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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

For Your Approval

Ellen DeGeneres

Netflix · 2024 · 70 min

A defensive final stand-up set about fame and cancellation.

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The tension of watching an incredibly famous person try to laugh off a very public reputational freefall is what makes the hour interesting. The performance functions less as a traditional comedy set and more as a defensive public relations campaign. She juxtaposes lighthearted material about keeping backyard chickens, parallel parking under pressure, and the nuisance of modern car technology with a highly stage-managed response to the toxic-workplace allegations that ended her daytime talk show. She jokes about no longer getting Botox because she supposedly stopped caring about public opinion, and recounts workplace games of tag to convince the room that her set was actually a fun place to work.

Recorded at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis in August 2024, the special was released on Netflix in September of that year. At this point in her career, she had spent two years away from the public eye following the 2022 finale of her daytime show, and she announced this performance would be her final stand-up special. She frames her recent fall from grace alongside her 1997 coming-out story, suggesting both instances were the result of a fickle public rather than genuine misconduct. Critics and audiences largely panned the hour, pointing to her framing of herself as a victim and the sycophantic crowd that applauded her every defense.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Being accused of being mean after ending her talk show with 'Be kind to one another'

    Observes that if she had ended each show by saying 'Go fuck yourself,' people would have been pleasantly surprised to find out she was actually kind, and argues Ronald McDonald isn't held responsible for McDonald's corporate leadership.

  2. Raising chickens and chicken dreams

    Compares daily egg-laying to the grind of hosting a daily talk show and suggests scientists researching chicken dreaming be reassigned to address climate change.

  3. Women lacking confidence and playing air guitar

    Discusses being conditioned to be quiet and agreeable, contrasting women's self-consciousness with men spontaneously practicing golf swings or attempting to slap door frames, demonstrated through an onstage air guitar performance.

  4. Staff members turning gay on her daytime talk show

    Jokes that 16 staff members started straight and left gay, remarking that merely watching wasn't enough to turn people gay—they had to fill out a W-2.

  5. Aging and her mother's dementia

    Reflects with mordant humor on how her mother no longer recognizes her as her daughter, thinking instead that she is just a nice visiting lady or possibly Kelly Ripa.

How it plays

Tone
Defensive, self-indulgent, wistful, and observational.
On stage
Understated, dry, and conversational, transitioning between humble observational comic and an aggrieved, defensive figure actively soliciting praise and validation.
Pace
Deliberately paced with elongated pauses following punchlines to invite and sustain extensive applause breaks (tallying 70 applause breaks across the hour).
About
getting kicked out of show business, 2020 workplace allegations and being labeled mean, aging, botox, and health, raising chickens, female socialization and leadership double standards, coming out in the 1990s

What the critics said

Received mixed-to-negative reviews (holding a 33% Rotten Tomatoes score); critics characterized it as an unfunny, self-indulgent, and defensive exercise in ego preservation that deflected genuine accountability, though some reviewers noted skillful comedic craft and found it enjoyable.

In the room: Deeply reverent, protective, and enthusiastically supportive, greeting her with standing ovations, tearful reactions, and near-constant applause breaks.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, vulture.com, metacritic.com, nytimes.com, variety.com, time.com.

Backstory

Filmed in the wake of the 2020 toxic workplace and bullying allegations that disrupted her public reputation as the 'Queen of Nice' and led to the end of her daytime talk show, framed around her experience of being 'kicked out of show business.'

Details

Released
Taped
Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis
Runtime
70 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Joel Gallen
Topics
Before
Relatable (2018)

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