A-list Hollywood publicists have street interviewers and influencers on speed dial to cover their clients after the number of daytime talk shows has dwindled to the lowest levels since the ’90s.
One busy celebrity street videographer tells us his phone is ringing off the hook with Hollywood press agents tipping him off to catch stars for seemingly spontaneous street interviews.
“With ‘Sherri’ and ‘Kelly’ going down,” says the celeb curbside chronicler — referring to the impending end of Sherri Shepherd and Kelly Clarkson‘s daytime series — “if you’re a publicist, you need a press stop. You’re lucky if you can get on ‘GMA’ and then get on [Jimmy] Fallon. There are less fancy press stops.”
The plugged in clip king adds: “Between 10:30a.m. and 3:00p.m, your client has paid $2,500 for hair and makeup,” so PRs will call paps, “to catch their clients getting coffee for a street interview. They’re all trying to take advantage of that bubble right now.”
Even the industry’s top talent is scrounging for coverage as late night also downsizes and there are fewer slots for guests — and top YouTube shows like “Hot Ones,” “Chicken Shop Date” and “Subway Takes” are booked solid, too.
One top PR rep tells us: “This is a huge thing right now… What’s great about [street influencers with followings] is they can come to you. So when [a client] is leaving the ‘Today’ show, they can bang out one of these [interviews] outside the show.”
“There’s one guy who will come and just sing to you,” says a rep of the guerrilla campaigns to get attention online in lieu of traditional shows. “Some talent is like, ‘This is so stupid,’ but the studios really want it. Everyone is now trying to do a bunch of these.”
“It’s very true,” laments a studio source. “There are so few shows, and it’s harder to get on the shows now.”
The insider adds that the number of studios pushing projects has also proliferated at the same time, thanks to streamers and indie upstarts. “‘The View,’ Kimmel, Kelly… they’re all also being pitched by Hulu, Netflix, Apple, A24. Think how many shows Netflix is pitching! It used to be that if you had a movie with [an established star], it was a slam dunk. You could get them booked. Now, even ‘Hot Ones’ is hard to get. It’s definitely a crazy, different environment.”
Increasingly PR reps are also inviting influencers to junkets — as Page Six Hollywood reported, with the Tom Cruise “Digger” trailer debut on the Warner Bros. lot.
The Ankler recently reported on “The 17 Press Stops Publicists Are Fighting Over — and Fighting About,” including podcasts like Travis and Jason Kelce’s “New Heights,” Alex Cooper‘s “Call Her Daddy” and “Good Hang with Amy Poehler,” as well as viral online hits such as “Subway Takes” and “Track Star.”
But street-level shows are filling the void with titles including relationship show “Street Hearts,” trivia show “Hollywood IQ” and even the kitty cat chat show “Shop Cats,” on which NYC Mayor Mamdani appeared to promote his winning mayoral campaign. Studios creating content include Fallen Media, Mad Realities and Gymnasium.
The impact has been significant. Last year, Vulture posted a piece called “Fame and Frustration on the New Media Circuit,” which detailed how stars including Timothee Chalamet and Andrew Garfield promoted movies with unusual outlets at a time when, “New shows surface daily,” and, “Influencers rise and vanish by the hour,’ critic Nicholas Quah wrote. “It’s overwhelming,” a PR exec told Vulture. “What used to be a matter of managing relationships is now a game of craps, and the truth is, no one’s sure what works anymore.”
“It started with Chalamet,” a PR pro tells us of the seemingly left-field viral appearances. “At any given moment, there are so many of these shows. We have [influencers] at junkets.”
Rolling Stone penned an article in April 2025 on the latest wave of celeb show influencers called “They’re Funny, They’re Viral and They’re Coming for Late Night.” Since then “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” ended its run and Seth Meyers is currently on his show’s longest hiatus, a seven-week break, while Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” has been on a four-day weekly schedule since 2024.
For years top stars — including Angelina Jolie, Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian — have of course been rumored to tip off photogs. But now the practice seems more out in the open than ever with the rise of influencers doing celeb friendly shows on the streets.
