Simu Liu Takes Over ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ with Only 5 Minutes to Prepare

When Simu Liu walks into a room, you can’t help but expect a good time (or maybe for him to take off his shirt—like in Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings when he's about to fight his sister, and Awkwafina's character asks, “What happened to your shirt?” Or in Barbie, when his abs were on full display, making us forget he was even sharing the screen with the Ryan Gosling). 

When he hosted The Kelly Clarkson Show and to promote his latest film, Last Breath, alongside Woody Harrelson and Finn Cole, Liu (unfortunately) kept his shirt on. Nevertheless, he still did manage to work his magic and keep the live audience entertained, all while they had no idea, he only had five minutes to prepare. 

During the opening, the Marvel superhero deadpanned, “I do have a confession to make — I am not Kelly Clarkson," with the audience laughing. “I know this may shock many of you. But Kelly actually isn't able to make it today. We're sending her our very best... I did not know that I was doing this until about five minutes ago when I arrived here to promote my new movie, Last Breath,” which he said is “a cool film” and urged the audience to go see it in theaters. 

Liu mentioned that he’s not one “to back down from a challenge,” and since he had hosted the show three years ago, it did not matter that he only had a few minutes to prepare beforehand. He then welcomed his co-stars, Cole and Harrelson, who shared that they were talking backstage about Liu, with Harrelson saying, “This guy can do anything!” Liu, clearly embarrassed, smiled. Harrelson continued, “He walks in, and they’re like, ‘You know, we need you to host.’ He’s like, ‘Okay,’” to which Liu quipped, “I live to be of service.” 

The trio chatted about their movie, with Harrelson and Cole jokingly pretending they didn’t remember Liu as their co-star. When the jig was up, one of them turned to Liu and said, “That’s where I recognized you [from!]”

Liu then explained that he plays David Yuasa, a saturation diver, when Cole interrupted and quipped, “But it’s really all kind of about me!” Cole went on to describe how his character gets stuck at the bottom of the seabed and, without Liu and Harrelson’s characters, wouldn’t be brought back to life. Liu, with a grin, responded, “I saved you; I saved The Kelly Clarkson Show! What can I say?”