story that we were trying to get pregnant. And [the] late-show guys, you know, Jay Leno and everybody was kind of making fun of [it],” he shared. Povich called their eventual decision to adopt Matthew as “the best” they could have made, saying even now they “wouldn’t take it back.”
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
