Patrick Warburton, the renowned actor, has opened up about an uncomfortable encounter with Ellen DeGeneres, which took place just weeks after the comedienne announced her decision to step back from show business.

Warburton, 59, has had a long and successful career, with early guest starring roles on various TV shows such as Quantum Leap, Murphy Brown, and Northern Exposure. He also appeared in three episodes of DeGeneres’ sitcom, simply titled Ellen, during its second season in 1995.

In a recent interview on Jessica Shaw’s The Spotlight, Warburton shared an awkward encounter with DeGeneres, 66, which left a lasting impression on him. After his three guest-starring spots on Ellen, he was asked to return for another episode, but he declined, which seemingly didn’t sit well with DeGeneres.

He also guest-starred on DeGeneres’ sitcom simply entitled Ellen, appearing in three episodes during its second season in 1995

After his three guest-starring spots, he was asked to return for another turn, though he turned it down, which clearly didn’t sit well with Ellen

Warburton explained that he was approached to return for another episode, but he had already decided to move on from guest starring roles. He recalled, “They say you’re the flavor of the month, so they keep asking you like, ‘They want you on this show, they want you on this show,’ so I did a guest spot or two on Ellen.”

He continued, “And then they asked me to come back and do another one, and I was just kind of done doing guest spots at that time, and it was sort of time to move on, and I just said I had a conflict, all right? So, that was it.”

Warburton shared that two weeks later, he encountered DeGeneres at a restaurant in Beverly Hills, where she confronted him about his decision. He recounted, “She walks up to the table and she goes, ‘Too big to do my show now, huh?’ I go, ‘No, Ellen.’ I go, ‘I just had a conflict,’ which she probably sensed was just bulls**t, and she walked away.”

Warburton acknowledged that the encounter was “interesting” and revealed that he realized he would never be invited on her talk show, Ellen, which ran for 19 seasons from 2003 to 2022. He described DeGeneres as “spurned” but maintained that he remained a huge fan of her work.

Warburton praised DeGeneres’ exceptional comedic skills, stating, “What I recall working on that show was that as far as crowd work and talking, she was just this remarkable comedian, you know, at the very, very top of the game.”

He concluded, “She was as good as anybody, but it was just weird. It was just weird because when you say you have a conflict and you don’t do something, you seem like you’re gonna be fine with that.”

‘They say you’re the flavor of the month, so they keep asking you like, “They want you on this show, they want you on this show,’ so I did a guest spot or two on Ellen,”‘ he began

‘And then they asked me to come back and do another one and I was just kind of done doing guest spots at that time and it was sort of time to move on and I just said I had a conflict, all right? So, that was it,’ he added

‘You don’t expect the star of the show to walk up to you and call you out on your s**t and that’s all it was,’ he said

‘You don’t expect the star of the show to walk up to you and call you out on your s**t and that’s all it was,’ he said. He admitted, ‘I always knew, it was like, “Oh, Ellen’s got a great show. It’s a lot of fun. I’ll never be on it,”‘

Warburton’s career took off after his role on Seinfeld as mechanic David Putty later in 1995. He recently reunited with Jerry Seinfeld in the new Netflix movie Unfrosted.