The coronavirus has unquestionably affected a number of businesses worldwide, including the showbiz industry which seems to be suffering greatly.
Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon, in the wake of the pandemic, have decided to shoot episodes of their chat shows without a live audience present in the studio.
DeGeneres turned to her Twitter to make the official announcement: “I have some news. For now, I’ll be shooting my show with no studio audience. To everyone who was looking forward to coming, I’m so sorry. But I’m doing this for the health of my fans, my staff & my crew. (It has nothing to do with a warrant for my arrest in the state of Florida.)”
She had earlier also refrained from greeting her celebrity guest on the show Mandy Moore with a hug, saying: “It’s hard because I just forget that we are not supposed to hug,” adding: “I think gloves are going to come back in style.”
This being said, the show’s production schedule will remain unaffected by the move and will be regularly reviewed.
NBC also announced that Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show and Late Night with Seth Meyers will also be suspending studio audience from Monday.
Earlier, CBS also made the same decision for The Late Show with Stephan Colbert as well as Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO.