This last summer I did a stand up special called Relatable.
It's streaming right now on Netflix.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
So I'm really proud of it.
And it could get an Emmy nomination.
But in order for that to happen, you kind of
want to talk to the people, the Television Academy voters.
They like to see you talk and stuff.
And they're the most wonderful people, the Academy voters,
I just have to say.
That's just an aside.
But seriously, if you meet an Academy voter,
get to know them.
They're just, and mention my name, and my special.
Anyway, so I asked my friend Jimmy Kimmel,
who I love so very, very much, to interview me
in front of them.
And I'll show you, this is a little bit of the conversation
that we had.
So this is a for your consideration panel.
What would you like these people to consider?
Just consider yourselves lucky.
[LAUGHTER]
It was, and I know this is dumb, but it was fun to see you say
[BLEEP] on stage.
[LAUGHTER]
Did you ever think about calling the special [BLEEP]??
No, I did not.
Did you consider titles other than Relatable?
[BLEEP] Relatable.
[LAUGHTER] What I should have said.
I think I, you and I share one, well a lot of things
we have in common.
But one thing is I love to see people get scared.
It makes me laugh as hard as anything.
Yes.
I love to see people, as long as they don't get hurt,
but like walk into a glass door thinking it's open.
My I think my last special, I did a whole thing about someone
walking into a glass door and how that embarrassment
takes over pain.
And then people that hurt themselves won't even
admit that they're hurt.
They'll just be like, oh, oh, oh,
and just like laugh along with it
and go home and get stitches.
[LAUGHTER]
And you know, there's a reason--
Every time I'm at your show, every time,
and it hasn't, you haven't done anything for a while,
I walk into my dressing room and I check everything.
I go into the bathroom to see if you're
hiding under the cabinet.
I look, I look everywhere, to see if you might leap out
at me right some way.
And once I, I'm like an FBI agent, I sweep the room.
No, we don't do it when you're expecting it.
We wait until you're not expecting it.
That's good, because I'm always expecting it.
Yeah, well, there'll be a time.
[LAUGHTER]
Oh, what a great time this would have been to do it.
There were fewer women, far fewer women in stand-up comedy
when you started.
Do you think that made it more difficult or easier
to distinguish yourself?
I think you have to distinguish yourself
no matter how many people are in the field.
You have to, you know, you have to be unique
and you have to be yourself.
And I just never wanted to separate,
I can just talk about a certain gender.
I wanted to talk about what it was like to be a person.
And you still have to like work really hard
to win men over when you're a female comedian.
Because you're just not, it's just a male-dominated business.
It's a male, even just being on stage
is a very aggressive thing.
So men have to like you and not be threatened by you
and enjoy you and relate to the same things
that the women are relating to.
So that's why I always tried to make it just a people thing.
And in a way, would you agree, that if voters,
Academy voters like we have in this room,
were to vote for a man in this category,
it would be a step backwards.
It really would, it would.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm glad you brought that up.
You were one, well really, you still are, well obviously,
one of the great comedians.
I remember seeing you and thinking like,
oh, she's fantastic.
She is great.
When did you feel like you got good at it?
How long did it take you to get there?
Oh, god, the third time I guess.
[LAUGHTER]
I mean, the first two were good.
Do you feel more vulnerable when you're
doing stand-up comedy than when you're on stage at your show?
Yes.
The first time I got onstage at Largo,
I tried everything out at this really small club.
And it's kind of like a hip club that people don't really
watch TV, those kind of people.
Right.
Like no idea what's going on in the world, just reading.
[LAUGHTER]
I wanted to be pure and stand-up again the way I started.
And earn the laughs and earn people
respecting what I was saying.
And so to go on Largo that first night, I was so scared.
I mean like, I just thought, oh god, these people are going to,
they're like, oh, OK, Ellen, you know.
That's what I really expected.
And it was really surprising when they were happy to see me.
And then it was really surprising when they laughed.
And so then I kept going back and building on it
and building on it.
But that was so satisfying to me that people responded that way,
and I didn't expect it at all.
And you know, the whole idea of not
being aware of how out of touch you are.
Because I thought that's what people would think of me.
And so I just thought, I'm just going to go with it.
I'm just going--
You just went head on with it.
I'm just going to go into it.
Do you think you are out of touch?
Or is it--
Yeah, yeah.
Just a joke?
Yes.
So like if I were to ask you.
[LAUGHTER]
What a dozen eggs cost, would you know?
No, because we have chickens and they lay the eggs
and we have them for free.
A stamp.
Do you know how much it costs to mail something?
Didn't they just go up to like $4?
[LAUGHTER]
That's right.
How much is a rowing scholarship at USC, do you know?
[LAUGHTER]
Do you know your Netflix password?
[LAUGHTER]
I do not.
You do not.
No.
That's when you know you've made it, when you got somebody
to go through that whole thing.
Do you know yours?
Yeah, of course I do.
Really?
Yeah, yeah.
Why do you have to have a password?
Don't you just--
For Netflix?
Yeah, don't you just--
What'd you think? god gives it to us?
Yes, I do.
[LAUGHTER]
Ellen Degeneres, everybody.
Jimmy Kimmel, everybody.
[APPLAUSE]
I love you, Jimmy, so much.
Thank you so much.
And thank you to the Television Academy voters.
We'll be right back.
Hi, I'm Andy.
Ellen asked me to remind you to subscribe to her channel
so you can see more awesome videos, like videos
of me getting scared or saying embarrassing things,
like ball-peen hammer.
And also some videos of Ellen and other celebrities,
if you're into that sort of thing.
[SCREAM]