Structure of the Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show starts with a monologue.
Then, she gets up from her seat and dances through the audience! Dancing has become a signature part of Ellen and her show.
After a commercial break, Ellen introduces a celebrity guest. Often, there is an interview component as well as a part where the guest plays games with Ellen and/or the audience members. Below is a video of when Steve Carrell visited the show. At 7 minutes, Steve and Ellen play Christmas themed charades.
There are occasional musical guests on the show, as shown below with Adele singing Someone Like You on Ellen.
The past few seasons, Ellen has delegated more and more parts of her 40 minute show towards interviewing people with interesting and deserving stories. Now, people can write to Ellen and nominate a person to be on the show or she often reaches out to people who have gained popularity/recognition from the media. Below is an example of such segments, when she surprises the Jensen family.
"Be kind to one another"