Chelsea Handler wants
Take responsibility for
Your beautiful time
Little big slut trip
Come to the Santa Barbara Bowl
by Leslie Dinaberg | August 8, 2024
A strong female force long before “Brat Summer” became a trend, when the comedian, television presenter, six-time New York Times Bestselling author and attorney Chelsea Handler returns to the Santa Barbara Bowl on Saturday, August 17. It will be a homecoming of sorts for the versatile entertainer.
“I was the first opener at the Santa Barbara Bowl when they came back from COVID, and I had never played at the Santa Barbara Bowl before,” said Handler, who kindly interrupted her vacation in Port de Sóller, Mallorca, to speak with me by phone. “I’m so excited to be going back there because it’s such a special place. … I was just very lucky to be coming back at all and to be able to be so close to home (in Los Angeles) and then have a great weekend in Santa Barbara with all my friends from LA who are coming.”
She added: “I’m really looking forward to coming back and spreading some good vibes.”
Spreading good vibes is something she does well. From her early career as an actress and stand-up to her seven-year stint as host of E!’s top-rated Chelsea lately from 2007 to 2014 – a tenure in which she was the only female late-night talk show host on the air – to her documentary series Chelsea doesher Netflix talk show Chelseaher funny Instagram account and her iHeartRadio advice podcast Love ChelseaHandler has made us laugh on virtually every platform imaginable.
About two minutes into our conversation, my cheeks were already sore from laughing when I asked Handler to describe in her own words what exactly she does for a living.
“Every time I have to fill that out on some paperwork, I’m like, ‘What am I?'” she laughs. “I don’t know. I go back and forth between writer and comedian. I don’t know, artist, entertainer. I don’t know. I think because I do so many things at once, I don’t feel like I’m doing one particular thing. I’m more focused on what I’m doing at the moment. But then I think about what I’m doing at the moment and write about it. I just finished my seventh book, I’m on tour, I’m on vacation and I’m going back to doing stand-up in a few days. So I don’t know how I would describe myself – I think it’s probably for the best that I don’t know how to describe myself.”
And how close is her true personality to the person we will see on her? Little big slut Stand-up tour?
“I think it’s pretty close. I’m pretty authentic and true to myself and my personality. I don’t act or try to pretend to be something I’m not. And I hate that,” says Handler, who will add a performance at the Cosmopolitan in Vegas to her resume a few weeks after her Santa Barbara show.
“I have a reputation that definitely precedes me. But I’m very close to what you see. I’m open, I love life, I love my friends and I love having fun. I love working hard and I like being versatile. I want to keep my interest in what I do. And I don’t want to have to do anything that I’m not really passionate about.”
She found her way into comedy in what was probably the most LA story of all time: she was arrested for drunk driving.
“I was charged with drunk driving when I was 21, the week after my 21st birthday,” she confirms. She attended the required courses, but always hid in the back rows.
“I was so scared of public speaking. I was determined to leave this class without giving this speech. I’m going to find a way to avoid that. And in the very last hour, when I thought, ‘I did it,’ he called my name.”
She was forced to talk. “And I went up and told my drunk driving story, which was pretty ridiculous. I called the cop a racist – and we were both white. I spent 72 hours in the Sybil Brand women’s prison in Los Angeles County, where they traded tampons for ham and cheese sandwiches. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, they called me down.’ They said, ‘What job do you want? Do you want to do license plates? Do you want to work in the cafeteria?'” she laughs.
“I said, ‘No, I’m not staying.'” But the computer system was down and she was stuck for nearly three days, saying things like, “‘No, I’m not staying. I’m not here permanently,’ and they said, ‘That’s what everyone says.’ … So I went to the biggest, toughest woman I saw. And I said, ‘Please contact me. I have money.’ And I slept under her bunk bed for two nights,” Handler says.
“So I told the story in the DUI class, which, by the way, is a class that basically teaches you how to get out of the next DUI. I told that story, and afterwards everyone, I mean, even the guy in the class came up to me and was like, ‘Okay, this isn’t a comedy club, so stop,'” she recalls.
“But I was just amazed by the reaction I got. People were laughing and the room was nice and full. When I left the class, everyone just said, ‘You have to do stand-up, you have to.’ And the next week I did my first gig at the Laugh Factory, which was three minutes long.”
Reflecting on that not-so-promising-but-oh-so-funny beginning, Handler says, “And so one of the worst decisions of my life became one of the best decisions of my life. There was a beautiful silver lining to a terrible thing I had done. Of course, a drunk driving offense is nothing to be proud of. But I will say that I haven’t committed a drunk driving offense since then because I learned my lesson the first time and the first time is the last time.”
Like most aspiring entertainers, Handler worked in temp jobs that she admittedly was terrible at (“I couldn’t even transfer a phone call,” she said) until things started coming together. “One of my first opportunities was to work for The practice (an early offshoot of Grey’s Anatomy) and I played a rape victim.”
When the offer came, “I was on the phone with my sister. And I was probably asking for money because I was constantly broke; I was working as a waitress. And I got fired for yelling at customers or telling people exactly what I thought – that didn’t go over well in this industry either. And I was on the phone with my sister and I said, ‘What if it doesn’t work out? So what if I don’t make it and I don’t succeed in this business?’ And she said, ‘That’s going to happen; you’re not good for anything else.'”
Handler laughs: “She was right.” And she got the call for the television show.
“It was one of those moments where I thought, ‘Okay, I’m on the right track.’ Don’t get so distracted and don’t imagine everything. As long as you’re taking steps in the right direction, everything will be OK. Maybe not at the pace you want. But if you set your mind to something, it happens. You just keep going and keep moving, get knocked down and then get back up. It sounds like a cliche, but it’s true.”
Of course, she now writes and creates her own material. “Everything I do is very self-generated. And that allows you an autonomy that you don’t have when you’re cast in something,” Handler says. “So in the end, it was a real blessing in disguise because I don’t do well with authority. So for me, it’s better to do what I want, when I want, than to work for a company or an organization that’s constantly giving me notes.”
And does she ever plan to slow down? As a long-time artist at 49, Handler seems to work much harder than most of her peers.
“I would say I work very hard to not work very hard even parts of the year, and when I do work, I give it my all,” she says. “And then in the winter I go to Whistler for two to three months and I come to my house in Spain, and I hang out here for a month or two a year because spending time with my friends and family and sharing all these places with people I love is super important to me and would be meaningless without that.”
She continues, “I never go to my places alone and hang out. I always invite friends or family. And that was my dream when I was a little girl: I just wanted to have a big life. And I wanted to be loud and leave my mark and be someone that people could rely on. And that’s why stand-up is such a great calling for me, because people come and rely on you to show them a good time. And I take that very seriously. I take having fun very seriously. And when you’re on stage, you’re the arbiter of everyone having fun. And I love that responsibility.”
Chelsea Handler will be at the Santa Barbara Bowl (1122 N. Milpas St.) on Saturday, August 17. See sbbowl.org or chelseahandler.com for further information and tickets.
