My Point...And I Do Have One

this is really bad. i think that this is written to be more like her standup, and so maybe if she was doing the jokes on stage they'd land better? i think that's true because i feel like some of these sound familiar, so she must have used them later. but written this way, they really aren't funny. they're predictable and repetitive and just not good. there are a couple of moments where she makes a surprising, and therefore more humorous, choice, but they are rare. (same with quality writing.)

this book is old and i do wonder about how hiding her life from people, and hiding who she was, affected her comedy and her ability to connect with an audience. i would bet her stuff from after she came out is better.

I've always enjoyed Ellen DeGeneres' humor, and this is quite the blast from the past. Written before she came out on her television show, it's a different sort of humor than she's displayed in recent years, including actual profanity and some adult situations, the sort of thing that is no longer associated with her. While it's somewhat painful at times to see her pretending to be straight, there's still plenty of her trademark humor here to enjoy.

Not funny! I like Ellen's in person comedy, but it did not translate to the written page. I laughed to myself a couple of times, never out loud. By the end she spent so much time complaining about having to write 60,000 words that whatever was supposed to be humor made me feel like I was being ripped off by filler.

In an ironic twist, the title is sadly misleading. In a group of essays that seem to exist mostly as filler, Degeneres, who is usually so funny in her stand-up routines, absolutely misses the target on her first humor collection. There isn't a single essay that is good all the way through. There is a running gag about club soda that is amusing, and a chapter on human behavior is likewise entertaining. Degeneres rambles on in a way that is irritating, and many of her observations are strangely dull. Much of what the author has to say is a few beats off from funny, and the chapters containing lists are staggeringly dry and achingly boring. Reading through this was like reading a slightly silly textbook. Eyes passed over words, and while show more comprehending them, did not find them interesting. What a major disappointment from a talent who has proven herself to be a remarkable addition to the field of comedy, but who must have lost some of her humor in the translation from stage to the written word. show less

Muito ruim. Escrito para se parecer com o stand-up, então, quem sabe, as piadas no palco talvez funcionassem melhor. Algumas me soam mesmo familiares, ela deve tê-las usado. Mas , escritas desse jeito, não são engraçadas. São previsíveis, repetitivas e simplesmente ruins. Em dados momentos Degeneres faz uma escolha surpreendente e, portanto, mais engraçada, mas eles são raros. (O mesmo vale para a qualidade da escrita.)

I love Ellen. I think she's pretty funny, especially in some of her stand-up routines. And of course, as a person (or at least her public persona) she is awesome.

None of this translates in this book. Parts of the first section I actually recall from one of her routines, and it's way funnier to watch and listen to her. In the book, there is a lot missing. Others have mentioned her facial expressions, how she talks, etc.

And the rest of the book was just a rambling mess. There were a few moments in which I laughed, but most of it was just, What am I reading? She kept mentioned her 60,000 word goal that she had to meet, so there were a bunch of areas where it literally said, "blah blah blah blah."

That's essentially how I felt about this book.

I checked this book out of the library in high school and later found it at a used book store. I loved this book, I re-read it several times. I should find it and read it again. My friend Jaimi and I would laugh and laugh at this book, and at the CD I owned, and still own. But as to where this book went, I don't know.