Ellen Just Wants To Make Us Laugh
By John Hayes,
Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 28. April 2002

Did you hear the one about the comedian who came out of the closet on TV? Nearly five years to the day since Ellen DeGeneres revealed her sexual identity on "Ellen," she's still a national punch line and her once-meteoric career remains in flux.
Ellen DeGeneres: "You can't go around explaining yourself to everybody. I know that I'm very comfortable about who I am, and that's the important thing. But I trust that the smart people don't believe all that they read."
Although her latest CBS sitcom, "The Ellen Show," is officially on hiatus and likely to be canceled, she's inked a deal with Telepictures Productions to host a syndicated daytime talk show, which will premiere next year.

First a standup comic, DeGeneres is on a cross-country damage-control tour to remind people of who she is and what she does and, mostly, to make them laugh.

Q. Have you heard any news about "The Ellen Show"?

A. I think it's not coming back. ... Well, it's not definite. I find out May 15. But it doesn't appear that it will. It's not like it's a surprise to [CBS president] Les Moonves that I made the Telepictures deal. We had a conversation with him, and all indications pointed to the show not coming back. So I needed to cover myself, just like he's looking for other pilots for his network.

Q. Was the 8:30 Friday time slot hard to deal with?

A. Well, it wouldn't have been the one I would have chosen. I probably would have been just as happy with Sunday afternoon. CBS really just has one comedy night, so that's the ideal place to be. But this time around, I think I've learned to just let it roll off my back and not take things personally. It just didn't work out.

Q. Wasn't "The Ellen Show" originally supposed to be a variety show?

A. No, well, I did a pilot of a variety show when I initially made the deal with CBS, because I thought it was too soon to come back and play another character on a sitcom. I really wanted to bring back the Carol Burnett-type show -- I would still like to see somebody do that. I shot the pilot and thought, "Oh man, this is gonna be hard to do every single week." I went to Les and said, "Can you please forgive me?" because I had to talk him into even doing that. And then I changed my mind and said, "I think I want to do a sitcom." He's been a good guy, though, to hang in there with me on that.

Q. Do you think you will have more artistic freedom on a talk show?

A. Yeah, I think so. It's basically like hosting the Emmys, actually a little better because the Emmys is really just about the people receiving awards, but [on a talk show] my job is to entertain people and keep things going. With my show, it's about the guests and I want the guests to feel comfortable and everybody to have fun. But my personality is very important. Whenever you make a choice to watch, especially talk show-wise, it's mainly about the host of the show -- you want to spend an hour with that person. I think I'll have freedom. It's my show, I can do what I want. But if I don't do it right, if I don't make the guests feel comfortable, I'm not going to have guests. So that's the next thing I'll be doing. I have a year to put that together and make it the best, funniest, smartest, most entertaining talk show ever.

Q. You're in such a goofy business. So many other people have so much control over what you do.

A. That's exactly why I'm on the road now, doing what I started out doing. It's the only thing I have total control over. And it's fun to be able to really show people who I am, what I write, what I say, how I say it, and not having to worry about a time frame of 22 minutes and telling a story. It's just comedy. It's being ridiculous and entertaining people for an hour and a half. I understand that's what television is. It's a business, and it's hard to mix and keep your artistic integrity when people are basically trying to sell soap.

Q. You seem to have several different audiences. The nighttime sitcom audience is certainly not the daytime talk-show audience, and your touring audience is a whole different crowd.

A. I never thought of it that way. I basically just think of people in general. I'm trying to get all the people back together. I think that I separated them a little bit five years ago when, you know, I came out. For the last few years I've been trying to refocus everyone on what I do and why I got to where I was. I was on the road for 15 years before I got a television show, and that's what I want to focus on again -- just being a comedian. I don't think it's something that will divide people.

Q. Before you came out, didn't a lot of people already know you were gay?

A. You'd think so, but until you actually say the words ... I mean, there are probably people who would still say that Liberace wasn't gay. ... There are lot of stupid people out there. I think we know that. And we're not really helping them. Television is dumbing everyone down. It's not like we're asking people to think more.

Q. But you're doing a daytime talk show. You can't have, like, scientists on.

A. That was gonna be my first guest [laughs]. All these talk shows have people who cook pasta and salads and stuff, I'm going to have a scientist talking about penicillin (laughs).

Q. People just want to watch someone they can gossip about, and that's what you became. That's got to be weird.

A. Yeah, it's certainly weird. I just wanted to be famous. When you're getting into this business, you're just so excited at the thought. I would hang out with comedians and people would come up and ask for their autographs, and they were just so rude to them. And I thought, "God, if I was ever famous I would never be like that. It would be so much fun for everybody to know who I am." But you forget that along with everyone knowing who you are, they also have opinions about you. And so you say, "Well, I didn't really want to be famous." You kind of reduce that part to, "I want people to see my art and like it and if you don't like it, keep it to yourselves." But it's the nature of the business. Everybody wants to talk about everybody, don't they?

Q. To a lot of people, you became The Gay Comedian, and yet your live show is so not gay.

A. When I did my last tour two years ago ... I was really nervous about what kind of crowd it would be. I kept reminding people [that] it's still weird, rambling stories and observational humor. "The Ellen Show" turned to gay issues because my character was gay. I think some people go [to the concerts] for the wrong reasons, and some people stay home for the wrong reasons. I definitely have a nice lesbian following, but I think that I had that before I came out. But I don't want to lose people who got me before and are suddenly saying, "I'm not going to see her because I won't relate to the material because it's gonna be a big gay show." And it's so not that. And if anybody is gay and they're hoping to see a big gay show, they're going to be disappointed, because it's not a rally. It's just, you know, a comedy show.

Q. Do you still get a lot of personal questions that people shouldn't be asking?

A. Well sure. Look at the tabloids. The tabloids can say all kinds of things, and you can't go after everyone who says something about you. That's the unfortunate thing. You can't go around explaining yourself to everybody. I know that I'm very comfortable about who I am, and that's the important thing. But I trust that the smart people don't believe all that they read.

Q. Does it still bother you?

A. Well, after all the stuff that's happened to me -- even just paying my dues on the road for 15 years, being a comedian on stage with drunk people being nasty -- it kind of prepares you. But then you get into Hollywood and television and the press and everything. There's always another way that somebody's going to hurt you. There's always something that affects you because, you know, I'm a human being and I care.