@lyndine2009
The joke here is that Van’s haircut doesn’t represent his tiger appearance. Like the haircut itself is called a wolf cut, and the hair color doesn’t match since his hair doesn’t have stripes.
In other series, the haircut itself is used more for wolf-type characters. Both literally and metaphorically.
Ellen knows Van for a long time so she finds it funny that he looks like the stereotypical “wolf” human character. The clothes, the haircut, the ear accessories, etc. Van’s human form looks more in line with that of a “wolf”
The only thing that indicates he’s a tiger is that tail of his.