Chelsea Handler in talks to host CBS talk show, anything that’s not Chelsea Lately
According to The Wrap, Chelsea Handler’s next stop after her Chelsea Lately contract expires could be a spot on CBS’ late-night lineup. Then again, as related to The Wrap by a source close to the talk-show host, comedian, and author, Handler could also be heading to Sirius XM, Netflix, CNN, HLN, or FX. Basically, the world is Chelsea Handler’s oyster, a metaphor that Handler is almost certainly crafting into a bawdy comedy routine and/or the title of a book all about this, the time Chelsea Handler very publicly ended her relationship with E! and took a meeting with CBS boss Les Moonves.
In a rapidly escalating series of events that would make good fodder for a Chelsea Handler sitcom if a Chelsea Handler sitcom was still on the air, Moonves reportedly approached Handler about hosting a syndicated talk show, then offered her the Late Late Show’s timeslot. And then after that, David Letterman announced his retirement and Chelsea Handler supposedly expressed interest in the Late Show job. If any of this is true—and CBS pauses long enough to consider that neither Craig Ferguson nor Chelsea Handler is a big enough ratings draw for any of the theoretical plans of succession presented here to pan out—Handler would be the first woman to enter the late-night broadcast sphere since Cynthia Garrett hosted Later in 2000. She’d also be the first Chelsea Handler to host a talk show since Chelsea Handler left Chelsea Lately at the end of 2014, another scenario that is still in the realm of theory.