If the crowd gathering under the marquee at the Chicago Theatre last night was any indication of the weekend to come, audiences for the Just for Laughs live shows—which kicked off last night—will consist mostly of suburban housewives (and the men who love them) and power lesbians. But this was no ordinary festival kick-off, it was the taping for Ellen’s Bigger, Wider, Longer show, which airs to the public later this month on TBS. It was a razzle-dazzle evening of lights! camera! Ellen! with energy levels cranked up to megawatt levels.

I dashed past the merch station, a mixture of thermal coffee mugs, flip-flops, T-shirts and briefs (yes, briefs) sporting the Ellen show logo, en route to the bathroom, where there were so few gents I swear you could hear a pin drop. But all my hurry was for nothing. Ellen didn’t arrive until 7:30pm. Producers used the first 30 minutes to whip the crowd into a frenzy by dividing the audience into two halves (North Side and South Side) and staging karaoke and dance contests between audience members and hosted by DJ and Mariah Carey hubbie Nick Cannon. Given the records he scratched—Barry Manilow’s “Copa Cabana,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”—you can pretty much guess the generational status of this crowd.

The lights finally dimmed and Ellen popped up on a video screen standing in front of Wrigley Field and sporting a Cubs jersey. When she realized she was due at the Chicago Theatre for a show, she (or rather her stunt double) staged a number of elaborate parkour (look it up) movements past megawatt local monuments (the “Bean,” the Art Institute, etc.) before landing on stage to the rapturous applause of the crowd. There’s no doubt that Ellen is a showman, and she brought her estrogen-fueled A game to Chicago last night. “Why do a show in Chicago?” she asked. “I finally got tickets to Oprah.” She referenced her first appearance at the Chicago Theatre, “That was a long time ago, back when we only had white presidents.” In the same breath she also played to her gay and gay-friendly fan base. “I did a show at the Chicago Theatre in 1988 called Women of the Night with Paula Poundstone, Rita Rudner and Judy Tenuta. Afterward, we went trolling for men…that was a long time ago.” And cracked a similar joke when referencing magician David Blaine. “A very handsome man and I are going to make some magic, and that hasn’t happened since the ’80s.” I sat through the bendy contortionist Elaine Kramer, stuntman Ryan Stock with fiance Amber Lynn and karate champion Mike Reeves, but missed Blaine and musical headliner Kanye West (I’ve seen him at Lolla) in order to dash to my next show. Ah well, I can catch the whole thing on TBS on June 27.