Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 26, 1994 TAG: 9403260153
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACKIE HUMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It seems like everything that could have happened happened to stop this show," she said. "The riots were going on when we were shooting the pilot. . .
Then, the fires happened, and the earthquake. I thought, `I finally get my break, and we're all going to die.' "
After the pilot was finished, DeGeneres waited more than a year for the series to be scheduled. Then, less than a month ago, the good news came.
"These Friends of Mine" is to debut with a preview Tuesday (at 9:30 p.m. on WSET-Channel 13), right after "Roseanne." It moves into a regular time slot the next night following "Home Improvement."
"It's amazing that I'm sitting here knowing that it's not only going to happen, but they gave me the best time slot you could imagine," DeGeneres said during a lunch break at the studio. "It's the biggest chance that I've ever been given."
Her blond hair tucked under a reversed baseball cap, she looked more like someone ready to coach Little League than a performer moving into the big leagues.
"Some people are comparing it to `The Mary Tyler Moore Show' of the 90s," said DeGeneres, the star of numerous HBO specials, of her new show. "That's because I'm single. I don't think single women are represented enough these days, where you're not Murphy Brown with all that money."
The offbeat comedy about a thirtysomething woman who manages a bookstore co-stars Arye Gross as her platonic roommate and Holly Fulger as a friend.
Neal Marlens directed the preview episode, which he wrote with Carol Black and David Rosenthal. Black and Marlens, the executive producers, created the series "Growing Pains."
The show incorporates some physical comedy reminiscent of Lucille Ball's antics.
In one scene, DeGeneres tries to maintain her aplomb while stumbling around on an exercise track. In another, "I'm trying to get a waiter's attention and I'm flagging my arms around so hard that I fall over backward, and I'm supposed to act like that's not unusual."
Until 1981, DeGeneres didn't know what she wanted to do with her future.
"Really, my only concern was to get enough money so I could enjoy myself in life," she said.
Living in New Orleans, she worked as a clothing saleswoman, an employment counselor, a bartender, a waitress and a house painter. She also labored in a glove factory for two days and "I was a gardener for about four hours."
Without realizing it, though, she was preparing to be a comic.
"I learned that when I sold clothes, I used humor to sell whatever it was, and I would win the customers over," she said. "If I was a waitress, I would use humor on my tables and kind of get in good with the people and I would get a bigger tip."
Then, some friends put on a benefit show.
"I became a comedian because friends talked me into it," said DeGeneres, who can't remember who or what the benefit was for. "They asked me to get on stage and be funny.
"I just ate the whole time. I ate a Whopper and fries and a shake while I tried to talk. I don't know how much I got out. I'd say, `Have you ever noticed when people . . . ' and I'd take a bite. I wish I had a tape of it. At the time, it was funny."
She went on to perform at a local comedy club, in small clubs around the country, and for two years in San Francisco.
"I think at one point I realized it's going to pay off (but) I wondered if everybody thought that," she said. "I saw people who were terrible comedians and they thought they were great. I wondered, `Am I like that?' "
In 1982, she was named Showtime's "Funniest Person in America" based on videotapes of her performances. In 1985, she moved to Los Angeles and, a year later, made her first appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.
She landed small roles in two series, Fox's "Open House" and ABC's "Laurie Hill," and in 1991 won an American Comedy Award as Best Female Comedy Club Standup.
The 36-year-old performer, who lives with two dogs - "a white Lab and a black mutt from the pound" - said one of the greatest challenges is dealing with her newfound fame.
"This whole celebrity thing is such a strange thing to handle," she said. "You're not trained for how people react to you, because you're so busy working.
"I get recognized maybe 50 percent of the time when I go out. Some people react to me like I'm the Beatles, and some people say, `Didn't I go to school with you?' "
by CNB