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Talk Show Ellen Degeneres

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When times are difficult and people feel as if there is no possible way they could ever be happy again, one of the best ways to overcome that feeling of uselessness is by doing something you love to do. One way some individuals believe is the best way to overcome difficult times is through comedy. One person who believes making people laugh can help ease her pain is Ellen Degeneres. In her talk show “Ellen” when she was upset about her dog being taken away from another family, she said, “I’m a human being and I have bad days and I have sad days but when I walk out here and when ya’ll cheer and when you’re here to dance and here to laugh and I know I make people happy, it changes my mood. I come out here and I can do anything because of the …show more content…

At a young age she lived in New Orleans with her family but after her parents got divorced she left with her mom (Betty) and moved to Texas at the age of 13 while her brother (Vance) and father (Elliott) remained in Louisiana. When she was sixteen, Degeneres says, that she was molested by her mother’s second husband while her mother was in the middle of breast cancer surgery. This situation which happened so many years ago still haunts Ellen and her mother to this day. She commented to an interviewer that “ We don't talk about it much because she feels really, really guilty,” (ELLEN At Home, At Ease). Ellen also told the interviewer that “it was a horrible situation for me, and to not know anything about my body at 16 years old, to be raised a Christian Scientist , to not know that everyone’s breasts are different, and this man is telling me he needs to feel mine because he thinks he’s found another lump in my mother’s breasts.” (ELLEN At Home, At Ease). The day after the incident she told her best friends mother about it and was told to keep it a secret which is exactly what she did. This abuse continued through her high school career and it wasn't until 2 years after her graduation that she finally told her mother about it. Her mother didn't want to believe any of the news and was ready to leave him but she still stayed with him for another 10 to 12 years afterwards. Her mother, Betty Degeneres says:” there aren't …show more content…

She said that she found her ‘calling’ when she performed a makeshift comedy routine about a person that was telling a story while eating. Her performance at the party was noticed and she started getting requests from local coffeehouses to perform for them as well. Ellen landed her first solid gig in 1981 as emcee at Clyde’s Comedy Corner in the French Quarter which happened to be the only comedy club in New Orleans at the time. Her reward for her shows at the Corner...was being named the “funniest person in America” in 1982 by a talent scout for the cable channel Showtime. Degeneres’ first gig had made a huge impact on her comical career because soon enough Ellen found herself touring the United States in a Winnebago bus. But being named the Funniest person in America has its downside. One of these downsides was having people try to humiliate you in front of a crowd. Ellen recalled a time when she was working a club and the previous performer had turned the crowd against her before she even took the stage. “The front row was a bunch of guys who actually stood up, turned their chairs around, and faced the other way,” Degeneres said. Instead of giving up she ended up hiring an agent and then entered into a contest at the San Francisco Comedy Festival where she came in second! Her fame kept on rising between being called onto the Tonight Show and other talk shows. She performed for

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