StarTalk (American talk show)

Not to be confused with Startalk (Philippine talk show).

StarTalk is an American television talk show hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson that aired weekly on National Geographic. StarTalk is a spin-off of the podcast of the same name, in which Tyson discusses scientific topics through one-on-one interviews and panel discussions. Space.com called it the "first-ever science-themed late-night talk show."^[1] The series premiered on April 20, 2015.^[2]

StarTalk
Genre	Talk show
Presented by	Neil deGrasse Tyson
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	76
Original release
Network	National Geographic
Release	April 20, 2015 (2015-04-20) – May 16, 2019 (2019-05-16)

Format

The format of the show broadly follows the format of the podcast. This consists of a pre-taped discussion between Tyson and the guest of the week, which is shown in segments interspersed with the segments filmed in front of the live audience. Those segments consist of a discussion between Tyson, a specialist related to the guest's area of expertise, and a comedian (most commonly Chuck Nice or Eugene Mirman or Maeve Higgins). Near the end of the episode, a short taped segment of Bill Nye, giving his view of the episode's topic, is often aired.

Episodes

Season 1 (2015)

No.	Guest(s)	Original release date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	George Takei	April 20, 2015 (2015-04-20)	N/A
2	Christopher Nolan	April 27, 2015 (2015-04-27)	0.138[3]
3	Dan Savage	May 4, 2015 (2015-05-04)	N/A
4	Arianna Huffington	May 11, 2015 (2015-05-11)	0.151[4]
5	Richard Dawkins	May 18, 2015 (2015-05-18)	N/A
6	Jimmy Carter	May 25, 2015 (2015-05-25)	N/A
7	Chris Hadfield	June 1, 2015 (2015-06-01)	N/A
8	Biz Stone	June 8, 2015 (2015-06-08)	N/A
9	Charles Bolden	June 15, 2015 (2015-06-15)	N/A
10	Norman Lear	June 22, 2015 (2015-06-22)	N/A

Season 2 (2015–16)

No.	Guests	Original release date	U.S. viewers (millions)
11	Bill Clinton	October 25, 2015 (2015-10-25)	0.219[5]
12	Larry Wilmore	November 1, 2015 (2015-11-01)	N/A
13	Seth MacFarlane	November 8, 2015 (2015-11-08)	N/A
14	Penn & Teller	November 15, 2015 (2015-11-15)	N/A
15	Susan Sarandon	November 29, 2015 (2015-11-29)	N/A
16	David Byrne	December 6, 2015 (2015-12-06)	N/A
17	Bas Lansdorp (Mars One)	December 13, 2015 (2015-12-13)	0.167[6]
18	David Crosby	December 20, 2015 (2015-12-20)	0.138[7]
19	Brian Cox	December 27, 2015 (2015-12-27)	0.180[8]
20	Gina McCarthy	January 3, 2016 (2016-01-03)	0.156[9]

Season 3 (2016–17)

No.	Guests	Original release date	U.S. viewers (millions)
21	Whoopi Goldberg	September 19, 2016 (2016-09-19)	N/A
22	Mayim Bialik	September 26, 2016 (2016-09-26)	N/A
23	Philippe Petit	October 3, 2016 (2016-10-03)	N/A
24	Christopher Lloyd and Michelle Gomez	October 10, 2016 (2016-10-10)	N/A
25	Brian Greene	October 17, 2016 (2016-10-17)	0.117[10]
26	Robert Kirkman	October 24, 2016 (2016-10-24)	N/A
27	Jeremy Irons	November 7, 2016 (2016-11-07)	N/A
28	Andy Weir	November 14, 2016 (2016-11-14)	0.241[11]
29	Ben Stiller	November 21, 2016 (2016-11-21)	N/A
30	Buzz Aldrin	November 28, 2016 (2016-11-28)	N/A
31	Terry Crews	December 5, 2016 (2016-12-05)	N/A
32	Jay Leno	December 12, 2016 (2016-12-12)	N/A
33	William Shatner	December 19, 2016 (2016-12-19)	0.186[12]
34	Ash Carter	December 26, 2016 (2016-12-26)	0.209[13]
35	Hope Solo	January 2, 2017 (2017-01-02)	N/A
36	Jill Tarter	January 9, 2017 (2017-01-09)	N/A
37	Kathryn D. Sullivan	January 16, 2017 (2017-01-16)	N/A
38	Isaac Hempstead Wright	January 23, 2017 (2017-01-23)	N/A
39	Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter	January 30, 2017 (2017-01-30)	N/A
40	Bill Maher	February 6, 2017 (2017-02-06)	N/A

Season 4 (2017–18)

No.	Guests	Original release date	U.S. viewers (millions)
41	Lance Armstrong	October 1, 2017 (2017-10-01)	N/A
42	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	October 8, 2017 (2017-10-08)	N/A
43	Jane Goodall	October 15, 2017 (2017-10-15)	N/A
44	Katie Couric	October 22, 2017 (2017-10-22)	N/A
45	Kevin Smith	October 29, 2017 (2017-10-29)	N/A
46	Arati Prabhakar	November 5, 2017 (2017-11-05)	N/A
47	Katy Perry	November 12, 2017 (2017-11-12)	N/A
48	Sylvia Earle, Fabien Cousteau and Adrian Grenier	November 19, 2017 (2017-11-19)	N/A
49	James Cameron	November 26, 2017 (2017-11-26)	N/A
50	Nainoa Thompson	December 3, 2017 (2017-12-03)	N/A
51	Salman Rushdie	December 10, 2017 (2017-12-10)	N/A
52	Mae Jemison	December 17, 2017 (2017-12-17)	N/A
53	Alan Alda	January 7, 2018 (2018-01-07)	N/A
54	Stephen Colbert	January 14, 2018 (2018-01-14)	N/A
55	Margot Lee Shetterly and Janelle Monáe	January 21, 2018 (2018-01-21)	N/A
56	Sam Harris	January 28, 2018 (2018-01-28)	N/A
57	Frank Oz	February 4, 2018 (2018-02-04)	N/A
58	Kelly Slater	February 18, 2018 (2018-02-18)	N/A
59	Scott Kelly	February 25, 2018 (2018-02-25)	N/A
60	Stephen Hawking	March 4, 2018 (2018-03-04)	N/A

Season 5 (2018–19)

No.	Guests	Original release date	U.S. viewers (millions)
61	Anthony Bourdain	November 12, 2018 (2018-11-12)	N/A
62	Joe Rogan	November 19, 2018 (2018-11-19)	N/A
63	Simon Helberg and Bill Prady	November 26, 2018 (2018-11-26)	N/A
64	United States Space Command	April 4, 2019 (2019-04-04)	N/A
65	Al Gore	April 4, 2019 (2019-04-04)	N/A
66	Jack Black	April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11)	N/A
67	Dan Rather	April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11)	N/A
68	George R.R. Martin	April 18, 2019 (2019-04-18)	N/A
69	Anna Deavere Smith	April 18, 2019 (2019-04-18)	N/A
70	Jeff Goldblum	April 25, 2019 (2019-04-25)	N/A
71	James Marsden	April 26, 2019 (2019-04-26)	N/A
72	Weird Al Yankovic	May 2, 2019 (2019-05-02)	N/A
73	Patricia Cornwall	May 3, 2019 (2019-05-03)	N/A
74	Darren Aronofsky	May 9, 2019 (2019-05-09)	N/A
75	Bill Nye	May 10, 2019 (2019-05-10)	N/A
76	Christiane Amanpour	May 16, 2019 (2019-05-16)	N/A

Broadcast

In Australia, the series premiered on National Geographic Channel on April 27, 2015.^[14]

From November 2018 to March 2019, season 5 was put on hiatus because of ongoing investigations involving the host.^[15][16] At the conclusion of the investigations, the networks began airing new episodes in April 2019.^[17]

StarTalk is Kaput.

In popular culture

On August 27, 2015, 20th Century Fox released a viral video advertisement for the movie The Martian, taking the form of a special episode of StarTalk, with Tyson discussing the fictional Ares 3 mission from the film.^[18]

See also

• StarTalk (podcast)
• The Sky at Night
• Science communication