Slide 1

You might be expecting to hear Megan Crowleys voice, but this is

[insert name here]. Welcome to Were Talking about Talk Shows. I
was interested in doing this research because, when I was in the
hospital two and a half years ago, I used to watch The Ellen Show
every day, and that was the only thing that put a smile on my face.
So, I wanted to pay tribute to her, and this was my way to do that. Ever
since I got out of the hospital, I continued to watch DeGeneres and
Fallon every chance I get. I feel like I understand the genre talk shows
in general better now that Ive done this research.
Slide 2
The OED defines talk shows as a television programme in which
guests are interviewed by the host or talk-master. In our nation of
America, talk show is a fairly common phrase, and if you havent
heard it, you must have been living under a rock. Some talk show hosts
that you may recognize are The Today Show Matt Lauer, Live with Kelly
and Michaels Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan, The Tonight Shows Jay
Leno, The Ellen Shows Ellen DeGeneres and The Tonight Shows Jimmy
Fallon.
Slide 3
When talk shows were first introduced to our culture, it was mostly on
the radio (sung). But more recently, talk shows have been about
interviewing the hottest new celebrities or telling a heartwarming
human interest story. Sometimes these stories are quite controversial.
DeGeneres had Kanye West on her show right after he rudely
interrupted Taylor Swifts acceptance speech at the VMAs.
Interestingly enough, Miley Cyrus performed a very risqu version of
We Cant Stop and Jimmy Fallon had her on his show within a couple
of months of the performance. And finally, Ellen DeGeneres had the
first interview with the newly transitioned Caitlyn Jenner about how the
Kardashian and Jenner family is dealing with that.
Slide 4
You may know DeGeneres as the petite, short blond haired
homosexual, but she is actually one of the more well-known talk show
hosts in todays day and age. Jay Leno sent a booking agent to see her
at Improv in Hollywood. After this meeting, she began to tour all across
America, and now she is one of the most well-known and popular
daytime talk show hosts.
Slide 5
You may also know Jimmy Fallon from his comedic personality or from
the hilarious movie Fever Pitch. He started his career in 1998 on
Saturday Night Live doing impressions of Robert DeNiro, John Lennon,

Chris Rock, and Mick Jagger. After his run on Saturday Night Live, he
starred in a lot of movies that did not do so well in the box office. In
2008, he took over Conan OBrians place on Late Night, and today he
is the host for The Tonight Show.

Slide 6
DeGeneres and Fallon both have experience in live comedy, and with
that experience they can handle any hiccup they encounter while they
are filming their respective shows. It may also help with coming up
with comedy sketches or different ways to engage the audience for
their prospective shows.
Slide 7
One of the ways DeGeneres makes her show more appealing to
her audience is to have funny yet serious situations on her show.
DeGeneres had Matt Damon on her talk show promoting a foundation
called Water.org, and in order for her and Chideo to give a donation,
she made him do the Whip/Nae-Nae. As you can imagine, he did not
do it quite like Silento, but it was really funny anyway. During
DeGeneres Twelve Days of Giveaways, she had a woman whose
husband was on tour in Kuwait. Little did she know, DeGeneres had her
husband waiting for her backstage. These are just a few examples of
how DeGeneres show can be both humorous and heart-warming.
Slide 8
Meanwhile, Fallon has Late Night Hashtags where he tells the
audience to explain a situation using a variety of different hashtags,
and then he reads his favorite ones on air. You can see one of them
right here (show picture). He also does lip sync battles with different
celebrities, where Fallon and celebrities compete by lip syncing famous
songs throughout history, and the audience picks which person they
think lip synced the best. You can see at the end of Will Ferrells
performance of Let It Go that Ferrell threw glitter in the air (show gif)
Slide 9
DeGeneres had Taylor Swift on her show to promote her 1989 album.
Swift was on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine soaking wet. When
she was explaining what got her in that situation, obviously being
sarcastic, DeGeneres replied with, Well, now we know. With the
whole segment with Swift, it showed DeGeneres interviewing style.
Slide 10
When Fallon interviewed Swift, he just wanted to know if she was going
to be performing at the VMAs. When he finally confirmed that she was,

in fact, performing at the VMAs, he screamed, (scream) I got the

scoop! He seemed very happy and energetic by this revelation.
Some might classify Fallons type of humor as a combination of wit and
sarcasm.
Slide 11
As you might have noticed, DeGeneres and Fallon have a very similar
type of humor. They can be both sarcastic and witty at the same time.
While DeGeneres is more obviously sarcastic, Fallon is more to-thepoint in order to get the information. While the two hosts are different,
they bring much joy and laughter to their respective audiences every
time they are on.
Slide 12
Talk shows can have a variety of different celebrities on, and they may
even have the same celebrities over and over again, but it does not
get any less interesting. It can have a variety of different segments,
but still remain interesting to each of their audiences. Although
DeGeneres and Fallon have different interviewing tactics, people can
enjoy both shows the same. And now, ladies and gentlemen, we are
done.