Netflix’s ‘Chelsea’ Is On Its Way To Being A Different Kind Of Late Night Show

We’re about to enter week two of Chelsea Handler’s return to late night television, and there’s one question everyone who’s been following the show has been asking: Is Chelsea really that different from typical late night fare? In several interviews leading up to the series premiere, Handler made it clear that she wanted her late night show to be different — no house band, no sidekick, nothing predictable. Though structure-wise, Chelsea isn’t all that different from its late night peers, there is one big, intimidating, and unaddressed difference in Handler’s show. On Chelsea, there’s no BS.

Since we’re only a week in, it’s difficult to predict what Chelsea’s balance of musical guests and in-studio interviews to pre-taped segments will be. The show’s premiere started with a live performance followed by a monologue (though Handler claims it wasn’t) and a series of in-house interviews. Episode Two was much of the same — just subtract the musical element and add in a pre-taped segment about Handler auditioning to be a telenovela star. The most ground-breaking episode format-wise has been Episode Three, which largely consisted of a dinner party with the cast of Captain America: Civil War. Based on the first week, it seems that Chelsea’s format will likely be a lack of a format, which, while seemingly rule-breaking when said aloud, is not too revolutionary or jarring. For the most part, people tune into late night shows to hear the opinions of their favorite comedians, not to appreciate the show’s structure or transitions. However, Handler’s method of hosting paired with Netflix’s lack of content restrictions are what will make this a different late night show.

There’s a level of acting that goes into even your favorite late night program. The host has to seem relatively happy to be there; they have to seem interested in their guests. They also have to know who their guests are, or at least pretend to. Whether intentionally or not, Handler threw all of those rules out of the window during Chelsea’s first episode when she declared she was willing to look stupid in order to make herself and us smarter. She’s taking the stupidity bullet for us, and when we’ve seen glimmers of this new, unknowledgeable host come through, it’s been really interesting.

Handler spent most of the first two episodes interviewing her friends (Drew Barrymore, Pitbull, and Gwyneth Paltrow), so the first time we really spent time with an “unprepared” Handler was during her interview with the cast of Civil War. As soon as Handler enters that interview, she makes it clear that she has no interest in superheroes and she doesn’t plan on learning anything more than the minimum required to get through this interview. The whole approach is very Handler, but at the same time, the show and its host are taking an intimidating topic and making it digestible. I love Marvel movies, but I’m terrified of Marvel fans becasue I often mix up the little Marvel mythology I happen to know. But by watching Handler’s approach, I realized it’s OK that I don’t know everything about Marvel. It would also be OK if I didn’t know anything about Marvel. Handler does not approach topics she doesn’t understand with a false and studied sense of confidence. She blatantly throws her cluelessness on the table, and what follows is a more interesting and candid discussion about what could have been an overwhelming topic.

The way these topics are discussed is also noteworthy. Because Chelsea takes place on Netflix, guests are basically allowed to say whatever they want. They can curse, talk about lube, probably make graphic motions — what guests do or don’t do on Chelsea is between them and their publicists. The foul-mouthed Handler often talks full advantage of this fun little clause, but as Episode Three has proven, so has the show itself. During the Civil War dinner party, Frank Grillo made an oddly timed joke that came off as more vaguely racist than funny. Here’s the clip if you want to watch for yourself:

What’s interesting isn’t the joke itself but the fact that it stayed in the final cut of the dinner party. If this odd moment happened on network TV, you would bet that it would have been cut immediately. Another thing that would have been cut? Gwyneth Paltrow encouraging Handler to stick something up her vagina and have fun. However, this is Netflix, and anything goes. These relaxed standards have led to some incredibly frank and insightful conversations (look at Paltrow’s thoughts on her Goop haters or the Civil War cast’s conversation on Hollywood sexism if you want examples), but the show has also shown that it’s fine with leaving the hairier moments in as well. That unfiltered approach isn’t something we’ve seen often with our celebrity interviews, and it’s as interesting as it is oddly refreshing and humanizing.

It’s unfair to say whether or not Chelsea has succeeded or failed after only one week. After all, revolutionizing the format and face of late night TV is a pretty big claim, and the show has only been on for three episodes. However, I think it’s on the right track. Chelsea may not seem as game-changing as it first claimed to be, but it’s sure as hell going to be interesting.

You can stream new episodes of Chelsea on Netflix Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at midnight PT / 3 a.m. ET.

[Where to stream Chelsea]