Jennifer Hudson on the challenges of 'simply being myself' on 'The Jennifer Hudson Show'
Jennifer Hudson is trying something new. The EGOT winner is launching her own talk show on Sept. 12.
Jennifer Hudson on the challenges of 'simply being myself' on The Jennifer Hudson Show
Plus, the EGOT winner takes EW on an exclusive tour of her set!
By Gerrad HallSeptember 08, 2022 at 12:00 PM EDT
She's performed on Broadway, on the big screen, recorded multiple records, competed on one of TV's biggest singing competitions, and then was a coach on another.
Now, Jennifer Hudson is ready for a new chapter in her career. Launching Monday, Sept. 12, the recently crowned EGOT winner (Emmy in 2020 for Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program for Baba Yaga; a Best R&B and Best Musical Theater Album Grammy; Oscar for her supporting performance in 2006's Dreamgirls; Tony as a producer on the 2022 Best Musical winner A Strange Loop) takes the stage as host of The Jennifer Hudson Show, welcoming guests both celebrity and non, highlighting people with extraordinary stories, and — naturally — singing.
"Honey, music is a part of my life," the 41-year-old entertainer says during a recent sit-down chat with EW in an office-building lounge overlooking Warner Bros. Studios, where her show will tape in the studio occupied until earlier this year by The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Songs may happen very spontaneously on her series, she warns. "It may not be me singing, it may be you singing, or me singing with you. Sometimes a word triggers a song. It's kind of like when I would throw a shoe on The Voice... I can't say when it'll show up but I will not be pulling the mic from up under my chair like, 'Okay, here's a selection for today.' But that'll be the fun in it. Like, 'Oh, here comes a song.'"
Hudson gave EW an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of her new set, something she says she hopes makes you feel "like you're at my home" — EGOT trophies included. You can see all of that in the video above, and read on for more from our conversation.
Jennifer Hudson on 'The Jennifer Hudson Show'
| CREDIT: CHRIS MILLARD/WARNER BROS.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Was this talk show something you'd been thinking about for a while? Was it just an opportunity that presented itself? An idea that popped up and you and your team moved quickly on it?
JENNIFER HUDSON: It was a bit of everything. I'm a talker, and I love me some people. So when the opportunity came about, I'm like, "Oh, my God, yes." Like everything else, this is just me and who I am, what I do. So I love an opportunity and I will say, if you give me the opportunity, I'm gonna make it work. Then it's like, who do I need to sit down and talk to? Because whether you got a camera on or off, I'm gonna be talking. That is for sure.
So once you were going into rooms, meeting with executives, what was the pitch? What was the Jennifer Hudson angle that you were trying to sell people on for a daytime show?
Simply being myself. That was the one thing, which was the trickiest thing because if I'm acting is like, okay, there's character development, there's acting, it's a whole process. Or music there's the [musical director] or songwriter, and then you record. But this is like, okay, just be you. I feel like I should be prepping. How do I prep? Don't study anything. Just be you. And it's like, okay, I'm gonna just be me. But that's the most exciting part, because I've been in the industry for almost 20 years now — playing characters, singing songs. But I want you all to get to know the person and I want to get to know your person. I want to sit on the couch because I never get to sit down 'cause I'm always working. So now I finally get to sit on the couch and have a conversation. I always tell my friends, "I want to be sitting at the dinner table [chatting with people] over a drink or something," so this gives me the opportunity to do that.
And it debuts on your birthday, right?
On my birthday. That was not planned.
CREDIT: CHRIS MILLARD/WARNER BROS.
It's a good day to have a party.
That is the party. What else is there to do? I am grateful. I can't imagine anything else because this is what I want to do: Bring people together, have a good time, have some fun. Whatever we want to do. Just have a good time. And I get to do that with my show… on my birthday. I do want to skate a little bit though.
Roller skate?
I do love that activity. Yes.
Are you going to clear some space on the set for that?
Well, you're gonna get a bit of all of that. We playin' basketball? We ridin' bikes? I get in there.
Well, speaking of the set, in designing that, what kind of mood, tone, environment did you want want to invite people into? What did you want to convey with just the look of it?
It's very open and but it's very warm. I want you to feel like you're at my home. You're getting a piece that no one really gets to see. A place of togetherness. It's interchangeable, like life or like the day of a performance — I like to adapt to the mood, read the room. And so the room will read the room. It's not always going to just be one sad thing because life changes. So I want those changes to be in the moment, whatever that moment requires.
You mentioned wanting to have a chance to just sit down on the couch. Is that the kind of setup you'll have?
At first it was some chairs and then I was like, "Y'all, I never get to sit down on the couch. So maybe it's a couch." It's so fun because it's like shopping for your new home in a way, and I like to make it my own. We're Jennifer-izing from my perspective of how I can make things my version of it. So I love to be in the space, feel it out, and then I know, like, "I need something right here" or "What does this feel like?" I like being in the space and responding to what I feel it needs in that moment and Jennifer-izing it my way. And colors will be a part of it, but I'm a person of different levels — life ain't always one tone or one color. So I was like, what if it changes to the mood that we're in?
CREDIT: CHRIS MILLARD/WARNER BROS.
Like a mood ring?
Yeah! Kinda like that. Depending on what the conversation is, the narrative is. It's part of the storytelling.
Will there be like a like a spot to put all that EGOT hardware?
You know what, I have been contemplating on that. That's so crazy to say. I was like, so do I take it with me? Or do I leave it here? So I decided to create duplicates because it's a part of me. That should be with me. It hurt my feelings when I got ready to leave — because I live in Chicago — so I had to leave and go to Philly, shoot a film, and then right into this. I was like, wait a minute, I spent 20 years building and establishing this. I just introduced Emmy to Tony, and the Grammy and Oscar. Who gets to see the EGOT? Then I'm like, I gotta leave it? And I don't know when I'm coming back. So I was a little bit attached to that. So what I want to do, because all of this is a part of me, I want to have an EGOT in Chicago, and EGOT here [in Los Angeles] at the house, and an EGOT here at the show.
Will there be a performance stage?
Oh, yes. It's set up very much like my house. I have what I call the singing circle. Listen, music is everywhere. People are like, "Is music gonna be involved?" Honey, music is a part of my life. Even if I'm not singing, you're gonna feel it. So, you need a solo? Go to the piano, sing a song. [The show] lends [itself] to all of that. And I love photos, so there'll be a wall like when you're in your house, reflecting beautiful moments that we may have had.
Kelly Clarkson is very successful with Kellyoke. Jimmy Fallon does his thing with Musical Mashups and Little Theater. James Corden has Carpool Karaoke — what kind of discussions have all of you had about how to make your integration of music very specific and unique and something that pops for you?
I think keeping it organic [is the key]. It's more of an expression and it's spontaneous. It may not be me singing, it may be you singing, or me singing with you. Sometimes a word triggers a song. It's kind of like when I would throw a shoe on The Voice.
I was about to say, you'd often break out into song there.
Very much like that! It just happens, and sometimes I'm singing and I don't even know it. So, I can't say when it'll show up but I will not be pulling the mic from up under my chair like, "Okay, here's a selection for today." But that'll be the fun in it. Like, "Oh, here comes a song." [Laughs] That type of moment.
'The Jennifer Hudson Show'
| CREDIT: CHRIS MILLARD/WARNER BROS.
Which means you gotta have a musical director, a band that's ready to go with the flow.
Yeah. And I can sing acapella, too. I don't always need music. I could turn y'all into the choir, drop the beat — next thing you know it's like, "I thought I was an audience member but I turned into a band member!" That's what I mean by making it an experience for everyone, where we're all a part of it. It's not just about me. It's about creating an experience and a moment together. And I love for everybody to be a part of it and feel included.
I know you filmed some test shows a while back to feel out the situation. What out of all of that is the thing that's surprised you the most about what it takes to put together a daily show?
I can't get over the magnitude of all the people that it takes. That blew my mind. Because I've been on shows as a guest, but to see it from this perspective, I was like, "Where did did all these people come from?" I had never seen that before. And so, to learn, as I call it, everybody's superpower, those are the things I'm intrigued by — seeing what people do, which is their passion, and that's what inspires me and my passion and intrigues me to even want to ask questions. Yesterday, I went and peeked in some different people offices, like, "Hey, what do you do?" and they were like, "Where did you come from?" [Laughs] I really want to know, because it's intriguing to me, and it takes a huge machine to do this. Everyone's putting in work and I'm fascinated by that.
You've obviously been performing for years, but do you feel different nerves when you step onto this stage?
Music is more first nature to me, but expression is too —being expressive. So I try to lead with that and come from the most honest place and that seems to calm me. And that's just being real, and then being present. So that kind of eliminates any perfection that is expected. It's like, I'm human. I'm trying. We're here together. And I feel like that's the relatable part. So I feel as long as I keep it in that space and not try to say like, "Y'all, I've been doing this forever" — no, I haven't. I'm learning. I feel like it's a journey that we're all going on together, and I think it's going to be fun seeing me walk this tightrope yet again, because I'm even like, "Girl, what are we doing now?" But I'm the one that loves a challenge, loves an opportunity, and you will always see me try.
Have you reached out to any other talk show host you might know, folks who've been doing this, to get insight into things you might not be expecting, that kind of stuff?
Kelly reached out and was like, "If you need any advice, I'm here."
'The Jennifer Hudson Show'
| CREDIT: CHRIS MILLARD/WARNER BROS.
And you've been on her show.
I have! And when we're together, honey, we just go back and forth. We performed together recently and I think we did more talking than singing. She's a great example. But talk shows are embedded in us; it's in there. But I feel like in order for me to have whatever originality I'm gonna have, I need to focus on simply being myself and not overthinking. In this case, that's the test. It's like, "Jennifer, play Aretha": okay, I'm gonna study that down. "Play Effie": study that. "Jennifer, be Jennifer." Why is that the most foreign thing? But I get to be me. So that's my job now and I'm super excited about it. So, it's more excitement for me right now than anything.
What would the 20-year-old Jennifer think of what's happening right now with this?
I would have never guessed. 20 was two years before American Idol, I want to say; I think I was on the Disney Wonder Ship by then. Each thing led to the next and has prepared me for this. I needed everything that I went through to be able to have a relatable story or to understand the realities that people have, to be able to connect. To this day, people come up and just grab me and I'm like, I wonder if they do that to Mariah Carey? But it's a different type of connection. And I love that and I don't mind communicating and connecting. I want to talk to every single person.
Last thing here — which of your song titles do you relate to most right now and think describes your current state of mind going into this new chapter: "Spotlight," "I Can't Describe (The Way I Feel)," "Remember Me," "Giving Myself," "Dangerous," or "Trouble?"
[Laughs] Good titles. Okay, I think…"Spotlight." Because I want to put the spotlight on others. I've been blessed to be able to achieve so many things and so many have supported my journey — I wanna do that for somebody else and help use this platform to do that. So "Spotlight," definitely. So maybe I sing [she sings the opening notes of the song] and then the light appears and it's like, it's your turn now, it's your moment.
The Jennifer Hudson Show premieres on Sept. 12.
