I have never watched an episode of “The Jennifer Hudson Show.” Yet here I am at my desk, singing to myself: “Aaron. Pierre. That’s Mufasa.”
If you’re familiar with the tune, you’re singing it now too. If not, picture Pierre, the dashing actor who voiced the title character in “Mufasa: The Lion King,” strut-dancing his way down a hallway surrounded by … Actually, just watch it below and then keep reading.
OK, welcome back.
“The Jennifer Hudson Show,” a daytime talk show, is not a top syndicated program, according to the ratings agency Nielsen. But it has amassed a huge social media following with its behind-the-scenes promotional videos.
Before taking the stage, guests make their way down a hallway as members of the show’s staff serenade them with a complicated, customized hype song, sung entirely from memory. Some of the biggest names in American culture — Michelle Obama, Usher, Angela Bassett — have danced, skated or nervously shimmied through this “spirit tunnel” as the TikTok cameras roll.
Some of the videos are awkward. Some are suave. Most go viral.
During the show’s first season in 2022, members of the show’s staff learned that cheering for Hudson before she took the stage boosted her confidence and energy.
“It provides that moment to connect, release any preshow jitters,” Hudson said in an email.
And if it could help Hudson — an actress, singer and EGOT winner — surely it could help her guests, too. So in January 2024, Angie Green, a producer, and Alexis Powell, an associate producer, took on a new duty: writing and choreographing a personalized song for each guest to walk out to.
Immediately after a guest is booked, the process of composing a spirit tunnel song begins in a group chat with 15 crew members. Like a rapper coming up with a clever diss track, the staff members research the guest’s past — analyzing a singer’s discography, for instance, or digging up an obscure cultural reference from an actor’s life. It helps that many staff members are self-described theater kids, with backgrounds in music and dance.
Powell said the team’s brainstorm for the comedian Kevin Hart went something like this:
Kevin Hart is from Philadelphia. The rapper Meek Mill is also from Philly, so maybe we could spoof his popular song “Dreams and Nightmares.” But that’s too wordy. And not very dance-y. Hmm. I just saw Hart dance to “Just Wanna Rock” by Lil Uzi Vert, another Philly rapper. Maybe that’s something?
What they ended up with was a song about how happy they were to see him, sung to the tune of “Just Wanna Rock.” In the video, which has nearly 40 million views on TikTok, Hart feigns surprise as he is greeted by the line of staff members.
“Feelin’ it!” Hart seems to say as he dances in the hallway.
Each tunnel moment is different.
Usher roller-skated down the hall to a spoof of his song “Yeah!” The video has 40 million combined views on TikTok and X.
The video featuring the actress and former Disney child star Brenda Song has more than 110 million views on X alone, in part because of her jeans, which flare at the knees and resemble carwash mops.
The popularity of the spirit tunnel shows how reaching an audience online has changed over the years. Andy Lassner, an executive producer of “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” used to work for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” In the early days of social media, he helped DeGeneres dominate on YouTube with elaborately produced videos that received tens of millions of views, such as when Lassner yelped his way through a haunted house with Ariana Grande.
But a decade later, as everyone is trying to generate social media hype, the best way to grab attention is often to capture a spontaneous moment. By preparing for hours each week, the staff of Hudson’s show catches guests off guard, prompting genuine, unrehearsed reactions that people on TikTok find irresistible.
The tunnel videos caused a sensation for the first time in October 2024, and it happened almost by accident. The crew, who had been singing tunnel songs for guests for nearly a year without filming them, decided to roll the cameras as Gwen Stefani danced through a spoof of her song “Hollaback Girl.” She fully committed to the bit, twirling and twerking up and down the hallway.
The video worked its magic on TikTok, collecting 40 million views and counting.
“We didn’t know how she was going to react,” Powell said. “She was hyped. It was just a great day.”
These days, guests on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” know the tunnel walk will likely be the most-viewed segment of their appearances. So how do you keep something fresh when everyone is expecting it?
New lyrics. New tunes. New references.
The crew learned to say “hello” in Korean — “annyeonghaseyo” — for Lee Jung-jae, the South Korean “Squid Game” actor, and the earnest shock on his face perhaps contributed to the popularity of his video (115 million views and counting).
Keke Palmer’s improvising with the crew helped her tunnel video reach nearly 40 million views on TikTok.
Not all guests are game, however. Last week, Noah Wyle, of Max’s “The Pitt,” declined to participate, citing bad memories of a failed execution of the worm at a bar mitzvah in 1984.
Of course, the spirit tunnel videos — which the show’s publicity manager says have been viewed a total of over three billion times — don’t guarantee long-term success for the program.
“Going viral on TikTok is not going to fund your multimillion-dollar show,” said Freddy Tran Nager, an associate professor of communication at the University of Southern California. “Unless the buzz translates to ratings, it’s not going to sell a lot of advertising.”
But in February, “The Jennifer Hudson Show” had its best-rated week and was renewed for a fourth season. Lassner credits the spirit tunnel.
“They will renew your show when your show has become a part of pop culture,” he said.
Hank Sanders is a Times reporter and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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