Review: Ellen DeGeneres’ historic Minneapolis show, now on Netflix, is too much of a pity party

Ellen DeGeneres picked a good place to say goodbye. Her new, and supposedly final stand-up special, “Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval,” was taped last month at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre with a sold-out crowd that included her wife Portia de Rossi, Oprah Winfrey and adoring fans who rose to their feet when their hero made a somber speech about being a “strong woman” with all the pluck of a certain Helen Reddy song.

The 70-minute show, now streaming on Netflix, has a lot of DeGeneres beating her own chest — and with good reason. Her ‘90s sitcom, “Ellen,” in which both she and her character came out as gay, was groundbreaking. She hosted the Oscars twice. Her daytime talker lasted nearly 20 years.

But if you looked only at her final tour, you might assume she spent a good chunk of her career in purgatory.

“Nobody would hire me,” she says, dwelling on the three-year period after her ABC sitcom was canceled. She also digs into the pain she felt after she was accused of being mean to her staff, rumors that eventually led to the end of the daytime series. She jokes that being the most hated person in America should have at least come with a trophy.

“I once said I didn’t care what people said about me,” she says. “Looking back, I realize I said that at the height of my popularity.”

It’s true that DeGeneres has been knocked down a few times. But it’s hard to feel a whole lot of sympathy for someone who sold out three shows in Minneapolis and has enough cash to wipe away a river of tears.

“Approval” opens with DeGeneres walking backstage as if she’s heading to the gas chamber, enduring past notorious headlines and moments where it might have been difficult for her to keep up her signature dance. She spends roughly half the time onstage feeling sorry for herself, targeting those who spend time hating someone for being mean, old and gay.

“We don’t like all of you either,” she says with her trademark deadpan delivery. “But we don’t make a big deal of it.”

It’s all a bit too much — and not very funny.

DeGeneres is at her best with her wry takes on the things in life that don’t quite make sense, like dry cleaning, the random option on windshield wipers, dimly lit restaurants and pigeons. Her best bit is on a magician visiting her mom in a senior living center, where most of the audience members have dementia.

It’s moments like those that remind you that she’s the best observational humorist of her generation (and, no, I’m not forgetting Jerry Seinfeld), one who deserves to be remembered as a brilliant comic rather than a martyr.

If you really want to celebrate her gifts to comedy, revisit her debut on “The Tonight Show,” in which she floored Johnny Carson with her phone conversation with God or her last Netflix special, 2018′s “Ellen DeGeneres: Relatable.” Don’t forget her hilarious contributions to the Pixar classics, “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory.”

They’re all better ways to honor a talent who specialized in finding joy.