The actress talks about fighting for her vision with E! as she prepares to launch her own talk show, "Busy Tonight."
The late-night landscape is about to get a boost of feminine energy thanks to Busy Philipps, and she brought every bit of that energy and excitement to "The Late Show" Wednesday night.
The actress told Stephen Colbert how she fought to see her vision come to life on her upcoming late-night show, "Busy Tonight," from the beginning. According to Philipps, she came up with the idea based on the engagement she's been enjoying with her fans on social media.
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View Story"Tina Fey is my executive producer on the show -- not a bad deal for me -- and when I called her and said I want to do a late-night talk show, she said, 'Okay, well let's make that happen.' And E! said, 'Okay, yes, we have space.'"
It was all smooth sailing to this point, and maybe that's because Philipps is a "sparkly person," as she described it, meaning people tend to gravitate to her and help her out. But they weren't ready to just sign off on a full-fledged show.
"They said, maybe you do it one night a week just to see-- make sure you have the flow," Philipps said. "And I was like, 'No. I want to do four nights a week. It's topical. I want it to be the current events.'"
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View StoryBut Philipps was adamant that this venture was all or nothing for her, which Colbert appreciated arguing that four nights a week, as she's planning on doing, is a legitimate late-night talk show, a clear jab at John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight," which airs once a week and keeps beating him out for Emmy love.
But now he's in for even more competition, as Philipps is launching Oct. 28 at 10 p.m. ET on E! And she's looking to land that big fish.
While her answer for "dream guest" may not be a huge shocker, it was her unbridled joy and enthusiasm in just talking about Oprah Winfrey that was absolutely infectious. We found ourselves rooting for the two women to come together on "Busy Tonight," if just to see how adorable that interaction would be.
Having not yet met Oprah, Philipps was content to live vicariously through Colbert as he talked about having Oprah on his show. "How good does she smell?" Philipps asked with no hesitation.
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View Story"Like Christmas morning. Just amazing," Colbert said. "And the Fourth of July at the same time. I used to have a scar on my arm. It's healed."
"I believe that to be true," Philipps said in awe.
Her smile was so genuine and the joy on her face so authentic that Colbert found himself smiling and laughing along with her, too. She's even prepared what she'd want to ask Oprah.
"Am I living my best life?"
We really hope she gets the chance to ask her some day ... and they capture that moment on camera.
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