Chelsea Handler held an orange in her hand onstage at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center Friday night. “The orange,” she said to a sold-out audience, “I’ve had a problem with the color and fruit ever since the election.”
Handler and fellow comedian Seth Meyers opened the eighth annual Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival with conversation that touched on Handler’s six books, the state of U.S. politics, dogs, drugs, therapy, and activism — plus an audience Q and A.
Handler and Meyers have longtime ties to Martha’s Vineyard. Meyers spends summers with his wife, kids, and in-laws up-Island, and it’s where Handler recalls some of her favorite childhood memories — several of which come up in her latest book, “Life Will Be the Death of Me,” published in April.
Handler is known for her unfiltered humor and raunchy rhetoric, and delivered no shortage of that Friday night. But as she does in her latest book, Handler departs from what audiences expect of her, letting her fans in closer, digging deeper, and getting to the roots of what makes Handler Handler. “I wanted to tell my story, but it turns out it was many people’s stories, too,” she said.
The concept for her sixth book came after the 2016 election. It roused anger, confusion, and consistently clenched fists. “I think it was a valid reason to lose your [expletive] mind.”
But it also dug up deeper inner turmoil, discovered through therapy. “I live in LA, and LA’s a tricky place,” Handler said. “There’s a lot of talk about kale and chakras and sound baths. Those are the people I always thought needed therapy.”
She found psychiatrist turned trusted confidante Dan Siegal — an integral part of her book and now life. Siegal helped Handler uncover unaddressed adolescent muck that stemmed from her older brother’s unexpected death when she was 9 years old.
“My brain emotionally shut down,” she said. And later she recalled promising herself, as a 9-year-old, that she’d never cry about her brother again. Siegal was the one who offered Handler the orange metaphor. “I can’t be mad at a color,” Hander said. “I took it, and the anger was undone.”
Handler’s book reveals a vulnerable side that came through Friday night. Vulnerable, yes, but always funny. The audience couldn’t have gone 30 seconds without laughing.
Meyers honed in on the message of the book, and maybe the evening as well. “It’s never too late to go back and fix something from your past,” he said.
The talk was followed by an audience Q and A, where one member of the crowd asked for advice as an aspiring comedian.
“You need to try and do it now,” Meyers said. “Find a stage and start doing it.” Which prompted comic Amy Schumer to stand up and chime in. She was sitting about four rows from the front.
By the last question, Schumer replaced Meyers onstage, leaving Meyers to halfheartedly sulk stage left. “Aw. You poor, rich, white man,” Schumer said. The audience, and Meyers, erupted in laughter.
“Does anyone want an orange?” Handler asked, and she lobbed it into the crowd.
