When we were younger, we thought the Oprah Winfrey Show would be the only talk show that would stand the test of time, but at the moment the record stands with David Letterman. However, David Letterman specialized on Late Night talk shows whose hosts generally last a very long time. Morning talk show hosts haven’t shown the same kind of longevity due to the hosts generally being an actor or not having the capacity to work early mornings for long spells a time.

Oprah’s been gone for almost a decade now after twenty-five years, but Ellen DeGeneres is very quickly catching up to her. The Ellen DeGeneres Show, or simply Ellen, has been on-air for sixteen years now. Ellen has made it clear she’ll be considering leaving next year in 2020, but nothing’s set in stone. Regardless, even if she does bow out, she’ll be doing it on her own rather than being canceled.

Ellen has been very successful because the show used a format that has remained evergreen. She’s incorporated elements that remain up-to-date with modern practices, such as social media, but at the core, her energy has remained the same. Guests on the show have always been made to feel welcome and have never shown any disinterest to be there. If you think it’s a show without a format, then think again. Ellen has worked hard in perfecting her format and it wouldn’t have been a success had she not employed certain rules.

To bring you up to speed, here are 20 Rules All Guests Have To Follow On The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Be prepared to be jump scared

No matter what cool characters celebrities might play in the movies, almost no one is immune to the almighty jump scare that can attack them at any point. The only one to defy this has been Russell Crowe, when he easily brushed off a surprise.

Other than Russell, every guest who has been subjected to a surprise has jumped off their seat. There’s no pattern to this jumpscare; Ellen has it done to whoever she wants at random. Many a time, it’s a scare for even the viewers, who don’t know when the camera will cut to the person doing the scaring.

Never have I ever questions

The ‘Never Have I Ever’ segment has been used criminally low by Ellen. But this is understandable considering a lot of the celebrities in attendance are repeat guests (more on that below), and so there aren’t a lot of options to make this a weekly thing.

The times the game has been played, though, it’s seen the celebrities being asked extremely personal questions. More often than not, these questions deviate toward intimate details or wild occurrences that spark huge cries from the audience. Guests need to be aware that these personal questions will be asked and have to take it into stride.

Participate in games

The biggest celebrities have never gone an episode on Ellen without participating in at least one game. If you’re an actor who’s starring in Captain America: Civil War or Justice League, or any film that is sure to be a blockbuster, then you will be partaking in these games.

These games are always fun and you won’t find any guest complaining about them. Ellen makes sure these are very participative in nature; guests of all ages have been seen in them, such as Sandra Bullock, Chris Evans or John Cena.

Talk about their kids

Everyone who follows celebrities has a weird liking toward knowing everything about their personal lives. People such as the Kardashians have made a fortune simply by giving birth to children; shows such as Ellen are the reason why celebrity children discussion is a thing.

Whenever a celebrity has had a child, and is invited to the show, they’ve been asked how the parenting has been going by Ellen. Each time you’ll find the guest talking about certain hijinks with their newborn child that shows the difficulty of parenthood. Ellen doesn’t ask about the easy stuff; it’s more fun to find out how these celebrities are going through the trial and error process.

Talk about Ellen’s parties

Ellen is a very giving person, and she gives the most when it comes to her elaborate parties. Ellen doesn’t distinguish much between who’s invited and invites along pretty much every celebrity in Bollywood along. According to David Spade, he didn’t even get a chance to talk to Ellen in her own birthday party.

Ellen’s pretty swamped during these gatherings and doesn’t mind if you didn’t, or couldn’t, stop by to say hi. When you get to her show, however, you’re expected to dish out what you were up to during the party. Each time this is asked, an embarrassing situation comes out to the open.

No Cellphones during an interview unless it’s for Instagram

As it goes with every show, it’s not good manners to take out your cellphone and talk to someone while you’re being interviewed. Ellen also has a similar policy where the guest isn’t allowed to have their phone and be interrupted during the interview.

But unlike other talk show hosts, Ellen has one big exception to this rule; if you’ve got intentions to put the interview on social media. Ellen loves her Instagram, and several of her interviews have been segued into picture taking sessions to be ed onto Instagram. She probably got the social media bug after hosting the Oscars.

Be funny

Ellen is a comedian and being hilarious comes to naturally to her. But if you’ve noticed her interviews, she’s not a natural at the process. Ellen gets rather awkward when asking questions and she sets up the guest to bring out the funny aspect.

A portion of her guests aren’t comedians, yet you’ll have noticed they bring on the funny when they’re on Ellen. Comedians like David Spade and Kevin Hart have made her bawl with laughter because of how she sets the scene to crack up the audience. If you’re going to be dry in the interview, chances are it won’t work out.

they Usually need to be her acquaintance

Ellen makes it a point to be friends with every person who has significant standing in Hollywood. Almost every celebrity out there has their own story with Ellen as she interacts with everyone in any social gathering. This is why when a celebrity shows up on Ellen, they have instant chemistry with her – because they’re already at least her acquaintance.

We’ve seen several guests who aren’t very familiar with her, but these interviews still have conversations where they acknowledge they have at least run into Ellen once before. And if you're already her buddy, then the interview's going to be a riot.

Have to dance

No one is exempt from breaking into a dance on the show. The point of having a Morning show is to loosen up and have informal interactions; Ellen’s show is the prime example of this.

She shows up from within the audience while dancing as the show starts, and whenever a guest is introduced the same catchy beat is put on. More often than not these celebrities will dance their way onto the stage before taking their seat.

Be prepared to talk about Kardashians

There are a lot of divided opinions about the Kardashians, but with almost every member of the clan having around 100 million followers on social media, clearly, a lot of people can’t get enough of them. The biggest fangirl of the Kardashians might just be 60-year-old Ellen. Almost every interview she has with a big-time celebrity has a mention of the Kardashians.

She’s on excellent with every member of the family, too, and these people have been guests on her show several times. She even had Julia Roberts dress like a Kardashian recently for an Instagram picture, not to mention dres as one herself for Halloween.