Chelsea Handler Biography
Summary
"Chelsea Joy Handler" (born February 25, 1975) is an American stand-up comedienne, humorist, television host, author, and actress. She currently has her own television program, "Chelsea Lately", on the E! Cable Television Network.
Biography
Early life
Handler was born in the suburban town of Livingston, New Jersey in the USA. The youngest of six children, she was raised Jewish by her Mormon mother, Rita, and Jewish father, Seymour. Handler's mother passed away from cancer. Handler has said that while growing up, she felt like an outsider, telling a reporter, 'We lived in this nice Jewish neighborhood...Everyone had Mercedes and Jaguars, and I was going to school in a Pinto.?
Performances
Handler has performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian, appeared as a regular on the Oxygen Network series "Girls Behaving Badly" and on other shows, including "Weekends at the D.L.", "The Bernie Mac Show" and "The Practice". She is a regular commentator on E! and "Scarborough Country" as well as a correspondent on "The Tonight Show". She was a guest on "Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld" and "The View", co-hosted on "The View" on August 2, 2007 and again on September 5, 2008 — and hosts her own late night talk show on E! titled "Chelsea Lately".
Books
Handler has authored two books on the New York Times Best Seller List. Handler wrote My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands (ISBN 1582346186 ) as her memoir. Handler also wrote "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea" (ISBN 0061173398), a collection of humorous essays. "Are You There, Vodka" hit the NYTimes non-fiction best seller list on May 11, 2008 and has already had a print run of 270,000+.
"Comedy Central's Hour Stand-Up Comedy" Tour
In 2007, Handler performed with the Hour Stand-Up Comedy Tour across the U.S.. Her stand-up has been televised on Vh1's Love Lounge, Comedy Central's "Premium Blend", and HBO's broadcast of the "Aspen Comedy Festival". Chelsea Handler was the host of the Fox show 'On The Lot.' The show, produced by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett, is a competition for aspiring filmmakers who are vying for a chance at stardom. She was replaced after one episode by former Robin & Company entertainment anchor, Adrianna Costa.
"Chelsea Lately" premieres on "E!" channel (2007)
In July 2007, Handler began starring on her own half an hour late-night comedy series on E! titled "Chelsea Lately". This series places Handler against a slew of male-dominated talk shows, taking both a female approach and adding a considerable amount of sarcasm to the format. On the show's 100th episode, Chelsea revealed to viewers that E! had picked up Chelsea Lately for another 150 episodes. The show has proved itself a hit and averaged more than half a million viewers since its premiere (much more than the average for a late night cable program) and has clips on Youtube with more than a million viewers. All this success is despite the fact that Handler's guests often are not A-list celebrities. In a 2008 interview Handler cracked, 'The worse the guests are, the more pathetic they are, the funnier the show is.? On October 24, 2008, TV Guide reported that Chelsea Lately has been renewed by E! to run, at least until 2009.
"In The Motherhood"
Since 2007, Handler has appeared in the Internet based program "In The Motherhood" with Leah Remini and (since January 2008) Jenny McCarthy. The comedic series is 'about moms, by moms and for moms'. On September 8th, 2008, it was announced ABC would be turning In The Motherhood into a series starring Handler, Megan Mullaly, and Cheryl Hines. (... more)
Personal life
Chelsea has confirmed she is dating Ted Harbert, who, as the CEO of Comcast Entertainment Group, oversees E! Entertainment Television. A common speculation is that Handler got her show on the E! Network as a result of dating the CEO, but this rumor was debunked when Harbert said he met Handler at a wrap party for her show, which had already begun production. Handler told a reporter that her relationship with Harbert only gives him an opportunity to complain about her show. She explained:
On the January 29, 2008 episode of Chelsea Lately, she claimed that she was asked to do season six of the hit television series Dancing with the Stars but declined. Handler has also said many times that she has an exteme dislike for celebrities Tori Spelling and Caroline Rhea, often antagonizing Spelling by comparing her to Seabiscuit. When Alison Sweeney was a guest on her show, Handler made the statement 'Oh you replaced Caroline Rhea as host of The Biggest Loser, probably because they didn't want a host weighing more than the contestants'. When she had actress Melissa Joan Hart on the show, Handler stated that she would have rather worked with Salem (the black cat from Sabrina The Teenage Witch) than Rhea.
Filmography
As herself
"The Chelsea Handler Show"
"Chelsea Lately"
"Comedy Central Stand-Up"
"In The MotherHood"
"Girls Behaving Badly"
"The Bernie Mac Show"
"The Practice"
"Spy TV"
"My Wife and Kids"
"Weekends at the D.L."
"Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld"
External links
("In the Motherhood" official website)
(Q&A Interview, New York Times Magazine, December 16, 2007)
(Review of 'Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea')
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Chelsea Handler.
