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Chelsea Handler

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that Chelsea Handler already has a late-night talk show. You are right, reader. Handler is the host of Chelsea Lately, on the E! Television Network. However, as speculation never ceases about what's going on in the current talk-show wars, there's always a lot of curiosity about which cable personalities will end up on the networks. Years back, there was speculation that the host of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart, would end up replacing David Letterman. What about Stewart now? He'd be a great host (and, at the very least, I'd follow him to whatever network he chose), but I see Handler as being more appropriate to the talk show format. Stewart has guests every night, but he also works four nights a week, most weeks, and talks about politics. Handler's show is placed squarely in the middle of the era when talk shows were about boozing up, making lewd jokes, and laughing with your friends. In some ways, that this era is finished is a good thing. However, Handler makes the whole camaraderie a lot of fun, from her miniature sidekick to her roundtable of catty comedians.

Handler would be a major change for the networks for another obvious reason: she's a woman, and would be the only woman doing a weekday late-night talk-show. Wanda Sykes, of course, recently became the host of her own show on the FOX network, but that airs only on Saturday nights, not five nights a week. Why not put Handler in such a position? She, like most of the people on this list, would be a radical change; her style is more abrasive than Leno or O'Brien, and she's not at all concerned with offending anyone. Though previous talk-show hosts have had sidekicks, none are like Chuy, the pint-sized Hispanic man who hangs out to laugh at Chelsea's jokes. Handler would not be an easy sell, but if she was given enough time to grow an established audience, the network executives might find that she was not only getting fans, but getting dedicated fans. Chelsea Handler may not be the standard choice, but she's probably angling for more face time with America, and would love the spot.

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