Ellen DeGeneres is having trouble selling tickets to her Last Stand Up Tour.
Four shows have been cancelled already without explanation. More may be in the offing.
In some cities, The Last Stand Up tour is actually sold out. But in many others, it’s not, and there are wide swathes of blue — meaning plenty of available seats.
There are plenty ready for fans at Ellen’s August 1st show at Radio City Music Hall, for example, mostly in the orchestra. The same is true of her San Francisco show on July 20th. One show there was cancelled.
The other cancelled dates are, surprisingly, in Seattle, Chicago, and Dallas. There’s another Seattle show that’s also struggling. But clearly there wasn’t demand for a second one. In the cases of the cancelled shows they were all cities where expectations may just have been too high to have two nights. One was enough.
All these cities were where DeGeneres’s talk show enjoyed 17 years of big ratings. But in the last couple of seasons, numbers collapsed as the comic’s reputation was battered by accusations of a toxic backstage atmosphere. DeGeneres — very wealthy from the show and from real estate mansion flipping — finally stepped down after 19 seasons.
DeGeneres remains a very gifted comedian nevertheless. And while this tour is playing a little like one from Deborah Vance on “Hacks,” I’ve no doubt she’s well worth seeing live — especially if this is indeed the last time.
