There's someone in the audience today
who may know my staff better than I do.
Her name is Tracee Lopez.
She follows all these people that work for me.
She's such a big fan.
She did something that I'm very proud of-- she
requested the day off to watch my premiere show last Monday.
And for that reason, she gets to sit right here.
Tracee, come on down.
[ELECTRIC PIANO MUSIC]
[APPLAUSE]
Hi!
Oh, boy.
Sorry, I'm a mess.
Yeah, let me put this on your beautiful EV1 sweater.
Yes.
Of course you noticed.
Yep.
All right.
Hi, Tracee!
Hello.
So happy umm happy--
welcome.
Hello.
I'm so sorry.
OK.
No, that's OK.
And good things come to people who write in for 12 years.
13.
How many-- 13 years.
13 years.
It's amazing.
I mean, when I hear people started
watching the show when they were 12 years old,
it's quite something.
So--
I'm sorry.
So you wrote in at 12 years old.
But you wrote in under fake names
because you were trying to-- what did you do?
Well, my aunt was 18 at the time.
She actually had an email.
I didn't have one.
I was only 12.
So I just went under her name and I would say, like, hey,
my niece and I love you.
We watch you every day.
But it was really me that was the niece.
And so, yeah.
I was just doing anything to tag along even if I wasn't--
Right.
And so, you follow all these people that work for me.
Half of those people, I don't know who they are.
I mean, like--
Well, they're really funny.
They're really, really funny.
Are they?
They are really funny.
I'm sure they are.
I mean, there's so many people who work here.
Yes, and they have such a good bond together.
Yeah.
They do.
I'm sure they're wonderful.
So you got the call that you're getting tickets to this show,
and you've been waiting--
I can't believe how long.
I've heard that people wait for a long time for tickets.
But you've been waiting this long,
and you finally got tickets today.
And you work at the Apple Store, right, in San Antonio?
I do, yes.
I do.
And so, your boss, you just told him you needed the day off
so you could watch the show?
Oh, well, yeah.
I mean, I just saw, like, I was not going to work that day.
It's Ellen's premiere week.
That's just going to happen.
That's not going to happen!
Well, you should change jobs so that you can watch it
every day, don't you think?
I do.
I should, yes.
Yeah, you should work at night or something.
Well.
I don't know.
Think about it.
Yeah, I'll think about it.
All right.
So you help out your family when you're not working.
I do.
What are you doing?
Right now, well, I'm just trying to help my mom actually.
We were talking.
My mom took in a lot of my friends when I was young.
They didn't have a place to go.
And so, they're still my friends.
I'm just kind of working towards becoming that.
My mom and I volunteer for basketball together.
We do a lot of things together.
And I just want to grow up to be half the woman she is.
And that's what I'm just excited for.
It's amazing.
Yeah, she sounds amazing.
[APPLAUSE]
[INAUDIBLE]
So I know that you asked for a lot.
You're wearing my EV1 sweater, and you're wearing the socks.
Be Kind socks, yes.
And you're wearing-- yeah.
So I wanted to give you something
for your 25th birthday.
So I got you a bunch of the Ellen products
so that you don't have to wait and get--
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
Hi, Andy.
Hi.
Hello.
That's Andy.
I know.
You follow Andy?
Yes, I think so.
All right.
I think so.
All right.
And so, you have a bunch of stuff in here.
You have t-shirts.
Also, Shutterfly is celebrating 20 years,
and they want to celebrate your 25th birthday with $25,000.
[SOBBING]
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you so much.
You're welcome so much.
Oh, my gosh.
Thank you.
We'll be right back.