The comedian has signed a multi-tiered deal with the streaming video service to host a new talk show and front a stand-up special as well as four docu-comedy specials.
- Jun 20, 2014
AceShowbiz - Chelsea Handler will move to Netflix after her E! talk show "Chelsea Lately" ends this August. The streaming giant has announced that the outspoken comedienne has signed a multi-tiered deal that includes her hosting a new talk show with a format to be decided later on Netflix.
As part of the deal, the 39-year-old author/TV producer will front a stand-up comedy special based on her current tour, "Uganda Be Kidding Me", which will be taped at the Harris Theater in Chicago on Friday, June 20. It is set to be released on October 10.
She will also be featured in four "docu-comedy specials" about "her efforts to gain a better understanding of a variety of subjects ranging from NASCAR to politics and from Silicon Valley to the NBA draft," which will be released in 2015.
As for the new talk show, Netflix says it is "in the style of a late-night show" but will have an "updated format" and "encompass Chelsea's unfiltered opinions on topical entertainment and cultural issues, as well as her signature guest interviews." It will launch as early as 2016 and debut simultaneously in all Netflix territories.
"If I was going to continue working in this industry, I knew I had to do something outside the box to keep myself interested. I wanted to sit with the cool kids at lunch so I approached Netflix to make sure they were as cool as I thought they were, and when I confirmed my suspicions, like with any other future lover, I made my move," Handler said in a statement released on Thursday, June 19.
She added, "I'm more excited than I've been in awhile, and the team at Netflix is the most forward thinking, alert group I've sat down with in ages. No offense to the 'Shahs of Sunset'."
After it was confirmed that Handler wouldn't renew her contract with E! which expires later this year, she was rumored being in talks with CBS, who will have a vacant late-night slot following Craig Ferguson's impending departure. She dismissed the rumor, telling Ellen DeGeneres, "I would never be on a regular network. ... I would never do that to my fans or to myself or to the network."
