The hardest act for Ellen Degeneres to follow is most certainly herself. In 2000, Ellen made a smashing return to the stage in her stand up comedy tour, "The Beginning", which was critically acclaimed and won Ellen an Emmy nomination. So, I went into the LBC with the thought, "How is she going to top that?" And guess what, she did!

It seems obvious that Ellen's post coming out hardships are far behind her. Never before has Ellen appeared more confident and connected to her audience then she did on her opening night, Saturday March 8th at The Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa, California.

Without giving the show away, the majority of her materials were new, the audience clearly related well to the topics that she talked about and her delivery, complete with facial expressions, made for a very funny evening. Honestly, most of her materials were downright hilarious.

Ellen often made fun of herself in the process and stopped to laugh with the audience which made the show that much more personable. It was a great time.

If you are not lucky enough to already have tickets, they may still be available on her website at www.ellen.warnerbros.com. If you have the opportunity to go, take advantage of it. As her new talk show takes off in the Fall 2003, it may be quite awhile before you get to see Ellen perform live stand up again.