Gabourey Sidibe Should Replace Oprah

When she announced last Friday her imminent retirement as the matriarch of daytime talk-shows, Oprah Winfrey got everyone gabbing about who might replace her. Tyra, Martha and Ellen were all bandied about as possible solutions. But who's going to consider literary suggestions from the host of America's Next Top Model? Who's going to address body image with M. Diddy, the woman who built an empire on binging? And who's going to sit through hard-hitting interviews from the woman who opens each show with a dance number? Exactly. This is why Gabourey Sidibe, the star of Precious, could be TV's next best thing.

Never mind that her introduction to O involved the first-time actress cowering in fear. Never mind that she has no experience. The girl is a natural. She was poised and hilarious on Conan’s couch, and articulate and inspiring when she finally made her way to Oprah’s studio. Plus, there are three things you don’t know about her that would make her perfect for the job.

1. She loves to read. This is a must for the inevitable book club that will accompany any of Harpo’s successors. Sidibe’s all-time favorite book is Flowers in the Attic. And when, during the course of our interview, I tell her that I wrote my thesis on incest, have a weird fascination with the power dynamics and politics of incest, and spent my final year of college watching movies and reading books about incest, she doesn’t get up screaming and leave. Instead, she says, “I probably would have written my thesis on incest, too.”

2. She seizes the day. A carpe diem worldview is also imperative, and Sidibe has it in spades: she’ll likely win an Oscar for her first film role, she already refers to Robert De Niro as “Bob,” and she lives with her fantasy boy from the movie. Seriously. He’s her New York roommate, and he sometimes buys her cupcakes to cheer her up.

3. She does the Oprah voice better than Oprah (or at least as well). When she was telling me about her first time meeting Mariah, she lifted up her hands, widened her eyes, and said ”Mariah” as if she was introducing Daniel Day-Lewis.