MovieChat Forums > Ellen DeGeneres Discussion > We all know the only reason she's famous

We all know the only reason she's famous


I have no problem with lesbians. I'm all for carpet munchers, dykes on bikes or whatever else floats your boat.
I have a problem with this lesbian.

This "comedian" is not really funny, she has an ok personality marred by a holier than thou attitude stemming from her status as a lgbt "hero".
I have never seen her in anything remotely competent, she's just there and everybody should like her because, hey, it's her! That lesbian!

She got a spot in the limelight because of that, but never provided any other reasons, other than that, for continuing her public carreer.
But I guess that that's enough for the American tv audience.

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Different strokes for different folks... I find her to be hilarious and can definitely understand her rise to fame. I also had the pleasure of meeting her and she was the sweetest, funniest and most patient celebrity. She took so much time signing autographs, posing for pictures and talking to us. She didn't have to do it but did and was incredibly graceful.

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I'm sure she could be very nice as a person.
That applies to a big chunk of the world population, yet doesn't qualify them for a spot in the limelight.
I find her particularly unfunny, as do most critics. She never had a hit of any sort.
What makes her stand out is her sexual orientation only.

I mean, if it wasn't for that, she would be in the category of celebrities "famous for being famous" like any kardashian. She's slightly above them because we know why she's famous.

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I find her particularly unfunny[/quote]

So? Are you the end-all-be-all of what is and is not funny?

[quote]as do most critics[/quote]
Do you have any citations for this? and do you have any info for what critics thought about her early in her career?

[quote]She never had a hit of any sort

The Ellen TV series was successful. it had 5 seasons. I would consider that a "hit" of some sort. If you say it was because she was gay then you are incorrect because once the character came out the ratings went down. Not because people were afraid but because that was all the show focused on. Here was a show about a woman who did not have many "date" episodes which was a nice change of pace. Once she comes out is just like every other show about single people.

If she never had a TV series I would say that she still would have been a successful stand-up comic on the circuit. She was great at that.

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"Different strokes for different folks... I find her to be hilarious and can definitely understand her rise to fame. I also had the pleasure of meeting her and she was the sweetest, funniest and most patient celebrity. She took so much time signing autographs, posing for pictures and talking to us. She didn't have to do it but did and was incredibly graceful."

That's refreshing to read.

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She was funny once. But anyone who identifies as what they do with their genitalia is mind-glowingly bizarre. "Hi. I'm David and I'm the heterosexual comic." Anyone who says that is automatically some kind of weirdo. Yo, Dave! You think we care? We're here to laugh.

Someone who uses what they do with their genitalia as their identity limits themselves. Anyone can see that in heterosexuals, but in identity politics, we can't see it in any other gender -- and now there are more of them than we can count. Just be funny and keep what decent people keep private...you know...private.

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Someone who uses what they do with their genitalia as their identity limits themselves.

THAT

And as a comedian, with anything that makes you to assume some Identitarian position. If you make humor, the moment you commit to whatever group, you're very much done.

Humor can be political, but it is the opposite of political commitment. You can be the best comedian in the world, the moment you decide to commit with some political/religious position, you're no good anymore.

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If you make humor, the moment you commit to whatever group, you're very much done.


Considering her talk show has been on for a decade and a half and it still wildly popular this is clearly untrue.

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"Someone who uses what they do with their genitalia as their identity limits themselves. Anyone can see that in heterosexuals, but in identity politics, we can't see it in any other gender"

I'm not sure what you're saying here, Destinata.

I've watched all of her comedy specials because I love her humour. Haven't watched her talk show because that's not my thing. But in her specials, she doesn't talk much about being a lesbian and when she does it's in very general terms. She's the type of comedian that uses her life in general as her material. Part of that is that she's gay, and she uses that too, but not a lot.

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On IMDb we had a guy on a board I frequented who called himself “GayIthican.” I don’t know about you, but to me, that’s peculiar. My sexuality — which some people here are presuming, but they just might be wrong — is one part of me. Not the major part. Not the biggest part. Not something I’d lead with. Certainly not something I’d flaunt. When Ellen first came out, a morning radio host said he was at an awards dinner where she and her girlfriend at the time were making out like teenagers in the back seat of daddy’s Ford. He said he didn’t have a homophobic bone in his body, but he felt like someone needed to turn a hose on them. She was trying to shove her sexuality up everyone’s noses and that’s just juvenile. I think she’s calmed down now, but I just shrugged and said, “If that’s what you want to be known for....” I thought she could be funny, too, but not Robin Williams or Jerry Seinfeld funny. Not even Elaine Boosler (sp?) funny. More Margaret Cho funny, ironically. Elaine couldn’t have gotten her own national talk show, even though she once told one of the funniest jokes — to a woman, anyway — that I’ve ever heard. There was really one thing that set Ellen apart from the third tier of comics. But I have to be anti-gay or homophobic to mention what it is.

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I see. But it is different for people who are gay, as they're in the minority and have had and still do have to deal with a lot of negativity. That's why many stay in the closet.

No one insults anyone by calling them "You hetero!" No one announces "I'm actually a heterosexual," because that's the default assumption. Can you imagine pitching the idea for a show episode where the main character admits she's a hetero?

If you're gay, coming out of the closet is a rite of passage, and there's no way to do that unless you *do* let people know. It's not about their sexuality being more than one part of them, anymore than it is for us; it's that we don't have to say it because it's assumed.

Sounds to me like what your radio host objects to is PDAs. Wouldn't he have felt the same if it were a hetero couple doing the same?

I love Elaine Boosler, she's hilarious too. What happened to her, I wonder? For me Ellen and Jerry are on a par -- equally talented, equally funny, and in ways similar. Robin Williams is in a class by himself. I tried watching Margaret Cho and she just doesn't do it for me. Too angry or something. Not funny to me.

So what was the Elaine Boosler joke? She told one I always remember too :). About her not getting her own national talk show, I suppose it'd have happened by now if she could have (assuming she'd have been interested in one), but she also wouldn't have been blackballed for a decade for being straight.

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I know all about the rite of passage thing. Sadly, most gays of that era -- and even some today -- have to overdo it. Elton John had dancing fruit frolicking about the stage -- so subtile. Ellen goes to an awards dinner and makes out with her girlfriend (who I think was using her as a stepping stone, too), to shove her sexuality up everyone's nose. Heterosexuals who act like she did were considered trashy at the time. She defined herself by her sexuality. I just noticed.

No, Imus had no problem with PDAs. He just realized that it wasn't about affection so much as it was about proving something. His thesis was that if homosexuality was just another sexual orientation, why behave as no self-respecting heterosexual would and spend every spare moment swapping spit? One of my favorites on Twitter is GayPatriot, who's just a guy who happens to be gay. The fact that he is gay is sort of a running joke. Part of the joke is that the Dems want him to think like their idea of a gay guy, and he thinks for himself. That, and the fact that he's very sweet.

Elaine Boosler once noted that a joke isn't funnier just because you scream it. She didn't have a gimmick, and consequently she's one of those people we wonder what happened to. Wasn't Elaine Boosler the one who, referring to a man's...um..."member," said that women really wanted to say, "Stop annoying me with that thing." I think it was Boosler. If not Boosler, another of the second string of comics.

Ellen's not that good of an interviewer, either. I've watched clips where she's had favorites of mine on, and she just doesn't do it for me, any more than Margaret Cho -- who incidentally had a priceless joke on bigotry. In a play on what they always say about the weather, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity," she said, "Bigotry: It's not the hate, it's the stupidity." Like telling women who are Americans that they should "Go back where they came from."

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This, exactly.

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So being openly gay means everything you do relates to your genitalia? Ok man, ok.

The anti-gay sentiment on these forums is surprising.

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It depends. As I said, one of my favorites on Twitter was GayPatriot. Sadly, he started doing the, "Look at me, I'm so gay. I'm obsessed with images of penises!" And understand, his was supposed to be a political account. His husband isn't that way at all. His is a political account.

I since met another guy on Twitter who attracted my attention with a post saying that if you're a Christian, it's not about color, it's about Christ. I settled in to get some solid theological posts, and every single one was about -- you guessed it -- race.

You want to be equal on the Internet or in discussions anywhere else? Simply talk about ideas, facts, food, literature, current events.

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I've always thought she's funny.

She was a successful standup before getting her sitcom, which ran for 5 seasons, as FFNoGoodNik pointed out. Hardly being famous for being famous, and nothing like any Kardashian. She only came out as a lesbian at the end of that show's run. So no, obviously she didn't get her spot in the limelight for being gay. In fact, her career took a big nosedive for years after she came out.

She's always had that midwestern, somewhat naive thing going for her, which was a refreshing change that people responded to, and she's clever.

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Not sure we watched the same reality here...
She was an average comedian, nothing special about her, and her show was one like hundreds other.
She came out and got a huge spot in the limelight as "the" lesbian celebrity, all with her lesbian affairs and gay activism. She was untouchable for at least a decade.
She is a clever person but I'm not particularly fond of her comedy style, it's repetitive and not brilliant.

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Same reality, different opinions.

I think she's hilarious! Her humour is similar to Seinfeld's. If you don't like his humour, you're not going to like hers. Observational stuff about everyday things.

I'm not a big fan of sitcoms in general because I usually don't think they're funny, but her show and Seinfeld's were both a cut above, so I enjoyed them. Can't think of any other sitcoms, offhand, I thought were funny.

Nope, she came out and her career tanked for a decade. I'm not sure how or why that turned around, but it did and she got her daytime talk show. I'm not into daytime TV, entertainment types of talk shows, so all I've seen of it are clips on YouTube of funny moments, which I have watched because she makes me laugh.

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Well, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, I saw it completely different.
I like Seinfeld, specially his sitcom. They are remotely similar, in being not too brash with their comments. But I don't enjoy her much. Anyway, to each his own!

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I'm surprised you like Seinfeld, then. I liked his show and watched it, but my favourite part was the beginning when he opened with some of his standup. Very funny! Right, neither were too brash or abrasive.

Yes, to each their own :)

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Ahah, see I love Seinfeld (the show). To me the opening was usually the weakest part, good only as a setup to what was gonna happen in the episode.
And it kinda added to the trope that Jerry is not a good comedian, ahahha!
It's funny that you liked that part the best!

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Admittedly it wouldn't have been much of a sitcom if it'd been all standup 😄

So you didn't like his standup?

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His standup is ok, nothing special, it's funny when you see the whole routine.
When it's broken up like in the show, where they give you just one joke, than it's rarely funny. It's just a small observation that rings interesting and true, but not really outloud funny. It cracks a smile, that's it.

The show instead, and the situations these 4 idiots get in, is funny.

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👆🏻This. Thank you, Heisenberg.

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SHE HAD A HIT SITCOM BEFORE SHE CAME OUT.

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She seems to have gotten lot of support from Oprah at one point and I think that is when she made the leap from just being another comedian with a sitcom to being this messiah that we should never question.

I don't think she funny either and her lack of talent is out of proportion with her popularity. Or at least it was, I think all of this stuff about her being a bitch will take it's toll on her.

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I think one of the reasons she's fallen so far so hard is that she has this "nice" persona that apparently she'd affect. She was known for it -- we may disagree about whether or not she's funny, but she did seem nice. Now even that perception has gone.

I read something this morning about how she had all these Hollywood types that supposedly were best friends with her, but now they're nowhere to be found. Even Hollywood knows that the liberal mob will suddenly turn and destroy you like piranha.

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Although they are using all the abuse allegations as an excuse to turn on her and those allegations may very well be true. It seems they are mostly pissed off that she sat with George Bush, I am just a casual spectator in all of this but that seems to be the true turning point for her.

In terms of the abuse. If true, she probably would have continued getting away with it if she never upset the herd by sitting with a Republican. And yes the Libs want full power of their disciples, step out of line and you are toast.

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"And yes the Libs want full power of their disciples, step out of line and you are toast."

I'm not sure I buy that. I suppose some may call me a Lib (though that's not how I would describe myself exactly) and I think it's great that she has the maturity to separate a person from their political beliefs. Her friendship with Bush actually makes me like her more.

I think the attack against her is a lot more coordinated and I don't believe it's liberal in its origin.

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There are lots of cases where an otherwise Lib celebrity says something that doesn't suit the Lib agenda and they are hounded for it.

I was surprised she sat with Bush as well and although I don't like her at all I do like that she has the balls to do that.

I still think it is the core of the backlash and the Celebs know that the public won't get on board with ostracizing her just because she is friends with a Republican. So they either support her staff with actual allegations of her being a bitch or they make them up.

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She eats babies.

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The old post turtle trick.

Some say Oprah Wine Free is one too.

Not me though, I mind my own business.

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She's famous cause she's funny. But she's also a bitch.

😎

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