Already have an account?
Get back to the

E! Comics: What Chelsea Handler’s Really Like as a Boss

1299109279_chelsea lately 290

Ever wonder what it's like to work for E!'s late-night funny lady Chelsea Handler?

The 35-year-old comedienne is taking fans behind the scenes in her new half-hour mockumentary series, After Lately.

As Handler's writers and roundtable regulars Heather McDonald and Sarah Colonna tell it, Handler's not half-bad to work for. If you don't mind schmoozing with Jennifer Aniston — and you can take a joke. "It brings her so much joy to mess with us," Colonna tells UsMagazine.com of the woman in charge. As After Lately premieres Sunday, McDonald and Colonna chat with Us.

Related: PHOTOS: Chelsea Handler hangs with Justin Bieber

UsMagazine.com: You take fans inside your writers' room after the Chelsea Lately cameras stop rolling. What would fans of that show be surprised to learn about Chelsea as a boss?
Sarah Colonna: People will be interested to see how much of a boss she really is. She really has to be in charge of us, probably much to her disdain. [Laughs] She's like 'It is fun here, but once in a while you have to do your job.'

Us: What's the craziest prank Chelsea's pulled around the office?
Colonna: Chelsea loves to send out awful emails from your computer saying things like, 'I'm pregnant,' or 'I'm gay.' And you're not either one of those things. She'll send those emails to somebody at the head of E!, then you start getting emails like, 'congratulations on your pregnancy,' and you're like, 'wait, what?!'

Us: But there are perks of your job, like on the premiere episode where Chelsea takes a select group of the staff to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Does the staff get competitive to get on her good side?
Heather McDonald: I cried and claimed to have problems at home to be invited to a Katsuya dinner [with her], which is not very professional and kind of pathetic.
Colonna: Personally, I just encourage other people to act badly, so that I come out looking better. Like if I see [costar] Brad [Wollack] with too many drinks in him, I'll be like, 'you should have more!' and then get him really drunk. If someone pukes from drinking that really hurts their chances of being invited for the next six months.

Us: Have you ever hung out with Chelsea's pal, Jennifer Aniston, in Cabo?
McDonald: Chelsea took us to Cabo after the VMAs and Jen wasn't there for that one, but she did come to the show recently and I did get to hug her. I felt her core. It was pretty amazing. Everything you could imagine.

Us: Might you have any celebrity guest stars appearing on the series?
McDonald: We did a scene with a female Academy Award winner and we couldn't believe we were acting with her. But that's all we can say.

Related: PHOTOS: Jennifer Aniston's sexy bikini bod

Us: Lastly, when are you going to have Charlie Sheen on the Chelsea Lately roundtable? He's been making the talk show rounds this week.
McDonald: Chelsea was supposed to be on Piers Morgan [Monday] talking about us and Charlie bumped her.
Colonna: We're not thrilled about that at all. Listen, Charlie, everybody's heard enough about you. I'd like to get him on our roundtable, though. I'd love to have all topics about Charlie and just make him comment on himself. That's my dream come true!
McDonald: I'm rooting for him and Two and a Half Men to come back just for all of the senior citizens in America who live for Monday nights with Charlie Sheen. My mother is beside herself! She says that John Stamos can't replace him — nobody can replace him!

After Lately premieres March 6 at 11 p.m. (EST) on E!

By Allison Corneau for UsMagazine.com. For more Channel Surfing, click here.

In this article

Got a Tip form close button
Got a tip for US?
We're All Ears for Celebrity Buzz!