She's Got a Ridiculously Bright Future

Chelsea Handler is best known as the only woman in late night TV, but Handler is leaving her panel-formatted talk show, Chelsea Lately , to move on for bigger and better things. While it's easy to think of Handler as primarily as TV host, she's only been on Chelsea Lately since 2007. Before that, she gained popularity as a performer, humorist, and essayist. Handler has already written five books, four of which have topped the New York Times' Bestseller List. They range from the autobiographical (Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea) to essay collections (My Horizontal Life) to confessionals from family and friends (Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me) to stand-up style bits developed into narrative (Uganda Be Kidding Me). So needless to say, she's going to be more than OK when she's done with E!.

Handler started out as an actress and stand up comedian, and has returned to that well with her live tour, based on the stories from Uganda Be Kidding Me, which cover the many disasters and foibles that arise on Chelsea's international travels. She just presented at the VMAs, and is going to be taking the Uganda Be Kidding Me tour to Australia and New Zealand late this November.

Handler confessed to Howard Stern that she's leaving her E! show because she'd like to move on to a more edgy and permissive network, like Netflix, where Handler has a new talk show starting in 2016. She's already created one sitcom, Are You There, Chelsea? (NBC), and while the show was canceled after one season, former stars Laura Prepon and Lauren Lapkus are both on Orange Is the New Black, so something good came out of it. And now, with Last Week Tonight proving that the news format can survive and thrive on weekly pay cable, maybe binging talk and late night shows on Netflix is the next frontier.

As the only experienced host out there on the market, Handler will be the one to blaze the trail. She has a dozen famous friends who would be ready to show up on whatever project she chooses to do next — so we could be seeing them on the Netflix show. Reese Witherspoon appeared on her mockumentary, After Lately, and Cameron Diaz and Gwyneth Paltrow are two of her close friends and frequent guests. That's a lot of high-powered Hollywood blondes working to make sure the show succeeds. One thing's for sure — Chelsea Handler has plenty of options once the last episode of Chelsea Lately airs.