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Handler with care

CHELSEA HANDLER with CHRIS FANJOLA at Massey Hall (178 Victoria), December 11, 8:30 pm. $69.40-$89.50. 416-872-4255.


With all the exposure from her E! talk show and three New York Times-bestselling books, it’s impossible to argue that Chelsea Handler’s not up there with Silverman, Sykes and Griffin as one of the hottest female comics in the game. Well, you could argue it, but you’d lose.

Her recent gig hosting the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards confirmed as much, though it was a polarizing performance that received mixed reviews, including a jab from Perez Hilton. (Her reply: “Oh, fuck off.”)

Speaking from the Chelsea Lately studio in L.A., the flinty, no-bullshit comedian says the negative responses didn’t really get to her.

“If I paid attention to critics, I wouldn’t have a career,” she says. “It was one of the highest-rated shows MTV’s had in 10 years. People who didn’t know me were probably like, ‘Oh my god, who is that?’ But we had a good time, so I was surprised to hear anything negative.”

Handler’s unlikely popularity in the hip-hop community must have informed MTV’s decision to hire her. She has a natural rapport with rappers who appear on her show. Diddy recently tweeted that she’s appealing “in a white woman divorced 2 years ago living next door kinda way.”

She’s also puzzled by her apparent chemistry with folks like Lil Jon and Rick Ross.

“I don’t know what it is,” she says. “50 Cent sent me 15 vases of flowers the other day. Something’s going on. He was on my show a couple months ago. I haven’t seen him recently, but I guess we have a crush on each other.”

Sure enough, a few hours after our interview, 50 Cent was tweeting about flying to L.A. to have dinner with Handler. (She’s single. Her brief courtship with Ontario-born animal, er, handler slash Discovery Channel personality Dave Salmoni ended last month.)

There are strong notes of 90s hip-hop’s “keep it real” ethos in Handler’s act, which trades in blunt honesty and dry observational humour. Like this: asked what she expects when she visits Canada for her December show at Massey Hall, she says, “I’m expecting to see a lot of Canadians.”

“I look at everything through the same-hued glasses,” she says of her acidic perspective. “I wouldn’t call them rose-coloured glasses, it’s more like a grey stain.”

Maybe 50’s interest was piqued by rumours of her sex tape, which Radar Online, home of the leaked Mel Gibson phone calls, has been teasing for weeks.

“Whatever,” Handler says. “It’s not a sex tape. It’s something I did to be funny as a comedian. It’s like 10 seconds of me and my boyfriend simulating sex. It cuts to me making funny faces into the camera between doing stand-up.

“I would tell everybody not to get their hopes up.”

Interview Clips

Handler says she wasn’t really expecting another “water-cooler moment” from Kanye West or Taylor Swift at this year’s MTV VMAs

Download associated audio clip.

The comedian comments on working with Lindsay Lohan for a taped segment during the awards show

Download associated audio clip.

Handler talks about her various upcoming projects

Download associated audio clip.

stage@nowtoronto.com

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