I love this.
Hi, everyone.
[APPLAUSE]
Yeah.
Isn't this nice?
It's great.
Yes.
There they are.
Good looking crowd, Ellen.
Good looking crowd.
Yeah, they are.
It's nice to see smiling faces.
Good to see you.
I ran into you the other night in Los Angeles.
And are you enjoying being in LA?
What's not to love?
I mean, the weather is beautiful.
It's been so much fun.
Done a little bit dining outside.
But, gosh.
And I'm missing a lot of snow in New York.
And the older I get, the less I like cold weather, which
is sort of against typical.
But I've had so much fun.
LA is great.
And these are under these circumstances--
Right, right.
--right?
So I'm sure otherwise it would be even more fun.
But my husband and I--
Would you move here?
You know, I don't know if I'd move here full-time
because I do love New York.
But I'd love to come out a few months.
I did it last year.
I've rented a house in Venice.
My daughter, Ellie, lives here.
She's a writer for the show called The Boys on Amazon.
And so it was a chance for us to get together.
Now, she's in Toronto shooting shows.
But I really love California.
I've lots of friends.
It was so fun running into you--
Yeah, yeah.
--Ellen, you know?
There's something I saw this morning in the meeting
that you post.
Did you post this?
The hummingbirds?
Yes, yes.
Oh, my God.
Let's--
OK.
Well, let me explain.
Let me explain
OK.
So Ellie told me that Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag--
I think a lot of people in our group here know The Hills.
It's not quite my generation.
But she said they love hummingbirds.
So I DMed him on Instagram.
And I said, hi, Spencer Pratt.
Can I come over to see your hummingbirds?
And he said, sure, Katie Couric.
Come on over.
So I went to their house.
And they have millions of hummingbirds on their terrace.
He makes the nectar every day with sugar and water.
And it was insane, Ellen.
Do you like hummingbirds?
I love hummingbirds.
Oh, my, God.
Well, we have to [INAUDIBLE] this.
And they represent something really important to me too.
So let's show this.
So you're holding this thing in your hand.
Yes.
So they're little hand feeders.
You can buy these things?
And-- yes.
And you fill them up with the sugar-water mixture.
And look at that one.
That's my hand, everybody.
That little hummingbird was sitting on my thumb.
It was one of the coolest things I had ever done.
Well, I want to buy--
I'm not saying they're tame hummingbirds.
Like they're his.
But because they're all-- and he's feeding them.
So they're used to being fed.
Or can anyone buy that thing, and they'll just
land on your hand?
Well, they're all over California--
I know.
--at least.
I've seen them on the bamboo.
I know, the hummingbirds are all over--
[LAUGHTER]
And they were beautiful.
They were-- the shadows were against the wall.
And why are hummingbirds so special?
Oh, it's a long story.
But I was in a very dark period of my life.
And I rescued one that seemed almost dead.
It was in water in a fountain.
And I thought it was dead.
It was just floating.
And I pulled it out.
And it took a while.
It came back to life, sat on my finger,
and just flew straight up.
And it kind of got me out of where I was.
Oh, that's so nice.
I mean, they're magical.
And they're so beautiful.
They're these bright jewel tones.
So they're emerald.
Iridescent, sort of.
Yeah.
Yeah, they're amazing.
Anyway, it was really, really fun.
So Thank you, Pratt daddy.
He sells crystals too.
OK.
[LAUGHTER]
So you post a lot of interesting things.
Your husband takes pictures of things and--
My husband's really funny.
And he posts things that are--
So let's take--
--a little Randy.
And--
Here's a--
--his posts are kind of R-rated, mine are GP--
So you're holding a gourd.
Yes, that's my gourd.
Right.
Yeah.
John thought that was really funny.
You can have a lot fun with produce, Ellen.
Can't you?
Believe me, I know.
I've taken pictures of melons.
I took a picture with Oprah holding melons.
You did?
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
Oh, there you go.
See?
Yeah, yeah.
So--
[LAUGHTER]
We had fun with melons.
We're just a laugh riot.
Aren't we?
We're crazy.
Let's talk about-- you got so much going on.
You have a news company of podcasts.
You have a website, newsletter.
Do you miss doing live TV?
I sometimes do.
But I think it's changed so much.
And now, you can do interviews on Instagram Live, on YouTube.
So I am constantly doing IG Lives on my Instagram feed.
And I can explore whatever I want.
It doesn't have to go through a gatekeeper.
I don't have to get permission.
If something happens, and I think it's worth talking about,
I can do it at a moment's notice.
And I'm lucky because people recognize me or know who I am.
And so they know that I'll do an interview,
that I'll be prepared, that I won't bamboozle them
or whatever.
And so I really can do so much, Ellen.
I have this newsletter-- as you said-- called Wake-Up Call that
comes in your inbox every morning,
gives you everything you need to know, plus some great features,
and recipes, and what people are watching and listening to.
So it's very creative and very liberating to be on my own.
So I like it actually.
Yeah, it's great.
It's great.
Now, you're hosting Jeopardy!
You're the first woman that's host in Jeopardy!?
That's right.
Is that cool?
How's that come about?
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
Obviously, they lost Alex Trebek from pancreatic cancer.
And they were-- I think-- looking for people to just
really carry on his legacy and to try to fill in while they
find a permanent replacement.
And they were so generous and nice.
They matched what the winners won.
And they made a huge donation to Stand Up
To Cancer, which I founded with some other women.
And it's going to support the Pancreatic Dream Team that
are really doing significant research
into pancreatic cancer, which is the cancer that Alex Trebek had
and my sister, Emily, passed away from.
So it was incredibly meaningful for me
to have that opportunity and really fun,
and very nerve-racking.
I was totally pitted out, Ellen.
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
I bet.
Really stressful.
All right.
We have to take a break.
We'll be back more with Katie after this.