Women
WATCH: Ellen DeGeneres Bids Farewell to Jay Leno - Credits Him with Helping Kick Start Career
Ellen got a little choked up recalling all of her visits to Jay's show.
TracyEGilchrist
November 07 2013 1:42 PM EST
December 09 2022 9:12 AM EST
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Ellen DeGeneres bade a sweet farewell to outgoing Tonight Show host, Jay Leno, whom she credits with helping to give her the break that kickstarted her career. For that watershed performance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1986, Ellen performed her signature stand-up “Phone Call to God.” It was one of the few times Johnny ever asked a comic who’d performed to then join him on the interview couch. Ellen tells Jay that he was the one to get Johnny’s booker interested in her at the Improv. Ellen also chatted about her 32 appearances on Jay’s show before gifting him with a denim onesie!
Watch Ellen get a little choked up about Jay below.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.