Artie pushes Larry to get Ellen Degeneres to come out of the closet on their show, but Larry pursues some personal research first. Beverly spoils Artie's birthday by circulating the show's budget, with everyone's salary, amongst the staff.
WAR
60.3
Wins Above Replacement
“Ellen, or Isn't She?” ranks #1 of 90 The Larry Sanders Show episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 87.9 — Elite. The episode packs 49 scored jokes at 2.0 per minute, averaging 7.3 on craft and 7.2 on impact, with Larry landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Ellen: So, I guess I should say that I, last night, slept with Larry Sanders.
Ellen Escalation Misdirection ★ Rewatch Callback Larry: Would the character of Ellen ever sleep with a man?
Ellen: Well, sure, if he were feminine enough.
Larry Ellen Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Ellen: I woke up this morning thinking that there was something very amazing. Thing's that I'd never felt before, and I realized I was laying on your hairbrush at one point.
Ellen Misdirection Escalation ★ Rewatch Ellen: What's odd, though, it seemed--you seemed very uncomfortable with me on top, and I thought, 'Why is it?' But then again, you seemed uncomfortable with me on the bottom, too.
Ellen Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Brian: Have you ever waxed Larry's back? Have you ever poked around in great dane shit looking for a ring?
Brian Escalation Absurdist ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 49 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Larry: They'll find me in the spring buried in the snow like one of those fucking dead moose.
Larry Observational Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Larry: No, you didn't. You already booked reservations at my favorite restaurant. You're surprising me with a cake-- Chocolate hazelnut.
Larry: Well, if we had better numbers, we wouldn't need to go on the road to get better numbers.
Larry Observational Irony/Sarcasm Larry: How thoughtful of me.
Larry Deadpan/Understatement Irony/Sarcasm Beverly: Oh, you can't go sneaking up on people like that! This is the copy room. I came in to make a copy.
Beverly Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Mary Lou: Are you smoking pot?
Beverly: No. I'm just making a copy of something.
Mary Lou: Next time he asks me out, I'm gonna say yes.
Beverly: How can you make that much money for just standing around gossiping? Oh, don't you just hate 'em? They have nothing better to do than just snoop in other peoples' business.
Hank: It was eva gabor... It was her first orgasm, and she just couldn't thank me enough.
Hank Character Comedy Absurdist Hank: Zsa Zsa was at the wheel. Oh, mama! And I was-- as you might say-- I was working under the hood.
Hank Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Larry: It's a wallet. It's got a fish on it.
Hank: Oh, that's a nice one.
Larry: You like it?
Hank: Yeah.
Larry: Ok. You--it's yours.
Hank: Really?
Larry: 'Cause I need a new wallet.
Larry: No, no, that's 3 o'clock. 12 o'clock!
Hank: No, this is 12 o'clock.
Larry: No, you're 3. I'm 12 o'clock.
Artie: That lady is a lightning rod of sexual controversy. I smell ratings.
Artie Character Comedy Observational Ellen: Are you our waiter?
Larry: I am your waiter.
Ellen: Gee, I thought things were going so well.
Larry: Thursday we've got superman, hercules, and dr. Quinn medicine woman.
Ellen: Wow. Well, then, some other time.
Larry: No, no, hercules can go fuck himself.
Larry: I'll get some rolls and I'll come back. Get bread rolls. Whatever you want. Yeah, sourdough is good. You got it. I--I may not be back for a couple of days.
Larry Absurdist Character Comedy Larry: Oh, for god sakes. How come every time you see 2 women together, you automatically think they're gay? We're together. Does that mean we're gay?!
Hank: No, but the night's still young.
Phil: You've got all of Hank's lines under the name 'Nurse libido.' That's his name in the sketch.
Larry: Yeah, haven't I told you that you never write Hank's character name on the card? You have to write 'hank,' or he won't read it.
Larry Phil Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Writer: Just because you make more money than me doesn't mean you're my boss.
Phil: Are you nuts? I worked for bob hope. You should be kissing my ass that I even print your shit.
Writer: Then why do they pay me 1,000 times what you make, huh, jerkby?
Phil: It's 5 times.
Phil: Christ, this is the budget. Where did you get this?
Writer: From my ass!
Artie: Well, listen, I believe I know more about homosexuality than you two. After all, I'm the one with the gay assistant.
Artie Character Comedy Observational Artie: And that's--that's why I know she's a doughnut humper. Bumper. That's why I know she's a doughnut bumper.
Artie Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Larry: They would let us do the fucking show from between Anna nicole smith's titties.
Jake: Jesus, Hank is the most overpaid man in show business.
Jake Character Comedy Observational Callback Writer: Oh, those jerks. They spelled my name wrong. Oh, that--Trollop!
Brian: Yeah, he is.
Brian: I--I make $5.00 more a week than you make?
Beverly: Yeah.
Brian: I mean, don't you think you should make a little bit more than me?
Beverly: Yeah, but I only make $5.00 more than you.
Brian: Have you ever waxed Larry's back? Have you ever poked around in great dane shit looking for a ring?
Brian Escalation Absurdist ★ Rewatch Ellen: I mean, john lithgow isn't really from outer space.
Larry: Well, you don't know him as well as I do. I think there's a good chance he is.
Larry: All that publicity and we're still getting our ass kicked by the nanny. That hurts.
Larry Observational Character Comedy Ellen: And then I kiss you. And then--then you can decide. That could be funny.
Larry: Yeah. Yeah.
Ellen: Like, um... Like this.
Ellen · Larry: [Ellen kisses Larry]
Ellen Larry Physical/Slapstick Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Larry: God, what a surprise. Yeah. That is--Jesus. I mean, where did you learn all that?
Ellen: Oh, camp.
Larry Ellen Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Stevie: Tonight, Ellen has a secret, and Larry's got it!
Stevie Character Comedy Observational Stevie: Unless she had sex with her mother. Now, that would be a great cue. 'Tonight on Larry Sanders, Ellen sleeps with her mother! It's a family affair!'
Larry: What if she's not a lesbian? Did you guys ever think of that?
Artie: Oh, man. I--she's a lesbian, I can tell. I've had sex with a lesbian.
Artie: You gotta have sex with 2 lesbians. That's the whole point.
Artie Character Comedy Absurdist Phil: I need to make more money.
Phil!
Phil: What? Oh, I'm sorry. Did I just say that out loud? I've been saying it over and over in my head, and I guess one just slipped out.
Phil Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Callback Stevie: This is our opportunity here to kick leno's fucking ass!
Stevie Character Comedy Escalation Larry: I recently caught an old cosby rerun, and suddenly my character's a black, 50-year-old gynecologist, and I just--no more.
Larry Absurdist Escalation ★ Rewatch Larry: I'm trying to scramble some of these words around to form a sentence.
Larry Meta/Self-Referential Cringe/Discomfort Larry: Would the character of Ellen ever sleep with a man?
Ellen: Well, sure, if he were feminine enough.
Larry Ellen Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Ellen: I didn't sleep with him.
Larry: Am--am--am I the only host you've slept with? Am I the only guest you've slept with?
Hank: Very, very, very, funny. I not only peed me pants, I shat them.
Hank Character Comedy Escalation Ellen: So, I guess I should say that I, last night, slept with Larry Sanders.
Ellen Escalation Misdirection ★ Rewatch Callback Ellen: What's odd, though, it seemed--you seemed very uncomfortable with me on top, and I thought, 'Why is it?' But then again, you seemed uncomfortable with me on the bottom, too.
Ellen Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Ellen: He must have--he must have asked me 3 times, 'How am I doing?' And so, uh... That was, uh--that was sweet of you.
Ellen Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Ellen: I woke up this morning thinking that there was something very amazing. Thing's that I'd never felt before, and I realized I was laying on your hairbrush at one point.
Ellen Misdirection Escalation ★ Rewatch Larry: I guess we'll be doing the show from Bakersfield now.
Larry Deadpan/Understatement Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Top Episodes — The Larry Sanders Show
