For fairly obvious reasons, I’ve been watching more YouTubes lately. I came across comedian Ellen Degeneres’s first appearance on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. It was back in November 1986. Yikes, I’m getting old.
The whole thing, about 6 minutes long, is quite good. I especially liked the line about kindergarten.
At about the 3:35 point, she calls God to ask why there are fleas: they seem to have no obvious benefit. The whole conversation is quite good.
The part in which she’s a modern Bastiat versus God as the entity who believes in the broken window fallacy is at about 4:35. Of course she doesn’t directly challenge him–he’s God, after all–but you can see from context that she thinks his reasoning is flawed. Indeed, many in the audience wouldn’t have laughed if they hadn’t seen the fallacy in God’s argument for fleas.
READER COMMENTS
Phil C.
Mar 28 2020 at 6:38pm
For those who are unaware, Johnny Carson invited only the best of the best comics to come sit on the couch after their set. No performer knew before they performed whether they would be invited to sit on the couch. This performance by Ellen marked the first instance of a female comic being invited to sit on the couch. It made her career.
David Henderson
Mar 28 2020 at 7:42pm
Neat. You could see the delight in her face when he invited her over. And then the nice comment he made about how much harder it is for a female comedian because a male can be edgier was nice too. She was obviously charmed by him.
Brittany Hunt
Mar 28 2020 at 9:42pm
Great skit, and great meeting you today, David! Also, go Bruins :)!
-Brittany & David Perry
Chris HC
Mar 29 2020 at 1:16am
Background on how she came to write that sketch: https://www.biography.com/news/ellen-degeneres-girlfriend-car-accident
David Henderson
Mar 30 2020 at 8:51am
Thanks, Chris. I had no idea.
Weir
Mar 30 2020 at 1:25am
Chris Rock used a little bit of economic thinking in his routine about making every bullet cost $5000.
But only a little.
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