But for her upcoming comedy tour, The Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang
Tour (named after her upcoming third book, out March 9 from Grand
Central Publishing), the comedian is trading in Grey Goose for
Belvedere, the official sponsor of the Live Nation-produced event.
Ms. Handler said her brand switch came down to Belvedere's
healthier ingredients and heritage more than a case of sponsors
throwing money at a tour.
"I was a Grey Goose girl but I found out Belvedere has no real
sugar in it," she told Ad Age of her new vodka preference. "These
guys really know what they're talking about. They have a distillery
in Poland and that spells serious to me. Plus, if I was going to
have someone sponsor me, it would have to be either Belvedere or
Kotex. I just like Belvedere better."
That flippant approach to advertisers has helped make Ms.
Handler something of an anomaly in the E! family. As the host of
"Chelsea Lately" since 2007, she has carved out a unique niche for
herself as one of the few females ever to host a late-night talk
show, all while on a network known for covering and celebrating
celebs such as the Kardashians, Denise Richards and the Playboy
playmates of "The Girls Next Door."?
The irony is not lost on Ms. Handler, who makes her fellow E!
talent the butt of many of her jokes. "I wanted to make sure from
the get-go we weren't taking anything too seriously," she said of
her show's early days. "E! is a very embarrassing place to be
working so we like to make sure we're constantly making fun of
everything."
Yet Ms. Handler's distinctive, raunchy brand of booze-influenced
humor has helped her develop a growing following that's made her
one of the network's biggest breakout stars and one of the biggest
personalities among women 18 to 34, who watch her show more than
they do "The Tonight Show," Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson or even
newly christened late-night champ David Letterman. On average, her
show draws 5 million total viewers a week across its nightly 11
p.m. and 12 a.m. airings, a 50% increase from last year, but still
less than her male counterparts on broadcast.
Next, the comedian will be going the route of E! co-star Ryan
Seacrest with her own production company, Borderline Amazing
Productions, which will debut its first non-"Chelsea Lately" series
for E! later this spring, "Pretty Wild,"?about a Kardashian-esque
trio of Hollywood sisters.
Ad Age caught up with Ms. Handler on the cusp of her upcoming
tour to talk about biting the hand that feeds (and pours vodka for)
her, her talk show's upcoming Oscar-themed special and why she
could never maintain a sponsored Twitter account like Kim
Kardashian.
M&V: Many of the jokes you and the comedians on your
roundtable make seem to be about your E! costars such as Kim
Kardashian, Bruce Jenner and Ryan Seacrest. Is anything off-limits
from the powers that be?
Ms. Handler: In the beginning there was a little concern,
but mostly with making accusations like Amy Winehouse doing all
those drugs. If she could get her faculties together to hire an
attorney, we'd have legal battles, but sometimes we just have to be
careful with our language. If they give us a lot of warnings, we
have to pretend something slipped, or if it's anything really bad
we can always clip it out of the show. Sometimes we change the word
around artfully -- sorry, I don't think you can use that word,
"artfully" -- but we can replace them. But we can say no to stuff
these days. E! has a lot of amazing ideas we shoot down all the
time.
M&V: Now that the show has found its following, it
seems like your caliber of guests has increased a lot, with folks
like Jennifer Aniston and Jim Carrey stopping by, compared to the
Z-list reality celebrities who first populated your couch. When did
that change start taking place?
Ms. Handler: The bottom line is people love reality
shows, they love all the drama. And through making fun of all the
celebrities that everybody's making fun of anyway, the big people
enjoy hearing about it. They love that you're saying something
different from what everyone else is saying. ... So I think they
appreciate that and a lot of them come on the show because of
that.
We're doing a one-hour special for awards season with Robin
Wright, Sandra Bullock and Demi Moore. It's a different flavor.
I'll be doing the same kind of interviews I do on the show, but
with less levity.? I'm trying to lay the groundwork for doing other
stuff in the future ["Chelsea Lately" is under contract with E!
through 2012] and not being so stupid all the time. I mean, I'm
going to be 35 this year.
M&V: So is this your version of the Barbra Walters
special?
Ms. Handler: Yeah, but she's in the sunset of her life.
This is my version of her if she had slept with more than one black
guy.
M&V: That seems as appropriate of a segue as any to
ask about your next book, "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang," and its
accompanying tour. What kind of subject matter do you tackle?
Ms. Handler: Well, there's no black guys in this book.
But it started out as a 22-date tour, apparently sold out a bunch
of tickets and venues, so we added two more dates in Radio City and
10 more shows. It's more work than I anticipated but I? figured I
might as well do it while I'm out there. The book is about where I
am in my life now -- more of the same. All my books are about
stories from my childhood, my dating life -- Ted [Harbert, her
reported ex-boyfriend and CEO of Comcast Entertainment] is in there
-- and about my dad, who my sister just called and said she just
found out his cleaning lady was in his bedroom. So he gives me a
lot of good material.
M&V: So you've switched from Grey Goose to Belvedere
because you liked the natural ingredients and their overall brand
story. Any other criteria for brands who may want to develop a
relationship with you?
Ms. Handler: It has to be somebody I'm passionate about.
I don't want to be one of those celebrities endorsing something to
make money. If it's something that's funny or has relevance to my
life, I'll do it, but I'm not trying to Kardashian my way through
life.
M&V: So what do you make of Kim Kardashian's
sponsored tweets and alleged endorsement of the "cookie diet?"
Ms. Handler: I guess they're smart making all the money
they can right away. But that's a lot of twittering to do. Her
fingers must be exhausted. I don't think I could keep up with all
that anyway.
