Ellen DeGeneres showcased her trademark self-effacing wit and considerable emotion when she accepted the honorary Carol Burnett Award at the 77th #GoldenGlobeAwards2020 on Sunday.
“I’m going to be quick, although I don’t have to because it’s a special award and they don’t play me off,” DeGeneres teased at the top of her speech before landing the second part of the gag: “I was born in New Orleans in 1958 …”
The award is the equivalent of the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which has traditionally been awarded to film actors and directors.
Kate McKinnon of “#SaturdayNightLive” presented the honor to DeGeneres, saying she had greatly inspired her, including providing her “with a road map for a way to be funny that is grounded in an expression of joy.”
DeGeneres also paid light-hearted tribute to the award’s namesake, in a reference to Burnett’s trademark move to close “#TheCarolBurnettShow”: “Every time she pulled her ear, I knew she was saying, ‘It’s OK, I’m gay too.” DeGeneres is the second recipient of the honor, which was created in 2018 to salute excellence in television. Burnett herself was last year’s recipient.
“Television inspired and influenced everything that I am today,” DeGeneres said, citing legends like Lucille Ball, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart in addition to Burnett. “There’s a little bit of all of them in me.”
DeGeneres’ career, which began in the world of stand-up comedy, eventually led her in 1994 to a starring role in the ABC sitcom “Ellen.” She became the center of both praise and controversy on that series in 1997 when her character realized she was gay and came out of the closet. That episode, “The Puppy Episode,” scored DeGeneres an Emmy for writing. “I had a successful sitcom and I came out, and then lost that sitcom, and then I got another one and I lost that sitcom too,” she said in her acceptance speech of the experience.
Since then, she has become one of daytime’s most popular personalities with her talk show, which is in its 17th season and has been renewed though 2021-22. The series has won a record 11 Daytime Emmys for daytime talk show.
