Ellen (19941998) Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres) is a neurotic, thirty-something, bookstore employee who tries to get by life in dealing with her various friends who include the outgoing redhead Paige Clark (Joely Fisher), insecure photographer Adam Green (Arye Gross), her unsure-of-himself cousin Spence Novak (Jeremy Piven), coffee shop guy Joe Farrell (David Anthony Higgins), the critical and obnoxious Audrey Penney (Clea Lewis), and most challenging of all, Ellen also has to contend being around her annoying and overbearing parents Lois (Alice Hirson) and Harold (Steve Gilborn).