Ellen Degeneres Movie:

		List Price: $14.98		Label: Hbo Home Video Salesrank: 38203 Released: January 30, 2001
		Our Price: $10.71
		Used Price: $1.99
		MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Ellen shares her humorous observations on daily life, including remembering names, clothing, the need for approval, and making personal videos.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 7-AUG-2001
Media Type: DVD

Description of Ellen DeGeneres - The Beginning:
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

Ellen DeGeneres - The Beginning Reviews:
Thank God for Ellen Degeneres!
2009-10-30 - One of the funniest women on the planet talks about everything from the world of insects to mundane shampoo bottle directions to being caught by the highway patrol wearing nothing but a leather harness, captain's hat & paddle on the road. She opens her stand-up comedy special doing an interpretive dance expressing her experience coming out, and it's a classic Ellen bit that only she could think up. Her visit to God's house (as it turns out, God is a fortysomething black woman) is a brilliant satire of mankind's relationship with religion, cleverly funny, much like her earlier "phone conversation with God" routine. Ellen has that unique gift for approaching her material at a sideways slant, particularly when she discusses the controversy over same-sex marriages (the "goat" analogy was hilarious).
But the evening concludes with a Q&A segment. The most touching moment is when an androgynous-looking young Lesbian woman (which temporarily causes some embarrassment for Ellen) tearfully thanks Ellen for being such a great role model.
A terrific evening showcasing a brilliant comedic talent that so deserves her success. See it, and you'll laugh from start to finish!

Hilarious
2008-01-07 - This DVD is the funniest comedy specials I've ever seen. I bought it for my friend and watched it with her and laughed the entire time. (I've seen this comedy about 6 times before, and it's still funny!) She talks about the little voice in your head when you're trying to sleep, calling the shampoo hotline, etc. It's so much fun.

SOOOO TRUE!!!!
2006-07-16 - I LOVE THIS DVD. I saw it a few years ago and then again yesterday. It is still as great as it was when it came out. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt!!!

Comedic Genius
2006-04-14 - Ellen Degeneres has her comedic, "rambling" approach down to an art form. Well, maybe I am over-shooting a bit...not an art form like maybe what Michelangelo, Picasso, Monet, or Fabio would do. I guess some would consider her stand-up to be comparable to the beautifully crafted, timeless paintings we see in the Sistine Chapel, but most of those comparisons are brought about by vodka or sharp blows to the head, so we should just ignore those.

But, it could be compared to the works of other well respected artists likie...Vanilla Ice or an origami person (would that be an origamist or maybe an origaminator? I have no idea). Professional orgigami, though...not that stupid stuff they teach kids in school to get them to be creative using little colored squares on paper. That's easy to do. Nobody would consider that to be "real" art.

I shouldn't say it's stupid, kids do have to learn. Like my cousin's daughter, Kaitlin, who needs to learn to use the "big people's" potty instead of those diapers. She's just a lovely girl, but you'd think at 13, she'd have learned by now. I guess we should over-look it, though, considering the "accident". Some people say it was my fault, but that's just silly because I was acquitted at trial and my lawyer says I have nothing to worry about anymore. He said just to ignore the death threats and the crank calls.

Anyway, Ellen has rambling down to an art and this DVD is some of the best material she's ever brought forth. I just love the way she has perfect timing and her comedy doesn't have to be all vulgar and controversial like a lot of comedians, or like what my brother tries to do when he gets drunk and wears that funny hat and goes to karaoke. It's always fun when he does that until they call the police, because it's not really a karaoke bar...it's Wal-Mart and they have told him over and over and over to stay away, but even with that restraining order, he just comes right back.

Kind of reminds me of when we were kids and my dad would drive him far, far away and then leave him. Somehow he always found his way home. I have no idea how he untied himself or got out of that trunk, but he did it! My dad was such a kidder that way. He was always playing funny jokes on us, like that time he tried to get me to eat the "funny candy". Yeah, right, dad! Like I'm going to fall for that one. I knew right away it was a urinal cake because of the funny smell and the way it just magically appeared after he came out of the public bathroom at the mall.

He did fool me with the fake Kool-Aid, though. It was anti-freeze, but I just guzzled it right down. Oh, don't worry, I was fine...and those doctors in ICU were the best! Besides, kids are resiliant...you'd be surprised how fast a 5-year-old can recover from something like that. Yeah, I miss my dad, God rest his soul. He's not dead, but my mom is always saying that if he ever comes back to her door step, she'll kill him, so there you go.

What was I saying? Oh, right! Ellen. This is one of my favorite DVDs. Ellen is my favorite comedian and I also love her old sitcom on DVD.

I LOVE This DVD!!
2005-12-31 - Ellen Degeneres comes back to what she is BEST at!! This Stand-up DVD, is HIlrious!! Degeneres talks about why they still put 1-800 numbers on the back of shampoo bottles, and many other stuff!! You should BUY this,and once you do you won't regret that you did!!