Biting, but in a nice way

By Jerry Fink

Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Rising star Chelsea Handler seems split between two personalities — one seen in her devilish grin, the other in the angelic spark in her eyes.

The 33-year-old comedian is self-assured, impertinent and cheeky but never malicious. Family and friends know she means no harm, she simply doesn’t pull any punches, even when they are aimed at herself.

“My father thinks it’s so funny that I’m so out there and just have no qualms about letting all my dirty laundry hang out,” says Handler, who grew up in Livingston, N.J., the youngest of six children of a Jewish father and a Mormon mother.

Handler has written two best-selling books — “My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands” and “Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea.” The title of her most recent book is a spoof of Judy Blume’s “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”

“It is a coming of age, adolescent book for young girls,” Handler says during a recent phone interview from her car in Los Angeles. “I model it after that.”

She also landed her own late-night talk show, “Chelsea Lately” (11:30 p.m. daily, E! Entertainment, Channel 36).

She is familiar to TV fans as a special correspondent on “The Tonight Show,” guest host on “The View” and four seasons on “Girls Behaving Badly.” She also co-starred in several independent films, including “Steamroom” and “Cattle Call.”

Handler slips into her comedian mode for a performance Oct. 4 at The Pearl at The Palms. It will be her first appearance in Las Vegas since the Comedy Festival last year.

1. Her humor

My comedy is self-deprecating, a lot of observational stuff. I talk about things I see happening with my girlfriends who are getting married, friends who are having a baby, friends who get pregnant with one baby and go buy a minivan. Marriage, dating, all my personal life. I talk about my family, everything going on with my life. I talk a lot less about celebrity life than I do on my television show.

2. Breaking into comedy

I wanted to be an actress and then I realized that I was not very good at saying other people’s lines and figured I would be best writing my own stuff, which worked out the best. I’ve been doing it for 12 years. I started doing it when I was 21 years old and one thing led to another and I got on a show called “Girls Behaving Badly,” which led to me doing stuff on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” and that led to another show, and so I eventually ended up with my own late-night show on E!

3. Influences?

Not really. When you want to do something like this you kind of want to have your own voice and your own point of view, so the less you know about other comedians and what they are doing the better. I feel like it’s more beneficial to create your own persona. It helps you become a better performer when you’re not modeling yourself after somebody else. I actually try not to watch a lot of comedy.

4. Her books

My most recent book (“Are You There, Vodka?”) is on its 20th week on The New York Times best-seller list. It debuted at No. 1 so I would say it’s doing pretty well. My other book (“My Horizontal Life”) is now on the best-seller list for the eighth week. I’ve got another book deal in the works that’s going to come out in 2010. All the stories in the books are true stories in my personal life. It’s just kind of stuff that happens. Some areas are about dating, some are about my family, some are about my childhood. I mix it up, just whatever I find to be the funniest or the most self-effacing.

5. Juggling time

It’s all a lot of fun. The show is a lot of fun, writing is a lot of fun and I do the stand-up on the weekends and that’s really great. I just try to mix it up, keep it fresh. It’s not anything grueling. It’s all from my perspective, so that makes it pretty easy. I won’t be doing any gigs where I will be permanently in Las Vegas (like Jay Leno and Craig Ferguson). I like to spread it out throughout the country. I don’t focus on one city. I like to do a lot of different things.