As Ellen DeGeneres shows shocking signs of scaling back her comedy tour, an insider has come forward to reveal that the former daytime talk queen “is still struggling to find her voice” in the wake of her talk show ending three years ago and many of her side projects fizzling out unceremoniously.
But it’s even worse than that, the high-level industry source exclusively tells In Touch.
“Contrary to indications Ellen made a few months ago that she was ready to talk candidly about her scandal and the end of her talk show in her new stand-up tour and planned Netflix special, things have changed since then,” the insider says. “The material she has now completed and written for this tour does NOT go very deep into her scandal at all. The bottom line is, Ellen just wasn’t comfortable with the idea of talking about that stuff night after night, and for the moment, Netflix is supporting her on this.”
The source points out, “Remember, Ellen has only made two stand-up specials in the last 20 years, and her last special, Netflix’s Relatable from 2018, was a massive hit with viewers and with critics. Tens of millions of people still have access to it thanks to Netflix’s giant subscriber base.”
The insider says that “instead of doing a special that goes deep on her scandal,” Ellen, 66, “is only planning to make a couple of gentle, vague jokes about it and otherwise deliver a set very much in line with Relatable since it will be sitting right next to it on Netflix’s digital shelf-space potentially for the next few decades.”
“If this sounds like an about-face from what Ellen’s vision for the tour and special was earlier this spring, that’s because it is,” the source continues. “And in my opinion, it’s the wrong move because Ellen has a real opportunity to address the allegations made about her head-on, admit some guilt, get some laughs, and finally move on. But she has decided not to do that and I think this is a case of her formerly impeccable instincts failing her. Netflix is still behind her, but I do not think Ellen’s fans want anything but the honest truth from her at this stage, and that’s not what Ellen has decided to deliver.”
Ellen DeGeneres’ Ticket Prices Are Too High
The source details the other obstacles in Ellen’s way as she haltingly and finally makes moves toward a full-blown comeback, however misguided.
“The other issue with the tour is that Ellen’s charging a lot for people to see her in pretty big venues. But with prices for live entertainment right now exploding, you really have to bring your A-game if you want a massive sold-out tour,” the insider says. “So far, Ellen has avoided sampling her new comedy on the late night shows but that might be the best strategy she has to drum up more interest in her live dates.”
The source concludes, “You have to ask why Ellen’s doing all this second guessing and not ready to talk in detail about what happened behind the scenes on her show. She still has fans, but she needs to feed them red meat right now if she wants them to pay hundreds of dollars to see her. It’s sad that Ellen is in denial about that fact and you’re seeing her pay the price for that in real time!”
