Giving Chelsea Handler a Talk Show Could Be Netflix’s Best Move Yet

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So after weeks of rumors that Chelsea Handler might be packing up her vodka and leaving E!, it’s finally official. She’ll be going to Netflix to release a series of comedy specials and to, as the network phrased it in their announcement, “revolutionize the talk show.” Admittedly, they seem like strange bedfellows. Netflix’s best shows are prestige pieces born fully-formed for our binging pleasure—House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Arrested Development—not the looser medium of the celebrity gabfest. But if the service is going to tip its toe into the waters of what we typically call “late night TV” (a term that’s nearly meaningless in the on-demand world of streaming television) there’s no one better partner than Handler.

Here’s why. Online talk shows, and online comedy shows in general, are everywhere and gaining traction (just ask the women of Broad City, who started on YouTube before going to Comedy Central). Second, the reigning kings of late night—Seth Meyers and The Two Jimmys—joust each night to produce segments that go viral online. There’s still a TV audience to fight for, but the real prize is landing the interview or writing the segment that gets shared around the world the next day. Why not just have an on-demand show of nothing but one-off Handler interviews and sketches that viewers can binge through a la carte?

The real prize for late-night hosts is landing the interview or having the “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segment that goes viral. Why not just have an on-demand show of nothing but one-off Handler interviews and sketches that viewers can binge through a la carte?

Whether or not that’s what Netflix plans to do or not is still unclear; Handler’s new show won’t hit until 2016, after a stand-up special this fall and four new “docu-comedy” specials next year. But Handler says she was looking “to do something outside the box” and Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos promised Netflix was “reimagining the late night talk show for the on-demand generation, starting with the late night part.” But given the…rawness of her interview style (to wit: discussing bladder control with Jennifer Lawrence?) and penchant for gags (hopefully she brings Chuy Bravo), Handler could do well with a show of quick-hit segments that Netflix watchers can use as palate clenasers between movies and binge marathons.

The big hurdle will be for Netflix to leverage Handler’s greatest hits by sharing them on YouTube or some online video service, something it’s historically not been great at (just try finding a legit clip of your favorite Orange Is the New Black moment). A pay service like Netflix means a higher cost of entry for new viewers, but putting the good stuff online will bring them around—look at how much love John Oliver gets for his his premium cable HBO segments. Netflix just has to be smart about promoting Handler online in the right ways.

And that should be easy, so long as the streaming service—and the public at large—remember the best arrow in Netflix’s quiver: Just like HBO, it can let Handler say and do whatever she wants. She’s a brash comedian who gets bleeped on her E! show, but on Netflix flirting with Justin Bieber and telling boozy sex stories are fair game. And by calling her “breathtakingly honest and irreverent,” Sarandos clearly knows what he’s getting into.

Let’s hope he means it. The future of late-night depends on it—even if we’re watching it the morning after.