-Our first guest tonight is a Grammy-nominated
country-music star who is also a coach on
the hit show "The Voice," which airs
Monday and Tuesday nights here on NBC.
Let's take a look.
-Hey, hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!
My team is full!
[ Cheers and applause ] Yes!
-[ Chanting ] Blake, Blake, Blake, Blake, Blake, Blake!
-Let's go!
-Whoo!
It doesn't work.
It doesn't work anymore.
-Alright, Kelly Clarkson, it's just me and you, sis.
-♪ Just you and I ♪
-You got quite the team there, my old man.
-Old man?
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-Please welcome back to the show our friend Blake Shelton.
How are you, Blake?
-[ Laughs ] I'm doing good.
It's funny.
I haven't seen that part of the show aired back yet,
and it's a lot of fun to see a universal superstar
like Ariana Grande call me an old man...
-Yeah. -...on national television.
That's great for my ego and confidence.
-Well, you've actually had some ego issues over the years.
This isn't the first time that Ariana Grande
has bumped up against your ego.
There was a time where you guys put out albums
on the same weekend.
-[ Laughs ] I know. Hey, I reminded her of that.
It was like -- That was in 2016, and -- I don't know --
one of her huge albums came out,
and I had a project I was putting out called
"If I'm Honest."
And we were so excited about it.
And I remember, the week the album came out, I was like,
"What do you think it's gonna --"
You know, you always call your record label
and you're like, "What do you think we're going to do?"
You know, you think it's going to be number 1?"
And they're like, "Well, you know, Ariana Grande's
album comes out this week.
But you could get number 2, maybe."
So she took a dump on those dreams, too.
By the way, great monologue.
I was sitting here with my brother-in-law,
sitting off-screen, and you were mentioning about
getting a sunburn on your taint.
And then -- And it started a whole conversation about
"What's the difference in a chode and a taint?"
And we've been --
And it's really -- It's a great show, man,
because it causes these conversations.
These conversations, you know?
-Yeah, we like to get people talking about stuff
that they wouldn't otherwise talk about.
-Yeah.
-You know, a brother-in-law, of course,
is one of the many beneficiaries of getting married,
and I want to say congratulations,
because since the last time we talked,
you officially tied the knot with Gwen.
-We did, man. We did it back in July.
And Gwen and I -- we agree that if we're going to pull off
the ultimate publicity stunt, which is what
this relationship is,
then we wanted to follow through, man.
and go ahead and get married, because, you know,
the next season of "The Voice" was coming up,
and, you know, we're team players for NBC.
Which I am -- By the way, I am your boss now.
-You are my boss, deservedly so.
I want to just say, like, this is a photo --
She is a beautiful bride. You are also in this picture.
[ Laughter ]
-You know what I love about that picture?
Is that her arm is perfectly placed to drop --
to block my double chin right there.
-That's true love right there.
-You can't see the pelican chin hanging down as much.
-You were married by Carson Daly.
Did you think, 20 years ago, the host of "TRL"
would be the guy helping you tie the knot?
-Man, I tell you what.
The way he handled those wet-T-shirt contests
back in the day when he was hosting those
spring-break specials, we knew --
we knew he had to be the guy for us.
-'Cause those things can get pretty hairy.
If he can keep his cool there, you know,
he is the right guy for your big day.
-He was -- I don't know who was more excited.
When we called Carson -- I mean, we were a little bit nervous
to even ask him because the guy's so --
I mean, he's so busy.
I don't even know how he does --
Literally, he has a radio show.
He has the "Today" show. He has "The Voice."
And he used to have a show that came on, you know,
after -- I guess, what, two shows after your show.
You know what I mean?
Like when nobody was watching. You know what I'm saying?
Which is why you probably didn't know
he doesn't have that anymore, but --
-Now we just throw it to the tumbleweeds.
-And it was like, you know, how are you
going to ask him to do this thing?
But he jumped on the opportunity,
and he ended up staying there with his family
for a few days with us.
It was awesome. It really was.
-So, this is interesting.
So when I got married, you know, we wrote our own vows.
And I -- You know, being somebody who writes comedy,
I found that pressure of, like, wanting to be funny.
You wrote a song for your wedding.
Did you feel the same pressure to, actually,
do a song up to your standard?
-Well, I didn't feel pressure
because she didn't know I was going to do it.
So I felt like, "You know,
there's really no bar, you know, to set right here.
But we agreed that we were going to --
And it was Carson's idea that we should write our own,
you know, vows or whatever.
I have this piece to say before we say "I do,"
and Gwen has always -- She is constantly on my ass about
I should be writing more songs.
"How come you don't write more songs?"
You know?
And I have gotten lazy about it over the years.
And so I decided, "Well, you know, I'll step up
and come up with something," and so I did.
And we're putting it on -- I'm putting out a deluxe version
of this record that we have out now,
and we're going to put it on there.
And so I'm excited.
I'm excited for people to hear it, you know?
A lot of people ask me about it since they found out
that I did that, and so I'm -- we're excited about it.
I want people to hear it.
I mean, my God, I married Gwen Stefani.
I want all -- I want everybody to hear that.
I mean, that's the ultimate bragging rights.
-It's really good. Did you -- I'm curious.
When you were performing it at the wedding,
was it an eye-contact situation?
Were you looking right at her as you were doing the song?
-I did, I did.
I had rehearsed it so many times just, you know,
in the bathroom or when we weren't together or whatever
that I really had it down, you know?
The only thing I was concerned about was breaking the barstool
that they had for me to sit on.
That was literally something that was in my mind like,
"Oh, wouldn't that be great if I sat on this thing, and..."
But I didn't. I made it through. -I'm very glad to hear this.
This is -- You hit a milestone, as well.
The 20-year anniversary of, I guess,
your first big hit, "Austin."
-That's right.
-That was the mulleted Blake Shelton,
who was not hanging with Carson Daly back in the day.
-Let me tell you something, man. That mullet was underrated.
And I think it should come back.
I don't know about -- Did you ever have a mullet or --
Is this as long as your hair's ever been, right now?
-This -- No, back in college, it was very long.
I could put it in a ponytail in college.
-But no mullet. -No mullet, no.
-Yeah. Well, you missed out, buddy.
You missed out on all the action.
Let me tell you.
-You're coming up on 500 episodes of "The Voice."
This is the 21st season.
It's been about 10 years now.
And you get audiences back after some time away.
It just must be great to have live audiences back
for a show like that.
-We had them for the blind auditions this season,
and that's the first time in --
I guess, we went two seasons without an audience,
which was -- You know, it wasn't fun.
It's not the same, you know?
It's mostly for the people who are auditioning,
because, for us coaches,
it's not about the audience, you know?
In fact, sometimes, it's a distraction for us coaches.
But it's not as fun for, I don't think,
the contestants not to have that immediate feedback, you know?
Especially if somebody doesn't make it on to the show,
you know, at least they get the sendoff like,
"You know, it will be okay."
You know, but nothing's worse than when you didn't make it
and you have to have that silent, you know,
walk off the stage.
It was just -- It's horrifying.
And so having the audience back this season --
it just feels so much better.
It's music, you know?
And so you want people to be there.
-And, as the winningest coach, how confident do you feel --
-Oh, you're talking about me.
Oh, you're talking about me when you say that.
Yeah. Yeah.
-How confident are you right now, Blake?
-Well, you know -- Listen, Ariana is a --
She's a super-talented, very sweet human being.
I -- My feeling is, she's going to suck as a coach.
-Yeah.
-And Kelly Clarkson -- I think her --
it's kind of fizzled out, you know?
Just too -- There's too much Kelly on TV.
I joke that NBC is "Nothing But Clarkson."
People are tired of her.
People are sick and tired of her.
-Yeah.
-And with John Legend, he's just so high all the time,
I don't even know if he knows he's on TV, you know?
And so I feel like this year's going to be a gimme for me,
and I'm excited about it.
-Well, it's always great to have you here.
I would love -- If you could do some research on
the difference between taint and chode,
and we'll talk about it next time you're on.
-I will. We'll do that. He's Googling it right now.
We're looking at pictures. We can tell by the pictures.
-Hey, all the best, Blake. It's always great to see you.
-Thank you, buddy.
-"The Voice" airs Monday and Tuesday nights here on NBC.