You know, those terrible celebrity interviews when everyone is just promoting the new movie. Fake laughs. Scripted anecdotes. Nobody is saying anything real. Proper rubbish television.
But here’s the thing. Not all famous celebrity talk shows are like that. These ten shows demonstrated that it was indeed feasible to make celebrity interviews entertaining as opposed to just promotional fluff.
Some are still running; some ended years ago, but they all altered the way we view famous people on TV. They took risks, broke rules, and made celebrities look human for once.
Top Gear
Top Gear was never supposed to be a celebrity show. It began as a car show on BBC Two in 2002. Then, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May turn it around into something else totally. They would drive supercars, blow things up and stick celebrities into a crap Suzuki Liana for “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car”.
Seeing Tom Cruise get competitive about lap times was amazing. The programme received an 8.7 rating on IMDb from 135,000 people. Clarkson was fired in 2015 for punching a producer over a steak. The show died after that, really.
The Daily Show
Very few famous talk shows last 30 years, but The Daily Show has been on the air since 1996. It was Jon Stewart who made it what it is from 1999 to 2015. Take the news, make it funny, and interview interesting guests. Simple.
Trevor Noah took it from 2015 until 2022. Now Stewart’s back, hosting Mondays. The show has 25 Emmy awards and an 8.3 rating on IMDb. It is how millions of people, and especially younger viewers, get their news. That’s proper impact.
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
Zach Galifianakis interviews celebrities while sitting between two fake ferns. It is all deliberately designed to look cheap. Bad lighting. Awkward questions. No fake charm.
It aired from 2008 to 2018 on Funny or Die. Barack Obama was on it in 2014 to push healthcare.gov. Brad Pitt, Justin Bieber, and Hillary Clinton all sat there being insulted. The series scored an 8.3 out of 10 from 10,000 people on IMDb. It was adapted into a movie by Netflix in 2019. It works because it is the antithesis of every other celebrity interview.
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Canada has been nailing satire since 1993 with This Hour Has 22 Minutes. It is a sketch show that takes the piss out of Canadian politics. The show is still going strong after 32 years, which is truly remarkable.
The celebrity interviews are anything but conventional sit-downs. More like comedians who ambush politicians with satirical questions. This show got a 7.0 rating from 1100 people on IMDb. Not huge numbers because, let’s face it, it’s properly Canadian content. If you don’t know Canadian politics, half the jokes will not hit.
The Critic
The Critic was an animated comedy about a film critic, not really a talk show. But Jay Sherman’s show within it was essentially a satire of every single celebrity interview programme in history.
The Critic aired from 1994 to 2001 and jumped between ABC, Fox and Comedy Central. Jon Lovitz voiced Jay Sherman. The show was a flop when it was screened, but became a cult hit. Received a 7.8 rating on IMDb from some 9,600 people on IMDb. The jokes about Hollywood celebrity culture still land, even today.
Celebrity Family Feud
Celebrity talk show hosts, actors and musicians have their families on to play Family Feud. Steve Harvey has been the host since 2008. It has a 6.3 rating from 1,800 people on IMDb.
Not brilliant television. But it’s fun to watch celebrities say moronic things as their loved ones blush in embarrassment. Half the fun is watching Harvey’s reactions to ludicrous responses. Not a bad way to kill an hour on a lazy Sunday night when you can’t be bothered to seek something better.
Conan
Conan O’Brien hosted a late-night talk show on TBS from 2010 to 2021. He had done Late Night on NBC before that and was part of the whole messy Tonight Show debacle with Jay Leno.
Earned a rating of 8.2 from 26,000 people on IMDb. O’Brien is great at interviews because he’s actually curious about people. His remotes, when he left the studio and did bits in Los Angeles or overseas, were frequently better than the interviews.
The show ended in 2021. O’Brien has a podcast now; it’s called Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. Extended interviews with no time limits. In some ways, actually better than the TV show.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
This is properly weird. From 1993 to 2012, the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon superhero Space Ghost hosted a talk show. Actual celebrities guested through a video-conferencing link while animated Space Ghost would interview them.
The show garnered a rating of 7.9 out of 10 from 8,200 individuals on IMDB. The interviews got chaotic, as celebrities were clearly clueless about the situation they walked into. Space Ghost would ask stupid questions and just try to make it as uncomfortable as he could.
Not for everyone. However, if you are a fan of absurdist comedy and seeing celebrities completely stumped, it is genius. It was one of the shows that helped launch Adult Swim and proved you could do something entirely different with the talk show.
Chelsea Lately
This was hosted on E! by Chelsea Handler from 2007 to 2014. Comedians sit at a round table and discuss celebrity gossip. Then she’d interview a celebrity, often with more candidness than you’d find elsewhere.
4,800 people rated it on IMDB (6.1/10). Handler made her career out of being unapologetically herself. Sometimes refreshing. Occasionally, it crossed lines.
The show closed shop because Handler had something else she wanted to do. She took a turn at Netflix, then left, and now she has a podcast. Chelsea Lately took advantage of a moment when celebrity gossip blogs were massive, and everyone cared about Paris Hilton. That moment’s passed.
The Chris Rock Show
This was hosted by Chris Rock on HBO from 1997 to 2000. A mere five seasons, but rightly influential. Rock would perform monologues on race, politics and culture, followed by celebrity interviews.
The show had an undercurrent that no network television series could replicate. Created careers for folks like Ali G and provided a stage to comedians such as Louis CK and Wanda Sykes. Rock’s interviews were unique in that he actually challenged people.
The show won an Emmy and changed how comedians approached talk shows. Rock killed it to concentrate on stand-up and movies. On reflection, it was groundbreaking television.
Why These Shows Matter
Famous celebrity talk shows work when they do something different. Top Gear made celebrities drive terrible cars. Between Two Ferns made everyone uncomfortable on purpose. The Daily Show turned news into comedy.
The best talk shows of all time aren’t the ones that ran longest or had the biggest stars. They’re the ones who took risks and weren’t afraid to make celebrities look human instead of perfect.
Some of these shows are long gone. But they influenced everything that came after. Every podcast where a comedian interviews celebrities? That’s Conan. Every satirical news show? That’s The Daily Show. Every awkward interview where the host doesn’t kiss up? That’s Between Two Ferns.
Formats change. But these ten shows proved you can make watching celebrities actually interesting if you’re willing to break the rules a bit.
