RUSH: You know, in the past, ladies and gentlemen, I have oftentimes explained things that are mysterious to other people. And for the longest time people wanted my opinion on why I thought Oprah was so successful. I mean, there have been many talk shows before Oprah. Phil Donahue and Sally Jessy Raphael. There was Mike Douglas out there. What people wanted to know was what is it about Oprah? So June 30th, 2000, one of the most recent examples, 14 years ago of my explaining why Oprah’s popular.
RUSH ARCHIVE: The question’s been raised on this program a number of times since I’ve been hosting it: “Rush, why is Oprah so popular? What is it about that show?” If you’ve ever watched it, she cries all the time. I mean, the biggest audience is women. The fastest way to a woman’s heart is cry, it’s emotional. It’s a magnet.
RUSH: And there you have it. That’s it. I mean, there’s other reasons, too, but in my estimation when people asked me that was the primary reason. Okay, let’s fast forward to Sunday night on Oprah Winfrey network’s Oprah Prime. The host Oprah Winfrey, The Oprah, was interviewing the singer Pharrell — is that how you pronounce his name, Pharrell, the guy that wears the strange hat, the Canadian Royal, Canadian Mount. (interruption) It’s Pharrell, not Pharrell? It’s Pharrell? It’s Pharrell. Okay. It’s Pharrell.
During the interview Oprah plays a video of people dancing to Pharrell’s song Happy. Pharrell has a song called Happy. I do remember. I guess it was at the Epidemic Awards where Kerry Washington came out and introduced Pharrell. He was so cool, is what she said. So incredibly cool. So here’s Pharrell. He’s on Oprah’s show on Sunday night [talking about] his song Happy and people are dancing to it. And he started crying. He literally started crying. I’m telling you, it’s why it works.
WILLIAMS: Why am I’m crying on Oprah?
WINFREY: (laughing) You know, it’s being used for something that’s greater than yourself. I get that.
WILLIAMS: It’s overwhelming because it’s like, I love what I do, and I just appreciate the fact that, like, people have believed in me for so long that — that I could make it to this point, to feel — to feel — to feel that.
RUSH: See? Do I know these people or do I know these people? Now their guests cry and then the audience is really locked in. It just works.