Season four of The Kelly Clarkson Show premiered on Monday (Sept. 12) with a special guests in the mix.

The Emmy Award-winning talk show host, Kelly Clarkson, returned to television with her longtime friend, country legend Garth Brooks. As if the two weren’t entertaining enough, they stirred up the audience by belting out a duet of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.”

Clarkson jokes, “I know it’s a downgrade from Billy Joel, but I’m going to do my best.”

“Some folks like to get away / Take a holiday from the neighborhood / Hop a flight to Miami Beach / Or to Hollywood / But I’m taking a Greyhound / On the Hudson River Line / I’m in a New York state of mind,” Clarkson and Brooks sing.

The pair stood up halfway through the song as the audience cheered them on, finishing their performance with a smile and a big hug.

Clarkson and Brooks then sat down and chatted about Brooks’ wife Trisha Yearwood, to whom Brooks refers to as ‘Miss Yearwood.’

“There’s a million reasons why you know the love of your life is the love of your life. I told Miss Yearwood, I said, ‘Do you want to go out for dinner tonight?’ She said ‘yeah.’ I took her to a baseball game for a baseball hotdog. And she was phenomenal.”

This sent the crowd through a laughing frenzy.

Brooks continued, “She’s got a guy that’s got all the great girl stuff,” which sent Clarkson into hysterics as she slipped back laughing into her chair.

“She is fabulous,” he reiterated over and over.

The seven-time CMA Entertainer of The Year winner dished with Clarkson over the excitement of finally being back on tour after years of pandemic shutdowns.

Brooks shared, “I think what people love about touring, that it’s back now, is I think people are finally where they belong, and that’s together again.”

Clarkson continued the exciting “performance talk” by bringing a guitar out on set for Brooks to play “If the spirit moved him,” she said.

Brooks previously appeared on the talk show in 2021 during the holiday special when Clarkson confessed that “The Dance” (ACM Award, 1991) got her through her divorce, a song that Brooks revealed he almost never released due to a fear it wasn’t “country” enough.

Clarkson had paid tribute to the country superstar earlier that year with a breathtaking performance of the tune during the Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony.

“He’s one of those artists that is so captivating and compelling that when you’re listening to his music,” Clarkson shared, “You could feel his energy, it’s like you could close your eyes and picture the performance. I don’t think many people can do that just captivate you like that. And his catalog is insane, he’s such a great songwriter, not just a vocalist.”