Patrick Warburton is recalling his awkward and awkward encounter with Ellen Degeneres after he turned down a guest-starring role on his 1990s sitcom.
O Engagement rules It is Seinfeld star appeared on SiriusXM The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw and recalled making a few guest-starring appearances on Ellenwhich aired for five seasons spanning 109 episodes from 1994 to 1998. Warburton appeared in three episodes in 1995.
“They say you’re the flavor of the month, so they keep asking, ‘They want you on this show, they want you on this show,’ so I did one or two guest appearances, you know, on Ellen“, Warburton recalled. “And then they asked me to come back and do another one and I was kind of tired of doing guest appearances at that point and it was kind of time to move on and I just said I had a conflict, is that okay? So, that was it.”
But it wasn’t.
Two weeks later, Warburton said he was having lunch in Beverly Hills with a friend when, out of nowhere, DeGeneres approached his table.
“And Ellen comes up to the table and says, ‘Too big to do my show right now, huh?’ and I say, ‘No, Ellen.’ I say, ‘I just had a conflict,’ which she probably felt was just bullshit and she walked away,” Warburton recalled. “And so, it was just interesting, but just kind of getting to know her, I realized at that point that there was a reason why I would never be invited on her talk show.”
DeGeneres’ eponymous talk show began airing in 2003 and ran for 19 seasons before it has come to an end in 2022 amid allegations of a toxic work environment.
“Yeah. She was rejected. I want you to know I’m a huge fan. What I remember about working on that show is that as far as working with the audience and talking, she was just a remarkable comedian, you know, at the top of her game,” Warburton shared. “She was as good as anybody, but it was just weird. It was just weird because when you say you have a conflict and you don’t do something, it feels like you’re going to be okay with it. You don’t expect the fucking star of the show to come up to you and call you out on your s**t.”
He added: “And so I always knew, ‘Oh, Ellen has a great show. It’s so much fun. I’ll never be on it. I’ll never be on it.'”
Warburton’s recollection comes amid DeGeneres saying this month while filming his Netflix special that “this is the last time you’ll see me.”
The revelation came shortly before DeGeneres abruptly canceled several tour dateswithout any reason being given for the cancellations.
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