If laughing is something you want as part of your daily routine, you might want to try watching “The Ellen Degeneres Show.”

The show, which just completed its ninth season, is full of games, guest speakers, musicians and lots of entertainment. Ellen, best known as a stand-up comedian, enjoys dancing, making her audience laugh and most importantly, helping those who need it.

Broadcast Monday through Friday, Ellen starts her hour-long show with a monologue, usually discussing a popular topic or something that has happened in her personal life. She ends it by dancing among and with her audience as her DJ Tony plays music.

After she returns to her seat, an audience participation game is usually played before her guests come out.

Ellen enjoys embarrassing her guests by playing games such as “Know or Go” in which three players stand over a hole and are dropped if they do not correctly answer a trivia question. Or she may go through audience members’ Facebook accounts, finding funny and sometimes disturbing photos, and sharing them with her audience. Everyone who takes part in Ellen’s games are always rewarded with a prize.

Ellen also has hilarious ongoing segments that she rotates throughout her shows. These include segments such as “Clumbsy Thumbsy” where viewers send in their autocorrected texts, “Hot Glam Girl” where viewers send in old glamour shots that were once thought to be attractive, “Wacky Album Covers” which showcase funny albums viewers have sent in.

In her most recent segment “Ellen’s Dance Dares,” viewers send in videos of themselves dancing behind people in public without the other person knowing. If a viewer’s video is shown on the show, that person is given a $100 JC Penney gift card.

Ellen also takes pride in scaring her guests. Whether it be having someone sneak up on them while they are being interviewed or Ellen herself hiding in the bathroom until they appear, Ellen makes sure all her guests will be watching their backs for years to come, or at least every time they appear on her show.

In addition to having high-profile celebrity guests on her show, Ellen likes to bring in everyday people such as Internet sensations she finds on YouTube, people she has read or heard about on the news, or people who have been nominated as “deserving” to be on her show — for example, people who are going through financial difficulties, have lost a job, or teachers who are simply trying to make their school a better place.

Ellen always helps these people in any way she can. This past season, Ellen picked out an audience member simply because she liked the woman’s enthusiasm, brought her up on stage, and once she found out the woman’s story, Ellen ended up giving her a brand new house fully furnished and letting the woman help design it.

Perhaps the most anticipated shows are the ones in December which are referred to as “Ellen’s 12 Days of Giveaways” in which she generously gives away several expensive gifts a day to each audience member to celebrate the upcoming holiday season.

The best thing about Ellen is she truly cares about our world and society.

While her show is funny and entertaining, Ellen also promotes kindness and love for one another. She is not only an inspiration to the thousands of people she helps but also to the people who watch her show.

Several guests have mentioned how they have been able to get through some of the toughest times of their lives just because of the one hour of joy they receive from watching each day.

By watching the Ellen Degeneres show, I guarantee you will laugh, cry and maybe be surprised. Anything is possible.

Rating: A

—Erin Peden

Staff Writer

To contact Erin Peden, email staffwriter1@occc.edu.