and i had not even been doing standup -- i said, i'm going to do this on "the tonight show" with johnny carson, and i will be the first woman in the history of the show to be called over to sit down. several years later, i was the first woman in the history of the show to sit down because of that phone conversation with god that i wrote, and i started this path of standup. it was successful, and it was great, but it was hard because i was trying to please everybody and i had the secret that i was keeping that i was gay and i thought that if people found out, they would not like me and they would not laugh at me. my career turned into getting my own sitcom, and that was very successful, and i thought, what if they find out that i am gay, they will never watch. this was a long time ago -- this is when we had white presidents. [laughter] ellen: this was back many years ago. finally decided that i was living with so much shame and so much fear that i just could not live that way anymore and i decided to come out and make it creative and my character would come out at the same time and it was not t

he showed up more and more on johnny carson, merv griffin, and the mike douglas show. he became more mainstreamed and appeared in a play on broadway and surely but slowly the idea came that maybe he should be back fighting. and a guy in new york, a young civil rights lawyer named --, he filed a whole thing in new york to get his license back. he said ali really hadn't been convicted of anything. he was still in appeals process. how could he have lose his job for something that he wasn't convicted for? that wasn't an american kind of thing. on, and another guy had tried to get him a license in atlanta, georgia, where in georgia, it wasn't the state boxing commission that licensed fights, it was the city boxing commission. so, under the nose of lester maddox, probably the most segregationist governor in america, they push through the thing in atlanta and he fought -- in to fight jerry 1970. the thing opened up and he beat jerry in three rounds, cut him up pretty bad and they stop the fight. he fought oscar in madison square garden. and that fight went the distance, 12 ro

i did so much research and i watched so much old -- i watched kicdick cavett and johnny carson and itr you. >> stephen: oh, nice. you hear in tv about trying to hit all four quadrants of people, and what i really respect about you on the show is you're really authentic. what you say in your monologue is really how you feel. >> stephen: pretty much, yeah. thank you, so nice of you to say. >> yeah. >> stephen: the character, molly, now, she is the only female writing in this room, in the late night room, and she's a diversity hire. you've talked about that in your experience at the office. is she based on your experience at the office? >> i'm always so careful, because if you watch the movie they're very unwelcoming to my character, but at "the office," those guys were welcoming, and i was the only minority on the staff there when i started and it was terrifying. >> stephen: it was really funny. >> thank you. >> stephen: it was nerve racking for me to watch. >> really? >> stephen: yeah, because i thought maybe you were going to -- some of my own mannerisms would show up in one of the ch

>> johnny carson inherited "the tonight show," but he made it his own. >> it's going to be wild tonighty party. >> are you married? >> oh. >> and if his buddies came, and they started playing together, you felt like what it must have felt like to go to vegas at 3:00 in the morning and have the rat pack come on. >> no, but where is the guy you talk to? >> it was a beautiful thing to watch a guy working at his best. >> okay. bingo. >> get your ax and let's go. ♪ [ laughter ] >> if you watch it closely, he is gauging how much longer he can wait to let the laugh die before what he says will be irrelevant to what happened. and he gets it just on the nose. it's beautiful to watch. >> i didn't even know you were jewish. [ laughter ] >> johnny was the best audience in the world. and he loved comedy. >> the woman is watching him. she's watching him from the corner of her eye. he says to him, what are you looking at? the guy says i'm looking at that ugly baby. that's a bad-looking baby, lady. >> johnny was there listening for you. he wanted you to score. and when you scored, he scored. >> i said

>> johnny carson. >> karnak the great. one of the funniest skits on late night television. know what i mean? >> i just don't get the need for the exaggeration here. i know people can say mexico was doing all of this before. look, the threat of the tariffs moved them. you can say he shouldn't have it done this way. it hurts our standing and the authorization of the upcoming trade deal but isn't it enough? why does he have to do that with the paper. he knows it's going to bring criticism. >> because he can't help himself. believe what you want to believe. i'll believe it when i see it. all the reporting shows that mexico had begun to do things because he was saying mexico had done nothing. they had begun to do things in the way of keeping people from coming across the border. >> thank you. >> they had ramped up security and done more arrests. they had even released a statement on the monday before talking about what they were doing and what they were planning to do so when i see the actual agreement and look at what has been done before then i can make an assessment but if th

johnny carson, david letterma jay reno. then the a newer thing happening there.big three networks, that sort of thing. and that was -- i read every book about those late night wars. i'm sure you know so much about that because you're entrenched in that world. it's fascinating to me. it's somhing where even if i don't sy up and watch it at night, i see clips about them. whether it's jimmy kimmel or jimmy fallon. >> you talk to bill carter of "the new york times"? >> i tked to him. he wrote that book -- he's written two books. i researched all of his writing. >> i never asked. but you were talking about being at the office and being this youngriter and looking different than anybody else. how did you get yourself apart on the ouow? did y write it and say, yeah, i i thinkould play this part? or how did you make that leap in front of t camera? >> my boss greg daniels had seen me in a play i had written and starred in, and he had in the back of his mind theth wonderfu g about "the office" is people looked like people you know. th don't have toook like models. and he w

of "last call" will do it for you late-night shows, an institution the classic late-night show, johnny carsonrs emma thompson. >> the traditional big three network, you know, that sort of thing. that was, i read every book about all of those late-night wars sure you know about that you're entrenched in that whole world, but it's fascinating to me late-night talk shows still something where even if i don't actively stay up and watch a talk show at night i see clips about them jimmy kimmel, jimmy fallon they're a huge part of our culture. >> and bill carter, "new york times" >> i read a lot of bill carter. >> he wrote that big book. >> wrote that book. >> written two books on two different -- i didn't talk to him about it but researched a lot of this writing. >> did you talk, you talked about being at "the office," a were young writer, looking different than anybody else. how did you get yourself a part on the show? did you write it and say i think i could play this part how did you make that leap in front of the camera? >> my boss had seen me in a play i had written and also starred in and had

johnny radelat, everybody. 8g band. stay tuned for "carson daly.