Stars: 2.5/5
Ellen DeGeneres’s “Relatable” is, quite frankly, not her best work.
As the comedy special begins, DeGeneres laments that she is no longer relatable to her audience after years of fame, all the while highlighting what sets her apart from common people. She fears that in all of her glitz and glamour, she has completely lost what ties her to the rest of the world.
The special’s premise is one we see quite commonly nowadays: the struggle of being “relatable” to an audience. Comedians, actors, models and musicians are all beginning to curate an image of being just like everyone else, all the while living a lavish, fast-paced lifestyle most of us could never begin to relate to.
DeGeneres succeeded in getting her point across as she extensively narrated her luxurious daily routine. She described her butler and the massive scale of her home, but as she mimed scooting across the bathroom to get a towel, she said she came to a realization.
“Oh my God. This is relatable.”
DeGeneres’s point here is that no matter how different our experiences are, we are all humans. We’re diverse, but we all share a collection of common threads, something that makes telling your own story inherently relatable to others. A great message, truly.
But it’s really just not that funny.
As the special continues, DeGeneres alternates between delivering motivational speeches tinged with reminders of her wealth and performing situational skits that felt like “relatable” posts pulled directly from Facebook.
The first bit, along with the premise, fades into the background as a disjointed series of deeply personal jokes follow. Eventually, it just morphs into an autobiography, and beyond that, a proclamation that she is successful.
After fifteen years of not doing standup, DeGeneres needed to remind the audience who she is: an incredibly talented and passionate woman capable of great things, despite her past. She succeeds in this, but the whole purpose of a comedy special was lost in her self-praise.
Most of the jokes felt like little more than excuses to showcase her success. Sure, the whole theme was that she’s not normal, but the redundancy really killed what little comedic momentum she had achieved.
With the exception of a couple hard hitters that made me crack a smile, I was left feeling more impressed at her life than anything else. The “look at me!” message was plain and clear after each casual reference to her next humanitarian project or her long list of awards.
Basically, the special was not made for an audience, it was made for her.
Compared to the shows of the comedy giants of today or even DeGeneres’s past stand-ups, “Relatable” was a flop. The comedy itself got completely lost in personal experience and loose segues and simply became a vehicle for an hour-long boast.
As the show began to conclude, DeGeneres attempted to loosely reintroduce the theme of relatability and staying true to yourself, but by then it was too late.
Overall, “Relatable” succeeded in doing a lot of things, but being funny was just not one of them.
