Ellen DeGeneres' Netflix comedy special: End of the talk show, backlash

[This story contains spoilers from Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval.]

Ellen DeGeneres has the last laugh.

In her latest (and apparently final) stand-up special, now streaming on Netflix, the former talk show host talks about how she was “kicked out of show business” – and she uses it to get laughs. But in between the various punchlines, there are also moments of sincerity and real reflection. “I'm here because I love doing stand-up and I miss doing stand-up and I like making people happy and I care what people think,” she admits at the start of the special, which is aptly titled: Ellen DeGeneres: For your consent.

In case you somehow missed the countless headlines in 2020, DeGeneres' eponymous talk show was hit with allegations of toxic work ethic, which came shortly after a series of personal jabs at DeGeneres herself. She has maintained that neither was the reason she ultimately quit the long-running show, though she has been open about the heartache the controversy caused. “Here's the thing: I'm a comedian who got a talk show, and I ended the show every day saying, 'Be nice to each other.' Yes, I know it seemed like a good idea,” she says in the new hour, working her way toward a well-received punchline: “If I had ended my show by saying, 'Fuck you,' people would have been pleasantly surprised to find out that I'm nice.”

Much like that article, the special begins by refreshing the saga of 2020 (which it does through a series of dramatic headlines), along with the saga that engulfed DeGeneres' career years earlier when she found herself on the cover of Time Magazine. Then DeGeneres comes on stage and gives her own summary. “I got kicked out of show business. Yes, because I'm mean. You can't be mean and be in show business. They'll kick you out. No mean people in show business,” she jokes, adding that this is her second offense. “They kicked me out before because I told them I was out. No gays in show business. They'll kick you out. You can't be gay and be in show business. At some point they'll kick me out a third time because I'm old – mean, old and gay, the triple crown.”

And there's plenty more comedy where that comes from. “For me, it was never about the money. It was about healing my childhood wounds. I thought if I can make people happy, they'll like me. And if they like me, I'll feel good,” she says at one point, before saying with a serious face, “And all I can say to that is, thank God for the money.” Of course, DeGeneres addresses other topics, from chickens to parking, but the majority of the special focuses on the controversy and its impact.

The new hour – which technically lasts one hour and 10 minutes – is part of a pricey two-special deal DeGeneres signed years ago. The first in that pact, in 2018 Assignablewas DeGeneres' first special in 15 years. For your approval was produced by Ben Winston and his production company Fulwell 73 Productions, along with DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi, who joins her onstage at the end. Joel Gallen, who also directed Chris Rock's 2023 production, Selective outrage especially, directing.

As the special comes to a close, DeGeneres reveals that she is finally happy – happy to no longer be a brand, a boss or a billboard, and declares herself a strong woman to deafening cheers and a standing ovation. She then profusely thanks the audience for their love and support, admitting that she didn't think she would ever do stand-up comedy again because she didn't think she could find the funny in what had happened. But returning to it was “healing,” she concludes to sustained applause, adding, “I'm so glad I was able to say goodbye on my terms.”