Finding humor, substance in Ellen DeGeneres

ELLEN DeGeneres Ruben V. Nepales

(First of two parts)

LOS ANGELES—In person, Ellen DeGeneres’ round blue eyes are larger. As in her “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” she is genuinely warm and humorous. Wearing a blue denim jacket, black and white printed shirt and black pants, she looks far younger than her 58 years.

In “Finding Dory,” director Andrew Stanton’s sequel to “Finding Nemo,” Ellen is back as the lovable, forgetful, blue tang fish. This time, Dory, as the central character, goes on a quest to find her parents, voiced by Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy.

Pixar triumphs once more with an engaging story and stunning images, with actors doing topnotch voice acting, aside from Ellen, Eugene and Diane: Albert Brooks (Marlin), Ed O’Neill (Hank), Hayden Rolence (Nemo), Ty Burrell (Bailey), Idris Elba (Fluke) and Dominic West (Rudder).

In this freewheeling interview at Montage Beverly Hills Hotel, Ellen talked about a wide array of topics, including her wife, actress Portia de Rossi; the most memorable moments in her popular TV talk show; and her “cousin,” the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton.

Excerpts from our chat:

You get people to talk about something they don’t want to talk about in your show. What’s your secret in getting this out of people?

We slip something into their drinks in the dressing room. No, I don’t know. I think I make people comfortable and, for whatever reason, they open up. And the audience is always a great one—very warm and receptive.

Have there been times when things didn’t go as planned?

One word—Kanye. When you have Kanye on, you don’t know where it’s going—it’s always a surprise… always interesting.

If you were to interview yourself, what would you ask yourself?

I interview myself every day (laughs). I really don’t know what I would ask myself.

For you, what have been the most memorable segments in the show?

The most memorable was, early on, there was a soap opera called “Passions.” It had an orangutan who was in love with a woman on the show. It was the craziest soap opera. So, we thought it would be funny to have the orangutan on as a guest. Now, an orangutan doesn’t talk.

So, I don’t know what we were thinking. But literally, an orangutan sat next to me. I don’t know what I was thinking for five minutes, to interact with an orangutan. It broke things.

Another one was Jeff Corwin, who’s an animal expert on Animal Planet. He brought a 20-foot python. It wrapped itself around my legs and crotch. Its tail was between my crotch, moving around. I had to grab the crotch and move.

Have you thought about why many kids adore you?

People have asked me that, but I can’t explain it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, they say. So, it amazes me because, first of all, the ages of 11 and 12 are the youngest in the audience. But when I’m out in public, the kids who freak out when they see me are around 8 to 10 years old. I have a range of little kids who really get me.

And I have 90-year-old people who watch me every day. I’m honest, and people respond to honesty and authenticity. As far as the young kids who relate to me, I’m very immature (laughs). I’m very childlike. I don’t think we should stop playing. When we are kids, we play hide and seek and chase. We do all these fun things.

Then, we are taught that we are supposed to not play anymore and not laugh so much. But I still do all those. I am 58 years old, and I still love to play. So, maybe they relate to how immature I am.

As a comedian, how do you know what is going to work?

When I did standup, I never tried out material on anyone, because I don’t think that telling your material to one person is going to be a great basis if it’s going to work or not. It’s the energy in the room and the way you tell it. It depends on what is coming before it and after, because if you have seen any of my standup specials, it all has a theme and it blends into it.

I write in different pieces, but then, I put it together as a theme. So, it starts someplace, then transitions from one to another easily. I am my harshest critic, so I am really particular if I put something out there.

It comes to me at different times. It used to come to me in the middle of the night, or before I went to sleep. The whole thing about the phone call to God (her brilliant standup bit) came to me because someone—my girlfriend at the time—died, and she was only 20 years old.

I didn’t understand how a 20-year-old could just die in a car crash, and then there were fleas on my bed. I didn’t know why fleas had a purpose. So, I imagined if we could just pick up a phone and call God…

It came out immediately, like what that conversation would be. It would ring for a long time, because it’s a big place. I would be put on hold, then I’d be listening to “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” He would make fun of my name, because it sounds like “degenerate.” He would tell me jokes, because I’m a comedian.

Then, He explains that fleas have a purpose because of the flea collar industry making so much money and the sprays—it employs people. So, it came from a deep place of sadness… that I had lost my girlfriend. Then, I thought, what would God tell me about this?

ELLEN DeGeneres (right) with Portia de Rossi AFP

Who influenced you as a performer?

Steve Martin, Woody Allen, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball—a combination of all of them.

An important line in the movie is, “What would Dory do?” In your own life, who would you think of to guide you in making crucial decisions? Is it, “What would Portia do?”

I didn’t have a guide (when I was growing up) and that, I guess, is why I’m where I am today. I just found my own way. I did a lot of soul-searching and meditating on who I am and who I want to be. I learned a lot of lessons the hard way.

I would add Portia to that list, but I didn’t know her back then. So, I would say, “What would Portia do?” and probably do the opposite.

When you were a kid, how much did you like animated films?

The first movie I remember seeing was “Born Free.” I didn’t see “Bambi,” because [my family]  thought that was going to be too upsetting to me. But I remember seeing “Born Free,” and from then on, it was a lot of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” musicals and comedies.

I didn’t really see a lot of animated films. So, this is a whole new experience for me—and a whole new world. I’m in awe of how popular and complex animated films can be, and how people get so invested in this fish and other characters. It’s a testament to the writing, directing and the animation.

You’re busy with the TV show. But people also miss you as an actress. Do you miss acting?

I do. And that’s why I loved doing this film, because it’s acting at its hardest. You don’t have the benefit of using body language. You are acting strictly with your voice—which is such a challenge, especially in emotional moments when I cried in the recording studio.

When you see Dory crying, I was crying, because it was sad. So I do miss that. I worry that I am getting to be too known as a talk show host to be able to do that (acting). But Oprah (Winfrey) has transitioned somehow, and I am going to launch my own diet food line, too. But I hope to get back to acting, because I love it.

This movie stresses that it’s OK to be different. Can you talk about that?

That’s the whole message of the movie—you just keep swimming. Look at all the characters: Nemo has a short fin that doesn’t really work. Marlin is fearful. You have the two whales;  one can’t figure out his eco location and the other can’t see. [Hank the octopus] is missing a tentacle. Yeah, we’re all flawed—and that’s okay.

(To be concluded on Sunday.)

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