Former ‘The View’ Co-Host Sherri Shepherd Says Meghan McCain Needs to ‘Lighten Up’

Sherri Shepherd is offering some friendly critiques to Meghan McCain in her role on The View.

Shepherd herself sat at The View table for many years. On Sunday, she appeared on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live, where she was asked to take a moment and consider how McCain is doing on the show. Shepherd paused a couple of times while trying to formulate her answer, to the crowd’s amusement.

“She just has to evolve,” she said finally. “She has to get used to sitting there at that table. And I think she has to not take the whole Republican world on her shoulders. It’s too much to take on. It’s like, ‘you are not the Republican voice.’ I know, it makes you stressed, it makes you tense. And so, you know, I think just being able to lighten up a little.”

McCain joined the cast of The View just last year, shortly after leaving Fox News‘ Outnumbered, another day time talk show. She has had a long career as a commentator, talk show host and columnist, though her work has often been poorly received. In 2011, Gawker referred to her as “noted idiot Meghan McCain.” She has frequently described her professional ambition as updating the Republican Party’s image for contemporary people — especially women, but many feel she has fallen flat in that regard.

Shepherd, meanwhile, first appeared on The View in 2006. She became a permanent fixture on the show from 2007 to 2014. Now, she is working with her former co-hosts on a tell-all book about the long-running talk show, which she also discussed on Sunday.

“Everybody is involved. So, it’s not only me. It’s Joy [Behar]. I think everybody except Elisabeth [Hasselbeck] and Jenny McCarthy have contributed to the work,” she revealed. “It’s all of our views in one book about what went on. We didn’t have any bars held.”

She added that Rosie O’Donnell is likely involved as well. When Cohen pressed, the subject, Shepherd was not shy about why those two women were left out.

“Uh, you know why they didn’t,” she said bluntly. “Jenny, you know, I’m sure she’s said she didn’t have a great time on The View. And Elisabeth, her departure, I don’t think she wanted to… although it would be really fun to have both of their viewpoints because they were real integral.”

The View is currently in its 21st season. It is on every week day morning on ABC.