Salon.com > Chelsea Handler

The great sitcom divide

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:30:00 +0000

On a recent episode of "2 Broke Girls," the following writing somehow made it onto television:

(Waitress to dissatisfied customer)

Waitress: Would you like to see the menu again?

Customer: This is crap, I wanted Muenster.

Waitress: Well, I wanted to be running a Fortune 500 company instead of waiting on a toxic man-child like yourself. But we can't always get what we want, so order something else, put it in your pie hole and get on with your damn life.

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I hadn’t realized my taste in comedy was so elitist until I watched some of the new multi-camera sitcoms and observed what I had assumed was an already long-dead form of comedy. When I say “new,” I’m referring to multi-camera shows that have persisted after the advent/rise of the single-camera sitcom. If, like me, you've spent recent years watching "30 Rock," "Arrested Development," "Louie" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," it's a completely different experience to tune into talked-about shows like "Whitney," "2 Broke Girls" and "Are You There, Chelsea?"

“Chelsea” has a Chelsea Handler problem

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:45:00 +0000

"Are You There, Chelsea?," the title of Chelsea Handler’s new series premiering tonight (8:30 p.m., 7: 30 central) on NBC, is really a question best left in the writers’ room. If you have to ask, the answer is probably “no.”

Like her or not -- Handler's scorching, raunchy humor isn’t for everyone -- the comedian should be front and center. Why wouldn’t she be? Handler has become a household name, as the host of a 5-year-old late-night talk show, "Chelsea Lately," and as the author of four best-selling books. The sitcom, which was green-lit by Handler’s now-ex, Ted Harbert, the CEO of Comcast, is based on "Are You There, Vodka, It’s Me, Chelsea?," a collection of essays detailing her soused and saucy antics.

So, where is Chelsea, then? Roseanne starred in "Roseanne." Jerry starred in "Seinfeld." Louis C.K. stars in "Louie." Even her caustic pal Whitney Cummings -- who barely registered a blip outside of the comedy circuit until this past fall -- stars in her eponymous sitcom. Handler appears in only seven of the 13 episodes, cast -- by choice, she says -- as the conservative Christian sister to her fictional twentysomething alter ego. (Handler claims she was too busy with her talk show to be the sitcom’s star or head writer.) Instead, Laura Prepon (Donna Pinciotti from "That '70s Show") plays young Chelsea Newman, ventriloquizing Handlerisms like a white kid reciting a Chris Rock monologue (if only she were savoring the jokes as breathlessly. If only the jokes were so worthy) while Handler's presence in these early shows underline how flaccid her emasculating quips sound when intoned by anyone but her.

“Chelsea” celebrates the drunk chick

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:50:00 +0000

How do you make women funny? Add alcohol.

That's what you'd gather from NBC's new lineup, featuring the return of "Whitney" (I know, I hadn't realized it'd gone away either) and the new sitcom "Are You There, Chelsea?" – a block it calls "Happy Hour Wednesday." Yet from what we've seen of "Whitney" already and the already grim-looking previews for "Chelsea?" I can think of few things less likely to induce Wednesday happiness. To be fair, though, the odds are good they'll make you want to reach for the Cuervo.

Based on Chelsea Handler's best-selling, liquor-fueled memoir, "Are You There?" features "That '70s Show's" Laura Prepon as a gleefully boozy, slutty party gal who prays to the higher power of vodka for the strength to get out of DUIs and awkward same-sex overtures. Chelsea, we are incessantly reminded, is a free spirit (i.e., a lovable skank), attempting to get down to earth with the assistance of her virginal roommate and dowdy sister -- played, with dowdy brunetteness, by none other than Chelsea Handler herself.

The New York Times has female trouble

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:00:00 +0000

The New York Times thinks naughty ladies are just da bomb. People still say "da bomb," right? That's a thing? On Sunday, the Paper of Record gave Katie Roiphe free rein to gas on "in favor of dirty jokes and risqué remarks," which, to her mind, are what those whiny girls are complaining about when they're being sexually harassed. "Show me a smart, competent young professional woman who is utterly derailed by a verbal unwanted sexual advance or an inappropriate comment about her appearance," she wrote, between boasts about her Princeton pedigree, "and I will show you a rare spotted owl." Show me evidence Katie Roiphe has ever held a real job, and I will eat a rare spotted owl.

Not willing to let any grass grow under its zeitgeisty, metaphoric feet, today the Times notices "Female Comedians, Breaking the Taste-Taboo Ceiling." Have you heard of this Sarah Silverman person? Because apparently she is rather raunchy. And lest you find yourself wondering how you woke up in 1998, and if so, whether Dawson's ever going to hook up with Joey, let me assure you, this story actually ran in the New York Times in November 2011. Coming next, a piece on how people are using emoticons. Oh, wait.

Gwyneth Paltrow likes to point out how fat you are

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:15:00 +0000

How does Gwyneth Paltrow get her friends and fans to keep on the healthy path to good living? Well, she has that newsletter, GOOP, and a cookbook that wasn't half bad. She also has the amazing ability to say horrible, underminey little comments about your weight and instead of telling her to shut her macrobiotic pie hole, you'll actually thank her! Amazing!

Take the recent case of Jenny Craig spokesperson and "Chelsea Lately" regular Ross Matthews, who recently found himself at the receiving end of Gwynnie's tough love.

Pop Torn: 10 pieces of cultural ambivalence

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 12:01:00 +0000

I was going to write a longer intro to this, but you know what? Congratulations: Here is a list of things that in no way pertain to Weinergate. You're welcome, America. Now onto the other stuff that made us all a little uncomfortable (and a little excited) this week.

1. Rihanna's "Man Down" video is causing controversy for its excessive use of violence: It's only OK when dudes shoot each other in graphic music videos. Not when ladies do it.

2. Actors from Starz "Party Down" reuniting on Adult Swim's "Children's Hospital": If you needed a couple more reasons to watch Rob Corddry's hysterical doctor spoof, how about Lizzy Caplan, Megan Mullally, Ken Marino, Martin Starr, and Ryan Hanson together again? All that's missing is Jane Lynch and Adam Scott.

NBC and Fox unveil trailers for new series

Tue, 17 May 2011 12:01:00 +0000

As networks gather in New York to unveil their hot 2011-2012 premieres, we get a sneak peak at all the new shows coming our way. Which ones will be the next "Arrested Development" or "Mad Men," and which will be next season's "The Cape?" We take a look at the trailers released by Fox and NBC over the past two days and try to make our most informed snap judgments.

From NBC:

1."Up All Night"

With Will Arnett, Maya Rudolph, and Christina Applegate. It's about babies, which all three of these actors have, so at least they are working with the source material. Here's hoping it's not another "Running Wilde" for Arnett.

NBC picks up four new comedies, loses “Outsourced”

Fri, 13 May 2011 21:14:00 +0000

It's been a good week for "That 70's Show" alumni. First Ashton Kutcher got himself the world's sweetest gig taking over for Charlie Sheen on "Two and a Half Men," and now Laura Prepon (Donna) has just snagged the lead in one of NBC's four new comedies.

"Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea" has been adapted from Chelsea Handler's memoir into a scripted sitcom starring Prepon as Handler. So was Elizabeth Banks not available, or is there just a rule against appearing on too many NBC sitcoms in one year? Because as much as I loved her as Donna, I'm not sure Prepon can pull off Chelsea's wackiness.

Meanwhile, three other shows have been picked for the peacock's lineup, including "Free Agents," an American remake of a British comedy about the romantic lives of P.R. executives. Exciting! Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn star in the Americanized version along with Anthony Head (Giles from "Buffy"), who will be reprising his role from the original series.

Justin Bieber talks “Lesbians who look like Justin Bieber”

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:20:00 +0000

Justin Bieber appeared on "Chelsea Lately" Monday night to talk about his recent Grammy loss, being friends with all of Will Smith's kids (except the one from "Just the Two of Us"... where did that guy go?), and getting hugged by Lady Gaga in her meat dress. Also? He knows there's a site out there dedicated to lesbians who have his haircut.

(Video starts at 3:30 mark.)

Said Justin about the site: "It's funny."

If you haven't seen it yet, Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber is a pretty self-explanatory blog, though in all fairness it isn't just women who love women that end up looking like the Biebs. I, for instance, also have Justin Bieber hair. And as we found out last night, so does everyone on "Glee."

The unfunny business of Chelsea Handler

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:20:00 +0000

This week, Nicholas Sparks has two books on the New York Times bestseller list. Chelsea Handler has three. But that's not where the 35-year-old comic's world domination ends. Like David Letterman, Handler's got a hit late-night talk show, and, like Lady Gaga, she's gearing up for a massive multi-city tour. And in comedy, a field as rife with sexism as it is with fart jokes, she's proven that women can rise through the ranks. Why, then, is it so hard to feel good about her?

Of course, plenty of people feel just fine about the Garden State native. Her ribald tales of drunken escapades, wacky family and shame-free shags have won her a devoted legion of both male and female acolytes, drawn to her frank, bawdy style. As she laps up glowing reviews for her "hilarious" memoirs -- like the recently released "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang" -- she fills a niche no other female entertainer seems able to occupy. Handler's not a good girl, like Tina Fey. She's not a self-deprecating D-lister like Kathy Griffin. She's not a weirdo like Sarah Silverman. In many regards she's a dream come true -- the girl who puts out, and then laughs about it.