Introducing her final episode of Chelsea Lately, stand-up comedian Chelsea Handler declares the closing of her well-acclaimed late night comedy talk show as “[the wrap up of] seven years of ridiculous stupidity.”
Through the lifetime of her nightly show on the E! channel, Handler has not only been the host but the essential mastermind behind the making of her television spotlight.
For the past seven years, Handler has explored new angles of popular and political culture to be revealed in nightly news through her interviews with celebrities, hilarious and expendable skits, and the marginalization of American culture among her team of comedians such as her infamous assistant, Chuy Bravo.
Despite the fact that Handler is the first woman in history to obtain a successful late show on American television, she has also held a steady following due to her explicit and somewhat outrageous content.
This aspect of Handler’s show makes her distinct from male-dominated late night talk show hosts like Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel, who all have steady audiences in the late night broadcast of news.
The opening skit of her final episode featured the first celebrity guest of the evening: Ellen DeGeneres, the most famous woman in daytime talk show news. The opening skit set the mood for the rest of the evening with the witty, not-so-serious accusation on Ellen’s behalf of their unspoken rivalry.
DeGeneres questioned Handler as to why she has never been a guest on her show: “Is it because I’m a lesbian?”
“No. I didn’t even know that you were a lesbian… I thought you were married to Ryan Seacrest,” Handler said with non-convincing uncertainty, all while she stood nude in the showers of Handler’s a Lately studio bathroom.
In acknowledgement of Handler’s shift to Netflix beginning in October of this year, a staged group intervention involving actresses Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Aniston, and Mary McCormack discussed Handler’s distasteful personality and habits they have encountered through the years of her show beginning in 2007. McCormack compared Handler’s new alliance with Netflix to a much needed visit to rehab. “Netflix is a wonderful facility where you’ll be able to get all the help you need,” McCormack said.
Many of Handler’s dedicated follows are confused as to why Handler is continuing her comedic talk show career on an Internet-streaming website like Netflix.
According Netflix, Handler will create four new docu-comedy specials exclusively for Netflix featuring her efforts to gain a better understanding on a variety of subjects ranging from NASCAR to politics and from Silicon Valley to the NBA draft. Handler will produce the stand-up special, docu-comedy specials and new talk show along with her partners in Borderline Amazing, Tom Brunelle and Brad Wollack.”
Handler followed up with an ingenious explanation for her new partnership:
“If I was going to continue working in this industry, I knew I had to do something outside the box to keep myself interested. I wanted to sit with the cool kids at lunch so I approached Netflix to make sure they were as cool as I thought they were, and when I confirmed my suspicions, like with any other future lover, I made my move.”
The rest of the night featured other celebrity appearances including Handler’s ex-lover, rapper 50 Cent, who debuted his new single “Watch Me”. Other presences included Miley Cyrus, with Handler claiming “It has been said that a truly great television series isn’t over until you have Hannah Montana say it’s over,” just before Cyrus performed a cover of Roy Orbison’s “It’s Over.” Best of all, an overwhelming appearance of around 30 celebrities including Gwen Stefani, Fergie, Avril Lavigne, Gerard Butler, Josh Gad (the voice of Olaf in Frozen), Tim Allen, and Selena Gomez concluded the show with everyone singing along to a song raving about Handler and her time on Chelsea Lately.
After modestly thanking all her viewers, production crew, and guests on the show (in which case is likely to be the most sincere anyone has ever seen her on air), Handler bade her farewell, “Good night everybody and I’ll see you on Netflix.”