Before the Sept. 12 premiere of her upcoming daytime talk show, Sherri Shepherd sat for a master class with talk show royalty Oprah Winfrey.
While in production for "Sherri," the host spoke with Winfrey by phone.
The former "The View" panelist told Entertainment Weekly about the conversation she had when the Emmys Hall of Famer called her.
"The advice that she gave me to do a talk show, I took 15 pages of notes until my fingers cramped up," Shepherd said. "I took a potassium pill because my fingers were cramped and I couldn't write anymore. I said, 'Hold on, I have to commit this to memory, because nobody will believe that I'm talking to and laughing with Oprah.'"
"The Oprah Winfrey Show" ran from 1986 to 2011 and received 47 Daytime Emmy nominations. Its success led to several spinoff shows, including "The Dr. Oz Show," "Dr. Phil" and "Rachael Ray." Winfrey drew at least 17 million viewers for her 2021 tell-all interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Shepherd also talked about the most valuable tip she got from Winfrey.
"One thing I took from Oprah is, she said, 'Sherri, the show is not about the ratings, it's about the energy. You put out the energy, and it will come back in direct proportion to you from the audience. It's your responsibility. You're in charge of the energy that is on your show.' I felt that, because I was like, damn, I just wanted to show some viral videos and make people laugh. But it's true, it's the energy you give off, which is why we love Oprah."
Winfrey expressed some of her own early hosting fears when speaking with the L.A. Times in 1992, saying, "I've always been terrified of meeting celebrities."
She recalled an interview with Elvis Presley's former wife, Priscilla Presley, in the mid-1970s where she was so nervous she could barely get a word out.
"Couldn't mention Elvis! Five minutes with this woman and I couldn't mention Elvis?" Winfrey said of the lackluster interaction. "I went in there and basically went 'buh, buh, buh' until they carried me out."
Winfrey eventually learned to deal with celebrities but held on to other layers of relatability.
"One of my greatest assets is knowing I'm no different than the viewer. I consider myself a surrogate viewer," she said.
Shepherd, who filled in as host of the final season of "The Wendy Williams Show," knows what her next steps will be after her chat with Winfrey.
"I'm literally going to frame the 15 pages of notes," Shepherd said. "I'm not even throwing them away. Those will be in my memoirs, my biopic, the notes will be on the wall."
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