Sherri Shepherd's Call With Oprah Winfrey Ended With '15 Pages of Notes'
As Sherri Shepherd gears up for the launch of her daytime talk show, she got some advice from a bona fide professional -- Oprah Winfrey! In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Sherri host revealed that Winfrey reached out and offered her a wealth of wisdom.
"I took 15 pages of notes until my fingers cramped up," Shepherd said of the informative phone call.
"I took a potassium pill because my fingers were cramped, and I couldn't write anymore," she jokingly added. "I said, hold on, I have to commit this to memory because nobody will believe that I'm talking to and laughing with Oprah."
Shepherd revealed that Winfrey preached important lessons on maintaining a positive energy with her audience and not being too focused on the show's numbers.
"One thing I took from Oprah is, she said, 'Sherri, the show is not about the ratings, it's about the energy. You put out the energy, and it will come back in direct proportion to you from the audience. It's your responsibility. You're in charge of the energy that is on your show,'" Shepherd said.
She continued, "I felt that because I was like, 'damn, I just wanted to show some viral videos and make people laugh.' But it's true, it's the energy you give off, which is why we love Oprah."
Shepherd couldn't help but gush about the lessons she learned from Winfrey, saying she's "literally going to frame the 15 pages of notes."
"I'm not even throwing them away. Those will be in my memoirs, my biopic, the notes will be on the wall," Shepherd continued. "If I could've recorded Oprah, I would've, because I said that nobody is going to believe this."
Before landing her own daytime series, Shepherd served as the season-long guest host for The Wendy Williams Show, and her show will fill the same network timeslot. Shepherd also co-hosted The View from 2006-2014.
Earlier this month, Shepherd told ET that both Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres were her industry inspirations ahead of her new show's premiere. "A little bit of Ellen, a little bit of inspiration of Oprah, a lot of the laughter of Ellen and put that together, and then you got Sherri and I am like, 'Let’s go,'" she said at that time.
In advance of her show's first season, Shepherd named Lizzo, Michelle Obama, and Michael B. Jordan as her dream guests.
Sherri is set to premiere on Sept. 12 on Fox.
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