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After COVID-19 put a pause on live entertainment, your favorite artists are ready to hit the road and entertain audiences safely with brand-new tours and experiences. And regardless of where you are, we're offering an all-access ticket to every must-see concert of the year. Welcome to E!'s Backstage Pass.
If there's anyone who could find the positive in an otherwise terrible situation, it's Chelsea Handler.
The comedienne has a talent for making unfortunate moments seem funny, a skill that she put to good use with the Vaccinated and Horny tour, which kicked off in September and runs through October. In her standup routine she details the difficulties of dating during a pandemic, the perils of Windexing takeout containers and reveals just how many drugs she did in her free time.
And though it's a comedy tour, Chelsea shared in an exclusive interview with E! News that the goal is to reunite people. As she put it, now is the time for everyone "to be together and appreciate the things in life that we had forgotten."
Continue scrolling for a preview of Chelsea's tour and her advice to people questioning if they will ever find their Jo Koy.
E!: Why did you want to go on tour now?
CH: I just felt like after I did my last special I just had the bug back to do it again. And there was just so much material from being quarantined and stuck at home. Then, when things started opening up, you kind of feel as a comedian that it's your responsibility to go bring joy and laughter and all that good stuff to people who have also been stuck at home for the last year a half. I think most comedians wanted to get out there as soon as possible and just start performing.
E!: Can you give us an idea of what to expect?
CH: It's basically taking the piss out of everything else, the ridiculousness and what happened to all of us during COVID and how we acted. I was Windexing my takeout food for about three months, so I didn't get COVID but I'm sure I have cancer. My sister invaded my house with her three adult children, which is something I worked very, very hard my entire life to avoid having happen—children living under my roof. I quickly sold my house as soon as she moved out. I put it on sale while they were still living there to send them a message and then bought a new house and basically converted every bedroom into something that cannot be used as a bedroom. So yeah, I have a lot of stories from dating during quarantine. I was giving at-home COVID test to guys in my backyard. All of just the nonsense that we all participated in, or moreso what I participated in. It's all very non-political. It's very original Chelsea from like my stand up from the early days, just going off about my opinions and really handing it to people. You know, that's what comedians are for, strong points of view.
E!: The tour is called Vaccinated and Horny. You're vaccinated but are you still horny?
CH: Yeah, I'm just horny for one person now.
E!: Has your perspective on comedy changed at all now that you're in a relationship?
CH: No, I mean, that doesn't really change the core of who you are, or the core of your kind of point of point of view. It's definitely a part of my standup now, my relationship with him, because of my feelings towards men in general, just being a little bit slow on the uptake of what's been happening the last few years. Jo came along at a moment where I had given up on men and I just thought, 'Oh, my God, they're all hopeless.' And then I was reminded that they're not all hopeless, that there are a lot of Jo Koys out there. So he has renewed my faith in men in many ways. It reminded me that when you don't settle and when people are like, 'You're in your 40s, you can't be so picky.' I was always like, 'Yes, I can. I can be as picky as I want. I don't need a man to be with.' Like, I'm having this great life regardless of whether I find someone or not, so I never really lowered my standards. And it's a good lesson for all women and anyone who hasn't met their person yet, to not ever lower your standards because then someone comes along that meets your standards.
E!: That's reassuring because I admired you for being a single, independent woman who wasn't afraid to be alone. So, when you and Jo got together, I was questioning if I had to change my outlook on relationships.
CH: No, I don't think you have to change your outlook. I just think we all need to be a little bit more open minded. Like Jo was in front of me for so long, and I just didn't see him because I was so stuck in my thought process of 'I'm independent, I'm fierce, I don't need a man.' And I just wasn't even looking at him that way. So, no, I don't think you need to change the way you think about things but I think we all just need to be a little bit more open minded and keep our eyes open because sometimes the people that we're supposed to be with have been there the whole time and we just haven't taken a look at that. And when we hold so steadfastly to our opinions and what we believe without a little self examination, we don't ever really grow. So you don't ever want to be stuck in one mindset for too long.
E!: I love the Dear Chelsea podcast. Would you ever do a live taping or show?
CH: Maybe! I'm wrapping up this season and I think we're gonna go again for another 48 episodes. And yeah, we'll see what it develops into. We've gotten a great response. We have millions of listeners every month and downloads so it's definitely doing really well. I did a tongue in cheek like a Dear Abby kind of thing because I am so strong minded and I love to give people advice, and I've been spending so many years giving unsolicited advice that you know, it's nice to have people actually ask and then answer. But yeah, it has turned into something quite great. People are making life decisions based on my advice and improving their lives and getting out of bad relationships, whether it's family members or work relationships or love relationships. It's just kind of giving them a shove in the direction that they need from like a big sister type.
E!: What's the response like from fans and people attending shows?
CH: It was fun. I mean, COVID was fun. Like when somebody told me to stay home for two weeks, no socializing, I was like, you don't have to tell me twice. I treated it like spring break. I did mushrooms every day. I read like eight books. I just was like, 'This is awesome.' And even when it went on for a few months, I was like, 'Good, let's all take a break from each other.' But I think everyone's over it. It's been going on for too long. It's exhausting. And I think that's the cycle of things. People have to get over things to move on to the next phase and I think after this omicron wave, hopefully things will die down. By then, almost everybody will have had it and we can kind of start to think about going back to normalcy. There will be new variations but I think people are ready to rumble. People want to feel good again. They want to be together and appreciate the things in life that we had forgotten.
E!: What's your dynamic like with Jo?
CH: All we do is make fun of each other. Whatever moment you're in, that's all he knows about. He doesn't know if he's going to Miami tomorrow or Russia. And I have my own issues. We constantly are all over each other in a fun way. But we're also so in love and so happy to have found each other and ended up together that it's the best of everything. It's like we spent three weeks together here in Whistler. My family came up for Christmas, he was here and he was just a great addition to my family. He's a great addition to my life. And I think that's what I've always said is like, when you meet the person, they can't be a subtraction. They have to be an addition. They have to bring something to the table.
E!: I hope that you continue to preach that because for some of us, it's hard to get through.
CH: Don't lose faith. You have to be open minded and be open to it. You know what I mean? I know it sounds corny, but it's really true.