# What the Hell happened to Ellens career?!? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979 "2002-11-26T22:18:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/1 "2002-11-26T22:18:44Z")
She came out as a lesbian on her tv show, was a novelty for a while an then just dissapeared, what happened? Oh and is it true that Jodie foster being a lesbian an open secret in hollywood, why hasn’t anyone spoken out? ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/2 "2002-11-26T22:29:14Z")
Well, for some reason she seemed to forget all her material except the joke about how she’s a lesbian and all. However, her outing did make the wretch of a flick “Mr. Wrong” a hell of a lot funnier retroactively… ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/3 "2002-11-26T22:39:07Z")
Every actor’s career ebbs and flows. She had a show on CBS after she came out that I never saw because it was on CBS. Who watches CBS but geezers? 😉 I don’t think her not having a TV show relates to her being a lesbian. Her on-stage stand-up career continues unabated. ---
**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/4 "2002-11-26T22:41:10Z")
I used to like Ellen. I didn’t care if she was lesbian or not, at some point she just stopped being funny. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/5 "2002-11-26T23:01:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ryan\_Liam \* > Oh and is it true that Jodie foster being a lesbian an open secret in hollywood, why hasn’t anyone spoken out? If no one has spoken out, how did you find out about it? ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/6 "2002-11-26T23:28:27Z")
I think her career took a downturn after the commercial with the dog and never got any higher. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/7 "2002-11-26T23:31:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dragongirl \* > \*\*at some point she just stopped being funny. \*\* BINGO ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/8 "2002-11-26T23:33:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dragongirl \* > \*\*I used to like Ellen. I didn’t care if she was lesbian or not, at some point she just stopped being funny. \*\* So, what you’re saying is that, at one point, she was actually funny? Gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/9 "2002-11-27T00:03:20Z")
The confused crypto dyke resonance was part of her appeal (to me). Once she was out and got a bit strident the key ummm… _confusticated niceness_ she had in her standup and on the show vanished and so did her appeal. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/10 "2002-11-27T00:06:33Z")
I never found her funny to begin with. She seems like a perfectly nice, well-adjusted, polite individual. She’s just not funny. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/11 "2002-11-27T00:09:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*So, what you’re saying is that, at one point, she was actually funny? > > Gotcha. \*\* Actually, some of her standup when she was really hitting her stride about 10-13 years ago or so on the talk shows, was quite good. She was a master of timing and quick comic twists with her setup and punchline timing. It was not eye wateringly funny the way some Richard Pryor stuff was (or Chris Rock now) but it was clean, amusing and quite enjoyable in small doses. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/12 "2002-11-27T01:14:01Z")
He show went from being sharp and funny to being preachy and over the top. Too bad because what she did was brave. Haj ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/13 "2002-11-27T02:55:48Z")
It certainly went to Hell, didn’t it? I’ll see the posters above and raise them that I never thought she was terribly funny to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/14 "2002-11-27T02:57:42Z")
Or, what Guinastasia said…😛 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/15 "2002-11-27T03:23:00Z")
I never found her funny, either. I do think it was a brave thing to openly come out the way she did, but from that moment on, the small bit of humour on her show became overshadowed by the “Oh, did you hear? I’m GAY!” theme. It got annoying pretty quickly. I’m all for gay pride, but you don’t really have to repeat it every 5 minutes for people to like you because of it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/16 "2002-11-27T03:24:38Z")
Ellen’s standup was HILARIOUS. She was one of the best comedians in the business. It’s easy to forget that, because it was a long time ago, and it’s been drowned out by the TV show and her personal life and Anne “What Orientation Am I This Month?” Heche. Like a lot of comedians, Ellen Degeneres has a pretty limited scope of appeal; there’s only so much you can do when you basic skill is standup. If you don’t get a good talk show your first sitcom is likely your last. Drew Carey was a terrific standup comedian and he’s had two shows, and believe me, in six years you’ll all be asking where the hell Drew Carey went. Roy Romano will suffer the same fate. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/17 "2002-11-27T03:26:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*Actually, some of her standup when she was really hitting her stride about 10-13 years ago or so on the talk shows, was quite good. She was a master of timing and quick comic twists with her setup and punchline timing. It was not eye wateringly funny the way some Richard Pryor stuff was (or Chris Rock now) but it was clean, amusing and quite enjoyable in small doses. \*\* The bit she does about talking to God in the phone is a great example of how funny she can be.😃 Or used to be, anyway. I know some people in this thread have said that her coming out in her show wasn’t the reason she lost the lime light, but I disagree. Instead of being a show about a bookstore owner, or whatever her job was, who _happened to be_ gay, the “reenvisioned” the show to be about a woman who \*\*was \*\*gay. There’s not a lot that’s very funny about focusing solely on a character’s sex life (though I guess people who like Sex And The City disagree)to the exclusion of most everything else, be the character, straight or gay, so it killed the show. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/18 "2002-11-27T20:31:16Z")
So is jodie foster gay? ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/19 "2002-11-27T21:45:05Z")
Mind, it’s a rumor, but I have read that she is. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979/20 "2002-11-27T22:07:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*I never found her funny to begin with. She seems like a perfectly nice, well-adjusted, polite individual. > > She’s just not funny. \*\* Well said. Her whole act was centered on the “low self-esteem” bit. It was funny for about 2 jokes, then it just kind of fell flat after awhile. Kind of the same thing as Louie Anderson trying to base a whole career on fat jokes. The lesbian thing is neither here nor there to me. I had stopped watching her show years before she came out. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-happened-to-ellens-career/138979.md?page=2)