OK, I'm being told there's someone else here who
wants to say happy birthday.
I don't know who it is but come on out.
[CHEERING]
OK, I was wondering why you weren't over there
and I don't know why you're here because you can't talk,
you don't have a voice.
I can't talk.
Actually this is your birthday gift, a sexy voice.
[LAUGHTER]
I am here to give you your gift.
Oh my gosh, I really can't talk.
So it's your 60th birthday and this gift
had to be really special.
And it had to represent who you are
and what you really care about.
Not just now, but what you've always cared about.
What you were influenced by and what
has made you the amazing person that you are today.
So I combined that and questions when we first met like,
who's your idol?
And what would you do if you weren't a talk show host?
So I combined that with the fact that, literally guys,
for like the last two years Ellen has said to me,
I feel like I'm not doing enough.
Every day, almost.
So I put all that together and I got you this gift.
Let's see it.
Happy birthday.
When people ask my wife, who is the person living or dead you
most want to interview, her answer is always Dian Fossey.
Ellen remembers reading "National Geographic" at home
as a little girl and remembers Dian on the cover
of the January 1970 magazine.
Ellen was struck by Dian's dedication
to animals, her mind, and her bravery.
Ellen read how in 1967, Dian Fossey set up
a camp she called Karisoke in the Virunga Mountains
in Rwanda.
This is where Dian began studying
several dozen gorillas.
And at that time, Dian was alone in protecting them.
Fast forward 18 years and the world
was sad to learn that Dian was murdered in 1985 in her cabin
at Karisoke.
Most of us know Dian's work from her book "Gorillas
in the Mist," which is legendary,
and carried on her story.
Her story is also carried on through the work of the Dian
Fossey Gorilla Fund.
The Fossey Fund exists to ensure the survival
and thriving of wild gorillas in close partnership
with the government of Rwanda.
But unfortunately, today there are only 880 mountain gorillas
alive on earth.
Thus, the work of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
remains vitally important to ensuring their future.
In "Gorillas in the Mist," Dian wrote,
"little did I know then that by setting up two small tents
in the wilderness of the Virungas,
I had launched the beginnings of what
was to become an internationally renowned research station,
eventually to be utilized by students and scientists
from many countries."
So for your birthday, Ellen, I am bringing you
and your hero Dian together, by building the Ellen DeGeneres
Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
Ellen, you will carry on Dian's legacy
by giving them a permanent home in Rwanda.
Now, you will join Dian as a protector and champion
of these amazing animals, the mountain gorillas.
Happy birthday.
[CHEERING]
Oh my god.
Happy birthday.
[CHEERING]
But that's not all.
Oh my god.
So, in summer--
Is this in Burbank?
Where is it?
[LAUGHTER]
Well that's the thing.
So it'll be a most incredible center for tourism, education,
and for further scientific research.
[APPLAUSE]
Here's actually kind of the best bit.
I have also set up a foundation in your name called the Ellen
Degeneres Wildlife Fund.
So this is the first initiative for the fund.
But you can take this and do whatever you want with it.
You've done amazing work for elephants.
And you can just continue and support
whatever you want to do.
It's the best gift.
I've always said, when we got married, Portia's line was,
"it's good to be loved, it's profound to be understood."
And she understands me because that
is the best gift that anybody could have given me.
I love you.