Chelsea Handler has a new Netflix talk show looming on the horizon, and the former Chelsea Lately host doesn’t seem particularly sheepish about expressing her apathy for the chat shows her colleagues currently have on the air.
In an interview with the New York Times, Handler addressed a number of different subjects ahead of the premiere of her streaming talk show offering. Naturally, her comments about her peers and the late night talk show landscape are the ones that have raised a few eyebrows. She considers the current climate to be light on innovation and relatively same-y. If you like straight white dudes, late night TV’s got ’em! (Heck, it’s a subject Seth Meyers addressed last night.)
“There are 10 or 11 guys doing what used to be done by two guys,” shared Handler, who pegged late night as “not interesting” in its current state. The former E! mainstay used Stephen Colbert‘s run as the new host of the Late Show as an example of what she sees:
“Look what’s going on with Stephen Colbert and that show,” she said. “What is that? He’s being himself and he’s not. He didn’t go in and make a different show. He’s just following in the footsteps of someone else.”
Elsewhere, Handler shared in her People/Entertainment Weekly interview some thoughts on the prospect of taking a more traditional talk show gig. When asked about her interest level in maybe going after one of the semi-recent late night vacancies that have popped up, the comedian said she wanted to go with a different approach:
“It’s flattering, but you know what? I was so sick of being asked the question, ‘What is it like to be a female in late night?’ that I wanted to take that question out of the equation,” she explained. “Now I’m the only person in history that has a talk show that’s launching in 190 countries, so the question isn’t about me being a woman anymore. It’s about being the first person to do that on this scale.”
Chelsea Handler’s new Netflix talk show (efficiently titled Chelsea) arrives in streaming form on May 11.
(via New York Times)
