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Washington Post

The backstage hustle behind Jennifer Hudson's ‘spirit tunnels'

BURBANK, Calif. — It doesn't take long after I arrive at 'The Jennifer Hudson Show' for the backstage crew to break into song. It's just before 1 p.m. on a Monday in mid-April — a time when the post-lunch slump typically drags into a midafternoon lull. But here at the 'Happy Place,' as the staff and fans have nicknamed the show, the hallway is pulsing with crew members singing, stomping and clapping as they huddle outside Hudson's dressing room and rehearse a new tune for the multi-hyphenate TV host. 'We love J-Hud. It's Season 3. Happy Place is the place to be. We love J-Hud. It's Season 3. Happy Place is the place to be.' On cue, a producer wades through the group, layering in a chant — 'Line up! Line up! Line up!' — and everyone takes their places along both sides of the hallway. Moments later, Hudson appears flashing a broad superstar smile and soaking up the energy as she makes her way to the stage, where a live studio audience awaits. 'That's the thing that gets me going,' Hudson told me earlier, as we sat on plush couches in her dressing room. 'We have 170 shows a season, but soon as I hit that door, I just absorb it all — I just go around in that circle and it feeds me. It sets me up for when I walk out there to host a show.' The musical send-offs, which began off camera during Season 1, have quickly become a viral and signature segment of Season 3 — expanding to celebrity guests as they strut, shimmy, stroll or awkwardly smile and shuffle down the hallway called the 'spirit tunnel.' For each episode, producers write, rehearse and perform an original song for their guests and post their reactions — and rhythm — on social media. Usher gliding down the carpeted hallway in roller skates. Michelle Obama dancing to a reimagining of Stevie Wonder's 'I Wish.' Lee Jung-jae graciously smiling as the crew greets him in Korean. A barefoot Benny Blanco passing out roses to the staff. And 'Lion King' star Aaron Pierre suavely strolling to an earworm refrain, 'Aaron. Pierre. That's Mufasaaaa.' Days, weeks — sometimes even months — of planning can precede each tunnel segment. And while the initial walkout song is filmed and posted online, guests are also treated to a second song off camera when they return from their interview onstage with Hudson. Besides their performance for Hudson during my visit that day, the team also did one of their longest songs to date, welcoming a group of 125 finalists for Nexstar's Remarkable Women of 2025. Next, Roots drummer Questlove was serenaded down the hall as crew members twirled drumsticks. They performed a new song after his interview. And while I was regrettably long gone by this point, a second taping later that day would include an interpretation of Doechii's 'Anxiety' for actor Penn Badgley, which has already earned more than 38 million views on TikTok. The math starts to add up fast: Sometimes the crew is taping up to three episodes a day with tunnel songs for Hudson and her guests — which means the tally can land at 12 to 15 songs total, crew members at the studio told me. 'This season alone, we've done at least 800 or more tunnels,' said producer Angie Green, who helps leads the segment with talent booker Paige Matthews and associate producer Alexis Powell. The payoff, producers say, extends far beyond the nearly 4 billion views the tunnel videos have collectively earned. 'The Jennifer Hudson Show,' which was recently renewed for a fourth season, is part of a new class of daytime TV hosts redefining how their genre connects with audiences in a crowded entertainment landscape. These contemporaries — including Drew Barrymore, Karamo Brown, Tamron Hall and Sherri Shepherd — aren't competing just with each other, but also with streaming platforms and the endless scroll of social media. According to its publicity director, the show has seen momentum in 2025, hitting a season high in mid-March with an average of 789,000 daily viewers. The team also reports reaching 44.6 million viewers this season, ranking third in total audience among talk shows behind 'Live With Kelly & Mark' and 'The Kelly Clarkson Show.' But beyond ratings, the tunnel segment offers a glimpse into the culture that fuels the production behind the scenes, Hudson said. 'It's an experience when you come to the Happy Place — it shows people the environment that's here. What better way to exude happiness and joy than through song and celebration?' The ripple effects are increasingly hard to miss — as renditions and parodies of spirit tunnel songs have reappeared in clubs, churches, classrooms and corporate settings. Kids at a dance organization in Africa reenacted Pierre's segment. A DJ's remix set a dance floor of clubgoers ablaze. Students at a middle school in Georgia spoofed the concept to roast their teachers. And a recent episode of 'Abbott Elementary' worked the tunnels into a running joke. Even off the set, Hudson can't escape the series. 'I go out and I see people form lines and I'm like 'Oh my God, they're about to hit me with a spirit tunnel,'' she said. 'I have been in the airport, I have been in hotels where the staff … just wanted to do it and even when I went to [an NBA] game.' 'We're part of pop culture, which is the dream for anything you're doing in entertainment,' said Andy Lassner, an executive producer on the show who previously helmed 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' and its popular YouTube channel. 'I could have come up with 55 ideas, I would have never thought of this,' Lassner said of the spirit tunnels, crediting Powell, Green and Matthews for its success. 'Anybody who goes through it, you see them when they come out and it's like they've just been to church.' The spirit tunnel didn't come out of a branding or marketing strategy. It started in Season 1 as simple cheer songs to center Hudson and channel her musicality, charisma and stage presence — gifts that carried her from gospel roots and 'American Idol' to the rarefied club of EGOT winners. 'She really exudes that joy and positive energy, and it just makes you want to create more joy here,' Powell said. 'And that's how the spirit tunnel started — we felt that initiative or that energy to be able to do that for her because we just wanted to give back what she was giving us.' Then Hudson had the idea to expand the songs and include guests. In January 2024, Matthews, Green and Powell led the effort for Season 2. From the moment a guest is booked on the show, 'the wheels start turning,' Matthews said. In a group chat they call 'Tunnel Vision,' crew members begin riffing and researching ideas that reach deep into each guest's history — analyzing their careers, catalogues, accomplishments, personalities, deep cuts and internet lore. When a guest's upcoming appearance inspires multiple ideas for song approaches, a voting method ensues — which can get competitive. 'Like all three of us could have different pitches,' Green said. 'And then we're [each] pleading our case of why our pitch is better. It is a sport.' At the beginning of Season 3 in September, the crew started recording the tunnels for the show's social media pages. Angela Bassett was first. Her face breaks into shock before she dance-struts down the hall. With more than 5 million views, Gwen Stefani's video the following month was the first to go viral, producers said, as the camera captured her delight to the crew's clever adaptation of her 2004 song 'Hollaback Girl.' R&B singer SZA reposted her tunnel on Instagram Stories, writing: 'Waited my whole life for this.' And Lassner said he received a text message from Season 2 guest Chrissy Teigen who wanted another shot at the tunnel. 'I didn't know that tunnel was a big thing — I would have been better in it,'' he recalled her saying. 'She's like, 'I don't have anything to promote. So can I just come back and do the tunnel?'' So far, only one celebrity is known to have been given a 'hall pass' to skip the spirit tunnel: 'The Pitt' actor Noah Wyle, who explained to Hudson he has avoided public dancing since 1984 when he poorly attempted the Worm at a bar mitzvah. Another fear for some — or at least popular on-camera host Speedy Morman — is not being 'famous enough' to pack the hallway. But producers say the tunnel's varying turnout (whether it's sparse or densely packed, extending past the hall into craft services) is not a reflection on a guest's star power. It's just that the staff — which includes production assistants, coordinators, talent bookers and more — still has a show to run. Still, they do get starstruck from time to time. 'I have cried after a couple [songs]' Green said. 'I get really emotional sometimes when it's someone I grew up watching — like I almost lost it when Kelly Rowland went down.' Other celebrities completely surprise them — like Adam DeVine. 'I didn't know he was going to cut up as much as he did,' Powell said. 'He went back and forth. I forgot the lines, I was just so discombobulated.' The chance to brush up against celebrities is far from the main appeal for the producers — it's about giving them their flowers, Powell said. 'We get to celebrate them — it's just a great feeling,' she said. 'And the fact that the world gets to see that and celebrate that with us is truly iconic.' After returning backstage to his second song, Questlove humbly acknowledged the love. 'Thank y'all,' he said. 'Half the world thought that I was W. Kamau Bell.' It's those reactions that make the spirit tunnel feel like more than just a segment, Powell said during our interview. 'We just love tunnels. … When we're done with this [interview], we're going to give you a tunnel,' she quipped as I laughed nervously. For the rest of the day, I braced for one every time I turned a corner. In the end, all I got was a hat, a tote bag and Hudson's signature parting line to guests: 'Will you come back and see us?' Close enough — even without the song and dance.