Netflix Dates Ellen DeGeneres’ Final Standup Special

Netflix has dated Ellen DeGeneres’ next standup special, which she insists will be the last of her career.

Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval, as she’s titled the new hour, will roll out on the global platform Sept. 24. It follows her last special, ironically titled Relatable, which was her first in 15 years when it hit the service in 2018. It was part of a pricey two-special deal. DeGeneres’ new hour is being produced by industry “It” guy Ben Winston and his Fulwell 73 Productions, along with DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi. Joel Gallen, who also helmed Chris Rock’s 2023 Selective Outrage special, is directing.

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When DeGeneres first announced the forthcoming hour, she joked: “To answer the questions everyone is asking me — Yes, I’m going to talk about it. Yes, this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that pretty in real life.”

The “it” she referenced: the toxic workplace claims she famously faced in the summer of 2020, which came on the heels of a series of personal swipes that DeGeneres has said “destroyed” her. The former prompted a formal investigation, which led to the dismissal of key executives at the long running talk show. Still, DeGeneres has insisted that that wasn’t the reason that she ultimately ended the show after 19 seasons. “It almost impacted the show,” she told THR in 2021. “It was very hurtful to me. I mean, very. But if I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn’t have come back this season. So, it’s not why I’m stopping, but it was hard.”

With the new hour, DeGeneres is expected to get personal, revealing, among other things, what she’s been up to since being, as she’s put it, “kicked out of show business.” As Netflix’s logline bills the new set, “from the mundane world of raising chickens and parallel parking to the harsh reality of becoming a brand name celebrity, she goes deep into her stand-up roots and brings the laughs through life’s most real and absurd realities.” The material has been the centerpiece of her multi-city “Ellen’s Last Stand… Up” tour, where she had made headlines for joking about the saga before abruptly canceling dates.

Controversy aside, landing a DeGeneres hour is still seen as a major coup in comedy circles, and comes as the market for specials is red hot. In fact, as platforms like Hulu jump in, eager to pay as much as eight figures for select comics, its proving a bright spot in an otherwise bleak entertainment landscape.

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