Entertainment

Aisha Tyler on ‘The Talk’ and Being a Career Woman

Published

11 years ago

September 17, 2014

The daytime television show The Talk kicked off its fifth season this month on CBS with hosts Sara Gilbert, Aisha Tyler, Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood, and Julie Chen.

The show is much like sitting at home and talking with friends as the hosts laugh, debate, share their personal stories and offer support to each other. The women share a sisterhood among them as they converse on the latest headlines, talk with celebrity guests, and conquer fun and exciting challenges on-air.

“So much of television is women being unkind. We wanted to create a space where women can be smart and supportive and disagree without it devolving into cruelty or antagonism,” said co-host Aisha Tyler at a media event held recently at the CBS headquarters in San Francisco.

The first week of Season 5, which premiered Sept. 8, challenged the hosts to face their fears and Tyler’s experience was one not to miss. The comedian stepped barefoot in fish guts, animal brains, an African bullfrog, cockroaches, and an alligator!

“I think what we do at The Talk is unique and that we’re trying to create a space where people can be authentic and tell the truth. It feels safe and its fun, and it’s also a place where women are not pulling at each other’s weaves and heaving their prosthetic legs across the room,” Tyler said humorously.

As a comedian, actress, author, and TV host who hails from San Francisco, Tyler wears many hats and that’s something she says she is proud of.

“I wanted to create a career that was so multifaceted that no one else could shut it down,” she said. “I wanted to build a stool with so many legs that if I lost five legs, I still had six to stand on. I tried to create a life for myself that was diverse and challenging, both for my own personal satisfaction and so that I won’t have to do a Sleep Number Bed commercial.”

This week on The Talk, the hosts will reveal personal secrets they have never shared before, a recurring theme from last season where Tyler shared her fertility struggles with her husband and coming to terms with not having children.

“There is, right now in our culture this intense devaluing of the choice of being a career woman, that you somehow are not a woman if you don’t have children, and that choosing career over family is not a valid choice. I think it is a valid choice and I think that women who choose that should be proud of it,” Tyler said.

“I wanted to say, ‘I choose this for myself, I don’t regret it, I wouldn’t do it any other way and if you’re going through this, it’s okay to stop.’ Every family configuration, if it’s right for you, is the right one and that was why I wanted to talk about it,” she said.

Watch Tyler and her co-hosts on The Talk, which airs weekdays at 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. ET on CBS.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

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7 days ago

January 2, 2026

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

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December 25, 2025

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Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.