Product Details

• Actors: Ellen DeGeneres
• Directors: Joel Gallen
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• VHS Release Date: January 30, 2001
• Run Time: 65 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000053VDA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,940 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This post-coming-out performance fully acknowledges Ellen DeGeneres's status as America's most famous lesbian, but it is nevertheless imbued with a sense of fun. For instance, rather than describe the experience of closet-exiting on her self-titled situation comedy in the late 1990s, she performs an amusing "interpretive dance." She uses her trademark goofiness to ruminate on the necessity of directions on shampoo bottles, ant road rage, and the possible nightmarish consequences of buying cheese. While the performance is not orientation-specific, the comedienne spends a fair amount of time on sex-related issues, including jokes about blow-up dolls and people who videotape their relations. She does venture into the political with an appeal for same-sex marriage and a monologue on meeting God, who turns out to be a middle-aged black woman. None of this fazes her clearly supportive audience at New York's Beacon Theatre who get to ask her questions at the end à la Carol Burnett. The best moment of the 65-minute performance for HBO comes at the end, when DeGeneres accidentally exhibits some gender confusion with a young audience member, who then pays her moving tribute as a role model. --Kimberly Heinrichs

From the back cover

Live from the Beacon Theatre in New York, after seven years on TV and the big screen, Ellen DeGeneres is back on stage, live, outspoken, outrageous and out.

Ellen on advice received from friends that "There's nothing to fear but fear itself." "Hey, great. Now I'm scared of fear. Wasn't before. Thank you very much."

Ellen on her decision to get rid of the need for approval: "I'm on the patch right now--releases small doses of approval until I no longer need it."

Ellen on fashion: "You don't want some outfit that someone can have the exact same thing when you show up at a party. It's happened to me twice--and both times it was William Shatner."

It's Ellen DeGeneres, back to stand-up and at her most hilarious. From her secret for how to deal with forgetting people's names to the harsh realities of videotaping your sex life, this is Ellen DeGeneres talking funny and just being... Ellen. It's a night her fans--and anyone who loves comedy--will never forget.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I laughed until my side hurt..., January 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Ellen DeGeneres - The Beginning [VHS] (VHS Tape)

When this special was being advertised in HBO, I thought, okay, I will watch it. She is funny enough and there is nothing else on tv. I watched it and seriously laughed so hard that my side hurt the next morning. It was Ellen at her absolute funniest (and she is a pretty funny person). She tells a story in a totally casual way and, unlike most comedians, she realizes that the key to being funny is not to laugh at your own jokes, but to keep going like you have no idea that you just said something funny. She is a true artist. Foolishly, I didn't tape it and since then I have been scanning the tv guide for the next time that it would be on. Let me put it this way, I wouldn't be buying this on-line if it was not the funniest thing that I have ever seen and didn't want to watch it over and over again.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's like riding a bike..., May 9, 2001

By 

"paiger42" (Kutztown, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ellen DeGeneres - The Beginning (DVD)

After 7 years of not doing any stand-up comedy, Ellen shows absolutely no signs of being rusty in her triumphant return to the stage. I loved this video and I loved the new material that Ellen has written for her Americana Tour. I was fortunate enough to be in the audience at Ellen's very first performance at the State Theater in Easton, PA after her 7-year hiatus from doing live stand-up, and the only difference between the performance I saw and the DVD is that Ellen no longer needed to use her notes for the DVD performance. (And after 7 years off, who wouldn't need notes?)

I have always been a huge fan of Ellen's, and her new material is just as funny and fresh as ever. Of course, everyone expects her to address the issue of her national coming out, and she does, first thing, with, what else but...humor. She begins her act with an "interpretive dance" that could easily be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. And from that moment on, things only get better. The material here rivals the old Ellen and the "Phone Call to God," and "Taste This" routines. She certainly hasn't lost her touch, and it is so great to see her, FINALLY back on the stage where she belongs doing stand-up comedy.

Being in the audience for her return to the stage is a memory that I will always treasure, and now, I am able to watch her perform the material from that tour over and over again. To the casual viewer, this is an entertaining and funny video that you could watch with your kids. Ellen prides herself on remaining a clean and non-malicious comic. To the die-hard Ellen fan, well..fantastic. A must-own item. So, do I like this video? In a sentence...

Yep, it's great.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Back To Form, December 31, 2001

By 

S. Foster (Moira, Co Armagh United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ellen DeGeneres - The Beginning (DVD)

DeGeneres' first stand up comedy routine since 'coming out' in 1997 is an event in itself. Even moreso is that she was kind enough to have it taped for mere fans who could not see such an event in the flesh. DeGeneres' whirlwind tour reminded Americans that she is more than a typecast lesbian, but a comedienne. What she made herself known for before any tags were attached. The title The Beginning reminds just that. She is a comedienne before anything else. Since I'm not a lesbian I can say I am a fan for Ellen's comedy & mothing more. Yet I appreciate the humour she injects into being gay - see her interpretative dance relaying her coming out. Very original & painfully true. The audience laps up her incisive wit & DeGeneres enjoys herself, although at times appears to feel quite awkward. If you have not discovered the brilliance of Ellen DeGeneres beyond Ellen (the TV Show) or the media frenzy behind her coming out, this DVD is a worthy acquisition. Makes for a great night in. A true comic genius in every sense of the word.