Ellen DeGeneres Talks Comedy Approach, Fear About 'Relatable' Special and Being Out of Touch

Ellen DeGeneres gave a sneak peek of the Emmy "For Your Consideration" stunt she conducted at the Netflix FYSEE event in May. Figuring that maybe her "Relatable" special couldn't stand on its own, the talk show host had Jimmy Kimmel interview her in front of a bunch of Emmy voters about it.

While he had her there, Kimmel asked her about what it was like breaking into standup comedy at a time when it was even more dominated by male voices, and Ellen was actually very savvy in how she approached that hurdle.

"I just never wanted to separate and just talk about a certain gender," she explained. "I wanted to talk about what it was like to be a person."

The comedian said that there is nevertheless extra work that female comedians have to do in this "male-dominated business." She said, "Men have to like you and not be threatened by you and enjoy you and relate to the same things that the women are relating to. So that's why I always tried to make it just a people thing."

Kimmel, who totally had his friend's back, then suggested "that if Academy voters; like we have in this room; were to vote for a man in this category, it would be a step backwards."

"It really would," Ellen concurred. "I'm glad you brought that up."

Surprisingly, despite decades in the business and being one of the most beloved celebrities on the planet, Ellen admitted she was still a little terrified as she was developing her latest stand-up special. She also intentionally challenged herself by hitting up a small venue frequented by the kind of people who don't watch television and thus may not be already inclined to love everything she says.

"I wanted to be pure as a standup again the way I started and earn the laughs and earn people respecting what I was saying, and so to go on [stage] that first night I was so scared," Ellen admitted. She fully expected to bomb and be hated, and so "it was really surprising when they laughed, so then I kept going back and building on it and building on it."

As for the angle of the special, that apparently came completely out of reality. "The whole idea of not being aware of how out of touch you are -- 'cause that's what I thought people would think of me -- and so I just thought, I'm just gonna go with it," Ellen said. "I'm going to go into it."

When Jimmy asked her if it was true that she was out of touch, there was no hesitation before she said, "Yes."

He then tested her by asking simple things like the cost of a stamp and if she knew what her Netflix password was. "Why do you have to have a password?" she asked, pretty much summing it all up.

"Relatable" is currently streaming on Netflix and deals with how relatable Ellen still is even though she's completely out of touch in her bubbly of Hollywood fame and fortune.

Emmy nomination voting kicks off June 10 and runs through June 24, so Ellen is right on time getting this pitch out there. Nominees will be revealed on July 16 ahead of the September 22 awards ceremony and broadcast.

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