Sherri Shepherd Shares Her Dream Talk Show Guests — and How Oprah and Ellen Inspired Her New Series
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Sherri Shepherd is ready to spice up the daytime TV space.
Over the last several months, Shepherd, 55, guest-hosted Wendy Williams' long-running talk show amid her extended absence. Now she's getting the chance to host her second solo daytime series, Sherri — and she already has a list of stars she'd love to have on the program.
"Right now, I'm just feeling for Michael B. Jordan because he just broke up [with Lori Harvey] and he needs comforting. He needs somebody to talk to him about his next movie project, but to comfort him at the same time. So I would love for him," she tells PEOPLE exclusively while discussing her partnership with Hertz.
"I'm very big into female energy. I want Meryl Streep and I want Michelle Obama. I want talk to them both. And if Michelle Obama can bring that guy that she's married to [former President Barack Obama]. You know that guy? That would be awesome," she jokes. "And I want Lizzo. Can Lizzo come on my show?"
"I want Lizzo to come on because I want to talk to Lizzo. I not only want her to sing, but I want to talk to her about how she got her feeling of worth and what her journey has been, because she got a lot of no's before she got yeses," she continues. "And I want to inspire people with Lizzo's story. I want Lizzo to talk. And then your old school girl, Pat Benatar. I want to do a duet with her, 'Love Is a Battlefield.'"
Teasing what fans can expect from the series, Shepherd says: "I think if you picture the inspiration of Oprah [Winfrey], the fun of Ellen [DeGeneres] and then that joy and laughter in between is all Sherri."
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Shepherd has been busy at work as she prepares to launch the talk show she envisions. During this process, she has acknowledged there are "a lot of things that go into launching a talk show."
"Theme song, what [are] the segments that you're going to do, what are you going to talk about? Everything that I've done up until this point is preparing me for that," she says.
"I love pop culture. I cohost a show called Dish Nation, but that's all we do is pop culture," she continues. "Doing The View, I've learned to be curious about people to interview folks. I've learned to be unapologetically me from being on The View, sitting between Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg. I do stand-up where I stand in front of people for 90 minutes and I have to make you laugh for 90 minutes. So, all of these things."
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Another way Shepherd has prepared for the show's Sept. 12 premiere was by embarking on a cross-country move from Los Angeles to New York City — a process that was made much smoother thanks to Hertz.
"I'm going to shout out Hertz because they got these spacious trucks that they rent out. They put all my stuff into the trucks — and I've moved 13 times since 2007. Everything came to New York intact, not broken, not bent," Shepherd says of the partnership.
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Shepherd's venture with Hertz, which also included an event on Monday where customers at the Hertz location on 126 W 55th Street in Manhattan got some free items from her L.A. home and rental car upgrades, has taught her the hard lesson of learning to let go.
"You want to hold on to everything. But what I've learned is that you have to let go of things, because if you hold onto the past, it doesn't fit into the new space of energy that you are living in," she explains.
"I gave away a lot of my furniture. I gave away tons of shoes, tons of clothes. I just had people come over. I didn't even have a garage sale. I was just like, 'Come over and take what you want. It's right here on the table,'" she adds. "I did let go, but I still brought too much stuff."
Sherri premieres Sept. 12 in national syndication (check local listings).