Chelsea Handler Sells Two Comedies To HBO Max & Peacock

Denise Petski
·2 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Chelsea Handler has sold two half-hour comedies — Blair, based on the comic strip by Mo Welch to HBO Max, and Wiped Out from Charles Morris, to Peacock. Both projects were developed at Universal Television, where Handler has a first-look deal.

Created and written by Welch based on her comic strip, Blair follows a twenty-something with a dark but frank outlook on life; she’s an older Daria, but a less anxious Cathy who can’t help but judge people around her despite the fact that she’s at her own personal rock-bottom. After accidentally burning down her apartment and getting a demotion at a job she hates, Blair is forced to move back in with her mom and live a life she thought she would’ve left behind by now.

Written by Morris, Wiped Out revolves around a narcissistic woman with the “perfect” life, who is suddenly erased from the entire world’s collective memory by a passing black hole that causes a rift in the fabric of reality. With the help of her conspiracy theorist cousin, she sets out to rebuild her exact same life from scratch, even if the world would have been better off without her all along.

Handler will executive produce both projects alongside Molly Burke and co-executive producer Rachel Polan. Claudia Lonow is set as showrunner for Wiped Out.

The deals come on the heels of Jackie Sosa joining Chelsea Handler Productions as VP of Development earlier this year.

Universal TV has also optioned Handler’s New York Times bestselling memoir Life Will Be The Death of Me to develop as a TV series, with Annapurna attached to co-produce.

Handler will next be seen in her recently announced HBO Max comedy special, which marks her return to stand-up after more than six years.

Handler is repped by United Talent Agency, Allison Statter and Irving Azoff, and attorney Craig Jacobson. Welch is repped by Rise Management and attorney Grace Kallis at Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.

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