Are You There, Chelsea?'s Chelsea Handler: I Like Myself Much Better As Laura Prepon
Chelsea Handler thinks that Laura Prepon plays a much better Chelsea Handler than she ever did.
On NBC's new comedy Are You There, Chelsea?, which is based on Handler's saucier titled book Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, Prepon (That '70s Show) plays a twentysomething version of Handler who, in the premiere episode, is arrested for drunk driving. (In a nice twist, Handler herself plays Chelsea's put-upon sister Sloane.)
"I was a lot angrier than she is," Handler told reporters at NBC's winter TV previews Friday. "We all wanted to give Laura the license to make the character as great as she could and she has. I like myself much better as her."
It's a good thing too, because Handler says she doesn't have time to play the role herself. "I have a job every single day and I have another job and then another job," she says. "I don't have time to star in my own TV show. If I did, I would. I like my E! show; I like being under the radar."
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As Sloane, Handler will appear in more than half of the series' freshman season, but she insists that she isn't the star. "It's Laura's show really... so I wanted her to have as much time without me as possible," she says. "We want people to know that, yes, I'm part of the show, but [Prepon] is the star of the show."
"It's a dream come true to have someone else portray me because I've been living this life for a long time and I'm over myself," she joked.
Are You There, Chelsea? debuts Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.
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