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Chelsea Handler, who hosted the 29th annual Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, praised women in film, sharply criticized studio executives and took swipes at her ex-boyfriend, comedian Jo Koy, who was widely criticized for hosting the Golden Globes week earlier.
“Thanks for laughing at that — my writers wrote it,” Handler said at one point, a reference to Koy blaming his writers, in the middle of a dying Golden Globes monologue last Sunday that included a joke about Barbie's breasts contained.
Comedian, actress and former talk show host Handler, who was a Critics Choice host for the second year in a row, also raved about 2023 as “one of the hottest years for film and television,” citing sexually explicit films like “Saltburn” and “Poor Things”. She joked that she personally preferred older men like Harrison Ford and Robert de Niro – “men who have been around since the railroad was invented.”
“Unfortunately, Martin Scorsese is not here tonight,” Handler continued, mentioning the best director nominee for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “but that won’t stop me from letting everyone in this room know that I would throw it around like a little Italian meatball.”
She added: “Thanks for the laugh – my writers wrote it.”
“Women were victorious in all disciplines,” said Handler. “Barbie at the box office, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé on their tours. Gwyneth Paltrow trying to ski.”
“This year has shown that when given the opportunity, women will stand up for each other and dominate the culture. You could almost say it was the year of the women,” Handler said. “I mean, women can say that. Bill Maher would say, “Does she still talk?”
“With Barbie, Greta [Gerwig] became the highest-grossing female director of all time,” Handler said to applause. “So again, over $1.4 billion at the box office. While David Zaslav wore a zip-up vest and sailed to Saint Tropez, a very talented woman swooped in with a film about female empowerment and saved the entire music and film industry.”
Referring to the combined strikes by actors and writers, Handler said, “Of course, no one had it harder this year than the studio executives who had to go on vacation for six months in a row.”
Following her decision to return as CCA host, Handler doesn't necessarily view awards shows as hostile territory. And in a promo for the Critics Choice Awards posted on X, formerly Twitter, Handler also promised not to be defeated or replaced by artificial intelligence. In this installment, Handler battles a shabby-looking AI replica of Handler who tells her, “Beat it, Blondie!” and rattles off outdated clues, including one about Handler's long-dead dog, Chunk.
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“Who programmed you, Elon Musk?” asks Handler.