One of the perktastiest perks about co-hosting your own daily talk show is that you get to rub elbows with some Tinseltown titans and some Hollywood has-beens.  I’ve been interviewing celebrities for nearly a decade now … and it’s still a rush.  The first “star” I ever interviewed at length?  Freddie Prinze, Jr. (That reminds me … whatever happened to him?)

Here now is a behind-the-scenes look at just a few of the stars I was fortunate enough to chat up in 2013:

Tom Arnold came on the show. Imagine my surprise when I tweeted a pic of me and him … and Roseanne promptly retweeted me minutes later. Turns out they’re no longer mortal enemies. Who knew?

RHONJ star Kathy Wakile is a hoot. Not only that, but she was absolutely stunning when she stumbled in to the studios at 9am.  When I asked who did her hair and flawless make-up, she blurted out, “ME! I’m a hairdresser from way back! 20 years!”  Then I laughed and ate, like, six of her canollis because I was nervous.

Speaking of nervous eating, the dreamy Chef Curtis Stone made an appearance on our show. He made soup. At least I think he made soup. Or something in a pot. The minute he started talking in that dreamy Aussie accent, I lost my ever-lovin’ mind. Also, I think corn was somehow involved.

Powerhouse songbird Frenchie Davis came on KCL to show the love. And while she didn’t sing, she was certainly pithy, charming and engaging. We’re now besties — likely because I, too, am a strong black woman.

Chatted up Kirstie Alley who — when asked about emceeing a recent Kansas City Chamber of Commerce event — laughed hysterically for what seemed like an eternity — not unlike a crazy person. We’re talking maniacal, going-off-the-rails, loony tunes cackling. We ended up cutting that out of the satellite interview, mainly because we could. Well, that and I look horrified.

We had a comedian who screamed, “PANCAKE HAND!” for a solid minute on the show this summer. I’m not going to mention his name because, frankly, I fear he might come back for a repeat performance.

It took a village (and several weird friend-of-friend connections), but I finally managed to get my doppelganger Jim Gaffigan to come on the show.  People stop me at least once a week to say we look alike.  He said that he could see the resemblance, but that he was WAY more attractive. (He retweeted a picture of us that was instantly re-retweeted about 2,000X.  Yep, he da’ man.)

My biggest interview this year was with Jimmy Fallon who takes over “The Tonight Show” in February. I drove approximately nine hours to kibitz with him for nine minutes.  Highlights? He noticed I was wearing JCrew. He was just as pleasant as you would have expected. Lowlights? The interview was pushed back nearly two hours. By the time we chatted, I was so strung out on coffee that I was babbling like a crazy person … uh, more than usual. Kirstie Alley would have been proud.  Or appalled.

The last time I interviewed Margaret Cho was about twelve years ago … give or take.  I don’t think she was all there.  I say this because no matter what questions I asked her, she would give me non sequitur answers.  This time, however, was a different story. Cho was in town for a big charity event alongside country singer Chely Wright.  She was chatty, engaging and wearing pants that were so tight I thought there might be a wardrobe malfunction.  (Uh, there wasn’t.)

It was a year of soap stars, stand-up comedians, singers, divas (shout out to my beloved Frenchie Davis!) and Skippy from “Family Ties”.  Can’t wait to see what 2014 has in store. Fingers crossed Madonna makes an appearance. I think Madge would enjoy herself on KCL. Ideally, we’d do a duet. Fingers crossed.