The Untold Truth Of The Kelly Clarkson Show
With the likes of Jimmy Fallon, Katie Couric, and Jay Leno — just to name a few — NBC has created a powerhouse of incredible talk show hosts. Though it seems unlikely that a pop star would make an excellent addition to the list, NBC seemed to see the potential in American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson. To them, this hilariously honest human stood out from the crowd. "I actually enjoy doing interviews," she admitted to PeopleTV. "I'm not normal, 'cause none of my friends in the business like it."
In addition to Clarkson's duties as a judge on The Voice, continuing to release albums, and putting on shows across the country, she added the challenge of hosting daytime television to her to do list in September 2019 (when does this woman even have time to sleep?). "I'm just going to do me, and it will work or it won't," Clarkson told The Ellen Show. After all, that's really all she could do, and luckily, it worked out. Within its first two weeks of airing, The Kelly Clarkson Show had already been picked up for a second season (via Deadline).
However, there are a few things viewers just might not know about the popular daytime talk show. Read on for the untold truth of The Kelly Clarkson Show.
"Hope you like it," Clarkson told PeopleTV. "If you don't, it's cool. Just lie."
Kelly Clarkson initially didn't want a talk show
Apparently, a talk show for Kelly Clarkson had been talked about for years before she aired a first episode. She had multiple offers come in, but the idea of it never sounded just right. "I actually said 'no' the first couple times," she explained on The Ellen Show. In fact, it was her husband — who also doubles as her manager — who thought she would be great for the job (though he might be just a little biased). "My husband is a really good salesman," Clarkson admitted to PeopleTV, confessing that he helped "push [her] out of [her] comfort zone" and accept the gig.
However, Clarkson had a few stipulations before signing on. She knew if she was going to have a show named after her, the pop star needed the show to really reflect who she is. "I've worked so hard in my musical career to be myself and not have to adhere to a pop star standard of what you sound like, what you look like, what you say, what's okay to talk about, what's not okay — I hate that!" she told iHollywoodTV. So from there, The Kelly Clarkson Show was born, and her sincere honesty and down-to-earth personality continues to shine through television screens across America every single weekday afternoon.
And honestly, she's just trying to take it all in while she can, or as she told Ellen, "You gotta matter 'til you don't, people!"
The Kelly Clarkson Show has a record number of viewers
As of this writing, The Kelly Clarkson Show is on its way to kicking every other talk show to the curb. It averages 1.9 million viewers for every single episode, giving it "the strongest start for a new daytime talk show" since 2012, according to the Daily Beast. Speaking with the outlet, the show's executive producer Alex Duda said, "Even though she has this voice of an angel and she has this huge talent, she's one of us. "We chose her. She's by the people for the people, right? She was our Idol." And Clarkson's show ranks among others idols in the industry as well. It's the fourth most watched syndicated talk show only behind The Ellen Show, Dr. Phil, and Live with Kelly and Ryan.
However, the pop star really has no idea what she's doing to gain her more views than both Dr. Oz and Rachael Ray Show. "Honestly, [my show] doesn't feel much different than what I do on tour," Clarkson told the Daily Beast, adding, "I love people, music, and having a good time so basically I just make sure that's the vibe we have in whatever setting we're in."
Whatever the case may be, season one of The Kelly Clarkson Show was the only daytime talk show to be nominated for a Critics' Choice Award for Best Talk Show in 2020), so obviously everybody loves spending the day with a celebrity as real as her.
An audience member picks each episode's 'Kellyoke' song
What would a Kelly Clarkson show be without a little musical accompaniment? That's why each episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show begins with the appropriately titled "Kellyoke" where she sings a cover of a popular song. "Not my own songs, because that's vain," she told The Ellen Show, adding, "I just feel like a tool, being like, 'Come on, guys! Sing my hits with me!'" (Though, honestly, who wouldn't enjoy a free Kelly Clarkson concert?)
Clarkson cares so much about her studio audience that she lets one lucky member choose the song she sings on the show each day. "It kind of connects the audience to me right off the bat, and they're kind of a co-host," she explained. Clarkson compares her television audience to playing off the crowd at one of her concerts, something that's especially important to the pop star and definitely sets her apart from other daytime programs. Plus, it's her comfort zone. "I kind of figured out that if I led with music, it made me more comfortable," she told Ellen in a separate interview.
And though an audience member can choose absolutely anything for Clarkson to sing, sometimes it can be quite a challenge. Sometimes, she doesn't even know the words to the song and has to learn them quickly before hitting the stage, but this down-to-earth diva is not afraid of failure. "Like me covering Eminem ... it was so bad," she admitted. "But challenge accepted!"
Her talk show studio has a rooftop garden
Even when shooting a show on a major movie studio lot, there's always a way to go green in L.A., and the crew over at The Kelly Clarkson Show is no stranger to this way of life. Though glamour and gardens usually don't go hand in hand, "We have a whole rooftop thing," Kelly Clarkson divulged about the top floor of their talk show set.
So what exactly is the backstory? Well, one of the first guests to appear on the trending talk show was actress Jennifer Garner, who came on to discuss her organic baby food brand called Once Upon a Farm. Inspired by gardener Garner's love for planting and growing her own food, Clarkson's crew hired horticulturist Reed Newman to plant a garden on the set's roof. Clarkson then surprised the actress with the officially named Jenn Gar(d)ner Garden, and the talk show host has admitted it comes in handy quite often. "We harvest our garden whenever we're doing a cooking segment," Clarkson revealed.
"People don't realize that, like, seeds can actually be pretty cheap," Clarkson also said during the segment. "So if you grow your own garden and your own food, your grocery bill will start lessening and lessening." However, after the popularity that the first season of The Kelly Clarkson Show has had, we doubt her producers will need to budget quite that much for the future.
Ellen DeGeneres predicted The Kelly Clarkson Show
Before Kelly Clarkson even received her own talk show, there were others out in the world — besides her husband — who thought she would be perfect for one. In 2018, Clarkson got quite an endorsement from Ellen DeGeneres herself as the comedian made her opinion known to the world. "She would be a great talk show host," DeGeneres told her studio audience. "And I want her to be a talk show host." And whatever DeGeneres says, goes!
In fact, DeGeneres thought Clarkson would be so good that she gave her the opportunity to host a segment called The Kelly Show on The Ellen Show in 2018. As part of it, the audience sang along with her during something called "Kelly's Karaoke." Sound familiar? It was almost as if the comedian knew something was about to transpire with Clarkson's talk show career, and after all, DeGeneres does know how to create a successful television show. "It's a dream I didn't know I had," Clarkson later told Entertainment Tonight, and she really has DeGeneres to thank for it all.
Funny enough, the series we now know as The Kelly Clarkson Show is the lead-in show that airs right before DeGeneres each weekday. "One of my big things even on tour is to bring people together. ... And I love that about you, so that's why I love that I'm on before you." Clarkson told the comedian in a later interview.
Kelly Clarkson had to learn listening skills
Pop icon Kelly Clarkson is used to being center stage, but when it came to bringing her to the center of a TV set, she needed all the advice she could get. It all boiled down to one very important question for her mentor, daytime legend Ellen DeGeneres: "How do I listen?"
Evidently, listening skills were something that Clarkson admits she had to learn before tackling the talk show job. Otherwise, what would be the point of bringing on guests? "I have definitely been, like, practicing," she told PeopleTV, adding, "And I've literally watched every episode of Oprah and Ellen."
The conversationalist even went as far as to having one of her producers regularly stand off camera to tell her when she needs to stop talking. "I literally had her draw an airplane on a big, giant card and, like, land it, because I just don't shut up," Clarkson admitted to DeGeneres. She explained to her producer, "I just need you to help me land the plane!"
Kelly Clarkson's wardrobe department is shockingly small
With all the glitz and the glamour that surrounds show business, many of us home viewers imagine Kelly Clarkson's colorful clothing hung up neatly in a large wardrobe room that we can only dream of. However, that's certainly not the case, even for a celebrity who is estimated to be worth $45 million. In fact, her wardrobe department is not glamorous at all. It's literally just a few closets. "This is the first season, so we're still working stuff out," Clarkson revealed during a behind-the-scenes studio tour on her YouTube channel. It seems just like with their cooking segments' ingredients, apparently Clarkson's crew has a budget to stick to with clothing too.
However, with the millions of people the pop star has watching The Kelly Clarkson Show on the daily, we doubt it will take long for her to get to daytime diva status with her wardrobe. "It's the first season. We're going to get there, Oprah, Ellen," she said of her tiny clothing closets. "We're hoping."
Did Kelly Clarkson get Steve Harvey cancelled?
Right before The Kelly Clarkson Show aired in the fall of 2019, it was announced that Steve Harvey's daytime talk show would be ending. The news traveled fast, and unfortunately, his plan was to stay with NBC. At least, "I thought I was," he admitted to Variety in early 2019. "Until they made an announcement a couple weeks ago that they wanted to give Kelly Clarkson the [NBC] O&O networks — that's my slot." Awkward.
It became quite obvious quite fast that Harvey wasn't as excited as Kelly Clarkson's fans that she was getting her own network show, but he explained on The Ellen Show how he really was trying to be. "One of my friends said, 'Man that's really big of you to be happy for somebody who replaced your show,'" Harvey said, explaining that his friend asked, "'So you watch?'" But, "I said, 'I ain't that happy.'" It became apparent during the episode that DeGeneres would always have Clarkson's back, especially after she had endorsed the American Idol star so much along the way. "She has nothing to do with that," DeGeneres told him on air. After all, it's just show business.
However, Harvey hatched a plan of his own. "I gotta make announcements too. It will be something real cute," he sarcastically told Variety after hearing about Clarkson's upcoming show on the news. So in January 2020, he moved his own talk show to Facebook (via Variety).
The Kelly Clarkson Show set was built to resemble a barn
When initially deciding to tackle a talk show, not only did Kelly Clarkson have to think about the effects it would have on her career, but she had to think about the effects it would have on her family too — including her four young children. Being based in Nashville, Tenn., she told PeopleTV, "It was a big move for our family to move to L.A.," so in order to make her talk show studio more truly reflect herself — and even make it feel more like home — Clarkson had it built to resemble none other than a barn.
In addition to the set's on-going rustic theme with raw wood beams and even a giant wall that resembles a field of flowers, "We have this barn door look everywhere, because, well, we own a farm and a ranch, so we like land, people," the pop star explained during a behind-the-scenes set tour on her YouTube channel.
And as a further homage to her country roots, each guest's dressing room backstage is named after a vinyl record. "I love some George Strait," she said. It seems the pop star is fitting into L.A. quite nicely.
Kelly Clarkson's show gifts are on brand, but not like that
Even though Kelly Clarkson can learn a lot from the wildly successful The Ellen Show, there are some lessons she isn't going to take to her own studio set. Because unlike her advocate Ellen DeGeneres, don't expect The Kelly Clarkson Show to be selling its own merchandise anytime soon. "I just don't want to give stuff with my name on it," Clarkson divulged to Entertainment Tonight. The humble pop star doesn't want to sing her own songs or give guests gifts that have anything to do with her.
However, it does sound like this American Idol gives away a pretty awesome sounding swag bag to her guests on the show. "I was very specific about the gifts that we give away to the celebrities that come on the show," she explained, adding, "I love wine, so I'm giving away personally picked wine and my favorite vinyl." It sounds like the perfect gift to have in hand while enjoying the latest episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show. Can we be a guest?
The Kelly Clarkson Show isn't afraid of uncomfortable topics
When the pop star was first pitched The Kelly Clarkson Show, she was given a list of topics to review, and producers asked her to nix ones she wouldn't be comfortable chatting about on daytime TV. The easygoing celebrity admitted to them (via the Daily Beast), "Look, there is nothing I'm not comfortable with. I don't know if that's bad or not." It was music to her producers' ears, and, of course, to her millions of regular viewers, who don't seem to think it's a bad thing at all.
Even though a daytime slot would usually take some topics off the table compared to a spot on primetime, Kelly Clarkson will not leave any stone unturned. "I will talk about things that maybe people are uncomfortable talking about," she told iHollywoodTV, adding, "I'm not hiding anything." Perhaps that's what makes her so relatable to such a broad audience of viewers.
"My audience is filled with random people that would probably never be in the same place," Clarkson told The Ellen Show, stressing the importance on achieving the same kind of inclusivity that Ellen DeGeneres portrays on hers. "It's really, you know, important to me to, like, you know, have people on the show — like not just celebrities, but everyday people too," she explained to PeopleTV.
So whatever you may be into, it sounds like there's something for everybody on The Kelly Clarkson Show.