Handler's first two exploits into her sex life, career and family, titled My Horizontal Life (2006) and Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea (2008), are still on the New York Times Best-Seller list, and her overwhelming popularity as an author has come as quite the surprise for this loudmouthed firecracker. "I never expected to be on the New York Times Best-Seller list," she recently said. "I had a feeling my second one might because of the show, but for both of them to still be on the list is absurd and silly."
Indeed, 'absurd' and 'silly' are two words to describe the complete essence of Chelsea Handler, the queen of late-night television and an absolute riot on the comedy scene. Handler's sharp tongue is never more apparent than it is while watching her perform a standup routine live, and fans are in luck, as the saucy Ms. Handler is ready to embark upon her Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang Tour next month.
Chelsea Handler tickets are available now online, and comedy fans can catch her in action starting March 10, one day after the arrival of her new book, when she kicks off the Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang Tour in Chicago. Handler will headline 34 shows during this spring's tour, and plenty of laughs are sure to be had for everyone in attendance.
Chelsea Handler has built her empire upon poking fun at the very thing that worships her - pop culture - and there's no doubt that this native East Coaster has more than a few tongue-lashings to give just about anyone. What's made her so popular, however, is her instinct to say what few others would dare. Handler, born and raised in New Jersey, fought for attention growing up with five siblings, and it's undoubtedly her humor that has thrust her into the spotlight all her life.
Handler's rise to fame came in the early 2000s, when she became the star of the Oxygen Network series Girls Behaving Badly, which involved Handler and other female comediennes pulling pranks on unsuspecting victims. The vixen also started making the late-night rounds on episodes of The Tonight Show in the mid-2000s, and in 2007 she began a romp with her very own late-night comedy series on E! called Chelsea Lately.
While continuing to do stand-up shows, Handler has become a national sensation for her anything-goes commentary on Chelsea Lately, making just as many friends as enemies in Hollywood for bashing each and every one of her guest stars on the show.
The vivacious blonde continues tearing up the comedy scene, and it's no surprise she's such a dominant figure on late-night TV and in comedy clubs. Recently speaking about the inspiration for her forthcoming tour, the comedienne said, "I have made a recent living making fun of every person in Hollywood, so I'd like to take this tour as an opportunity to get back to my roots and make fun of myself along with the rest of America and of course, Spain. Godspeed."
To get the TV gig, Chelsea’s team played off rival networks,
holding a series of meetings in New York last fall with all the major
television news outlets, including ABC, CBS, and CNN. “Her agent calls,
asks if you want to meet with Chelsea Clinton, you take the meeting,”
one network executive tells BuzzFeed.
But she didn’t blow anyone away with her presence during the
interview process, according to network executives who interviewed her.
“Horrible,” says another high ranking TV executive who met with Chelsea.
“There were ground rules, what she could and couldn’t report, only good
news, no politics, ” says the executive, who felt Chelsea would be a
dud and passed.
There was a sense in the meetings that that the news channels were
auditioning for her — not the other way around — which rubbed a few of
those she met with the wrong way. “They acted like we should be
grateful” that she was offering herself to the networks, says the exec.
Even high ranking company officials within NBC, according to
sources at 30 Rock, weren’t that impressed with her. One senior staffer
told colleagues after multiple meetings that Chelsea was going to be
simply “terrible” on television. Upon her arrival, Chelsea was given a
welcome bag, filled with NBC swag, 30 Rockers tell me. NBC’s David
Gregory responded by jokingly asking: “Where’s my welcome bag?”
Gregory’s joke hints at the unprecedented level of special
treatment Chelsea receives: she didn’t do live shots on her Rock Center
debut; she gets chauffeured everywhere in a town car while others her
age strap hang with the suckers in Gotham’s sewers; she has her own
personal spokesperson; and she has her own chief-of-staff, Bari Lurie.
(Lurie is to Chelsea what Huma Abedin is to Hillary: a fiercely loyal
female aide and confidante, who logged over 7,000 miles with her during
the 2008 campaign.) Other top talent at the network noticed that luxury:
Lester Holt, Hoda Kotb, Natalie Morales, and Savannah Guthrie all share
a single assistant. (An NBC spokesperson says, however, that Chelsea
pays for her own chief of staff.)
