Welcome back to the show.
Thank you for having me, Trevor Noah.
And congratulations on another
New York Times best-selling book-- number one
-New York Times best-selling book. -Thank you. Thank you.
-Congratulations. That's huge. -(applause and cheering)
Um...
A lot of people have always loved your writing.
I was interested and-and shocked, to be honest,
at how much heart this book had.
I knew it was gonna be funny, but I-I... I was...
I was really taken by... by just how vulnerable it was.
Was-was this a departure for you--
just, like, literally pouring your insides into a book?
Um, yeah. I mean, I've made a career
of oversharing my person life
in... in inappropriate ways, so this felt like the first time
for an opportunity for-- not the first opportunity,
but the first opportunity I looked at as an opportunity
-to overshare in a positive way... -Right.
with something that was kind of, like, heart...
you know, gut-wrenching for me to go through, but necessary.
And, uh, so I was eager to share it, 'cause I was eager
-to get it off of my plate, you know? -Yes.
And I... and discover and understand
why I've been such a bitch for so long,
-what my issues were. -(laughter)
So, having a professional break that down for me, you're like,
"Oh, paying somebody to tell you what your issues are."
-Yes. -I was like, "Oh, yeah, I can take this.
Give me more. Give me more." Um, but the responses
is what I wasn't expecting.
The responses from people who have... who are all...
We're all just going through the same thing.
-Yes. -You know, we're all struggling.
We're going through the same thing in different ways.
I-I... won't... I won't lie.
I always thought that part of Chelsea Handler was a character,
you know, and then you read in the book, and it's, like, no.
You-you basically say that for a good 30 years,
you never shed a tear,
you never really engaged in your emotions.
You-you were just fighting against the world.
And it all stemmed
from the death of your brother when you were nine years old.
That's-that's a powerful exploration
to go to in your mind through therapy.
Why was therapy so important?
Well, therapy was so important because I was so upset
about the election when Donald Trump became,
um, you know, our president. You know.
You're being serious about this.
-By the way, you-you... -No, no, I'm being very serious.
-(laughter) -I had, like, a mental...
Like, I was like, "Aah! No, no, no, no!
I can't deal with this reality."
Like, um, that be... represented to me--
which I'm sure most of the people
watching this program feel, um, feel similar to...
It felt like the world became unhinged.
And I had...
And finally, I had all this energy
-to place my anger towards-- Donald Trump. -Right. Right.
Finally, I had something to be pissed off about
other than just being a bitch.
Now I could be a bitch towards him, so it was a...
perfect pivot.
(applause and cheering)
You know? And so then, when I start... start talking
to my psychiatrist, Dan, who I speak of in the book...
You know, he said...
You know, it took me a while to circle the drain a little bit
about what I was really angry about,
and through that discussion, which took weeks and months
and, you know, over a year, it was...
Donald Trump represented to me what happened
when I was nine years old and my brother said
he was coming back and never came back.
My world became unhinged.
-So this was a trigger for me. -Damn.
So, and I know this was a... it turns out Donald Trump's been
a trigger for millions of people.
-(laughter) -Um, so I'm really glad
that I shared it, because you know what,
I wanted to make something positive happen
-Yes. -out of this administration,
and I didn't want them to rob me of another year of my life.
That's powerful. It really is a...
-a powerful journey to be on. -(cheering, applause)
I also love that-that you take digs at yourself in the book.
There's ways that you explore your life,
uh, not just as a celebrity or a famous person,
but also somebody who's living a very privileged life,
both as a rich person and as a white woman.
And that was interesting for me, because most people
talk about white privilege like it's an outside thing,
and then you were like, "Oh, no, no, no, I...
I'm rocking white privilege hard."
That was, like, a really interesting way to frame it.
-Yeah, yeah. -Why did you do it that way?
Yeah, I'm killing the white privilege.
I'm like, "Yeah, over here! Give me more!"
Um, I didn't realize I was part of the problem.
I think every white person who doesn't think
about white privilege is part of the problem, not the solution.
-Um, so... -(whooping, applause)
for me to wake up and go, "Wait a second, I am...
this is... look at all that I have,"
yes, you can argue that I'm talented.
You could also argue that I'm not talented.
You could argue that I'm whatever.
-It's a matter of luck, a lot of luck, -Yes.
and a lot of privilege, a lot of things being rewarded
or given to me as a reward for bad behavior.
-Yeah. -You know, my first book was about one-night stands,
and they're like, "Oh, excellent! Bring it!"
It was a... you know, and then that was a success.
-Yes. -And then my second drink... uh, my second book...
(laughter)
-(cheering, applause) -See where this is going?
I always mention "drink" when I'm sober.
It slips out. It's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
where is everything I need?"
Yeah, but that... but that has been...
that has been a journey.
One of my favorite things I learned about you was, like,
you're so impatient that sometimes you'll go to a store
and you want a magazine, but you don't want to go to the line,
and so you just walk out with the magazine,
wave, like, a $20 bill at the security camera,
drop the bill down and walk out.
And you, like, you say, you're like,
"A black person could never do that,"
-which is completely true. -Well, what I said
when I told my doctor, he goes, "Give me an example
of your impatience," and I told him that story,
begrudgingly, because it's embarrassing,
and I said, you know, I wave the thing to the security camera,
like, "I'm not trying to steal, I'd like to pay,
but I just can't deal with the slowness of the transaction."
-And you just walk out. -It's just too slow.
And he said, he looked at me with a funny face, and he goes,
"Oh," and I go, "Is that... is that white privilege?"
and he's like, "No, white people don't do that, either."
(laughter)
Oh. I will tell you one of the craziest things.
Actually, it reminded me of something I saw
in New York City that, genuinely, I was just like,
"Wow, that's, like, only a white person
could get away with this." We were in a store--
I don't know if it was, like, an H&M or Zara, one of those--
and there was a woman who was in the store,
and she, like, had, like, clothes with her,
and she just walked out.
And then, like, the beeper went off,
and it was, like, under her arm and everything,
and then the beeper went off, and then the security guard
was like, "Hey! Hey!" and then she was like,
"Oh. Sorry, I don't want this."
-And then she just gave it back and then left. -Yeah.
And the security guard was like, "Yeah, okay, that's fine."
I was like, "She... she just walked out with the shit."
Yeah, yeah, I don't play like that.
-I'm not trying to steal. -You wave the money.
I want to give you the money, I just want you to take it faster.
Let's, um, let's talk about
what else Chelsea Handler's getting up to.
-Um... You have... -I'm doing a tour for the book.
I'm going to places like Clearwater, Florida.
I haven't been on a tour in five years.
Are you-- Wait. Is this, is this part of the Netflix tour?
-Or is this a separate tour? -No, it's part of the book tour.
-I'm doing a tour in each state. -You're doing-- so you're doing
-a book tour and then you're going to be doing -Yeah, yeah.
-another stand-up special. -Mm-hmm.
And you're doing a stand-up special about white privilege.
Uh, no. I did a special, a documentary on white privilege.
-Yes. -It's hard to keep up with all my privilege.
There's just so many projects.
How many projects are you doing? So you're-you're writing books,
you're making TV shows, you've got documentaries going on,
uh, you're still doing stand-up as well.
-Uh... -I'm a doula.
You-- Are you being serious?
-No. No, no, no. -Oh.
You see, I believed you.
I-I believed you. (laughs)
Let's talk about your foray into the weed business.
-That's-that's an interesting... -Oh, yeah, I'm into the weed.
-Well, I think if we're gonna have to-- -(applause)
-Yeah, we should all be into the cannabis. -(cheering)
But it's a specific, it's a specific strain of weed
-that you're championing. -I'm very-- I'm an advocate.
I'm coming out with my own weed line.
I feel like if we're gonna have to deal
with this administration, we should also
be legally allowed to smoke cannabis.
The whole country, everybody needs to get on board.
It grows out of the ground, and it's our friend.
So, yes, I'm doing a lot of, um, research,
'cause I'm coming out with my own cannabis line in--
probably at the-- in the fall.
And what makes it special?
Well, I'm trying to isolate the strain THCV,
which kind of kills your appetite,
since it's like, um, you know,
that's a problem for a lot of people.
They don't want to take edibles or smoke weed,
because they're scared they're gonna eat.
-What-- the munchies? Yes. -Yes. Yes.
Don't act like you just heard about it, Trevor.
So you're trying to-- No, no, no, I'm just--
So you're saying, like, I'm just like, "the munchies."
-Just be like, "I'm trying to make weed -Yeah, right.
-that doesn't give people the munchies. -Exactly, thank you.
That's what I'm trying to do.
I want girls to be able to smoke it
and not feel like they're gonna pig out.
Oh, I like that. That's a different--
I want weed that only gives me munchies.
No, I'm serious. I just like, I like...
You don't feel bad after you eat all that stuff?
-I don't remember that I ate all of that stuff. -Oh.
There you go.
Then there you have it.
I just wake up the next day and there's just, like,
Doritos packets everywhere and I'm like, "What happened?"
-"Who did this?" -Weed is just so much more pleasant, you know?
-It's changed your life. -I-It's totally changed my life.
'Cause you-you are known as being fond of the alcohol.
-Yeah. And bloated and I'm no longer bloated, -And, um...
because of the cannabis, so I'm excited.
And so the weed, you've said that the weed
-has tempered your drinking. -For sure, definitely.
-How? -'Cause I-- You don't have to drink as much
when you-- or at all-- when you, when you have a little buzz.
Like, the weed kind of cuts my reaction time in half,
which, for me, is a benefit, you know what I mean?
I don't want to say everything that comes up in my mouth.
I-I also want to be quiet, I just don't know how.
So, for weed, for me, it's helped me meditate,
it's helped me be quiet, focus, sit still a little bit more,
-instead of being in your face all the time. -Right.
I realized I was a little annoying.
(laughter)
I'm loving this. I don't know if you're on weed right now,
but either way, it's always a pleasure having you on the show.
Chelsea Handler, everybody.
-Thank you so much for being on the show. -Thank you so much.
Life Will Be the Death of Me is available now.
And go to chelseahandler.com for tour dates.