Jon's Ego (in print form!)

khealywu:

MY HEART MY BEATING HEART!

(Ellen DeGeneres’ first appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.)

The Ellen super fans in the YouTube comments clued me in that there was a story behind the “Phone Call to God” bit. A quick Google search and:

DeGeneres, 21, develops a relationship with Kathy Perkoff, 23, a poet. “They were two very creative people, crazy and young and very much in love,” Perkoff’s sister Rachel remembers. The pair’s happiness is abruptly cut short when Perkoff dies in a car accident. Afterwards, DeGeneres writes her first monologue, “A Phone Call to God,” about mortality, and performs it at her first stand-up job, emceeing at a New Orleans comedy club. Her performance wins her the 1984 Showtime’s Funniest Person in America award.

Very sad but I’ve always found stories like that absolutely fascinating.