Chelsea Handler: The Feeling

My husband and I looked forward to watching this comedy special because we were fans and had seen the previews. It turned out to be a waste of an hour of our lives. The content was not funny. The main topic was beyond irreverent regarding underage girls and sex, and the rest of it was just overused material from other comedians. We kept waiting for it to get funny. Besides making our skin crawl, the show had no other effect on us, I have read one of her books and found it to be funny but this show is a misfire. After staying out of the spotlight for six years we expected her to have some fresh and very funny material. This did not fit the bill. Big disappointment.

Those words specify characteristics not only of this "show" but of Chelsea Handler as well. She is also entitled and has a delusion of grandeur. Humour is an unknown mystery to her and still there are people paying her to attempt that. So I guess the joke is on Netflix and us as consumers. But still she has fresh and hot topics. Like Bill Cosby. You know? Not heard it yet? Were you in a cave for the past 10 years? Nevermind. Well I would rather spend an evening with Bill Cosby than watching this boring soccer mom performing anything anywhere on any topic. Cancel Chelsea Handler instead. Cancel Chelsea Handler.

There's a reason Chelsea Handler has lasted so long as a woman in the world of standup comedy. She's irreverent and she's really funny. She doesn't tell jokes per se but her personal anecdotes of chance meetings and her and her family life ring very true and are laugh out loud funny.

She's open minded, since "liberal" seems to have become a dirty word and she makes no bones about being self deprecating. Do yourself a favour and get lost in her stories. It's an easy hour watch.

Although mostly personal stories she takes the odd swipe at politics here and there but this is far less about politics and far more about sharing anecdotes.

I AM a liberal. Wasn't a fan of the Bushes and despise the current mental institution of a political administration (2025). So I am on the same political page as Handler. That being said, I just didn't find this funny and it had nothing to do with her political views. I remember watching her series a long time ago and I wasn't a fan then either. Tried, but just not for me. Tried again with this special and same deal. Angry can be funny (Kinneson in the beginning was hysterical, Bill Burr is also great), but it just went on too long and wasn't funny to me. It has zip to do with her being a woman as Silverman and Glasser and many others make me laugh out loud. With jokes, they either land or they don't. With me, they didn't.

I'm not a big comedian consumer but I do catch these acts every so often and have nothing but respect for the people getting up there on stage. I mean you can't fake it, no sleight of hand here, the jokes either work or they don't. With that said, this set by Chelsea Handler was a miss. From the beginning, there was an air of desperation starting with the opening about monkey pox and the "hey, I'm cool with the gays" bit. In 2025 you can't get up there and hope that 'I like sex and drugs and hate Republicans' is comedy without humor attached to it. After 25 minutes or so without a single laugh, I tuned out for a bit and then came back in with 5-10 minutes left. Finally at the end when she turned her attention to Bill Cosby there were a couple of laughs. But after an hour long screed there was no salvaging this disaster.