Talk, talk, talk – and a mass same-sex wedding

This week, it’s all talk and plenty of action. It’s all about talk shows. It’s Ellen, Oprah — and Adam Hills?

When I was younger, I was getting into trouble for talking in class. At the end of each year, I received the ‘Oprah’ award, the ‘Ricki Lake’ award, and the ‘Ellen’ award. Some teachers thought I would likely become a talk show host because of all the talking in class.

Talk shows are fun to watch, and are often seen as a marketing option for some enterprising person. Feature on one, and there could be some success. This worked well for those who appeared on Oprah. A book plugged on Oprah would then feature on a best-seller list. It looks as though the only opinion that mattered was Oprah’s and then we followed.

Since Oprah ended her TV talk show run in 2011, the new Queen of Talk is Ellen DeGeneres. The ever-dancing Ellen is the new queen of giveaways, which Oprah was famous for in her later seasons. Ellen gives to her audience and gives to those who are in need of help.

She also has her own way of giving the audience what they want — entertainment with a hint of inspiration.

Ellen was a comedian who got her start on another talk show — The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She later starred in Ellen, a sitcom about a single woman who works in a bookshop and is surrounded by her good friends in LA.

In the fourth season, the show was canned after the title character came out of the lesbian closet. Then DeGeneres was taunted for coming out as a lesbian. But now she is laughing all the way to the bank.

Her talk show is very successful as she plays herself — fun and amusing. She doesn’t hide the fact that she is gay and is married to Aussie actress Portia de Rossi. Maybe there is a positive change coming after all.

In Oz, our own talk shows can go to greater lengths to entertain. Comedian Adam Hills has his own — Adam Hills in Gordon St Tonight. It’s an uplifting comedy talk show with rampant spontaneity. He talks to celebrities, entertainers and people who matter.

This Wednesday, Adam Hills will be hosting a mass same-sex TV wedding. Maybe Ellen should do the same. Twenty couples have already registered to take part in this historic event. British comedian Stephen Fry — a supporter of same-sex marriage — sent a message supporting Hills’ decision to host it on his ABC talk show.

Wednesday’s non-legal TV same-sex wedding could pave the way for a change to the current marriage laws — perhaps.

INFO: Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight, Wednesday, March 28, 8.30pm, ABC1

By TIMOTHY CONNELL