Parents' Guide to

Chelsea Lately

By Kari Croop, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Late-night talk show host speaks her (dirty) mind.

TV E! Comedy 2007
Chelsea Lately Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

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age 16+

Based on 4 parent reviews

huskaroo
huskaroo Adult
October 28, 2011
age 15+

Precious!

Good Show

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
LiberalButSane
LiberalButSane Adult
May 30, 2011
age 17+

Chelsea Handler, Once not good for young people, Now not good for anyone.

Chelsea Lately used to be funny, but Chelsea Handler can't come up with a new joke to save her life. All of her joke are old, and all of them are about sex, poop, genitalia and balls. She makes fun of people saying 'their mother's should have had an abortion," and constantly states that she'll never have kids because of her hedonistic lifestyle. She now admits she had an abortion herself when she was 16 years old - which I highly doubt was the only one. I just saw her stand up show for her new book. Same stuff she's been saying for 3 years in her shows. Making fun of different races, making fun of her hyper sex-drive and using shock value of the "C" word for applause. Several parents had brought their 12-14 year old kids with them. CPS should be paying those parents a visit. Chelsea was funny, but her humor has passed it's 15 minutes of fame.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 4 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Comedian Chelsea Handler takes the reins of her own late-night talk show in CHELSEA LATELY, a nightly half-hour program that finds her chatting up celebrities and discussing pop culture news with an ever-rotating round table of guest comedians. Her diminutive assistant/sidekick, Chuy Bravo, usually joins her on stage and contributes the occasional one-liner to the conversation. Regular segments include "Things You Can Do With Vodka" and "Fat Ass Baby," as well as parodies of popular E! shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4 ):
Kids say (5 ):

For adults who relish celebrity gossip and appreciate a good one-liner laced with acid (and/or vodka), Chelsea Lately serves up the goods in a stylish late-night format that mimics the look of longer-running programs like Late Night with Conan O'Brien or The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The humor is bawdy -- and it isn't for everyone. But if you dig Handler's no-holds-barred style (she's billed as having "the sharpest tongue in late night"), you'll get plenty of the laughs you came for.

Handler also gets props for being the lone female voice on late-night television and only the second woman in showbiz -- after Joan Rivers, who was a frequent stand-in for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and went on to helm her own after-hours program, The Late Show starring Joan Rivers in the 1980s -- to regularly host a late-night show.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the fact that Handler is currently the only female talk show host in a late-night line-up that includes Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Craig Ferguson. Why do men tend to rule the late-night time slot? Are they inherently funnier than women?

  • Why does Handler focus so much on celebrity news and gossip? Do the celebrities she has on her show tend to be good role models or bad ones?

  • How do late-night talk shows like these influence a movie or television star's public image? How do they help (or hurt) stars promote their own brands?

TV Details

  • Premiere date: July 16, 2007
  • Cast: Chelsea Handler
  • Network: E!
  • Genre: Comedy
  • TV rating: TV-14
  • Last updated: July 31, 2022

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