Ellen DeGeneres’ shows this week in Minneapolis would be a big deal no matter the circumstances. Her stand-up, groundbreaking sitcom and long-running talk show ensured her position as an entertainment icon.
But the three nights at the Orpheum Theatre are poised to play a memorable role in comedy history. They’re the final shows of the “Ellen’s Last Stand...Up” tour, which sponsor Live Nation has labeled as “the last opportunity for fans to witness a comedy legend in her final curtain call.” Netflix will be recording the performances.
Before DeGeneres can hit the stage, we asked some talented comics with Minnesota ties to weigh in on her legacy:
Mary Mack (Anoka native), “Conan” and voice work on Hulu’s “Solar Opposites”: “I was in elementary school when she was on ‘Star Search.’ I wrote her name down on a piece of paper and pinned it to my bulletin board, where it stayed for 13 years. Nobody knew of her beyond L.A. and New York, but I thought that someday she would be a big star. I should have been a talent agent.”
Pete Lee (studied at University of Minnesota), a regular on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”: “By watching her comedy, I learned that kindness could be funny. In her jokes, she was basically always trying to do the right thing, but mucking it up somehow. I love that technique. One of her first famous bits that she did on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’ was when she was on the phone with God. It was hysterical. I’d be surprised if she wasn’t influenced by the great Bob Newhart.”
Elise Cole, who recently released her first album, “Red Hot Dumb Dumbs”: “I remember Ellen from the sitcom, which aired when I was in high school. The episode was so momentous because it was the first time a lead character had said openly on TV, ‘I’m gay.’ And I remember thinking at the time how she could make just two words funny. I didn’t even know she was a stand-up comedian until after that show was over.
What always makes me laugh is that the end of her sentence is never what I think it’s going to be. She’s the master of a midsentence twist. Her timing is so impeccable. One of the first things I learned when I started was get comfortable with silence when you are onstage. In her first appearance on Johnny Carson, that conversation with God, for most of that two minutes she’s not saying anything. And the audience is with her every single second of that bit. Sometimes saying nothing is just as powerful as screaming into the microphone, if not more so.”
K.P. Anderson, producer for “The Soup” and “The Wayne Brady Show”: “Ellen is one of the greatest comic minds of all time. She has the ability to interpret everything from pure everyday mundanity to deeply complicated issues and turn them into comedy gold. She filtered it through her own personal weirdness better than anyone.
