TV REVIEW: Ellen DeGeneres/For Your Approval

For reasons I don't understand, many people choose to watch depressing fictional stories as a way to unwind from the depressing factual events that occur in the world every day. This 70-minute Ellen DeGeneres stand-up comedy special streaming on Netflix delivers a welcome respite from the usual violence, drugs, gore and other assorted horrors that fill the airwaves and give you bad dreams. 

Filmed last August at the stunning Orpheus Theater in Minneapolis, the sold-out crowd in attendance reacts to Ellen's decidedly low-key humor with standing ovations and roars of approval worthy of a Beatles reunion including John, George and the Pope. While I laughed out loud quite a few times, it was mostly because I'm unfamiliar with DeGeneres and thus her comic style seemed refreshingly new to me. Still, it wasn't that funny. 

Mostly it offered DeGeneres a chance to explain herself and salvage her tarnished reputation after having been, as she put it, "kicked out of show business." Her expulsion stemmed from the allegations of many of her staff that her daytime talk show, Ellen, was a hostile workplace. Much of her material centered on that. As someone who never saw that show once in the 19 years it aired, I came away thinking she was a real sweetheart and flatly discounted rumors that she had ever been the "Queen of Mean."

When DeGeneres departed from that subject and focused strictly on comedy, her take on everyday life was a hoot. A fraction of the material dealt with her being openly gay, but not enough to be annoying. Mostly she was amusing, insightful, charming and decidedly un-mean. Watch it if you need a quick pick-me-up.