Rarely does television break new ground, and when it does, the last place one might look for an innovative show would be E! Network. However, the network's late-night talk show, "Chelsea Lately," effectively makes fun of celebrity-obsessed culture with its brash, big-mouthed host Chelsea Handler at the wheel.
E! Network is the place to get daily updates on how much Suri Cruise's wardrobe costs and where Brangelina get their matching haircuts. It is also the channel where celebrity reality shows like "Denise Richards: It's Complicated" and "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" air. These types of shows run all day, and then in one half-hour segment, Handler berates everything and everyone that the E! Network stands for.
"Chelsea Lately" started running during the summer of 2007, and Handler's ratings have grown since then, despite the fact that all of her guests are B-list celebrities at best. Handler is the second woman to ever have a late-night talk show, and she is the first to actually succeed, as her show has just been renewed to run through December 2009.
The show, which runs every weeknight at 11:30, follows a different format than other late-night shows. "Chelsea Lately" begins with a roundtable in which Handler and three others comment on the goings-on in the entertainment world. Then, Handler usually does some sort of skit leading up to the actual celebrity guest.
Handler's roundtable guests are usually comedians, but she also has E! news correspondents present, like Giuliana Rancic or Ashlan Gorse, to weigh in on the entertainment world. The roundtable is normally the funniest part of the show because Handler facilitates a comedic free-for-all featuring some of the most vapid people in the entertainment industry.
Chelsea Handler has an obvious appeal that David Letterman and Jay Leno do not. Her blonde hair and tall, curvy figure at least get people watching, even if they turn the television off after she opens her mouth. Not to mention that many people love her sidekick and partner-in-crime, Chuy, a Mexican midget that she often uses as her emotional punching bag.
But what really separates "Chelsea Lately" from other talk shows is Handler's bizarre, jarring and brutally honest comedic style. She doesn't bother with being politically correct. Whether she's making fun of Tyra Banks's narcissism or Lindsay Lohan's foray into homosexuality, she never lets any celebrity off the hook. Not even the most famous celebrities, like Angelina Jolie, can escape Handler's biting wit.
Her inability to conform and suck-up to Hollywood stars might explain Handler's lack of A-list celebs, but she doesn't seem to care. Rather, she is allowed a certain amount of personal interaction with her guests that other talk show hosts can't have.
For instance, when rapper T.I. came on the show, she tried to set him up with her black girlfriend, Loni Love, a frequent guest on the roundtable. When T.I. responded that he came for the blonde white woman, Handler, without missing a beat, spread her leg over the arm of the chair in a comically sexual position.
Handler also isn't afraid to make fun of her own show, as well as E! Network and its employees. Often she will burst out with exclamations like, "This show sucks!" During a recent interview with Meagan Good from "Saw V" (2008), Good described an incident on set where she was burned by hot water while doing her own stunts, and Handler responded with, "Wow, what a mess! Were you filming here at 'E!'?"
The show always has a wide variety of guests: from TV actresses like Jennie Garth and Connie Britton from "Friday Night Lights" to reality TV stars like Janice Dickinson, Scott Baio and Tawny Kitaen and many musicians. There are rumors that Katy Perry will be this Friday's celebrity guest.
Whether she's yelling at Chuy, grabbing her roundtable guests' breasts or telling cute male guests that she wants to sit on their faces, Handler never fails to entertain. While she may or may not be bringing class back to television, she certainly brings a flair and enthusiasm all her own.
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Chelsea Lately
Starring Chelseal Handler
Airs Weeknights at 11:30 on E!
