Rosie O’Donnell Has ‘Fully Written’ a New Comedy Special to Compete With Rival Ellen DeGeneres

Rosie O’Donnell has had the knives out for Ellen DeGeneres for years, as she freely admits. Now, a source exclusively tells In Touch that the pair’s rivalry is set to explode as she’s secretly finalizing a deal to do a comedy special while vowing to outshine her longtime rival.

“Rosie has fully written and test-performed a new hour-long stand-up set, and she’s going to put it to film in the coming months,” the insider says. “I guess the headline is that it’s a lot like Ellen’s special, except it’s funny!”

In 2024, Ellen, 67, attempted to make a comeback in the comedy world after she was accused of creating a “toxic” workplace on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which ended in 2022. However, her latest Netflix special, For Your Approval — her first stand-up special since 2018’s Relatable — was not well-received by viewers.

The source continues, “Rosie still has a swagger and still has real comedy chops, and thankfully, in her new material she doesn’t come across as bitter or defensive. She’s just trying to make people laugh and she’s doing it by being herself.”

The insider adds that the Now and Then star, 62, “doesn’t have a streaming deal for this material just yet” because she’s “just starting that step of the process.” However, the source says Rosie’s “voice is needed in stand-up, and unlike Ellen, she’s going to get a warm welcome from fans. The bottom line is Rosie has more friends than Ellen does, and people are really rooting for Rosie as she finally gets back to her standup roots!”

Rosie has been open about her feud with Ellen for years. While the two have been at odds for some time now, they weren’t always rivals, with The Rosie Show alum explaining to The Hollywood Reporter in June 2023 that they were once close friends.

“It was a good relationship. We were friends. We supported each other,” she said. “She came out first on my show [The Rosie O’Donnell Show], remember? She came on and my show was live.”

Though Rosie admitted that she and Ellen went their “separate ways” as their comedy careers took off, she said they remained friends. So, she was taken aback when Ellen claimed the opposite during a 2004 interview on Larry King Live.

“Larry King said, ‘Whatever happened to Rosie O’Donnell’s show? She went down the tubes as soon as she came out.’ And the quote that Ellen said was, ‘I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.’ I was watching TV in bed with my wife going, ‘Did she just say that?'” Rosie said.

She continued, “It would never occur to me to say, ‘I don’t know her,’ about somebody whose babies I held when they were born. It wouldn’t be in my lexicon of choices to ever say.”

Rosie also said that Ellen had recently apologized for the comment via text.

“She wrote, ‘I’m really sorry and I don’t remember that.’ I guess she saw me talk about it on Andy Cohen’s show. I remembered it so well, I had T-shirts printed and I gave them to my staff that said,’“I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends,” the former talk show host explained. “I have a picture of her holding [my then-infant son] Parker. I know her mother. I could identify her brother without her in the room. I knew her for so many years. It just felt like I don’t trust this person to be in my world.”

Ellen has not publicly addressed her falling out with Rosie.