Chelsea Handler talks late-night TV future with Ellen

What’s next for Chelsea Handler on TV in 2015?

After posting this photo of herself on Instagram, with her dog and paperwork bearing the CBS logo and the caption “business meeting,” Handler clarified her position Wednesday with a Tweet: “I have never had nor will have any desire to take a job someone else has already had. Speculation to the contrary is inaccurate. Godspeed.”

OK. But what new job will she take after she reportedly leaves E! and Chelsea Lately at the end of 2014? Good luck figuring that out. Even after this conversation Handler had with Ellen DeGeneres on Ellen’s show.

She did meet with CBS “for something else.”

But: “I would never go to CBS.”

Why? “My mouth? What would they do with me there? I would never be on a regular network. I would never do that to my fans, myself, or the network…I wouldn’t want to reel me in — that wouldn’t be fun for anyone!”

So what’s next? “I think it’s time to move on. I want a vacation, and sleep…”

Handler mentioned how DeGeneres also was mentioned in all of the media speculation surrounding the replacement for David Letterman on The Late Show. Not that DeGeneres took the bait. Instead, they both praised Stephen Colbert, who got the gig. Handler: “Stephen Colbert’s fake persona is more respectable than my real persona. So I think hes the perfect person for that job. … I would never think about taking that job.”

Nor does she want to replace Colbert. But it sounds like she’s only saying that about trying to do what Colbert did on Comedy Central. To wit:

“I like to create my own thing, and I like to be a little bit of an underdog. You know. I’m not for everybody, and I know that. And it’s OK. I like my life the way it is, a little smaller than everybody else’s. I get away with a lot of bad stuff and I like that.”

Roll the clip!

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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