Talk Soup
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| Talk Soup | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Presented by | Greg Kinnear John Henson Hal Sparks Aisha Tyler |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 11 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | David Bernstein Mark Tye Turner Gregg Cannizzaro Ben Cheng Heather Stewart Tom Greenhut Stan Evans |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | E! |
| Original run | January 7, 1991 – May 17, 2002 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The Soup |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
- For the "Weird Al" Yankovic song, see Talk Soup (song).
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010) |
Talk Soup was a television show produced for cable network E! that debuted on January 7, 1991, as a midseason replacement, and aired until August 2002. Talk Soup aired selected clips of the previous day's daily talk shows—ranging from daytime entries like The Jerry Springer Show and to celebrity interview shows like The Tonight Show—surrounded by humorous commentary delivered by the host. Although Talk Soup poked fun at the talk shows, it also advertised the topics and guests of upcoming broadcasts of them.
Some of the humor is derived from the reactions to the jokes by various stagehands, who either chuckle softly or groan depending on the severity of the joke. The show used a computerized backdrop of moving spoons, with the same animations of the spoons playing on one side of the screen after being shown on the opposite side in a repeating fashion, behind the show's host. One episode was recorded in front of a live studio audience. A similar version, The Soup, now airs weekly on E!.
The show frequently poked fun at actors Randolph Mantooth and Mario Van Peebles. Also featured was a womanizing Argentine sock puppet named Señor Sock that had bought several Thighmasters because he was madly in love with Suzanne Somers.
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[edit] Hosts and awards
Hosts included Greg Kinnear (1991–1995, the final year concurrent with his hosting stint on NBC's now-defunct late night series Later), John Henson (1995–1999), Hal Sparks (1999–2000) and Aisha Tyler (2001–2002). Various celebrities filled in as guest hosts from 2000 to fall 2001, with Donna D'Errico standing-in regularly for summer 2001. Guest hosts included Ryan Seacrest, Roger Lodge, Janeane Garofalo, Jenna Jameson, Jason Lester, John Henstein, Scott Lasky, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Teri Garr, and Survivor contestant Susan Hawk.
Writer Stan Evans won an Emmy Award and the CableACE award for his contributions of segment producer and writer. Kinnear won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1994 for his involvement with the show, and Talk Soup won an Emmy in 1995 for Outstanding Special Class Program, and was nominated for an Emmy in 1996 for Special Class Writing and Special Class Program. Talk Soup was also nominated in 1996 for the CableACE Award for Outstanding Magazine Show, Series or Special; John Henson nominated for Entertainment or Variety Show Host.
[edit] Pop culture references
"Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a song entitled "Talk Soup" for his album Alapalooza. The lyrics describe a man who is desperate to appear on some of the talk shows whose clips appeared in Talk Soup. The song ends with a sample of the E! sound clip played at the end of the television show's end credits. Al on the origin of the song:
Well, to put it bluntly, [E!] kind of jerked me around. The producers of the show approached me, asking me to do a new theme song for the show. I wrote the lyrics (which they approved) and then recorded the song (which they said they "loved"). And then they never used it. Go figure.[1]
[edit] The Soup
In 2004, E! leveraged the Talk Soup brand by renaming and reformatting The What The? Awards to create the show known today as The Soup with actor Joel McHale as host and co-writer. The show is still on the air after 5 years, and it has become more popular and acclaimed than the original "Talk Soup"[citation needed].
One remnant from Talk Soup that got carried over to The Soup is the segment Chat Stew. Chat Stew shows clips from various talk shows and funny comments. The segment is introduced with a CGI crock pot filled with talk show logos and host heads, while a woman (current announcer Kelly Andrews) voices about the "stew" being "so meaty!"
On an episode of "The Soup" in January 2009, John Henson, a former host of "Talk Soup", appeared as a guest star to promote his current show, "Wipeout". Aisha Tyler has also appeared on The Soup, wearing a cow girls outfit claiming she wanted to "see the old studios."
The Soup has been mistakenly referred to as Talk Soup by Jean Bice, Mickey Rourke, and many others in the media.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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