Earlier this week, Piers Morgan had Chelsea Handler on his CNN talk show, Piers Morgan Live. Morgan’s program is ending its run this month, and Handler used part of her appearance to explain why. Apparently miffed that Morgan ignored her so that he could send a tweet during a commercial break, the Chelsea Lately host derided the Brit’s flightiness: “You can’t even pay attention for 60 seconds. You’re a terrible interviewer.”
Morgan attempted to redirect the segment by reading some of Handler’s Oscar tweets—reading tweets out loud is always CNN’s fallback plan—but Handler had lost interest. “If I gave you one moment back in your life to repeat right now, what would you choose?” Morgan asked. He hadn’t even finished the question before Handler answered, “It would be spending this hour differently.” Handler then launched into a more earnest response before pulling up and saying, “I don’t want to bore you with real genuineness, because then you’ll start to go online.”
The exchange only lasts a couple of minutes, but it’s a break from the usual professional comity between fellow talk show hosts. And while Handler’s prickly answers are in keeping with her acerbic, deadpan style, she’s not just kidding around—she has a point. Morgan’s go-to move as a host is to fill any quiet moment with superficially incisive but actually unthoughtful questions. The “If I gave you one moment back…” query is a case in point. So when Morgan said that he only pays attention to his guests when they’re interesting to him, Handler hit the mark with her reply: “Well, maybe that’s why your job is coming to an end.” [via Variety]