Ellen Returns to Stand-Up Comedy in Trailer for 'Relatable'

Most of us know Ellen Degeneres first and foremost as a daytime talk show host, pulling pranks and dancing on down the aisles with her guests. But long before she became that lesbian our conservative parents could point to as the one example of how “we obviously aren’t homophobic, we love Ellen!” she was, like most hosts, getting her start in stand-up comedy.

The trailer for her new stand-up special, Relatable, leads with Ellen joking about her potential inability to relate to the majority of viewers after the success (and money) she’s made in the past few decades.

“I have an issue with all the emotional support animals that people are flying with now. You’re walking down the aisle to your seat, which is 10B or whatever it is, it’s like Noah’s Ark. There’s a woman with a ferret, there’s a man with a mongoose, there’s a lady with a donkey,” she says, setting up the real joke. “I say 10B. Does a plane go back that far? I’ve never been back there.”

The trailer also has Ellen doing a bit about losing her sitcom after she came out in 1997, which likely has just as much to do with the title of the special as her current fame does. Once both Ellen and her character (also named Ellen, on her show called Ellen — which fortunately never got around to having her date somebody named Ellen, too), both the fictional and real versions of herself were suddenly deemed unrelatable to more conservative American viewers, who weren’t ready to invite a lesbian-led sitcom into their lives. (And still don't seem to be; RIP One Big Happy.)

But comedy is born out of pain, and Ellen’s bound to provide plenty of laughs when her special premieres on Netflix on December 18.