Chapter 16 Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 16, The Time Ellen DeGeneres Had an Emergency, Ellen describes her experience in the emergency room of a hospital. Before her sitcom is taped, Ellen usually tells a few jokes to warm up the audience or performs feats of strength such as pulling a jeep across the stage with her teeth. On this night, she first claims she was flexing her stomach muscles and letting people punch her as hard as they could. But the truth is, the pain she experiences come from a cyst.

After she gets to the hospital and proves she has insurance, she has to describe her symptoms. However, since the nursing staff recognizes her as a comedian, no one believes anything she says and keep laughing at her every word. They give Ellen every test imaginable. The doctor tells her that her urine looks good...