Ellen DeGeneres: The Beginning (2000 TV Special) User Reviews

Good Standup Work

[leslieadams · 8/10 · 25 April 2005]

She has the conviction of Don Rickles, strength of Lily Tomlin, wit of Robin Williams and diction of Jane Fonda.

It's Ellen DeGeneres, live, at the Beacon Theater--a real treat for those in the provinces who weren't able to make it to the Big Apple that fun night in 2000.

Obviously the result of many years in the comic and talk show business, DeGeneres has the pulse of both the sophisticated and general public at bay. She delivers her humor with a kind of sincerity and unpretentiousness that really communicates. The Beacon audience obviously loves her, and responds with great enthusiasm. Ellen has the courage to touch on "touchy subjects" and "get away" with it through her ingratiating personality.

This, her fifth comedy special, may be termed her best, and credit must be extended to fine, unobtrusive direction by Joel Gallen. As no one's credited as writer, it must be DeGeneres wrote her own material, as well as executive produced this fun filled event.

Simply fun with one of the most charismatic women in entertainment

[Robert_duder · 8/10 · 5 January 2014]

I am (of course) a fan of Ellen's talk show and have seen her original sitcom once or twice as well as several of her hosting duties but I had never really seen her do her stand-up. If you too are a fan of hers then you know exactly what you're in for because with Ellen...what you see is truly what you get. Her incredibly unique talent for pointing out the obvious, using biting sarcasm, and an awkward sort of uncomfortability in certain situations makes us laugh at ourselves and at her. One thing Ellen has never been is a "shock" comedienne and it simply isn't necessary for her and wouldn't look right on her. That's why I was a little disappointed that she felt the need to throw in literally a sparse amount of curse words. I'm not a prude, language doesn't bother me in the least but I like when entertainment avoids it so that everyone can appreciate it. She uses it so little that it just would have been better without it. The very first thing she addresses is her "coming out" and does so in an emotionally charged and touching way that makes you smile like almost everything she does.

I have never seen anyone who is just so inherently likable. She has such incredible chemistry and is so down to earth. Her style and her comedy and the way she speaks to people is simply a God given gift and you can see all that come out on stage. I don't find her uproariously funny necessarily, I didn't have tears streaming down my cheeks but she is just so great to watch. One of the best things about this video is at the end during the credits when we see audience members addressing her. It is sweet and touching and proves how instrumental she is in making people smile. She is a brilliant comedienne and this is a great special to check out. If you're not a fan of her show then watch her stand-up and you'll have to appreciate her talent and her ability to make people laugh. Not only that but I think she is one of the few professional comedians who is actually unique in her style. 8/10

Just gonna sit and wait for the sixty-minute interpretive dance version

[StevePulaski · 8/10 · 17 July 2013]

Ellen Degeneres: The New Beginning is the comedy special the comedian/future talk show host did a few months after coming out as a lesbian and opening herself to lethal criticism. If you can't recall the headlines she spawned and responses she garnered from her audacious movie, she proudly does a wordless, musical reenactment of one of the most important moments in her life. In addition, she goes into detail about how insects and other creatures have relationships akin to the ones humans have, the depression the person on the other end of the shampoo hotline must have, and more in the special. Degeneres is hilariously inspired because of the way she analyzes things in life that would likely go unnoticed by a large majority of people. Her ability to make humor and a sustainable monologue on something so ridiculous is precisely her strongest talent. It must also be said that the ending of the special touches a sentimental, emotional note that few comedy specials even come close to reaching.

Starring: Ellen Degeneres. Directed by: Joel Gallen.

The best

[tonte · 10/10 · 3 September 2000]

Ellen De Generes at her best. This is a must see for anyone into comedy. Timing is excellent and routines are brilliant. De Generes proves she still has what it takes to wow an audience. The opening dance sequence displays another side of De Generes to her fans. Don't miss this...

Heart-warming yet hilarious

[sminkydink · 9/10 · 2 January 2002]

Ellen Degeneres is one of my fave actresses and I admire her honesty and her ability to babble to an audience for over an hour without stopping! I live in England and you can only get this on video here, I watched it with 4 of my friends (all aged 16) and only me and one of my male friends enjoyed it. No-one else quite understood Ellen's quirks and rambling habits. Still, I give this one an 8 or 9. Nice work Ellen, keep it up. :)

Welcome Back Ellen

[lostintwinpeaks · 5 August 2002]

Ellen live in the Beacon Theatre, and welcome back Ellen! Good to see you again!

Best moments include the shampoo bottle jokes, and Ellen's interpretative dance routine at the beginning.

Otherwise, standard Ellen fare (and that's no bad thing) with Ellen going off on every possible tangent.

More please!

Great Ellen comeback

[ab-2 · 9/10 · 30 July 2000]

Ellen makes a great comeback in this stand-up comedian movie. She is funny throughout and talks a little bit about her personal life. If this comes back on, I suggest you watch it because I know you will like it.

>>>>>>Amazing............Read a fair and balanced review...........

[hmcaminiti · 10/10 · 21 August 2007]

You can read what some nay sayers post or you can read a professional critique, without a slant that one much question if homophobia played a role instead of fair and balanced review. Ellen doesn't have a top rated TV show AGAIN by mistake, read below..............

This post-coming-out performance fully acknowledges Ellen DeGeneres's status as America's most famous lesbian, but it is nevertheless imbued with a sense of fun. For instance, rather than describe the experience of closet-exiting on her self-titled situation comedy in the late 1990s, she performs an amusing "interpretive dance." She uses her trademark goofiness to ruminate on the necessity of directions on shampoo bottles, ant road rage, and the possible nightmarish consequences of buying cheese. While the performance is not orientation-specific, the comedienne spends a fair amount of time on sex-related issues, including jokes about blow-up dolls and people who videotape their relations. She does venture into the political with an appeal for same-sex marriage and a monologue on meeting God, who turns out to be a middle-aged black woman. None of this fazes her clearly supportive audience at New York's Beacon Theatre who get to ask her questions at the end à la Carol Burnett. The best moment of the 65-minute performance for HBO comes at the end, when DeGeneres accidentally exhibits some gender confusion with a young audience member, who then pays her moving tribute as a role model. --Kimberly Heinrichs

(gasp) Aaaaaaw...Timmy, look at the nice lesbian lady, isn't she great

[bsinc · 4/10 · 21 June 2007]

I know I'm probably gonna get a lot of negative votes on this comment, but this was honestly one of the least enjoyable stand-up routines I've ever seen...and I've seen many! So on to my personal reason why I was barely able to watch this till the end:

Ellen to me is like a person in a wheelchair who everybody feels sorry for. Because she got treated badly after she "came out" there's now almost this unwritten obligation and sense of right to applaud to everything she says and does. It's pathetic! I condemn the spiteful reactions towards her coming out & everything, but empathy stops at a certain point. What's happened in Ellen's case is that now her loving and devoted fans are mostly people who've been hurt themselves. So they gobble her every word as if it came from high above...Ellen is to her fans what the AMWAY director is to his devoted fanatical ant workers.

The most she made me was smile on a couple of occasions, but the crowd seemed to want to eat her up. Everything was to-die hysterical to them and I couldn't fathom it. Her material wasn't really bad, but her delivery and timing were painful to watch. She was waaaaay too predictable and what's even worse, she went for the cheapest laughs: "God...is a She" (and the mostly female crowd bursts into applause)

Somewhere towards the end she even steals stuff from other comedians, but by that time I had already begun writing this woeful comment. Why I bothered to watch this till the end I honestly don't know. Maybe it was the empathy in me, trying to want to approve of this woman's comedic skills. She has none!

Ellen DeGeneres - "Seeking the Silence"

[dongquan110296 · 10/10 · 19 March 2014]

This performance marks 3 years after the "come-out" of Ellen Degeneres. FYI, Ellen was raised in a strict Christian Science environment, and although she no longer goes to that church, she believes in God and her belief is evidently shown in this performance. As she always has been funny and witty style, Ellen also shows her love and passion for people and animals. My favorite part is how Ellen chooses to end the show with such impressive story of her meeting with God. It makes us laugh for the moment, but then when we find "the silence", we can see how incredible and sophisticated this woman is. If you are a fan of Ellen DeGeneres, you cannot miss this.

Anne Heche: please keep working

[nunculus · 17 August 2000]

Ellen DeGeneres seems like a very nice person. She may remind you of the most helpful woman at the food co-op or an extremely affable first-grade teacher. She is not, however, what we call real funny. Nor is she a very good joke-teller (her funny parenthetical asides are given GIANT CAPITAL LETTERS). Nor is she what we call especially interesting--her routine here resembles the attempts of a pleasant but not particularly bright person to make chitchatty conversation. Crunchy (but not gnarly) lesbians will have a warm smile. For everyone else, it's kind of like watching someone else's massage.