Ellen: Lena Dunham Afraid of Driving & Not That Kind of Girl Review

Ellen: Lena Dunham Dancing

Lena Dunham, the writer, director, producer, and star of the show Girls and the author of the book Not That Kind of Girl, came by Ellen to talk about her new book. Lena said she’d been fantasizing about coming on Ellen for a long time and she’s had a lot of time to think about her dance entrance. She danced right on down to her seat, but she said she wished she’d done different moves. Ellen said she could have a do-over after the commercial break.

Lena Dunham and Ellen met for the first time at the Grammys and Lena said it was a funny way for the two of them to meet, since they’re both from TV. Lena said Ellen was a huge influence on her in her career.

Ellen TV: Lena Dunham Afraid of Driving

Lena was born and raised in New York and she said she’s terrified of driving. She moved to L.A. at one point for six months and her friend told her she had to learn to drive. Because she couldn’t drive, she was often hitchhiking.

She got a driving teacher and studied with him for six months. She said it was scary because he would pick her up and she would drive for a while and then she would pick up another student who would take the wheel and drive her home. She said this was really harrowing, because this student was usually worse than her and driving her home.

Ellen said six months was too long to take lessons. Lena said he kept telling her to take the test, but she kept wanting to wait another week. Finally, he said she should take the test.

“It was like 90 degrees out and the woman who administered the test was wearing a parka and um, like earmuffs and I knew I was just done for. I knew there was no way that that person who had just an unclear sense of just, like, the climate, was going to make a smart choice and I failed,” she said.

Lena said not everyone is supposed to be a mother and not everyone is supposed to be a driver. She said if you ever see her in a car driving, someone should stop her.

Ellen: Lena Dunham 10 Pounds When She Was Born

Lena Dunham said it’s often reported that she was 11 pounds when she was born and that’s not true. She was 10 pounds. Lena said her mom is mad about this mispublished fact because Lena being 11 pounds makes her “sound like a freak” and like her mother “sound like a freak”. Lena said she was just under 10 pounds. Ellen said she was 10 pounds, 11 ounces when she was born.

“So I am a freak. And I guess my mother’s a freak, too,” Ellen joked, looking to her mom in the audience.

Ellen TV: Lena Dunham Chasing A Cat

Lena Dunham said she once missed three periods of school chasing a cat when she was younger. She chased the cat through her neighborhood, under fences and into people’s backyards. Lena said she chased it “until it became really clear that the cat was like totally enjoying its life” without her.

Lena Dunham has a rescue dog and she loves it. She said she and her dog laid in bed for the entire day when she had a rest day from her book tour.

Ellen: Lena Dunham Hairless Cats

Lena said she grew up with hairless cats and wants another one. She had four of them when she was little. Ellen said Portia wants a hairless cat, but they’re weird looking.

“They’re really weird looking, because there’s like four of them and they’re all sleeping together, so they’re inbred,” Lena Dunham said.

“All hairless cats are inbred?” Ellen said.

“I don’t want to make blanket statements that are going to offend the hairless cat community,” she said.

“Well, you just did,” Ellen joked.

Lena Dunham said hairless cats are really rare to find to rescue. So if you see one, you should rescue it.

Ellen TV: Lena Dunham Animals

Ellen said she had three cats and three dogs and she would want more if these six animals weren’t so hard to handle. Lena said she recently said to her boyfriend, “What’s the point of working so hard if you can’t have millions of puppies?”

Ellen: Lena Dunham Onesie Gift

Because in Girls they always wear onesies, Ellen gave Lena a special onesie from the Ellen store with pictures of her dog, a big, a rabbit, and Ellen. Lena was genuinely excited and screamed, “No!” when she saw it. She said she thought it was the best present she’d ever been given.