Celebrity Celebrity Relationships Celebrity Friendships Sherri Shepherd Jokes About How She and Octavia Spencer Get Confused for One Another: Watch The television host confessed on her talk show that she and the actress are commonly mistaken By Nicholas Rice Nicholas Rice Nicholas Rice is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE Magazine. He began working with the brand as an Editorial Intern in early 2020, before later transitioning to a freelance role, and then staff positions soon after. Nicholas writes and edits anywhere between 7 to 9 stories per day on average for PEOPLE, spanning across each vertical the brand covers. People Editorial Guidelines Published on November 5, 2023 01:10PM EST Sherri Shepherd says she and Octavia Spencer are apparently one and the same! While hosting The Sherri Shepherd Show earlier this week, the talk show host, 56, playfully joked about how she and the Oscar-winning actress, 53, are commonly mistaken for one another. Shepherd began her conversation by sharing a video of herself at an airport, in which she said she played along with staff to make them believe that she was The Witches star. "People are telling me how much they love me in Hidden Figures and The Help, [and] they think I am Octavia Spencer," she said. "And I can't tell them I am Sherri Shepard because they're gonna throw me out of the VIP lounge here at Delta, because I used your name to get in." Shepherd's in-studio audience erupted with laughter, as the former The View star added, "I use Octavia's name all the time." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Octavia Spencer, Sherri Shepherd. Ida Mae Astute/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Octavia Spencer Says Whoopi Goldberg Encouraged Her to 'Get Your Education' Before Pursuing Acting Shepherd said that it "goes both ways," explaining that Spencer has pretended to be her on separate occasions as well. Sharing a follow-up clip of the star at a drive-thru, Spencer could be seen interacting with a fan who believed her to be Shepherd. "You watch my show, The Sherri Shepherd Show, everyday?" Spencer playfully asked the restaurant worker in the clip, who replied, "Every day. It's how I start my morning, you know?" Spencer — continuing to pretend to be Shepherd — then thanked the fan for watching her show, as she left the drive-thru route. "I [told] Octavia, 'I love it. If you get free food for a year, I want some, too,' " Shepherd joked, back before her in-studio audience. Close