'The Talk' Co-Host Jerry O'Connell Reflects on Being 'New' Guy, Says Sharon Osbourne 'Is Irreplaceable' (Exclusive)

By Stephen Andrew

It has been a little over one year since Jerry O'Connell joined The Talk as a co-host, becoming the show's first permanent male panelist. The inclusion of O'Connell, as well as former NFL star Akbar Gbaja-Biamila and journalist Natalie Morales, has added some invaluable dynamics to the daytime talk show, but the actor says he still kind of feels like the "new" guy. Recently, PopCulture.com had a chance to catch up with O'Connell about all he has going on, including how he feels his first year with The Talk has gone and why former co-host Sharon Osbourne is "irreplaceable."

Back in 2021, O'Connell was a guest on the Radio Andy show Bevelations, and at the time he told host Bevy Smith: "Coming in here right after Sharon Osbourne left, I could tell there was trauma with this group, you know, they were shook, they were shooketh. And I came in and I was like, 'Hey guys, I don't know anything about that. Like, let's just have a good time.' And any time it was even brought up, I was like, 'Hey guys, guys, guys, that wasn't me, please. Can we not talk about that today?'"

We asked O'Connell if he feels like he's seen growth and healing over the past year and he told us he has. "Yeah. It feels a lot better," he said, then going on to praise "the very funny" and "very entertaining Sharon Osbourne," who left The Talk in March 2021. "I sort of took that empty seat," O'Connell explained. "I didn't take a job from Sharon Osbourne. No one can replace her. Sharon Osbourne is irreplaceable, but they were still dealing with the repercussions of a public sort of breakup."

Offering an analogy for the situation, O'Connell said, "It was a really easy crowd to please because they had just gone through a breakup. It's like meeting someone who's just been through a really bad divorce." he added, "You can have a pretty fun time with someone who's just been through the ringer... so it was sort of an easy audience. It was an easy audience and made my job easy. Everyone was ready to have a good time."

When it comes to what he hoped to accomplish on The Talk, O'Connell candidly admitted, "You know, I got to tell you, I didn't have any goals. We'd just been through the pandemic. I hadn't worked in a couple of years. It was very quiet for me, and I had done some hosting in my past, and they needed to temporarily fill that seat for a little bit, so they brought me in there. It just was the right time. I'm having fun there right now. It's really fun."

O'Connell also shared how different this role has been from working in film, saying, "I've never had so much of a day job, like I show up at the same place every day. It is weird having a day job. Like I just go to the same place every day and I have a desk, and I see the same people. It's not what I'm used to as an actor. As an actor, you're almost like you go from job to job. You're a little more of an assassin. You come in, you do your [job]... and then you, like, quietly exist. This is a little different. I'm there every day, so it's an adjustment for me, too."

Finally, O'Connell confessed that even after a year he still sees himself as a new guy. "You know, I also have to figure out, how do I make it interesting for myself? Coming to the same place every day, I've never done it and ... I tried to switch it up as much as possible, but some people don't like you to switch it up too much, so I'm sort of dealing with it, too. I'm still new to it. I've only been there a year." The Talk airs on weekdays at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT on CBS. Fans can also catch O'Connell as the co-host of The Real Love Boat — alongside his wife Rebecca Romijn — Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET, also on CBS.

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