I went to a Drew Barrymore show taping, here’s the bizarre act I thought I’d never see

The Drew Barrymore Show has been a CBS staple for the past four years, and while longtime viewers may think they know everything about the show, there’s one bizarre thing they’ll never see from the comfort of their own home.

Host and actress Drew, 49, has been starring in her eponymous series, which is currently in its fifth season and has already ordered a sixth, since launching during the pandemic in 2020.

The show is known for its close and personal interactions with its guests and has been the subject of controversy, with viewers labeling the host as ‘creepy and cringe’ due to her unique interview style.

Earlier this month, DailyMail.com attended a live taping of the show to see everything that goes on behind the scenes to get the program on air every day.

From Drew’s unique interactions with the audience to a surprise cash giveaway, here’s everything that happened during the shoot.

It was the Wednesday morning after election night and we promptly arrived at the CBS studios in Manhattan, dressed in all-black outfits for the 10am taping. The show has a strict dress code and white clothing or anything with a logo is prohibited, so we decided to play it as safe as possible.

At the studios we were greeted by an employee who scanned our ticket and then ushered us through security where we were searched. We were then given a new ticket with a purple marker on it, and were led – along with other spectators – into one of the two waiting rooms with cream-colored leather chairs.

Inside the clinical-looking room, crew members handed us release forms to sign, explaining that the show could use footage of us as they pleased.

We were kept in the room for about 20 minutes before comedian Joey Kola, the show’s official warm-up act, came in and got the crowd pumped up.

Standing at the front of the room, Joey excitedly showed us the hand gestures he would use during filming, prompting us to respond.

The sounds we were allowed to make included cooing, making a ‘nice noise’ and of course copious applause.

After leaving the room, a security guard entered and repeatedly made it clear that the use of cell phones was prohibited and that they should be turned off and kept away during the filming.

He also made sure no one had brought anything for Drew – and was grateful that we were all “cheap skates” when he heard no one had.

Once we were seated, Joey came back and turned on some music to wake us up.

At one point, in a somewhat bizarre move that we couldn’t imagine would ever be shown to the audience at home, he taped dollar bills to the jib, which then bobbed up and down around the audience.

Excited fans were encouraged to grab the free money, and to our surprise, they did.

After a few bucks were ripped off the jib, we were introduced to Drew’s cohost Ross Matthews and eventually Drew came out to huge applause as the taping finally began.

Each interview segment was quite simple, although they don’t necessarily air in order or in the same episode.

For example, Drew started the show by referencing an interview with Patti Lupone and Mia Farrow that was not actually filmed during the taping that DailyMail.com attended.

Our guests for the day instead included Judy Greer and Peter Holmes, in anticipation of their upcoming holiday film The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi.

Although Drew is known for sometimes getting uncomfortably close to the celebrities, this time she avoided any petting or caressing and kept a certain distance.

During the first commercial break, Drew filmed a TikTok video with Miles Mitchell, the 21-year-old winner of the Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest, who had been sitting in the front row with his enormous trophy.

Proving she’s ever a pro, Drew managed to get the TikTok filmed in just three takes, before posing for a photo with Miles and joining the crowd.

She turned to the audience and playfully asked which other celebrities should get a lookalike contest, prompting fans to shout out Glen Powell and Michael B Jordan.

When he heard the names of the two Hollywood stars, Drew agreed that they were both “lovely gentlemen,” adding that Timothée is too.

Before the end of the recording, hype man Joey played the song Fireball by Pitbull and John Ryan to excite the audience one last time.

Guests stood next to each other clapping and waving, and then the music stopped and Drew joined us for an intimate conversation while sitting on the stairs.

At one point an audience member referred to the US election, but clearly not wanting to get political, Drew steered the conversation to talk about her desire for everyone to be themselves and feel safe.

Before saying goodbye and thanking everyone for coming, she candidly admitted to the audience that she wanted to learn how to care less as she approached her fifties.

One by one we left the studio, but we didn’t leave empty handed.

Each guest received one of Christina’s recipe books, a cookie and a Bake Club membership on the way out.

All in all, we had been wrapped up in Drew’s little world for two and a half hours – the perfect amount of time to pretend everything is sunshine and rainbows.