Ellen DeGeneres gave the 2009 Commencement Speech at Tulane. During that speech, she talked about how a tragic event led her to find her life purpose….
She was 19 years-old and her girlfriend was killed in a car accident. At that time Ellen was living in a basement apartment, had no money and no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She began to do some serious soul-searching and wanted to know why her friend died, what she was going to do with her life and what her purpose in life was. During her talk, she says,
“Wouldn’t it be so convenient if we could just pick up the phone and call God and ask Him all these questions”
This moment of desperate inspiration prompted Ellen to write down her own one-sided conversation with God and what poured out of her was the realization that she was going to do stand up comedy on Johnny Carson and be the first woman in the history of the show to be called over to sit next to Johnny after doing stand up on his show…Well, several years later Ellen appeared on Johnny Carson and was the first and only woman in the history of the show to do stand up comedy and then be invited to sit next to Johnny Carson.