Tyson blends pop, stars
Astrophysicist ties it up on his NatGeo show
Moving from radio to TV has its own set of perks. For astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, it’s a chance to get dressed up to go to work.
“I’ve committed to wearing a different cosmic tie for every single episode, and I’ll see how far I can carry that into the future,” says the host of StarTalk, a latenight show bridging science and pop culture, premiering tonight (National Geographic Channel, 11 ET/PT). “I have 130 ties, so I can get a few seasons out of that.”
In 10 taped weekly episodes (a second season already has been ordered), Tyson invites scientists, comedians and journalists to New York’s American Museum of Natural History to riff on topics such as social media, the space program, love in the modern age and whether science and religion can coexist.
Following the format of his radio show and podcast of the same name, StarTalk episodes revolve around a discussion with a guest. Visitors this season include actor George Takei in the Star Trek
focused first episode; director Christopher Nolan, who talks the science behind Interstellar; former president Jimmy Carter, media mogul Arianna Huffington and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.
Tyson says he had no TV ambitions, but after hosting Fox’s docuseries Cosmos: A Spacetime
Odyssey last year, NatGeo came to him with the idea for a show. But
he insists the time slot wasn’t his idea, and StarTalk is not a traditional late-night show — meaning there’s no band or monologue.
And although he has appeared on The Daily Show, Conan and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy
Fallon for segments, Tyson says he didn’t look to those hosts when shaping his own program.
“That being said, if you watch Jon Stewart in an interview, he is never the subject of the interview — the guest is who matters,” Tyson says. “He can have an interview where he’s in the interview, but it’s not about him, and I thought to myself, ‘ That’s a good model.’ ” He also admires the blend of humor and intelligent commentary of late-night staple Jay Leno. “I don’t ever want to take a detour to tell a joke, so one of the goals is that the humor emanates naturally from what’s going on in the show.”