There Are a Shocking Amount of Songs About Ricki Lake, and She Loves Dancing to Them

You can really tell a lot about a person based on how they first became aware of Ricki Lake. People of a certain age stumbled upon her when she played Tracy Turnblad in John Waters's 1988 cult classic, Hairspray. A couple of years later she popped into Cry-Baby, another film from the Pope of Trash. At the risk of sounding judgmental, the coolest kids met Ricky Lake by way of Baltimore's best filmmaker.

Let's be real, most people know Ricki from her time in the daytime television salt mines. In 1993 at the age of 24, she became the youngest person to host a talk show. Ricki Lake lasted seven seasons and dealt with LGBTQ+ issues, complicated relationships between parents and their kids, and whatever other hot-button topics were exploding at the moment. She now has a podcast and a thrilling presence on social media which includes but is not limited to dancing to songs that mention her.

Someday our children's children might ask us where we were the day Ricki Lake dropped a cheeky Instagram video wherein she's dancing to songs that mention her. It all happened on Sept. 20, 2024, when a jovial Ricki was sitting in her car wearing a jaunty scarf and feather-festooned hat. There she was minding her own business when suddenly, her name appeared.

First up we have "Money Good" by Megan Thee Stallion. The "Plan B" songstress shouted out the former talk show host in the line, "I'm tryna get my pockets 99 Ricki Lake." She slides this lyric in after rightfully complaining about men who aren't bringing anything to the table. You know who always brings something to the table? Ricki Lake, that's who.

Next up on the Ricki Lake playlist is an entire song devoted to the John Waters queen, aptly title "Ricki Lake" by Netta, the Israeli artist who took home the "gold" at the 2018 Eurovision contest. This little ditty gives a brief nod to Ricki's time as a compassionate talk show host when Netta sings, "I don't need your problems, I'm not Ricki Lake." If you need to unburden your soul, it's best to find your nearest therapist or talk show host. Netta isn't interested!

The 1990s' own Offspring is coming in hot with appreciation for Ricki Lake the person and the show. This time, singer Dexter Holland sings that if you're not doing great at the moment, you can take your issues to Ricki Lake, the talk show. When Dexter says, "So if you don't rate, just overcompensate. At least that you'll know you can always go on Ricki Lake," what he's really saying is that was a place for redemption!

Despite the fact that "Till the World Ends (The Femme Fatale Remix)" was produced by Dr. Luke, we will always love a Britney Spears collaboration with Niki Minaj and Kesha. This song cleverly turns Ricki Lake into a sick burn. "You was hot, when," it asks. "Ricki Lake," is the answer. So it's been about 20 years since that person looked good? Yikes.