r/television • u/Gato1980 • 12h ago
Ellen DeGeneres Is Unapologetic, Unrelatable and Totally Insufferable in Her New Netflix Special 'For Your Approval'
https://www.cracked.com/article_43701_ellen-degeneres-is-unapologetic-unrelatable-and-totally-insufferable-in-her-new-netflix-special.html9.6k
u/analogliving71 11h ago
so what else is new with her?
2.9k
u/WildLemire 11h ago
This time she's got a Netflix special to be all those things on.
→ More replies (10)1.3k
u/xjeeper 11h ago
Netflix will give anyone a special
906
u/bizzaro321 11h ago
They signed a huge contract with her before the controversy, I wonder if this is just contractually obligated garbage.
1.5k
u/Skellos 11h ago
Contractually Obligated Garbage would be a great stand-up special name.
→ More replies (43)505
u/SeveralAngryBears 11h ago
Monty Python released a "Contractual Obligation Album" of songs and audio skits in 1980
377
u/ephemeratea 10h ago
Of COURSE Monty Python already thought of it and did it 40+ years ago
→ More replies (3)158
u/Chaosmusic 10h ago
Before Simpson's Did It there was Monty Python Did It.
→ More replies (14)67
u/copperwatt 9h ago
"Monty Python Did It" would be a good name for a Monty Python project.
→ More replies (5)103
u/trumpuniversity_ 10h ago
Let’s not forget “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” by Nirvana.
→ More replies (5)32
u/Everestkid 9h ago
Which is a damn good song, love playing it on drums even though it's not the most technical thing ever.
The fact it starts with the guitar equivalent of The Most Annoying Sound In The World from Dumb and Dumber tops off the on-the-nose-ness.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (20)56
→ More replies (42)120
u/QouthTheCorvus 10h ago
They seem to love the "Comedian bitches about cancel culture" format
→ More replies (3)95
u/Fafoah 9h ago
It got annoying at the comedy store when every other comedian retread the same ground about it
I understand why they’re upset, but the reality is that the comedians complaining about cancel culture are just past their prime. If a comedian is bombing, it’s usually not the audiences fault. Part of the craft is having enough material, awareness, and wit to roll with the punches. Guys who stopped practicing and coasted on their reputation are just pissed it stopped working.
→ More replies (48)35
174
u/ididntunderstandyou 11h ago
Most lucrative space to shout about being cancelled
99
u/Chastain86 10h ago
SEE ALSO: The entire first 15 minutes of Chris Rock's "Selective Outrage" special on Netflix.
Rock may have been some transcendent comedy in the last hour of that thing, but I ended up turning it off after the first 20 minutes, because it was literally listening to him moan and complain about being canceled, and how he's not free to say what he wants. Y'know. On his Netflix special. That's on the front page and first tile of the app.
→ More replies (11)→ More replies (7)106
u/ThingsAreAfoot 11h ago
Lucrative as fuck too. Netflix will pay these cancelled creatures $20 million a pop, to cry about how the woke mainstream media is silencing them.
→ More replies (8)12
u/AbleObject13 5h ago
to cry about how the woke mainstream media is silencing them
And go onto Joe Rogan, the most popular podcast, and fox news, the most watched news network to complain, unironically, about the mainstream media
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (86)38
230
u/DrKurgan 10h ago
Regarding the unrelatable part, she was already unrelatable in her 2018 special which was called "Relatable". She had jokes about getting lost in her house for example. Her life being unrelatable is (for better or worse) part of her shtick. She doesn't pretend to be a regular person like some other extremely rich comedians do but it comes out as tone deaf most of the time.
→ More replies (5)61
u/Electrical_Dog_9459 7h ago
Remember back in the 90's when they had "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" on TV? Can you imagine that being on TV today? Back then it was aspirational. Today it's infuriating.
→ More replies (14)37
u/Super_Harsh 5h ago
There still is shit like that on network TV today lol. And there's plenty of tasteless content like that on social media nowadays. The audience for that kind of thing hasn't gone anywhere
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (47)41
1.3k
10h ago edited 4h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
280
→ More replies (77)141
u/pkosuda 9h ago
Thank you for posting this. This is a lot more important than just “she’s an out of touch millionaire” or “she’s a mean/bad boss”. Like you said, a legit evil person. Or at the very least, so cold and uncaring that she’s willing to turn a blind eye to murder if it means making some more money.
Funny how these people can continue to see themselves as good people just because they’re “the main character” in their lives. Reminder that we’re still monkeys, I suppose.
→ More replies (3)
6.0k
u/Moonfishin 11h ago edited 10h ago
About 10 years ago, my ex got a job interview to be a PA on the WB lot for the Ellen show. She was over the moon at the opportunity.
When she arrived on the lot, they had her sign an NDA/releases and wait in a green room. When they called her, she walked out on stage to a live studio test audience. Turns out, she was on the taping of a pilot for a new game show under Ellen's production company, and the interview was a bait-and-switch!
She proceeded to bawl her eyes out in front of everyone, because she had been searching for a production job for months in LA. There were other applicants there, including a few who had taken time off work or used LA public transportation to get there.
The producers (having finally connected to their humanity) felt so bad for their shitty tactics, they gave her a job as a PA on Ellen. But it was humiliating for her and for the others, especially those that got nothing out of the experience. Shockingly, the show never aired.
She lasted 6 months there and had some crazy stories about how much Ellen sucked. Apparently Kevin Nealon and Conan are angels, though.
4.0k
u/Pyrrhus_Magnus 10h ago
Apparently Kevin Nealon and Conan are angels, though.
To the surprise of absolutely no one.
2.3k
u/Endemoniada 10h ago
Ellen pretends to be nice, but is secretly horrible and that’s what people come away telling about her after only working for her a short period.
Conan pretends to be horrible, meanwhile people keep working for him for decades and love it, and him, the whole time, because he’s actually a decent human being.
1.8k
u/birdsgottalearntoo 10h ago edited 7h ago
At the height of Conan’s late night show, my brother and I were teenagers. He worked in the kitchen of a fancy beach club in a town that Conan vacations in. The man was there for an event and my brother was serving “mini pear salad” on a buffet line. Conan quipped to my brother “mini pears huh? Are those the pears that got beaten up in high school?” And my brother, star struck, just responded with a nervous, voice-cracking “yes, Mr. O’Brien”
1.2k
u/hotstepper77777 10h ago
I love how every Conan interaction has the energy of awkward Simpsons dialog
612
u/birdsgottalearntoo 10h ago edited 10h ago
Yeah my brother either accidently or intuitively embodied the low wage teen worker from the Simpson in that moment
282
u/LymonBisquik 10h ago
I can hear the voice crack
→ More replies (1)57
→ More replies (5)73
105
61
u/A911owner 5h ago
I read somewhere that Conan once said that when he was writing for The Simpsons, his favorite thing to do was researching incredibly old things for Mr Burns to reference. Looking back on it, those are totally Conan jokes.
→ More replies (2)26
u/JimboTCB 1h ago
"I'd like to send this letter to the Prussian Consulate in Siam by aeromail. Am I too late for the 4:30 auto-gyro?"
→ More replies (7)19
u/nonprofitnews 4h ago
Conan is my all-time favorite celeb spot. I got caught staring at him for a solid minute and he noticed. Thing is I didn't even recognize him at first. I just saw this tall, gangly man with skin as white as milk in a black hat and black trench coat and was just confused. When he got close he said "hi" and I realized it was him. This was way back when he was hosting the Late Show.
→ More replies (1)320
u/CharlesKellyRatKing 9h ago
I adore Conan's overwhelming need to get a laugh out of every single person he interacts with, including a kid working a buffet in the fancy beach club he's vacationing in.
83
u/iambecomesoil 5h ago
I’ve known some people who were trying to be comedic actors who were the same way and it was fucking exhausting as they did not have the wit or charm of Conan.
→ More replies (4)221
u/Iplaymeinreallife 8h ago
"No, they just had to go through a lot of pear pressure, sir."
129
u/hasa_deega_eebowai 8h ago
The next morning shower thought. “Ah! THAT’S what I should’ve said!”
29
u/LouBerryManCakes 7h ago
Oh yeah? Well the jerk store called, they're running out of pears!
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)15
32
→ More replies (14)24
203
u/Toad_Thrower 10h ago
I always loved the Conan skits with his employees because they always seem to genuinely adore him.
Even Jordan Schlansky is constantly holding back from smiling/laughing as hard as he can.
99
u/HomsarWasRight 10h ago
I saw an interview with Jordan one time and, while he absolutely is who he appears to be, he said that he loves Conan and thinks he’s hilarious.
→ More replies (3)66
u/oopsydazys 7h ago
There's some interviews and segments they've done where Jordan isn't in character, but the difference is small enough that I think some people wouldn't realize it.
The character he plays is built on his own personality. Conan is very much the same way. He makes jokes about how he has this compulsive need to be the center of attention and be doing bits, and if you listen to interviews with people who knew him before Conan they all say that he was very much the same guy then, he was doing the stupid shit he did on TV in the Simpsons offices to entertain people because, as his one special says, he can't stop.
→ More replies (3)43
→ More replies (6)81
u/renome 10h ago
Schlansky absolutely loses his shit in the Argentina episode of his new HBO travel show. 😂 Oh, I mean Max travel show; they used to call it HBO, but people found that too popular.
→ More replies (3)564
u/JoshDaws 10h ago
I mean in fairness Conan is a megalomaniacal villain, he just realizes it, and has set himself up to be his own foil. He perceives every even unintended slight, but realizes it’s a flaw in himself to be mocked. He’s a great display of humility being the ultimate character trait.
232
u/oversoul00 10h ago
This is a great example of taming the beast within rather than pretending it doesn't exist.
→ More replies (4)73
u/RachetFuzz 10h ago
Gotta babadook yourself. Mental problems are problems but that’s no excuse for cruelty.
23
u/MegaMagnetar 9h ago
Hey man, what I babadook to myself in the comfort of my own home is nobody's business.
→ More replies (1)80
u/dizzyd_sb 10h ago
Do you think this relates to how self critical he is as well? (The part about perceiving everything as a slight)
→ More replies (1)113
u/mwoody450 10h ago
Oh undoubtedly. Speaking in general and from my experience on both sides of it, those critical of others often do so because their own internal voice (which no doubt sounds a lot like their parents) is constantly doing the same. When you spend your life having every single thing you do picked apart internally, it's hard not to be jealous and angry when you perceive others aren't held to the same standard. Misery, as they say, loves company.
Or to put it another way: think of the worst people you know, and realize that every single room they've ever been in has had them in it, and how much that would suck.
→ More replies (3)39
u/DoctorMansteel 10h ago
those critical of others often do so because their own internal voice (which no doubt sounds a lot like their parents)
Straight out of a Douglas Adams book.
72
u/Lord_Blakeney 10h ago
Conan has an ability that most in Hollywood lack. He had the capacity to genuinely laugh at and mock himself. He’s his own great punching bag and people appreciate that.
→ More replies (1)23
u/SynthBeta 9h ago
Only he can make fun of himself during the 08 writers strike and play with cameras on the set for 5 minutes and be hilarious.
20
u/roguevirus 9h ago
Add a faux 3 way fight between him, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert and you've got the best Writer's Strike entertainment ever!
27
u/Dairy_Ashford 10h ago
I mean in fairness Conan is a megalomaniacal villain
he's built like a draft of an early Batman character, based on some Gangs of New York politician
Eric Schaeffer doesn't love him; made a whole cable series about it
→ More replies (1)52
u/Internal-Economics63 10h ago
That’s a very insightful point about Conan’s personality
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (17)51
u/raphael-iglesias 10h ago
Some of the clips with Jordan Schlansky really show that side of him. And he realizes that and uses it to make great TV.
On the podcast, Jordan told a story about his first interaction with Conan and it wasn't good at all. They kept it in though.
38
u/DrewbieWanKenobie 10h ago
It's a good story, but that wasn't the first time they interacted, jordan had worked on the show for years at that point
→ More replies (1)21
u/BannedSvenhoek86 9h ago
If you think that's bad you should see what Harrison Ford did to his Lego Millennium Falcon.
→ More replies (1)29
u/FNLN_taken 9h ago
The thing I love about Ford is that he'll bullshit in your face for his own entertainment. Man's been stuck in idgaf mode for decades.
19
u/PDGAreject 7h ago
Ford was being interviewed, coincidentally by Conan, and Conan asked why he had come back for Star Wars after so long and saying he wouldn't. Ford just mimed the "money" finger rub and laughed and Conan lost it.
19
u/Rockstar42 7h ago edited 7h ago
My favorite Conan / Ford moment is on Conan's podcast: Ford: "Can I swear on this?" Conan:"Yeah, that's fine" Ford: "OK. Fuck you."
So deadpan, it was hilarious
EDIT: not what I said verbatim but I got the gist of it https://youtu.be/jpDaDYQEkKo?si=8-Uv1jY2ry2RbUs3
18
u/finalremix 9h ago
He's a self-admitted bad interviewer. So, he found the "fuckit" switch and toggled that on, permanently.
21
u/CarpeMofo 8h ago
Yeah, from what I understand he's actually friendly and nice to fans. He just finds interviews boring and the grumpy old bastard bit makes them more interesting.
→ More replies (4)49
70
u/AnotherThroneAway 8h ago
I met him once at a coffee shop and he was clearly in a hurry, didn't have time to stop for a photo, but totally did anyway and then sat there listening to me blubber about how much I like his work while his manager tried to get him out of there. For several minutes he clearly didn't have, he stopped and paid full attention to a fan. He's just a stand-up standup guy.
→ More replies (3)72
u/ChronoLink99 10h ago
If Sona hasn't quit after their decades together, I think we can assume Conan is great.
64
60
u/Hopefulkitty 9h ago
Sona rules Conan. She hired an assistant for herself, and they watch Real Housewives together and get stoned at work. But Conan relies on her, and they seem to genuinely love each other.
13
19
23
u/Taylorenokson 8h ago
Listen to the way Sona laughs at Conan as opposed to when she’s laughing at his guests. It’s just different. I truly believe Sona is Conan’s biggest fan.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (27)20
221
u/Unaabellatica 10h ago
Thats because Kevin Nealon has a lot of solid energy, good positive aura, great, great, it's all great.
56
35
26
→ More replies (9)11
58
u/Chris20nyy 8h ago
I went to a taping of Late Night with Conan about 20 years ago.
Part of the show introduction was him coming down through the audience and shaking audience members hands along the aisle. I had an aisle seat.
He shakes about 7 or 8 hands, and he gets to me. He throws his arms up like I was a long lost friend and gives me a hug. Never met him before, and I was one of his biggest fans. It was so strange, awkward and absolutely lovely at the same time. It felt like he knew how excited I was.
44
u/markhachman 10h ago
Nealon's interview-hike-podcast thing on YouTube is really worth a watch.
→ More replies (5)22
u/SurpriseDonovanMcnab 10h ago
I dunno, I saw Concan attack Kevin Nealon on Conan's podcast. And Conan never goes on walks with Kevin. What kind of shit is that?
→ More replies (2)15
u/CranberryCivil2608 7h ago
Seriously, Nealon literally walks past his house and he never joins him. Whats up with that?
→ More replies (1)17
u/BlasterShow 9h ago
Time to watch Kevin on Conan Needs a Friend. Again.
“Take a break, we’ll be right back.”
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (32)43
u/DrDiarrheaBrowns 10h ago edited 9h ago
I look at guys like them, and (surprisingly to me) Daniel Tosh as examples of the type of man I'd like to be like (and be comfortable being like). Loyal partners (as far as I know), loving and emotive fathers, and not caught up in any reprehensible bullshit, like so many other famous people.
→ More replies (2)44
u/stevencastle 9h ago
Yeah Tosh played the asshole character on Tosh.0 but if you watch his podcast he comes off as really genuine and caring, and has great rapport with his guests.
16
u/DrDiarrheaBrowns 9h ago
Yeah, I've been hooked on Tosh Show on YouTube. The episodes where he interviews his father in law, and the recent one where he interviews his young son are really great. He comes off very likeable and genuine.
→ More replies (1)11
u/CabbieCam 8h ago
There's a Tosh show on YouTube?!?
20
u/DrDiarrheaBrowns 8h ago
I'm THRILLED to share it with you: Tosh Show - interviewing his FIL
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)14
409
u/I_just_made 10h ago
I feel like that should be illegal.
270
u/Moonfishin 10h ago
I tried to get her to chat with an employment lawyer about the experience, but she was employed by them at the time, so it was a tough spot.
156
u/GrinchStoleYourShit 9h ago
Probably the exact reason they chose to employ her
25
u/elharry-o 7h ago
The PR backlash alone if she went loud with her experience was surely less than the cost of just employing her.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)101
u/WhosThatYousThat 10h ago
Agreed. There was a full season TV show that aired on Netflix where the premise was offering people jobs and then pranking them. One of the kids from Stranger Things hosted it.
→ More replies (7)151
u/NachoNutritious 9h ago
I literally just saw a video a few days ago from someone that claimed to have been baited by a show like this. He applied for and got a job, he showed up and then a prank started. He left halfway through and they tried to chase him down so he'd sign papers letting them use the footage for $200, instead he contacted an employment lawyer and settled with them for $5k. He said he had to wait several years in order to be able to talk about it, I'm curious now if it was this show specifically.
54
u/WhosThatYousThat 9h ago
instead he contacted an employment lawyer and settled with them for $5k.
Nice!
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)46
u/Dulwilly 8h ago
He applied for and got a job
That could easily be a week or two of job searching lost and maybe even turning down actual jobs. $5k is on the low end of what this prank could cost a random person.
Calling the victim in for a fake job interview is still awful but not nearly as costly.
280
u/Sorry_Sorry_Im_Sorry 10h ago
Did a test screening once for a movie where the studio essentially lied to get everyone in to see a certain genre and then showed a completely different genre, using the entire event to record people walking out as part of their publicity. Not only were people who attended the screening frustrated cause they were mislead about it all, but the theater wasn't happy with the agency either.
→ More replies (23)125
u/Niosai 10h ago
...was this Paranormal Activity? This was, like, half the marketing for that first one.
→ More replies (3)194
u/PaulSurvivor 10h ago
I moved to Los Angeles in 2011, and as I met lots of new people during my first months in town, so many of them had personal stories of at least one and sometimes both of the following experiences:
(a) Being sexually harassed or groped by Andy Dick in public.
(b) Working for the Ellen show, and she was a giant cunt.
67
u/kkeut 9h ago
there's literally a documentary called something like 'Everyone Has An Andy Dick Story'
→ More replies (2)14
u/riddlechance 8h ago
I once saw him in a popular diner about 10 years ago when I was passing through LA and heard him making some pretty crude jokes to a poor waitress. I had second hand cringe looking at the waitress fake-laughing and trying to be polite. Didn't see him groping anyone though, but I did leave before him.
→ More replies (24)48
u/thatmermaidprincess Six Feet Under 9h ago
Wow this is exactly spot on. The Andy Dick stories are thankfully getting fewer and fewer since now I think he’s either in jail or he’s a registered sex offender? But I’m from LA and have an Andy Dick story – and I work in post-production, so it’s not like I’m trying to be a visible, public figure. It was completely random. I barely knew who he was at the time (probably generational as I’m in my twenties). He was wasted and grabbed my boob when I was standing outside of Little Pine in Silver Lake after a business meeting when I was like 20. I was too shocked to even yell at him and only really knew it was him by his voice and how the people with him were trying to corral him into the car (including an older blonde woman with a nasally whiny voice and tons of work done yelling “ANDYYYY ANDYYYYY HONEYYY COME HEREEEEE” - always wondered who that was).
I was on the Ellen show as a child when she did a Cinco de Mayo special taping on Olvera Street and was having people make wishes into the fountain there, this was in about 2005. Nothing crazy to report other than the second they were done filming and Ellen was hamming up her “good with kids” persona, Ellen did not talk or look at me nor my parents and walked right past the PA who had fetched me from the crowd as if she didn’t exist with an annoyed expression. I took that as she was having a bad day until I started hearing stories from family friends later.
→ More replies (1)23
u/PaulSurvivor 9h ago
Yup.
Some people still aren't going to believe us, but it's wild how common both of these stories are.
The specifics of your Andy Dick encounter are exactly, exactly what I heard from multiple friends and acquaintances back then. If you're still in your 20s now, and your run-in with Andy Dick happened when you were 20, that means he kept pulling that same shit for years. Years!
As grimly yet utterly unsurprised as I am that someone came along to confirm what I wrote within an hour of my posting it, I'm still sorry you experienced even one of those situations, let alone both.
→ More replies (2)65
u/Unlucky_Most_8757 10h ago
That's just cruel. Especially with the whole move to LA/New York and live out your dream and be succesful thing that so many young people try to do.
105
u/fistofthefuture 10h ago
That NDA was presented under false pretense, so it wouldn’t last a second in court based off the story. She can tell all anytime she wants.
→ More replies (1)115
u/Compulsive_Bater 9h ago
Just to jump on and co-sign your post -
Many years ago I worked for Ellen's production company and in 25 years it was one of my top 3 worst production experiences.
Every single person underneath her - from execs to PA's were absolutely terrified of her and in fear of getting fired at any given minute. The execs treated people terribly and it rolled downhill.
From a budget standpoint they were impossibly cheap, and ill prepared. I was put into a ridiculous situation where performance was extremely unlikely due to lack of information and preparation. After the shoot I was called into the office by the PM at the time and she said she had to let me go. I was relieved and she said that I shouldn't worry about it, they let people go all the time and have a crazy high turnover rate.
Ellen is an awful, toxic human being. Her whole persona is an act and she should've been banished from Hollywood ages ago for the way her and her producers treated people.
There are tons of stories around LA about how horrible she treats people, I can't believe they have her a special. I hope it absolutely bombs.
That show stressed me out, go fuck yourself Ellen.
→ More replies (8)19
u/alargepowderedwater 8h ago
…so what were the other two worst production experiences?
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (51)51
u/Kianna9 10h ago
used LA public transportation to get there
Exceptionally cruel.
→ More replies (2)
1.6k
u/jessinboston 11h ago
She was in her last standup too. She’s just another out of touch millionaire.
406
u/Ericaohh 9h ago
“You know how in St. Bart’s people be eatin’ their lobster like this?”
67
u/parsonsparsons 9h ago
What's your name, is it swimming?
65
u/Ericaohh 9h ago
I would like some chicken nuggets, a beer, and some of my wife’s rice to stay
→ More replies (3)26
u/CatDisco99 8h ago
This was my first thought when reading the reviews!
DON’T LOOK AT ME IN THE EYES
→ More replies (1)73
u/GeoHog713 9h ago
ICU81MI?
52
u/Ericaohh 9h ago
That’s inscrutable
→ More replies (1)34
u/GeoHog713 9h ago
PANTS PANTS PANTS PANTS!!!!
16
→ More replies (1)17
→ More replies (8)18
→ More replies (33)376
u/melvingoldfarb 11h ago
Wasnt the last one called "relatable" or something like that? like the premise of the whole special is that she's an out of touch millionaire.
Guess I could google that to make sure but let's just go ahead and post without any fact checking.
68
u/MammothCommaWheely 9h ago
Went to a comedy show and the comedian was just becoming big and had the stupidest joke about it. Theyre ranting and raving about being afraid to become successful and out of touch but can already feel it happening. “Like i bought a brand new mattress and its the comfiest thing in the world…keeps me up at night” so stupid but i lost it
17
→ More replies (5)146
u/PhillAholic 10h ago
Yea that was the joke. It was fine. It would have been surprising for her to hit it out of the park after being out of the game for so long.
→ More replies (3)66
u/Sufficient_Number643 9h ago
It was almost exclusively recycled/slightly updated jokes from her older standup routines unfortunately.
→ More replies (7)56
u/hedoeswhathewants 8h ago
It's not like she has much to draw from.
"So the other day I was abusing one of my dozen unpaid interns..."
→ More replies (1)
1.3k
u/Status_Web_8917 11h ago
It will be interesting to see if she can still write, and tell, a good stand up joke. I don't think she has done a stand up routine in over a decade.
I did think she was quite good when she was young and coming up, but I don't know how much of that Ellen is still around, it may just be the crazy a-hole Ellen that's been around since she got her own talk show.
642
u/Mike9797 11h ago
Ya her 2 specials from the early 00’s late 90’s are actually pretty damn funny and caught me off guard. I just didn’t expect them to be as good as they were. I don’t expect her to be as relatable today as she was in those 2.
293
u/Caelinus 11h ago
Money and power poison most people's brains, making them lose touch whith what is normal, and in turn it can cause them to think they deserve it is a way that is unique to them. That can often result in them being complete assholes, which then makes people pull back from them. Then when the smallest amount of that wealth and power is taken away, the out of touch person does not react well.
The pattern happens really often with high profile famous people who lack humility.
111
u/threehundredthousand 11h ago
I also think self-awareness becomes warped when someone no longer relates to regular people. It's greatly amplified when you're very rich and famous and mainly associate with other famous people. It's like the reverse of living in a cabin in the woods alone for decades.
116
u/_Patronizes_Idiots_ 11h ago
30 Rock nailed this with Tracy's "standup". I feel like this happens with almost every comic who gets really big, they start off in their 20s trying to make it and just being a normal person observing normal things, then in their 30s or 40s if they make it they get uber-rich and stop experiencing things that the average person can relate to (cough cough, Tom Segura), and also with age and money start having more "old man yells at cloud" type viewponts.
84
u/DreadPosterRoberts 10h ago
bill burr has an interesting interview with someone who i am forgetting at the moment, but they talk about how carlin is maybe the only one who got famous, lost his touch and started to bomb, did some self reflection and reinvented himself.
→ More replies (2)55
u/RachetFuzz 10h ago
Carlin’s secret was he didn’t let his status temper his rage. He was extremely frustrated with how society works. All the way through. You can’t ever forget what drives you.
→ More replies (3)17
u/SlendyIsBehindYou 7h ago
He was extremely frustrated with how society works. All the way through.
And that's why people remember him
Yes, he was an incredibly talented comic, easily a generational talent
But his connection to the true injustices and societal failings that the common person encounters give his observations a weight that our cultural consciousness still carries to this day.
Also, think about the things he witnessed in his day that many of the newer generation of comics missed out on. He was around for WW2, the Korean War, and the Cold War. American society pushed to the breaking point after Vietnam, with many of the effects of those years still sending ripples into our current societal woes.
History doesnt always repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.
61
u/Indigocell 10h ago
Segura has only gotten worse. His recent podcast appearances have him dedicating time to discuss his fucking diet and exercise regimen. He has a private chef and a personal trainer so really it's their accomplishment, not his lol. I can think of fewer topics more boring, especially from a "comedian." It's even more boring than when he discusses his luxury watch collection. Like, he seriously thinks he should be seen as some authority on this shit because he finally started jogging and taking supplements at age 50.
→ More replies (6)30
u/Martin_Aurelius 10h ago
He talks about his accomplishments like daddy wasn't a VP at Merrill-Lynch.
→ More replies (10)26
u/RachetFuzz 10h ago
His dad was an actually interesting person. Combat marine, married interracially back in the 1970s, and then became a vp at Merrill-lynch. Tom has always been funniest dude on this college campus and he’s never really been relatable. The life of being a starving artist is pretty easy when dad can (and did) bail your ass out.
→ More replies (3)39
u/FlamboyantPirhanna 10h ago
“You’ve lost touch with your roots, Tracy.”
“No I have not. I had dinner with The Roots last week!”
→ More replies (1)29
u/TheydonBoys 10h ago
I’ve worked for some ‘famous’ people and I think what we underestimate is how intoxicating it is when everyone around you is like “wow what you said was so [smart/funny/insightful]”.
An old boss of mine was famous and wealthy and literally everything she said someone would be like “wow! I hadn’t thought about it like that!!!” even when what she was saying was complete nonsense. One day she sent an email round and it had some completely untrue stuff in, I told her PA that she should ask her to change it. She said no, and also please don’t tell her yourself as it’ll make my life hell. So I didn’t.
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (8)13
u/DuckInTheFog 10h ago
I think it's the people surrounding them wormtonguing them - from a loving sycophant type like Smithers or manipulative power grubber like the blue haired lawyer
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (23)24
u/myislanduniverse 11h ago
I think you kinda nailed it. Sustained celebrity and wealth make it pretty impossible to relate to normal people, who by and large are the audience you're trying to relate to and amuse.
14
u/HonoriaG 11h ago
I still say “Your aura’s brown!” in my head when dealing with something or someone who is being frustratingly stupid.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (27)55
u/Archamasse 11h ago edited 11h ago
I think people forget because so much is made of them as a moment, but the sitcom eps where her character comes out are legitimately funny as hell.
If the trippy lesbian grocery store dream sequence with Billy Bob Thornton or the final toaster oven reveal don't make you laugh I don't know what will.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (39)79
u/S1075 11h ago
I thought she did some kind of special just a few years ago that was panned for the same things mentioned in this story.
Edit: Yeah, she did one in 2018 that wasn't well received.
→ More replies (6)34
u/darkeststar 11h ago
I only watched it the weekend it came out so I'm a little fuzzy on a special I watched 6 years ago but the main thing I remember about it is her joking about how she wasn't "allowed" to be mean to people ever in her real life because she was portrayed as the nicest person ever on tv. In the special she paints it like a Larry David scenario where she couldn't be visibly angry or mean if someone cuts her off in her car or someone being a jerk in the grocery store but it certainly gets recontextualized after the allegations about her show came out.
877
u/Danominator 11h ago
I remember when she was on comedians in cars getting coffee and instantly started bitching about how "this generation doesn't want to work" or some shit and turned it off. Made it like 5 minutes in
687
u/mr_chip_douglas 11h ago
She told him not to leave his keys in the car, which he did anyway. Then she took them when he wasn’t looking, and let him fumble for a minute looking for them. Then she revealed she took them to “teach him a lesson”.
The most insufferable person you know.
→ More replies (30)304
u/PointOfFingers 10h ago
Her pranks are usually like that - not funny to the person being pranked. I remember the shows where she tortured Taylor Swift with constant pranks and Taylor kept saying how much she hated it.
152
u/Coriandercilantroyo 10h ago
She loves scaring people, which I find to be one of the most annoying "pranks"
She did it to guests all the time. And on her big interview with Letterman for his Netflix show, they had a segment where she went around jump scaring office staff. I was really surprised to see her still doing that stuff all these years later. It really reminded me of some rich person making monkeys dance for their shitty amusement. Because that's what it was
→ More replies (2)55
u/GreaseBuilds 9h ago
You WILL be pranked
You WILL have a monetizable reaction
You WILL laugh
You WILL be happy
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (6)131
u/ThryothorusRuficaud 9h ago
Where she forced Mariah Carey to reveal her early pregnancy by trying to get to drink champagne on her show.
Doesn't seem like a big deal but a lot of women don't reveal pregnancies early on because most miscarriages happen in the first three months. Dealing with your grief publicly can be hard.
Of course Mariah Carey suffered a miscarriage that time.
→ More replies (2)30
u/jr111192 4h ago
Ellen is a fucking cunt for that. And for all the other things, but I've helped my sisters through that experience and it's awful that she made hers that much harder for clout. What a garishly selfish parasite.
→ More replies (27)191
u/TheMythicalNarwhal 11h ago
I’m sure Jerry agreed, he always comes off like such a smug elitist asshole under his thin veil of “what’s the deal?!?! 🤪” schtick.
→ More replies (19)156
u/PatheticGirl46 11h ago
Yeah honestly Jerry Seinfeld is pretty unlikeable for me too.
→ More replies (4)119
u/LowVolt 10h ago
Seinfeld is a smug douche who thinks he's the arbiter of comedy.
→ More replies (25)
369
u/trongzoon 11h ago
"Hollywood" Heel Ellen coming off the top ropes, wearing black and white, with the Scissor Kick on all of Netflix's subscribers
→ More replies (4)83
u/justintensity 11h ago
The Scissor kick- made famous by 5x WCW champion Booker T - is a grounded move, not a top rope move
→ More replies (12)
158
91
u/BarrytheNPC 10h ago
The most surprisingly thing is this article is that Cracked dot com is still around
→ More replies (2)20
u/TheAngryBad 8h ago
My thought too. I thought they grenaded themselves after firing all their actual talent a few years ago.
27
u/IllSearch5 7h ago
Man, Cracked used to be so funny, and then one day it just... bam sucked. It was a bummer.
At least there's still Some More News and Dr. Mr. Cody to fill the void.
17
u/fuck_reddit_app 7h ago
If you liked old 2010 era Cracked, I also highly recommend Behind the Bastards by another former writer, Robert Evans. It's a very entertaining and enlightening podcast about the biggest bastards in history and our time.
→ More replies (7)
1.0k
u/dirtydovedreams 11h ago
Netflix is the number 1 platform for standup specials no one wanted or asked for.
210
u/MrPractical1 11h ago
Plus 3 we did, by Bo Burnham
→ More replies (7)147
u/mysecretissafe 10h ago
Man, Inside made me cry an ugly cry all by myself in the middle of a global pandemic.
10/10, highly recommend.
→ More replies (13)47
→ More replies (69)34
78
u/rubseb 10h ago
Cracked dot com? Now there's a name I haven't heard since all round here was fields...
→ More replies (4)21
u/TheAlmightyMojo 9h ago
Who would have thought that Daniel O'Brien would grow up to win Emmys?
→ More replies (1)
144
u/Maybeyesmaybeno 11h ago
Go watch Sheng Wang instead. He deserves the watch.
23
→ More replies (11)83
u/ptabs226 10h ago
Or try Josh Johnson. He's a Daily Show correspondent/writer who releases a new 20 minutes on youtube about every week.
→ More replies (10)18
u/micdawg12 9h ago
Josh Johnson is amazing! I've been watching him on youtube before I knew he was a correspondent for the Daily Show. Highly recommend him!
→ More replies (1)
20
u/GillianGIGANTOPENIS 10h ago
The longer you have been rich the worse your stand up is. You stop relating to the people around you.
You loose all connection with everyday people.
George Carlin is an outlier.
→ More replies (4)
21
u/Wasey56 4h ago
Ellen is doing some great representation on behalf of the LGBT community by showing to the world that gay people can also have terrible personalities and can be bad people. Too often being LGBT is conflated as being a good person, many times in liberal spaces.
→ More replies (2)
14
u/YahsQween 9h ago
They should have a streaming service for rich people and their rich people problems. They can joke about tax fraud openly and what not. Remember when The Carters came out with that album that just spoke about how rich they are?
→ More replies (1)
277
u/ender2851 11h ago
this will be like the dave Chappell special everyone was angry about and netflix will get a mountain of hate watchers LOL
→ More replies (80)224
u/Urist_Macnme 11h ago
Chappell, gathering everything that "can't be said" and then saying them in a netflix special for a $60mil payout and a Grammy award is what being "cancelled" is, apparently, according to Chappell.
→ More replies (41)
42
1.1k
u/poiuy43 11h ago
I was under the impression we would never see her again according to her...