AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, Nick Cannon has been a pretty good daytime talk-show host. Admittedly, it’s not a genre of television that I typically watch these days, outside of the occasional clips from Kelly Clarkson’s show that make it to my social-media feeds. Growing up, my mom watched the big ones—Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael, and the queen, Oprah Winfrey. As a teen, I gravitated, like so many other teens of the late 1990s and early 2000s, to the raunchy and violent escapades of Jerry Springer. The most recent daytime show I watched with any regularity was Steve Harvey, because my granny loves her some Steve Harvey.
Cannon’s show has been very much in the mold of shows that emerged after Ellen DeGeneres became one of the biggest names in daytime talk—far from the raunch of Springer but definitely not provocative like Donahue. The current brand is about joy and uplift, with a dash of sentimentality, all being presented by an upbeat and occasionally self-deprecating host who wants to ensure that everyone, audience and guest alike, has a little fun.
At the taping I attended in March, the 41-year-old Cannon handled all of these responsibilities like a pro, which isn’t surprising given that he has been in the entertainment industry for nearly 25 years. He moved through every segment with an easy giddiness. He and celebrity chef Carla Hall cooked some healthy soul-food dishes and made fun of Cannon’s lack of ability in the kitchen. He looked truly astonished at a woman who had gone viral on TikTok for deadlifting an insane amount of weight. He provided the requisite nonthreatening flirtation while sitting down with guest Kristin Chenoweth to discuss her new book and pet adoption, and the pair got up to do an improvised “hip-hopera” interpretation of Romeo and Juliet.
