The Best ‘Drew Barrymore Show’ Moments Of 2023, From Jane Fonda’s Vibrator To Jerry O’Connell’s Lap Dance

Over the last year, The Drew Barrymore Show has quickly become a fan-favorite in daytime television due to host Drew Barrymore‘s intimate interview style, quirky segments, emotional conversations, and candid peeks into her experience as a lifelong celebrity. While the actress had a rough start to her new season after she attempted to kickstart episodes before the end of the WGA strike, she also gave us plenty of laughs, tears, and fun times in 2023.

Starting most mornings alongside trusty co-host Ross Mathews at the Drew’s News desk, Barrymore makes a conscious effort to hone in on positive and uplifting news stories, which oftentimes result in unhinged (in the best way) revelations about her personal life. Meanwhile, some of her best interviews take place on a couch (or sometimes on the floor) where she can cozy up to her guests, hold their hands, and get them to open up in a way they never thought they would on national television.

From wild antics like Barrymore trying to prank call her ex-boyfriend Luke Wilson and getting a lap dance from Jerry O’Connell to personal moments like having her first hot flash on TV and crying about her deceased family, The Drew Barrymore Show has certainly delivered this year.

In what was surely a difficult task, we were somehow able to narrow down to our top 10 moments from 2023. Keep reading for our picks.

1. Drew Ditches Julia Fox Mid-Interview

   Barrymore hit the ground running when it came to re-upping her self-titled daytime talk show for Season 4 — literally. During her first week back in October, the actress frantically bolted off the stage in the middle of her interview with Julia Fox, leaving the Uncut Gems star to awkwardly entertain the audience in her absence. After Barrymore ran off to God knows where, a confused Fox looked around nervously as she asked, “Oh wait, where’s she going? Is this normal? Does she always do this?” At one point, Fox turned to the audience and joked, “So, anyway. Welcome to my segment. I’m taking over for her.”

   Eventually, Barrymore returned to the stage completely decked out in her own rendition of one of Fox’s eccentric (albeit iconic) fashion looks, before seamlessly transitioning back into the interview as if nothing had happened.

2. Drew Forced To Escort Her Super Horny Dog Off Stage

   Grown-ish star Yara Shahidi got the full Drew Barrymore Show experience when her heartfelt story about the way her parents met was abruptly interrupted by Barrymore’s horny dogs, who were both present on stage during the interview. While the audience broke out into laughter at the frisky moment shared between the two pups, which wasn’t caught on camera, it took Barrymore a minute to realize what was actually going on at her feet. Once she did, however, she jumped up out of her seat and profusely apologized as she forced little Douglass to go backstage.

   The hilarious bit came back up later in the conversation as Barrymore praised her guest for going to Harvard, becoming a black belt in karate, and working as a voting rights advocate.

   “I mean, look at who I’m sitting across from! What are you talking about?” Shahidi said, to which Barrymore quipped, “The woman who brought her dogs who tried to [BLEEP] each other on stage? I’m not feeling too good about myself right now!”

3. Drew Tries To Prank Call Ex-Boyfriend Luke Wilson

   Barrymore found herself in a sticky situation earlier this year when she and Kate Hudson attempted — and failed — to prank call Luke Wilson. After dialing the number she had saved in her phone, Barrymore was surprised to find out that it was not Luke Wilson — the actor she dated from 1996 to 1998 — but was actually Lucas Wilson, who said they had met on the set of Never Been Kissed.

   “I’m so sorry, we’re crank-calling people right now. Hi, it’s Drew. It’s so nice to hear from you. I’m so sorry,” the talk show host told the mysterious man on the phone, who was definitely not the ex-boyfriend she hadn’t talked to in two decades. Oh well. Better luck next time!

4. Drew Sobs About Her Deceased Family

   Barrymore was experiencing all the feels during Theresa Caputo‘s second visit to the studio. After the freshly spray-tanned Long Island Medium star confirmed Barrymore’s suspicions that she has received messages from her deceased family from beyond the grave, the 50 First Dates actress broke down in tears.

   “I’ve just had such a yearning my whole life for family and all the sudden, when you talked about how somebody could be waiting for them on the other side, then maybe that is when I’ll be with my family,” Barrymore sobbed. “Because they died all before I was born and I never pictured them being there, so that was really exciting.”

5. Drew Gets Tattooed On-Air

   There aren’t too many talk show hosts who would get tattooed on-air once, let alone twice. Then again, there aren’t any talk show hosts like Drew Barrymore! On a recent episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the actress let Ink Master star Jon Mesa tattoo the words “I Am Human” on her forearm. But she didn’t go it alone! The heavily tattooed Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden also decided to get his dogs’ names inked on his hand.

   “I’m impressed because I’ve been watching and you haven’t made a face,” Madden pointed out, to which Barrymore replied, “Jon is very gentle. I mean, this really is the most painless tattoo I’ve ever got. It’s true. This is the softest one I’ve ever gotten. I didn’t know that that was an option.”

6. Drew Gets Real About Her Complicated Relationship With Her Mom

   Barrymore has never shied away from opening up about her troublesome childhood — and in this particular interview with Brooke Shields, the talk show host bonded with the Pretty Baby actress over her complicated relationship with her mother. In one of Barrymore’s more surprising confessions about her past, she revealed that her mom, Jaid Barrymore, would even go as far as to date her boyfriends, which made the star feel “confused about sexuality.”

   The Blended actress presumed that her mom “might have been so enamored” with her that she “actually wanted to be with the people” that she was with, to which Shields replied, “I don’t get it but I get it. It’s so layered and it’s so needy. And it’s so sad and broken.”

7. Drew Asks Penn Badgley To “Off” Her On Daytime TV

   No one was a bigger fan of Penn Badgley‘s murderous character in You than Barrymore. For Barrymore’s 48th birthday in February, Mathews surprised the actress by locking her in a glass cage similar to the one Joe Goldberg uses to hold his hostages before (usually) killing them in the hit Netflix series. While it should be noted that Badgley is not a serial killer in real life, Barrymore still suggested that the actor kill her on daytime television to “break the internet” after he surprised her on stage.

   “How amazing would that be? That would be really epic. Talk about going viral if you offed me in here, I’m just saying,” she told an uneasy Badgley. “It could be genius! Now that would make some serious television.”

8. Drew And Her Granny Panties (Enough Said)

   With how often Barrymore gushes over her love of granny panties, there was no way we’d leave the topic out of this list. In one of many conversations about the oversized undergarment, the actress labeled herself the “face and two cheeks” of granny panties since “the bigger the underwear, the better [she] feel[s].” But why does she love them so much? Well, according to Barrymore, it’s because she doesn’t have to pick wedgies out nearly as much as she would with a smaller-sized underwear.

   “Basically, you know their entire butt’s covered. You got nothing going up the crack. That’s why I wear them. And I still have to pick them out every once in a while, but not nearly as much,” she said, to which a confused Ross interjected, “Wait, did you say ‘pick them out?'”

   She sure did! And she has no shame about it.

9. Drew Experiences First Hot Flash On TV

   Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler were in for a wild ride when they appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show back in March. While they stopped by to promote their Netflix movie Murder Mystery 2, their conversation was quickly derailed when Barrymore began to experience her first ever “perimenopause hot flash” on national television.

   As the star ripped off her blazer in an effort to cool down, Aniston joked that she felt “so honored” to witness this milestone. So were we, Jennifer!

10. Jane Fonda’s Vibrator And Jerry O’Connell’s Lap Dance

    The Drew Barrymore Show had plenty of raunchy moments over the last year — but two of the most unhinged guest appearances happened to air in the same week. After going viral for giving his wife Rebecca Romijn a lap dance, Jerry O’Connell decided to offer his services to Barrymore during his March 22 appearance on her show. When he finished grinding on the Charlie’s Angels star, he joked, “I want to apologize to the Drew HR for that,” while his The Talk co-host Akbar Gbajabiamila fired back, “You better apologize to your wife!”

    Things only dialed up the following day when Barrymore grilled Jane Fonda about her adult toy usage, prompting the 80 For Brady star to gift the talk show host her own blue and white vibrator. Talk about an NSFW week at The Drew Barrymore Show!