-Our first guest is a talented actress
who you know from "The Good Place" and "Frozen."
She's returning as the voice of "Gossip Girl"
beginning July 8th on HBO Max.
Please welcome Kristen Bell!
Ah! Ah, I'm so happy.
Thank you!
Oh, so good to see you.
Thank you so much for coming back on the show.
I appreciate it.
-Thanks for having me.
-Oh, please. I don't know if you just witnessed.
We had some really amazing talents from around --
-I did. -You did.
Kind of amazing, right? Is your mind blown?
-My mind's blown, and I kind of want to show you mine.
-[ Gasps ]
Yeah. Do you have a hidden talent?
-Yeah, like a hidden talent that, like, is totally useless
and you could never apply to anything.
-Yes. That's what we want. -You know?
Like that kind of talent? -Yes, we love that!
-I got one.
Jimmy, I have separate control over my eyeballs.
[ Audience murmuring ]
-Wait -- -Do you want to see this?
-Yes. -Okay. Hold on.
I'm going to have to come in close.
Can you see -- Is that a good shot? Okay, ready?
-Yes.
[ Audience groaning ]
-Wow! Whoa!
♪♪
Wow!
How -- When did you know that you could do that?
-I don't know.
I've always felt like it was a separate muscle,
and I could always tap into them.
But I guess I assumed everybody else had that, too.
And then once in like high school, I did it,
and my friends were like, "Whoa!"
And then I realized not everybody has it,
and I'll be able to apply it to absolutely nothing.
-Yeah, absolutely. That's correct, yeah.
-But I will say, don't ever sneak up on me,
because I do have separate control.
-Ah. -I can look anywhere.
-You see everything. Yeah.
But I want to talk you about this, 'cause recently,
it was just -- came out that you have a very big fan.
President Barack Obama said on his podcast, much of a fan.
-If you say so, Jimmy.
-No, I'm telling you.
It was so -- So, your husband, Dax,
I guess he sent in a question to Obama's podcast?
-Mm-hmm. They were asking people to write in questions,
and he asked a question like, "What was it --
Not having a male role model when you were young,
did that affect how much you wanted to show off
to other guys?" Like, you know?
And, yeah. And he answered the question
by giving a real big shout-out to "The Good Place."
-I want to play everyone this clip here.
Just check out the shout-out from President Obama to Kristen.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-What?
-I mean, is it our destiny to be best friends?
-Yes! -I've always thought that,
but I never knew he might think it, as well!
-[ Laughs ] -I mean, when that happened,
Dax was like, "Well, here we go again.
My wife gets credit for everything."
Because it was like Dax was writing in the question
and he -- -"This was my big moment."
Yeah. "This is my big moment.
President Obama's going to know me, Dax Shepard."
Instead, he flips it around and goes,
"By the way, I love your wife."
It's so awesome. -He flipped the script.
Whoops. But I was so flattered. I mean, we knew --
We did know, like when "The Good Place" was happening,
you know, Mike Schur, who we both know and love,
we definitely found out that it was, like, on his watch list
of his favorite TV shows, and we all freaked out.
But, yeah. I never thought I'd get like a personal shout-out.
And I do think this is destiny
for a very, very best friendship.
Not to put any pressure on anybody, but I know.
-No, no pressure. Yeah. I'll put you guys in touch.
Yeah, you guys should be pals.
I want to talk about "Gossip Girl."
I knew this was coming back. I'm so excited.
I think it's the right time. [ Cheers and applause ]
We want it back.
It's on HBO Max starting July 8th.
And you're returning as the voice of "Gossip Girl."
-You know it.
-Yeah, no -- [ Audience cheering ]
I think you're -- I love your voice, but I mean --
I love everything. I love your acting.
But I think your voice --
Do you like doing voiceovers and cartoons?
-I love it. I mean, I especially --
You know, I like the challenge
of having to evoke emotion from the audience
by using only one tool,
like the tone, pitch, cadence of my voice.
It's really fun. And, like, you know, on "Gossip Girl" --
Like the new show is really cool,
'cause it talks all about how social media has changed us,
and it is more risque 'cause it is on HBO Max.
-Yeah. -And there's a twist
at the end of episode one that's really different, but --
So, that's fun. But that's much more of, like, a character.
And then with "Frozen," it's -- I guess it's also a character
'cause it is a little more bubbly than I am.
But I just like story-telling,
and I like being able to have the challenge
of only using my voice.
Also, like, you know from V.O.'s you've done,
you really can go in your pajamas, and it's great.
But it's also been the main form of work
that I've been able to do during the pandemic,
because you just have a microphone,
and you don't have to have contact with people.
And it's kind of incredible.
And during the pandemic, Monica Padman,
who hosts "Armchair Expert", my husband's podcast with him,
came up with this idea for us to do --
We're going to start a podcast
that will launch in a couple weeks in the end of June.
We interviewed 10, like, phenomenal women
that have cracked the glass ceiling
that we just wanted to talk to.
So we got to interview -- It's called "Shattered Glass."
And we got to interview, like, Diane von Furstenberg,
Malala Yousafzai, Oprah,
I mean, some really incredible people.
But just have like down to Earth conversations with them
about their mistakes and how they care for themselves.
And then we got Sara Bareilles
to sing the theme song with the Detroit children's choir.
-I love Sara Bareilles. -So I got to say, like,
this behind the microphone thing,
it might become the rest of my life.
-Yeah, well, we'll take it.
I'll take any Kristen Bell I can get.
Here's a first look at a piece of the trailer
for "Gossip Girl." Take a look at this.
♪♪
-Who waits for the light?
-She's not from here.
Hey.
How would you like to come hang with us tonight?
[ Elevator bell dings ]
-♪ Too many joy rides in Daddy's Jaguar ♪
♪ Too many white lies and white lines ♪
♪ Super rich kids with nothing but loose ends ♪
[ Cellphones chiming, vibrating ]
-Did you miss me?
I know I've missed you.
-Oh, my God! -Yeah!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Dude, we're all going crazy here!
You can check out the full "Gossip Girl" trailer
on HBO Max's YouTube page.
Kristen and I are playing a fun new game when we come back.
Stick around, everybody.