On Thursday, it became official that Ellen DeGeneres would not be returning to American Idol to judge for another season. Ellen has long been known as one of the nicest people in comedy, so this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone. More surprising perhaps, is that she took the job in the first place. Crushing people’s dreams just isn’t in her skill set.
As one of the most successful working comedians of the last decade, Ellen has made her way to the top without being vulgar or putting people down. She has lived a life most comedians dream of. Her list of credits includes The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, an HBO special, her own sitcom, host of both The Emmys and The Academy Awards, host of Saturday Night Live, the voice of a Disney character and now host of her Emmy Award-winning talk show Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Ellen began doing stand up in the early 80s, at a time when very few women braved the stage alone. Her material has always been gender-neutral, and it wasn’t until several years into her career that she would officially announce that she was gay, which she did so in a sketch that mocked the very idea of having a grand coming-out-of-the-closet broadcast. Producers weren’t at all happy with the idea of having an openly gay woman as the star of a sitcom, and after her announcement on the show Ellen in 1997, ratings dropped and the show was canceled shortly thereafter.
Critics may be quick to blame the show’s cancellation on Ellen, but doing so is just too easy and, quite honestly, false. After the success of her talk show, you can hardly say that she can’t relate to audiences. Ellen: The Ellen Degeneres Show premiered in 2003 and has been going strong ever since, earning several Emmy nominations and wins. She even confronted Republican Presidential nominee John McCain on her show about his hard stance against gay marriage. Always polite and respectful, Ellen calmly argued her point and ended the interview with warmth and laughter. Now, 30 years into her career, she continues to be brave and family-friendly while remaining brilliantly funny.
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