It’s the day it snowed two feet in New York City, the afternoon of an iconic blizzard that didn’t just stop, but the city itself only just lifted its emergency travel ban. To say it was a relief to complete an arctic-seeming journey through Manhattan to the iconic 30 Rockefeller Center and have Pink singing as your welcome treat is an understatement.
I’m a The Kelly Clarkson Show enthusiast. Superfan? I don’t mind the label. From the Kathie Lees to the Ellens to the Rosies, I’m just a fan of good daytime TV. These are foundational names to me (Rosie O’Donnell, in various doll forms, is a major presence in my apartment). I understand the service these talk shows provide to people, because, at so many times in my life, they have provided it to me.
So when I got news that Pink would be doing a week of guest-hosting for Kelly Clarkson on her show, the biggest show in daytime—and the first time ever there was a host doing a guest residency of this kind—a little snow couldn’t deter me from showing up. (It was a lot of snow, actually. Like, a lot.)
Kelly Clarkson hasn’t so much as captured lightning in a bottle, but a whole damn thunderstorm, with her show.
She’s equal parts variety-show star and talk host, with her irresistible Kellyoke segments, clever games, and sheer enthusiasm when interviewing guests. I don’t want to spoil the magic for anyone, but the stories that talk-show guests tell, and the questions the host asks to prompt them, are pre-planned; but Kelly manages to find a way to swing like a wrecking ball through that format, interjecting in her own curious, self-deprecating, utterly human way. It’s why this show works.
So the news that Pink would be guest-hosting a week of episodes, timed for Women’s History Month, intrigued me.
It’s been a period rife with news about the show and its host—and guest host.
It was announced that Kelly would not be returning as host after this season. It was just days after I watched Pink co-host that the strange news cycle started that she and her husband, Cary Hart, were separating—which she challenged the accuracy of in a social media video—and Pink was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on her first year of eligibility. A lot of news.
But what I saw in the audience for a (long) day of filming was a person who seemed completely at ease in the role of a talk show host. There’s speculation that Pink’s move to New York could be an indicator that she’s being considered to replace Kelly next season. I have no information if that’s a real thing, but I will say I watched Pink host two episodes, and she’s a natural.
In the tapings that I watched, she interviewed Scream 7 stars Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell, Olympian Chloe Kim, and a suite of Broadway performers alongside her daughter, Willow. She was goofy—just the right, endearing amount—went off-script with entertaining tangents without self-consciousness, and, this is the key, was (as I mentioned before) so self-deprecating.
Why is it so appealing to see someone like Pink, who flips and spins upside down on silks while performing her number one records, be bashful? (For what it’s worth, she also commanded production when necessary, like when she needed extra time to warm up before singing the high notes in a Kelly Clarkson song for Kellyoke.)
It’s interesting that, between Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, and, in her guest-host capacity, Pink, belting has apparently become a prerequisite for helming a daytime TV talk show.
But I think what shines about all three, especially with Pink in the tapings that I saw, is an earnest, unscripted curiosity. For several reasons, including, obviously, their gender, they break the mold of men in suits prompting prerehearsed anecdotes, which guests relay as if from a script while the host barely pays attention.
I’ve seen Clarkson record episodes of her shows several times over the years, and Pink fill in for her for this week’s run of episodes, and it’s refreshing to see how they interact with their guests as humans, rather than bookings. Plus, they offer the bonus of being their own musical guests.
Is Pink going to take over for Kelly Clarkson? Right now, it’s just industry rumors. But if it does come to fruition, it’s a good sign that the studio is already rigged with bungees and a harness.
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