‘Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval’ Is A Worthy Capstone To A Roller Coaster Career
by Frank Martin
On the one hand, it’s kind of dangerous for a comedian to list a stand-up special as their final one. It really puts a capstone on a career, so to advertise it as a definitive work of art just to come back later feels disingenuous. But at the same time, there’s a lot of power behind marketing a work with finality. It feels like a culmination to a lifetime of art, a road map of the ups and downs along a prosperous and sometimes tumultuous career. Ellen DeGeneres took this approach with her latest Netflix special, For Your Approval. And for the moment — if it really is her final one — she went out on a fairly high note.
The special starts with a short introduction that brings the viewer up to the present in Ellen’s career. She started doing stand-up before gaining her own sitcom that lost favor with networks after she came out as gay. Then, she had a second wind to her career voicing Dory in Finding Nemo and hosting a long-running daytime talk show. However, her run ended when it came out that Ellen was an abusive boss. She was quiet for a while before returning with this special to address all of the controversy.
The routine itself has a good mix of standard observational comedy and self-reflection. Ellen makes extremely relatable jokes about mundane things such as gardening and driving. But a good stand-up special doesn’t just talk in generalities. It also provides personal commentary about stuff the comedian has gone through in their life. At one point, Ellen was considered to be a very kind person in a harsh industry. This all changed when several staffers on her show came out criticizing her behavior. It was a saga that she couldn’t ignore while on stage, and she did a great job addressing the controversy while not backing down from it. She unapologetically stood her ground and explained herself while doing it with wisdom and humor.
For Your Approval is now streaming on Netflix.
