The Ellen Degeneres show is a syndicated television talk show hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. Created in 2003, the talk show combines comedy, celebrity and musical guests and human-interest stories.
The show has recently celebrated its 1,100th episode.

Few things you have to know about the show

Dancing

Since the show’s debut, Ellen has segued from her opening monologue by doing a dance. The dancing proved to be extremely popular with viewers, and has since progressed to a segment where DeGeneres dances into the audience, sometimes borrowing a coat or purse from someone’s chair, and taking it with her. She has also featured a segment in which people teach her new dance moves. During the early 2006 season, Ellen shortened her dance routine and did not go through the audience, making more time for segments. Upset fans sent thousands of e-mails to Ellen as a result of this, and the dancing resumed as usual a few days later. One of her most famous dance moves is dancing over the table, and although she does not do it every day, it is a recurring theme. As an April Fools’ Day prank in 2009, the show’s staff placed a wider table top over her normal table. During the show when Ellen attempted to dance over it, she barely made it across, being forced on her tip-toes and using the table as leverage.

DJ

Unlike most talk shows, the show uses a disc jockey to supply music rather than a band. The role was filled by Los Angeles-based DJ Scott K, who lasted only a few weeks. He was later replaced by Tony Okungbowa, who DJed through season 3. Due to his growing acting career, Okungbowa left the show in Season 4, and was replaced by Jon Abrahams for the fourth season premiere. Abrahams stayed on the show for one season, and also left as his acting career grew. Ted Stryker of KROQ, who is also co-host of Loveline with Dr. Drew, was the DJ for the fifth season. Stryker stayed for one season when Okungbowa returned.

Recurring elements

Ellen is known for its use of recurring elements, sarcastic jokes and gags, some of which have eventually petered out.

• “Emmy Nominated.” – Ellen says this when she makes a bad joke, saying that even though she makes all these bad jokes, the show still got nominated for an Emmy.
• “Whuut?” – Ellen uses this word as a joke, usually when she is talking about somebody being surprised, either by her or somebody else. In the episodes filmed in February, she often mentions it being “Whuut? the February!”.
• “KAAA!” – Ellen frequently uses this made-up word as an enthusiastic response to the audience’s applause. Often she will say the word in a high-pitched voice and drag it out for several seconds, or add unique hand gestures. This is often accompanied by the appreciative phrase, “Back at ya!” On one of the first episodes she was imitating a bird that flew over her head, and it stuck.
• “I appreciate it” – Ellen often uses the phrase “I appreciate it” in response to the audience’s applause. Also, Ellen frequently thanks the audience by telling them to “take it (the applause) and…”; filling in the end with a phrase such as “mix it up in a Margarita.”
• Mama chair – DeGeneres’s mother, Betty, regularly attends the show and was frequently featured on camera, but she stopped appearing regularly early in 2006 because she moved. Her chair was designated the Mama chair, and special privileges are given to the audience member who sits in it.
• Shaking of the head – During the opening monologue, Ellen will frequently make sarcastic comments about her or other people but then shake her head and smile at the audience, making it clear she meant it as a joke.
• Breaking news – Sometimes Ellen will be interrupted by “breaking news,” which is always reported from in front of one of the rear projection screens. The gag is, however, that the reporter and Ellen seem to be in different locations at the beginning, but are then shown to be only feet from each other in the studio. The reporter also always holds her ear piece and experiences a delay in hearing Ellen. Usually Ellen will end up walking over to the reporter and attempt to talk to her face-to-face, while the reporter ignores her and carries on the charade of a satellite interview. The role of the reporter is played by Karen Kilgariff, the show’s head writer.
• Telephone – Ellen uses an old-fashioned, beige telephone to conduct interviews. Sometimes the phone seems to be dialed without Ellen pressing numbers or Ellen will put the phone down and walk around the studio while still talking to the person on the line.
• Gladys Hardy – Ellen has called Gladys Hardy, a grandmother from Austin Texas, who originally left Ellen a voicemail message. Gladys offers amusing advice and observations that often send Ellen into a fit of laughter. Gladys became so popular that the show now offers a Gladys T-shirt and Gladys has often replaced the show’s professional announcers who introduce Ellen at the start of each episode. However, some have begun to question the authenticity of Gladys, leading some to believe she is a prank^.
  • “Keep On Keepin’ On!” – Gladys says this when speaking to Ellen.
• Drawings – Despite her lack of drawing skills, Ellen will sometimes draw a person or other image on the set using a large easel. At the end of the show, each audience member received a large copy of the drawing.
• “Kitty” – “Kitty” is an elderly woman who attended an episode taping of Ellen. Before the crew begins to tape, Ellen’s DJ will play music for the audience, and they are free to dance. Ellen, on a later episode, displayed video footage of “Kitty” dancing, showing her face changing abruptly and covering her ears when the DJ changed songs. Ellen nicknamed the woman “Kitty” and the clip became a fan favorite. The woman was later identified as Charlotte Pope  and was invited back on the show as a guest.
• Days of Our Lauren – Lauren is a writer from the show who was nominated for an Emmy in 2008 for her previous work on Saturday Night Live. She promised Ellen that she would run on stage with whoever won, but did not. Ellen said she was a liar and punished her by making her stand behind Ellen through the whole show on September 23, 2008. A man wrote in and said the Lauren was pretty, and Ellen read the letter on the show. Then, a lady wrote in saying that she was the man’s girlfriend. Ellen brought the man on the show on October 15, 2008. Ellen dubbed the issue “Days of Our Lauren”, and played the Days of our Lives theme song.
• “Aww Snap!” – Anytime Ellen says “Aww snap,” a sound effect of a whip cracking is played. Normally this happens when Ellen mentions her game of the same name, but sometimes the sound effect is played if Ellen mentions the phrase in general conversation. In November 2008, after guest Taylor Swift revealed that Jonas Brothers member Joe Jonas broke up with her in 27 seconds over the phone, Ellen said “Aww snap,” followed a few seconds later by the sound effect of a whip cracking.
• Ellen Underwear – Ellen gives each of her guests underwear that say Ellen on the waistband. Sometimes the guests show them off on the show, or Ellen will show pictures of guests wearing them in other places.