The Ellen
Show-not your typical Hollywood shlock
Jan 7/05 Kourier Standard
by Laurel E. Anderson
Have you seen it? Okay, I know that no one
admits to watching much television these days, especially daytime, but humour
me. Let’s establish that anyone who is home during the day certainly doesn’t
have time to and let’s also establish the fact that those that do watch, tape
and watch in the evening during accepted TV watching hours.
I’m talking about the Ellen Show. It’s not a typical daytime celebrity hosted
show. It’s not formula, cheesy, boring or pathetic. It is dynamite, hilarious,
bold in a good way and just plain entertaining. I would almost say that it is
therapeutic because it just makes you laugh so darn much and there’s not much on
the tube these days that you can say that
about.
If you like dancing there’s even more of a chance that you will love the show.
It’s all about dancing. It starts with dancing, it ends with dancing and most of
the guests approach the stage dancing. And Ellen’s sidekick is not typical
either. She doesn’t have a big band or a second tier comic by her side. No, she
has a music man, a master spinner, a music DJ who knows what he is doing with
the tunes and doubles as Ellen’s dance partner.
The show always starts with Ellen talking and mixing in some really funny
standup before she heads across the stage, showing off her latest dance moves
before she mingles and dances with the audience. And beware if you don’t
participate as you could be singled out later. Ellen’s daily dance ends back up
on stage as she takes a seat and catches her breath. It’s real dancing, no dance
synching, stand in’s or body doubles. It’s all Ellen and that’s refreshing.
A lot of the usual Hollywood stars come on the Ellen Show but that’s where the
similarities between her show and the others end. Ellen often makes the guests
laugh so much that they have tears and can barely speak and the best part is
that they play along too. I am sure that it is a refreshing break from all of
the other formula interviews that these celebrities endure on other shows.
John Travolta, the king of dancing himself, was recently on the show and was
brought to giddy tears by Ellen’s funniness. Ellen had made up Ellen pillows and
blankets for John’s plane (unless you have been under a rock for a really long
time, you are aware that John flies his own planes everywhere) and the two of
them decided to conduct the interview about his new movie, as if they were on an
airplane. So they were both half lying in their chairs, propped up with Ellen
pillows and covered in Ellen blankets and it was just plain hilarious.
Ellen also does a few other interesting and original things on her show that
don’t involve celebrities at all. Ellen uses her fans and audience on the show
all the time. She reads emails that she receives and if it strikes her, she
calls the people-live on the show. She leaves long, rambling messages on their
machines if they aren’t home and at the suggestion of someone in the audience,
she dials a second time, changing the last digit, which results in her calling a
complete stranger just to chat. It’s extremely funny. Like the time she called
someone who invited her to a charity function. Ellen actually called and said
that she was considering attending but wanted to be sure that her admission and
drinks would be taken care of.
What can I say? It’s good clean fun. You get to participate in crank phone
calls, watch your favourite stars lose it on stage to Ellen’s antics and you get
to dance! What more could you ask for in an hour of television? It just makes
you laugh and these days; we could use a lot more to laugh about! So tune in one
morning or set your VCR and to quote Ellen herself, “bring a lunch and be
prepared to dance.”
Laurel is a regular contributor to the Kourier and boy does she love to dance!