He went on to work as a disc jockey, sometimes using the moniker "Doc" Downey, in various markets around the U.S., including Phoenix (KRIZ), Miami (WFUN), Kansas City (KUDL), San Diego (KDEO) and Seattle (KJR).

He had to resign from WFUN after drawing ire from the FCC for announcing a competing disc jockey's home phone number on the air and insulting his wife.

Starting as a local program on New York–New Jersey superstation WWOR-TV in October 1987, it expanded into national syndication in early 1988.

[2] One such incident occurred on a 1988 show taped at the Apollo Theater, involving Al Sharpton and CORE National Chairman Roy Innis.

The exchange between the two men culminated in Innis shoving Sharpton into his chair, knocking him to the floor and Downey intervening to separate the pair.

We see this every ten or twelve years, an attempt at this, and I guess from that standpoint I don't quite understand why everybody's falling over backwards over the guy.

"[18] The success of the show made Downey a pop culture celebrity, leading to appearances on Saturday Night Live in 1988,[19] WrestleMania V in 1989 in which he traded insults with Roddy Piper and Brother Love on Piper's Pit, and later roles in movies such as Predator 2 and Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation.

[2] Downey notably starred in the Tales from the Crypt episode "Television Terror" which utilized several scenes shot by characters within the story, a format which became popular in horror films a decade later with the found footage genre.

Beginning in January 1989, the time slot immediately following Downey's program was given to the then-new Arsenio Hall Show.

Following Hall's strong early ratings, however, the two series swapped time slots several weeks later, thus relegating Downey to 12:30 AM in the number-one television market.

[citation needed] In late April 1989, Downey was involved in an incident in a San Francisco International Airport restroom in which he claimed to have been attacked by neo-Nazis who painted a swastika on his face and attempted to shave his head.

[25] At the time of its cancellation, the show was airing on a total of 70 stations across the country, and its advertisers had been reduced primarily to "direct-response" ads (such as 900 chat line and phone sex numbers).

[29] It marked his return to the Cleveland market, where Downey had been a host for crosstown radio station WERE in the early 1980s prior to joining KFBK.

At WTAM, Downey abandoned the confrontational schtick of his TV and previous radio shows, and conducted this program in a much more conversational and jovial manner.

On August 30, 1997, Downey quit his WTAM show to focus on pursuing legal action against Howard Stern.

Downey had accused Stern of spreading rumors that he had resumed his smoking habit, to which publicist Les Schecter retorted, "He hasn't picked up a cigarette.

[38] He was sued for $40 million after bringing then-stripper Kellie Everts onto the show and calling her a "slut", a "pig", a "hooker", and a "tramp", saying she had venereal diseases, and banging his pelvis against hers.

The situation then began to evolve into a brawl between the two until Downey had to be pulled off of John by security; the entire incident was caught on camera.

[43] In his later years, Downey expressed remorse for some of the extreme theatrics of his TV show,[24] as well as various incidents outside the studio, including the Inside Edition confrontation.

[citation needed] His grandson Jimmy Downey is a fan favorite contestant on Sam Hyde's livestreamed reality show Fishtank.

[47] His views on tobacco use changed substantially, going from a one-time member of the National Smokers Alliance to a staunch anti-smoking activist.