We recently learned that Bethenny Frankel, of Real Housewives and resultant spin-off fame, has teamed up with Ellen DeGeneres to start working on a pilot for her very own talk show. Though available details are few, Frankel told the Hollywood Reporter, “I want to be on TV in a format where I can have a longer conversation with my fans rather than 140 characters on Twitter.” Now, we’re not too sure what we think of this — does the world really need more Bethenny Frankel? Since we’ve yet to try the Skinnygirl margarita, we’re not at liberty to say. But we can think of several celebs whose talk shows we would watch without a doubt, especially if they turn out the fantasy talk shows we imagine for them. And don’t worry — we’re not about to suggest James Franco. That kid does enough. Click through to see our list of ten celebrities that should definitely have their own talk shows, and to check out our predictions as to what those gab fests might look like. And of course, let us know who else you’re dying to see in a maroon armchair in the comments!
50 Cent
How could this be anything but amazing? We imagine something along the lines of Fiddy’s Biddies, which, if you didn’t know, is an entire Tumblr devoted to chronicling the women 50 Cent flirts with on Twitter. 50 could bring on a series of fly ladies with serious environmental and social service projects and then let them talk while he just nodded, smiled, threw out some creative compliments, and thought about how great his life was. Eminem would be a frequent guest, despite the fact that those nights would always inexplicably go awry.
Werner Herzog
We don’t know about you, but we just can’t get enough of Herzog talking in pretty much any capacity, so we think we’d totally love it if he had in depth conversations with other film greats on a weekly basis. He could also talk about the universe as much as his heart desired in that deadpan Germanic drone we’ve all come to know and love. Plus, with all those opportunities to make bets, who knows what else he might eat?
Gary Shteyngart
If you’re not all Shteyngart-ed out already, this will do the trick. You might expect us to predict a Shteyngart talk show about literature, or perhaps Jewishness, but honestly? We think the nebbish writer would be at his best hosting a show about cheese. He could bring on other literary or non literary guests to give their two cents, or just hold tastings and shake his face at the audience. After all, one of his favorite stories to tell at readings is about how his grandmother fed him little bits of cheese as a reward for his writing, so we think by now he’s probably an expert. And even if he isn’t, stay tuned for Gary Shteyngart Talks About Cheese? Now that’s a recipe for good ratings.
Nicki Minaj
Um, we’d watch for the facial expressions alone, but we imagine Nicki would bring on everyone from John Waters to Britney Spears and just make best friends (or frenemies) with them on the air. Except in certain circumstances, that is. Ahem, we’re counting the days until the Lil’ Kim episode. Drama!
John Waters
Speaking of John Waters, we think he’d be another stellar talk show host. If his notorious personality wasn’t enough, read Role Models and then imagine Waters actually interviewing all those people (and more, of course) in the flesh. We would also be interested in a special episode consisting of a moustache trimming tutorial. Where the guest is Tom Selleck. Imagine!
Tina Fey
Well, this is pretty much a no-brainer. We already know she’s hilarious, and we already know she’s pretty brilliant, so the only thing left is to watch her rake guests over the coals and/or catapult them to fame a la Jon Stewart. She could throw in some of that political stuff too, we guess.
Vince Vaughn
At this point, Vince Vaughn could kind of go the Jimmy Fallon route, though probably without quite as much self-loathing. He has a great, distinctive voice and, we imagine, a little bit of a temper. Plus, with his major funds coming from his own talk show, he’d be able to sit back and get fat in peace. And that, friends, is what we want for Vince Vaughn.
Jeff Mangum
We know, we know. We’re super hipsters. But come on, how cool would this be? The crown prince of indie rock could probably interview anyone from John Darnielle to Snooki and we’d be riveted. We would hope that he would ask cryptic, lyrical questions with no right or wrong answers, and ask his guests to respond in verse. Sounds like a tough sell, but since literally everyone loves the man, we think they’d be clamoring to cozy up next to him and answer some bizarre questions. But that’s all assuming anyone can find him…
M.I.A
Though some might claim M.I.A has as many questions to answer as she has to ask, we think her bizarre personality and recently-earned controversial status could totally make her into a great talk show host. We’d love to see straight-laced guests squirm over the ironic french fries and try to make themselves heard over the backbeat. Plus, how many spicy Sri Lankan talk show hostesses do you know? That’s what we thought.
Tom Cruise
We know what happens when Tom Cruise shows up on other people’s talk shows (disaster, anyone?) but we kind of what to find out what would happen with Maverick in the driver’s seat. If anything, it could be a hilarious show where Tom Cruise talks to random people about Scientology and gets upset when they find him completely bonkers. Come on, admit it. You’d watch that.