Chelsea Handler

Hoover: A comedian television host and vocal critic of just about everything. This week on Firing Line. 

Handler: Get ready. I’m so sick of you and your stuff. This is why you’re dangerous because you’re like eleven and you’re tricking me. 

Hoover: She rose to fame as the first woman to host a daily late night talk show. 

Handler: Please welcome Bill Maher. Actually isn’t even a talk show as it’s a therapy session. 

Hoover: Making a name for herself for those brutal takedowns of Hollywood and celebrity culture. 

Handler: Kim and Kourtney there’s a war. There’s a bikini war going on. It’s only been like declare war Congress and OK magazine. Brad and Angelina always said they wouldn’t get married until everyone could get married and I always said I wouldn’t get married until they got divorced. 

Hoover: And then Donald Trump became president. 

Handler: I guess the message that I want to spread out to other women is is exactly what you’re saying is not to give up. I went to a psychiatrist after the election because I couldn’t handle what was happening and my reaction was so. Out of control. 

Hoover: After she wiped away her tears she says she had an awakening and decided to devote herself to activism. 

Handler: It is important to me and I’m going to use my chauffeur to do add value and to bring awareness to topics that I don’t think are getting a big enough voice. 

Hoover: That is when she’s not going off about her romantic feelings for a special counsel Robert Mueller 

Handler: I’m sexually attracted to Robert Mueller and I he’s in his early 70s. But from what I can tell underneath his business attire there is a six to eight pack still. 

Hoover: What does Chelsea Handler say now.

‘Firing Line with Margaret Hoover’ is made possible by the Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation. The Robertson Foundation. The David Tepper Charitable Foundation Inc. Marlene Ricketts. The Acehnese Family Foundation. Spencer B. Haber. Additional funding is provided by. Corporate funding is provided by Steven Zink. And by Pfizer Inc. 

Hoover: Chelsea Handler welcome to firing line. Thank you for having me. You are a very famous comedian. You’re a best selling author. You have just launched a podcast and you have just written a book. One of your many books. And this one is called life will be the death of me. You talk a lot about how you went through a transformation. 

Hoover: At the beginning of the Trump presidency because Donald Trump was elected. As you look back on it now. Has Trump been good for comedy. 

Handler: No I would argue that he’s not good for comedy. I would rather not be talking about him at all. 

Hoover: But he’s easy. Does he give him material. 

Handler: He gave me a lot to think about him being elected gave me a lot to think about and I didn’t know it was the first time in my life where I where I was like an adult throwing a tantrum because I couldn’t believe the results of the election. 

Hoover: So you mentioned a tantrum. I want to actually show a clip from right after the election when you were sitting with Barbara Boxer. And it was it was new and it was visceral. And here’s how you responded to the news of Donald Trump being elected president of the United States. 

Handler: I guess the message that I want to like spread out to other women is is exactly what you’re saying is not to give up. Easy to say throw in the towel on that we’re going to leave and move to Spain because I want to move to Spain. I really really want to move to Spain right now and everyone in my office is like your responsibility your voice and you need to use it. You have to be here. 

Hoover: So that’s what you’re talking about. That’s what you said you wanted to throw a tantrum for the first time in your adult life. But he Trump gave you something to think about. And your book is really about this opportunity. If you want to give Trump credit for giving you an opportunity to be self reflective in a way that you hadn’t before. 

Handler: Yeah in a way that he never will be. I realized I could go. Yeah I realize Oh this anger. For me it was a trigger like the world became unhinged. He’s kind of like a toddler. Like an angry you know he’s a toddler. He’s lashes out at people and he’s vengeful and he says really nasty things and and he why he’s a crybaby. He’s a he’s like never in modern American history have we ever seen a crybaby of this nature serving as the president of the United States. And so when I talk to a doctor and said I was angry about Trump and going off about Trump and spending you know a lot of money for an hour you know two hours a week to bitch about our president. You know he wanted to know about my childhood and maybe something happened there that. And so yes when I unwrapped it all I realized oh the last time I felt like this was when I was 9 my brother told me he was never gonna leave me and he died. So that those two things are the only times in my life where I felt completely out of control of a situation. And so my anger now I know isn’t about Trump. Trump doesn’t matter in the real scheme of things. You know my anger was about a lot of other things I’m angry that Trump is the president. But I have a lot more balance about it now and I can do and I can be I want to be in a place of action not reaction. And for the first year after the election I felt myself like I thought I thought I was giving myself cancer. I could not stop with the news. I could not stop with the. My outrage was at a 10 every day. And I don’t want to be like that. And it was just you know it’s like it’s kind of sickening to be that way. 

Hoover: I think there were a lot of people that had that response and I think your journey through those times and I think your book has given people a lot of food for thought because it’s actually provided many women who probably had a difficult time being able to put a barrier between the news cycle and their own feelings about the news. 

Handler: Right. 

Hoover: Has that been your response with the book that that that people identify with your experience. 

And then I realized that it’s more about them than it is about the news. Handler: Yeah. 

Handler: Yeah I think what I’ve that’s been so surprising for me as well I’ve never done anything that’s been so well received. You know I’ve never gotten accolades like this or ever notes and messages all day long about positive ones I’m like whoa. I guess this is what it’s like to be popular or do something good. 

Hoover:But it’s not like you weren’t successful before. 

No. But I mean I always have people you know for every good thing you do or it’s something you think is good. You know there’s critics and I get a lot of criticism and I’m fine with that. I can handle it. So I I’m happy to take it. But this is an instance where it’s not being criticized and everyone saying oh my god this is my life. This is where you’re your anger issues or my anger issues or the item I have something I haven’t looked at. So hopefully it’ll be a huge boon to the therapy business. 

Hoover: I mean you had thought that you would get through life without going through therapy at all. 

Handler: Yeah I would I hoped I didn’t have to sit around and talk about myself to a professional for hours on end. I hope that wouldn’t be the case. 

Hoover: But isn’t that just part of the journey of understanding. 

Handler: Yeah I think it is part of it but not everybody can afford to go see a psychiatrist. Not everybody has the time to see a psychiatrist and not everybody has the has has the time to think about themselves in a deep way. You know if you’re raising families and you’re raising kids like you have other priorities you know I have the luxury to do this. So I wanted to share it with people because it was so impactful and it changed my life so much. It was like a gateway to a whole different world and a whole different way of looking at things and waking up and having something to share. That’s optimistic. That’s powerful. And that’s. And putting that your best foot forward in that way. I’ve seen such a big change in myself and I’m so proud of it like I’m so proud that I’m stable and I’m like OK you know if I’m talking to you I’m talking you up here I get it. 

Hoover: And then we were like before. 

Handler: No I was just. Everything was like 100 miles an hour fast. everything was mindless like I wasn’t being mindful about anything just running through life at one hundred miles per hour and that catches up to you. 

Hoover: So you feel more grounded ironically like ironically because of the Trump presidency you feel more grounded in yourself and who you are. 

Handler: Yeah I’m much more grounded. 

Hoover: So there’s that. Yeah. 

Handler: Yeah. There’s that. 

Hoover: So you can thank Donald Trump for that. You’ve also written about some of the more personal and tragic experiences 

in your life in the context of not just your brother’s death but. The two abortions that you had and you wrote about Roe v. Wade. Want to ask you about one part of an article you wrote about Roe v. Wade because you you’ve said that you’re not worried about rights being whittled away that you’re not worried about the future of Roe v. Wade. That Once you have rights they can’t be taken away. Do you believe that. 

Handler: Not as much as I used to. 

Hoover: Why. 

Handler: Because of what’s happening what’s happening in Texas and Ohio and abortions. So I’m not as confident about what I wrote then. You know I feel that that law specifically Roe v. Wade is is a concrete one and it’s very long ago. So the idea of revisiting it. I don’t know what state we are in with the Supreme Court. I think we’re all waiting to find out exactly how this works out but I do believe that it is our responsibility to rise up to the occasion and to stick our necks out. When it’s called for because so many people fought for us and that’s the reason why we have all the rights we do. So we need to keep that torch going. 

Hoover: When did you become mobilized towards political activism. 

Handler: After the election. 

Hoover: Nothing before like.. 

Handler: Yeah I was always politically active. I voted I campaigned I did stuff but not like I was in the midterms. 

Hoover: How are you thinking about 2020? 

Handler: I’m excited. 

Hoover: Are you going to campaign. 

Handler: Yeah. 

Hoover: Have you picked a candidate. 

Handler: No not yet. 

Hoover: Are you gonna wait until there’s a nominee. 

Handler: Yeah. I might get behind somebody before that but I don’t know. I mean it’s too early. 

Hoover: Do you think it helps when A Hollywood celebrity helps campaign for a candidate. 

Handler: I don’t think it hurts. I mean I don’t think you know I’m sure it just brings awareness and you’re bringing with social media now. I think you need all the people you can get to amplify. 

Hoover: Do you think there’s a chance that the Democratic party could nominate somebody who wouldn’t win against Trump? 

Handler: YEAH. THERE’S A CHANCE THAT ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE Donald Trump is the president. So Anything’s up. 

Hoover: Do you have a sense of like which candidate would be better to take on Trump than others or do you have an opinion about it? 

Handler: I don’t know. You know if Donald Trump if Barack Obama resulted in Donald Trump then Pete Buttigieg seems like the right antidote for Trump. If that’s what we’re doing. If it’s a pendulum situation then great we’ve got this guy. But he’s 38 years old. Can he win. I don’t know. I hope so. That would be awesome. 

Hoover: Do you think Biden’s too old? 

Handler: I think Biden is too old but again I’d vote for him. I mean at least he’s a good person and a decent person. 

Hoover: And Bernie Sanders also too old? 

Handler: I think they’re both the same age aren’t they Biden and Bernie Sanders. I don’t know. Everyone I’ve over 70 in government right rerunning I feel like there should be age limits. You know what I mean. And term caps on your age caps or term limits. It’s just too much. It’s a career in politics. Politicians were meant to be representing their constituents just to go in for two years to be a regular lay person and speak for your community. And now we’ve got these long term politicians and we have the highest level of corruption we’ve probably ever had in this country. You’ve been very outspoken about Robert Mueller. 

Handler: I’m attracted to him. I mean I’m currently very attracted to Robert Mueller. I understand that he’s married. I understand. That’s why I haven’t heard from his wife. But I have heard from people that said Bob Mueller is aware of you. 

 

Hoover: What do you think of Robert Mueller now. Have your feelings changed. 

Handler: No. My feelings are strong there still remain strong. Until you don’t. 

Hoover: You’re not one of these who is disappointed. 

Handler: I think he did did he. You know I’m disappointed. Yes of course. 

Hoover: Are you disappointed in the Mueller Report and the results of the Mueller Report. 

Handler: I’m disappointed in the way it’s been handled. I’m very disappointed in William Barr and the way that he decided to summarize a report. I’m disappointed in the corruption. I’m disappointed in the treatment and the immorality of everything in that administration. I’m disappointed but a high it is an opportunity to rise to the occasion and it’s made me better. And it’s made me brighter and I’m informed and I know what’s going on and I’m actually an actionable person now and I think it’s done the same for so many people you know because he’s only temporary. He’s terrible but he’s only temporary. 

Hoover: To you. How temporary do you think he is. 

Handler: I mean if he is more temporary than he is now. I mean I don’t know. I don’t know how long. I don’t I can’t predict anything clearly. No one knows anything. I mean I just I’m at its place where you know I want to wait until there’s you know six months left and we have a big election and then get thrown myself back in that and get involved. But until then I’m really going to take care of my own kind of neck of the 

woods and the people that I need to stick my neck out for. I think you know focusing on the people that need voices to stay. You know I’m not voting for myself at this point. I’ve got everything I need for the rest of my life. I’m voting for people who don’t who are scared to vote whose rights are being threatened. 

Hoover: And you mentioned the therapy differential. 

Handler: Yeah. 

Hoover:How has it changed your comedy and the way you think about comedy. 

Handler: You know therapy is funny and messy and silly and so are all things in life so to shine a light on the ridiculousness. Like you know you think you’re doing well you start meditating and then all of a sudden you’re finding yours. I mean I walked out of my psychiatrist office one morning and I’m like all right I’m getting this I know how to be a better version of myself I’m going to be patient you know. And then I got into a screaming match for the car parked like the parking lot attendant. So you’re always like Oh duh I thought I had this I thought I was getting better. You know you take two steps forward and sometimes you take three steps back and then you keep trudging through it. 

Hoover: What is the what does come from the pain. Because there’s a lot of pain you had to work through and you write in the book that the only way to deal with the pain is just to go through it. 

Handler: I feel liberated. I am free of it like I am not in pain. I’m so happy now. 

 

Hoover: You’re gonna be doing a documentary on Netflix that will be focusing on white privilege. That has also been one of the things that you have awakened to in this period of reflection and the Post Trump election era. 

Handler: I had a friend today tell me that he’s being too political. That I was being too aggressive and what I want to say is this I am a white woman of a lot of privilege. You make a lot of money and I don’t have a lot of problems. I’m not Muslim. I’m not Mexican. I’m not black. I am not gay. I’m not transgender but I know that this country is based on inclusiveness. 

Hoover: Can you tell me more about that. 

Handler: I think it’s just you know I think a lot of. I didn’t that that privilege was one thing. I thought it was you were born into a trust fund family and you went to you know a part of the Rockefeller’s or whatever and you went to Harvard. I didn’t know that privilege is just walking around the city with white skin. That is a privilege. It’s a privilege when other people aren’t having getting the same benefit. From having white skin and that’s something that’s not ignorable that’s not a word but I’ll use it. You know it’s. And I had to wake up and look around and say wow look at your life like you didn’t really work that hard I work hard obviously. But it’s not always came easy for me. Almost everything I was rewarded for bad behavior I was you know we talked about drinking and people loved it. I talked about sleeping around and wrote a book about one night stands. People love that. Like I really had to look at myself and say what. It’s not just talent. You can’t just say oh I’m just so amazing. No you have to look at the circumstances and the fact that look at the other people who look like me and look at the people who don’t look like me and what are their experiences. 

Hoover: When you talk about white privilege and you think about white privilege one of the other areas of policy and also part of your life you’ve shared with is that you are comfortable with cannabis with marijuana. 

Handler: Yes. I love cannabis do you. 

Hoover: I don’t. 

Handler:OK. 

Hoover: Yeah. 

Handler: You should try it. It’s fun. It makes everybody a lot less annoying also. So that’s like a huge benefit. But so here’s my question about it. Like as you think about privilege do you think about how white privilege in or interacts with cannabis and marijuana legalization and some of the issues around drug legalization and communities of color. There are some people who argue the ahite privilege is very wound up in sort of a legalization of cannabis since many communities of color have been really subjected to disproportionate treatment in the criminal justice system. 

Handler: Yeah. Well that’s a fact I mean people are put in jail. My ex-boyfriend from high school who is black was arrested three times for marijuana. For having a dime bag this big. And I was with him every time and I was let go. And then he spent 14 years incarcerated he had a full scholarship to you and Alvey and because he got on the wrong track and because he got put into the system then all eyes were on him. So his chance of having a real life were already quelled. You know I mean to fight they’re looking for you to 

screw up. They saw me. They weren’t looking for me to screw up and they let me go back to my white neighborhood. That is you know all you need to know it’s different. And you need to end you know and we’re doing a disservice as long as you are receiving on the receiving end of privilege then you’re part of the problem and not the solution. And I want to be part of a solution. The disproportionate amount of people who are caught with you know with with this kind of thing and and we have companies now Coca-Cola or Pepsi talking about putting cannabis in CBD and drinks and Cokes and sodas while these people are in jail doesn’t match up. We can’t legalize marijuana without helping all these people get out of jail. 

Hoover: So you think as a you know as a progressive woman who who stands. I don’t know if you call yourself part of the resistance but you know kind of disagrees with the president do you think there are still opportunities and that it’s morally acceptable to work with an administration you disagree with. On issues that you care about that you think could still change lives. 

Handler: Yes I think it’s important to be working in a bipartisan way for people you have to help people. That’s what everyone’s job that’s what they’re supposed to be doing there. So yes doesn’t matter who you have to deal with. You have to try and get the right thing done. There is a way of expressing your opinion that. Some people call brash. Some people call loud. You’ve said you’ve been accused of being a loud mouth and you’ve said I probably I’m a loud mouth. 

Hoover: But. Parts of that are also emblematic of Donald Trump’s style. 

Handler: Mm hmm. I hate myself. 

Hoover: It sounds like you don’t. But again you go to campuses you deal with activists. I’ve heard you say you’re not into trigger warnings or you strike me as somebody who’s been very unapologetic about saying what you think and saying what you mean but campuses have become places that are perhaps oversensitive. As you’ve gone through this transformation. How do you think about sort of P.C. culture. And the campus space which is a very sensitive space and camp at college campuses can be very unwelcoming. Well I think there’s hateful speech and then there’s free speech hateful speech is why why would that be. You know I don’t think we need to give people platforms who are spewing hate and and racism and I think when that’s demonstrated yes we’re in a sensitive time right now. Colleges are very sensitive right now. 

Hoover: Do you ever worry that people cross the line too much in college campuses or offend people or do you think people are just oversensitive. 

Handler: No I think people cross lines and people are overly sensitive. I think it’s everything. It’s all it’s a combo platter of all of it. 

Hoover: Have you ever crossed the line. 

Handler: I’m sure I have. I mean I don’t make lists about it but yeah I mean I don’t live in the past. I try and move my you know put your best foot forward and actually take the baby steps to get where it is that you want to go. 

Hoover: I want to talk about the me too movement. Obviously it’s something that’s swept the country especially in your industry. And uou even had experience you write about in your book 

where. You had just started your Netflix series and you slapped a lady on the booty. 

Handler: Mm hmm. 

Hoover: What happened. 

Handler: My documentary. It’s in my documentary actually I I. I. She gave me a hug. I gave her a hug and then I went like you know I was like it was like a sisterhood thing. That’s what I thought I was doing and she was not happy with it. And she did not want me to touch your butt and explain that to me in a phone call the next day about how she felt violated and that black women have been defined by their hair and their asses for so long that she did not want me to touch her body. And I got that. It is not about your intention. Somebody could hear that and go oh come on I heard it the first one excuse me like I’m not sexual but it doesn’t matter what the intention is. It’s about how it’s received. I had no boundaries for a long time. You know I didn’t like that word. And it’s I don’t want anyone to feel that way after having spent time with me. So yes I apologized and I learned a big lesson. It’s not your intention. People would say I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t mean it like that. That’s how it was received. So your intention is invalid. 

Hoover: You’ve interviewed offering him about his book. You’ve defended Al Franken you’ve also defended Joe Biden in the context of accusations that they endured of sexual harassment of crossing a line of groping or touching in the case of Joe Biden. So how do you think about those accusations in the context of the larger me too movement. I think that sexual assault. Is sexual assault someone blowing on your hair Is not sexual assault. 

 

Hoover: And do you think that there has been overreach by the meta movement. Because sometimes you see these movements on social media that just take people out. And that’s really what happened with Al Franken. 

Handler: Yeah yeah. I don’t like what happened to Al Franken at all. I know Al Franken and I love and respect him and I you know I don’t know what he was doing in those pictures. I don’t but that’s not a rape and that’s not a sexual assault it’s inappropriate and it’s not right. So he had to leave but it sucks. Yeah. But you know there’s a lot of you can’t just you know we’re kind of now going after each other in a way that feels like a bunch of sharks in the ocean and we shouldn’t be doing that. We need to you know stand together and also it diminishes women who have experienced something that they have had to go to a therapist for that they can’t recover from. So every woman that comes forward with it with a nonstory about someone blowing in her hair. Please don’t take away from other women who really have stories. 

Hoover: I mean do you consider yourself woke? 

Handler: Yeah. I’m awake for sure. 

Hoover: And what does that mean to you. It means being conscious about everything I do. It means showing up when I’m supposed to. Engaging with people, learning about things I don’t know anything about and being like humble and being grateful. You know we get to live this life. I certainly have an incredible life. And so it’s feels a lot better to wake up every morning and go wow I’m really lucky. Like let me go do something good. 

Hoover: This program aired for 33 years on public television and in 1967 William F. Buckley Jr. invited Groucho Marx to debate whether the world was funny. 

Marx: No I don’t think the world is funny. It’s like saying is a man funny and even a professional comedian. Can be funny perhaps. Eight minutes and about 24 hours when a comedian is no. Then as various people in the world. You should talk to my wife some time. Which is more than I do. That invitation. 

Buckley: I’ve read. I read Mr. Marx’s book and. A couple of his books and I’ve read all all of his movies. I think that. He does his best to make the world funny and occasionally succeeds. 

Hoover: Is the world funny? 

Handler: I would agree with him. Yeah I would agree with him that the world isn’t funny and comedians can be dark people for sure. I think that the world I think you have to look for the funny. 

Hoover: Is that. That’s the service of comedians is it. 

Handler: Yes. Sparkle it up. Well it’s. That’s the service of comedians. But it’s also something good to do in your own life is to look for the funny everything’s funny. Death can be funny. I mean it’s not ultimately funny but there are moments of funny and everything. And I think it’s tapping into that and just being like you know there’s sparkly. 

Hoover: The part about your biography. I think that some people who watch this program may not know is that maybe in an ad and not sparkly part of your life is when you discovered that you are funny. You were in DUI class. You tell us that story. 

Handler: I got DUI when I was 21 and I had to go to do you a school where you get up and tell your story about your DUI. But I was so scared to publicly speak that I didn’t. I just kind of dodged that the instructor the whole time and I just tried to get out of his way and finally on the last class the very last class. He called me to the stage and I told my story about how I got a DUI Idol and everybody was laughing because my story was ridiculous. I called the cop racist and he was white and I was white. So I don’t know what the hell that was about but I yeah I got up there and people and I couldn’t get off the stage. I loved it. Finally I had an audience and a microphone all to myself 

Hoover: And that was that was the beginning. 

Handler: That was when I was like Oh this is good I like this. No one can interrupt me and I can just talk. 

Hoover: Most people come from families of six and realizing that when they’re the youngest that’s the only way of getting a word and at the dinner table. But it didn’t happen in your family it happened after you got in trouble and after you left home. 

Handler: Yeah. Yeah yeah I did. I got yeah. I mean. I guess I mean I am the one in my family who’s the loudest and the brashest and the whatever but but I mean that’s always been a part of my personality. So it’s not going anywhere but it’s just about you know tinkering with it and making it at the right volume when it needs to be. 

Hoover: Chelsea Handler author of Life will be the death of me. Thanks very much for coming to firing. Thank you.

‘Firing Line with Margaret Hoover’ is made possible by Margaret and Daniel Loeb the Robertson Foundation. David Tepper charitable foundation Inc. Marlene Ricketts The Asness Foundation. Spencer B. Haber. Additional funding is provided by. Corporate funding is provided by. Steven saying. And by. Pfizer. 

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