Tiffany Haddish might have the title of “talk show host” in her future.
With Ellen DeGeneres announcing the end of her daytime talk show in 2022, people are already speculating who might take over her mantle as the queen of daytime. The Jasmine Brand reports that Haddish, who currently hosts CBS’ Kids Say the Darndest Things and is reprising her voice acting role on Tuca and Bertie, is at the top of the list.
The website cites Page Six, who states Haddish is a “favorite” with fans after filling in for the comedian several times throughout the show’s later seasons.
“[S]he has humor and empathy in spades,” said an NBCUniversal source. “She’s top of the list to get a daytime show–she is a fresh voice.”
Also in the running is Kelly Clarkson, who already has a successful daytime show and could move to DeGeneres’ timeslot.
Haddish might be busy with Kids Say, but her film and TV acting career is still going strong, with projects including films The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Landscape with Invisible Hand and TV series The Afterparty. However, her acting career shouldn’t be a massive conflict of interest if she does happen to get DeGeneres’ spot, since DeGeneres herself also filmed Finding Dory while hosting her talk show.
DeGeneres has had a rough time in the last year or so. Her show has come under fire for employing abusive executives who mistreated many of its behind-the-scenes staff. While DeGeneres has apologized and has had several stars come to her defense, including Kevin Hart, fan opinion regarding the show has waned. In fact, when she announced her series was ending, many people on Twitter seemingly rejoiced by retweeting an awkward 2019 interview DeGeneres had with Dakota Johnson. In the interview, DeGeneres claimed that Johnson hadn’t invited her to Johnson’s birthday party. Johnson refuted the claim, saying that she did, but DeGeneres didn’t show up. Johnson also assumed DeGeneres didn’t like her from prior behavior.