Always funny, even when she decides to do a press conference call from bed. And that’s exactly what Chelsea Handler told us reporters on the phone while talking about her new show on NBC ‘Are You there, Chelsea?’ in which she stars in, executive produces and obviously created.
It’s an ensemble show starring Laura Prepon from ‘That 70’s Show’ who plays new Jersey born ‘Chelsea’, a strong, bold, fearless character and very much based on the three books she wrote, ‘Are you there Vodka, it’s me Chelsea?, ‘My Horizontal Life’ and ‘Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang.’
It follows the 20-something Chelsea an opinionated unapologetic young woman who lives life to the fullest as a cocktail waitress, friend, daughter, sister and sexually dynamic advanced drinker. Her life revolves around her working at Jerry’s Ultimate Sports Bar in New Jersey surrounded by an eclectic group of friends and co-workers.
Chelsea herself veers a bit and plays ‘Sloan’ a conservative, born gain Christian new mother, with little in common with her carefree sister. An obvious departure for Miss Handler. Why this role?
“Well just for that obvious reason that I wanted to do something that was a little bit more challenging. I’ve been playing myself for 35 years now, so.. I’m very uptight in the first episode. And, you know, I’m very sarcastic still, the character, but I’m very kind of buttoned up. So it’s fun to just kind of dress shlumpy and you know have a completely different appearance and attitude.”
How she balances it and what she does in her free time, busy Chelsea with her cable shows, comedic touring, book writing, and dates with famous men including Fifty-Cent and Hotelier Andre Balaz, who she’s no longer seeing, told us she was doing this press conference call from bed. “Well, I’m in bed right now having a cappuccino. I could have done this call from the office but I opted to do it from my bedroom.”
“There is plenty of drinking on the show” said Handler, you just can’t put it in the title, hence the TV title name leaves out her favorite choice of beverage, vodka.
How does Handler feel about Laura playing her?
“Oh its great. It’s a dream come true. I’m so sick of playing myself I cant even tell you. She’s very salty, very down to earth, and very direct which you know are three things that I would identify myself with being.”
With shows coming and going these days, is Chelsea nervous about how the show will do and does she get caught up in that kind of thinking?
“Oh yes. I mean, you know, I mean. I don’t get caught up – I mean, I wouldn’t say I get caught up in it. I mean, luckily I have, you know, I have a lot of jobs so it’s not the end-all be-all but I would love nothing more that for this to be a success. You know, it’s a completely different medium, so you really don’t know how it’s going to be received until you see it on the air. You know, I was watching a bunch of episodes yesterday, giving it notes on the episodes we’ve done, and I think you know to myself, God this show is really, really funny and I hope that everyone who has been so loyal to me for so many years comes and sees this show and has the same feelings about it.”
Yes, Chelsea, we do too. See it Wednesdays at 8:30p ET beginning January 11.
Can’t wait for that one!