Why Ellen DeGeneres could be ditching talk show

TV personality Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi. Photo / Getty Images

Portia De Rossi wants Ellen DeGeneres to quit her talk show.

The 60-year-old comic has fronted 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' since 2003 and though she recently extended her contract up to the summer of 2020, she had been close to declining and her wife urged her to turn down the deal in order to do something else.

Portia said: ""I just think she's such a brilliant actress and stand-up that it doesn't have to be this talk show for her creativity. There are other things she could tackle. I don't see the end of her show as her career ending."

However, Ellen's brother, stand-up comic Vance DeGeneres advised her to stay on, arguing the country needs her positivity.

But Ellen told the New York Times newspaper: "[Portia] gets mad when my brother tells me I can't stop."

Later this month, the 'Finding Dory' star's first stand-up special in 15 years, 'Relatable', will broadcast on Netflix and her brother thinks the programme allowed her to "break out" from her talk show.

Vance said: "After doing the show for 16 years, it's second nature. She wanted to break out of, not a rut, but a mould."

For Ellen, the special has allowed her to show more of herself than she can on her daytime programme.

She said: "I wanted to show all of me. The talk show is me, but I'm also playing a character of a talk-show host. There's a tiny, tiny bit of difference."

When it comes to her talk show, Ellen just wants her audience to go away feeling good.

She said: "It's escapism for what's going on, one hour of feeling good. At the core it's a comedy show. But if it's not funny, at least it feels good."

-Bang! Showbiz