Josh Groban Gushes About "Brilliant and Funny" Kat Dennings, Gets Scared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show—Watch!

Plus, the vocalist talks about going on tour later this fall

By Zach Johnson May 26, 2015 1:20 PMTags

Josh Groban and Kat Dennings make a "cute couple," don't they?

Ellen DeGeneres certainly thinks so, as she repeatedly told the singer on her eponymous talk show Tuesday. "Kat Dennings, your girlfriend, was here not long ago saying that you're both nerds," the comedienne said.

"Yes. She was," Groban said. "Yes, very true."

"Is that OK that she outed you as a nerd?" DeGeneres asked.

"Yes, I think that was outed long ago," the 34-year-old "What I Did for Love" singer said. "That's been out there since at least sixth grade, I feel like."

"Is that what you bonded over?" DeGeneres asked. "Your nerdism?"

"Well, yeah," he said. "She's well she's such a brilliant and funny person. Humor is such a huge things for me, so the fact that we could talk about Monty Python and all sorts of weird other things, I was like, 'OK, yeah, we're on the same page.'"

DeGeneres also asked Groban about singing the National Anthem at the Kentucky Derby earlier this month, which he called "very nerve-wracking." In fact, the Billboard Music Award winner explained, "You feel like you've really got it during the sound check, because the place is empty and it's 8 in the morning. Everybody knows the National Anthem. I could sing it in my sleep! But...they had a record crowd of 180,000 people...all of a sudden you're like, 'Is it gleaming or streaming?' It plays tricks on you. So I had to do things to remember the words. Even though I knew I knew them, when you're out there and the pressure's on, if you mess up the National Anthem, you're toast on Twitter for the next week."

This fall, Groban will hit the road. "I love touring," he said. "It's the reason why I record, basically, to get out and perform in front of live audiences." However, Groban won't be as nervous as he was when he performed at the Kentucky Derby. DeGeneres understood the difference, saying, "You get to a certain level where you're used to so many things not fazing you that it's fun to be in a situation—"

"—to be scared again!" Groban interjected.

"Speaking of scared, on the cover of your CD, I think you look a little scared," the host said. Groban explained the concept, saying, "We were picking photos and everybody at the label was like, 'Oh, yeah! You look kinda edgy, like you're about to get into a fight or something.' 'Is that good?' 'Yeah! Edgy! Masculine! It's good.'"

"That photo was taken in downtown Los Angeles. We were out on the street—it was the end of the shoot—and it was about midnight. And there was somebody who was just screaming obscenities at us...I went, 'What the...?' And that's the shot."

At that moment, a man appeared behind Groban and screamed.

"That's the shot!" the singer joked. "That's the shot!"