Chelsea Handler and Jo Koy just took their relationship public a few months ago, but they have a lot of history together. As their public profile rises, many fans are looking back to better understand how these two ended up together. Read on for all the background we have on their relationship.
Handler and Koy have run in the same circles for their entire careers, and they have been on TV together for over a decade. However, Handler’s tumultuous dating life is well-known to fans, so for much of that time, she and Koy must have been friends only. It wasn’t until Sept.27, 2021, that they made things official with an Instagram post revealing that they are dating. Since then, fans have been dying for more gossip.
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Handler and Koy both have strong backgrounds in reality TV and stand-up comedy, but in recent years they have both found new success in the streaming age. Koy has three stand-up specials streaming now on Netflix and appearances in several other productions there, while Handler’s latest special is on HBO Max. Here’s a look at what we know about these two comedians and their love life together.
Handler
For those in need of a quick refresher, Handler is a 46-year-old comedian, writer and producer from New Jersey who broke into the entertainment industry in 2002 when she was in her late 20s on the Oxygen reality show Girls Behaving Badly. She had a series of successful TV gigs in those years which gave her the recognition to carry her own show on E!.
Handler’s claim to fame was her half-hour late-night talk show on E! called Chelsea Lately, where she and other comedians would riff on current events and sometimes record a sketch. She would then interview celebrity guests and often try to make them uncomfortable or catch them off guard. The show aired from 2007 to 2014 and was generally popular, with some early success in the YouTube aggregate realm.
Handler is also known for writing seven memoirs including Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea. After Chelsea Lately ended she pursued similar work on TV and streaming shows with an increasing focus on activism.
Koy
Koy is 50 years old and started his stand-up career in his early 20s while living in Las Vegas, Nevada. He broke into the mainstream thanks to the BET series ComicView, where he appeared for two seasons. After that, he became a staple of the stand-up comedy scene and made appearances in several recorded specials. He was one of the few stand-up comedians to receive a standing ovation on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2005.
Koy was a regular panelist on Chelsea Lately, appearing in over 100 episodes. He also appeared on After Lately – the fictitious mockumentary about the people behind the scenes of Chelsea Lately struggling to keep up with the host’s egomaniacal demands. In the parody, Handler pretended to be a high-maintenance performer.
Unlike others in his profession, however, Koy never gave up live stand-up. He continues to tour when possible and is a frequent guest on comedy podcasts – notably The Adam Carolla Show. Koy founded The Jo Koy Foundation for charitable efforts and hosted a “Hilarity for Charity” event in 2009.
Dating History
Before Handler, Koy did not have much of a public record as far as dating history goes. Handler, on the other hand, is known for being frank and open about her love life and her sex life. She announced at least two of her personal breakups on Chelsea Lately during its run and wrote a whole memoir about dating called My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands.
Handler dated Comcast CEO Ted Harbert from 2006 to 2010, and briefly dated rapper 50 Cent in 2011. She then dated hotel owner Andre Balazs until 2013, and she had not publicized relationships after that until Koy.
Announcement
Fans learned of Handler and Koy’s romance on Sept. 27, 2021 in an Instagram post Handler made. It had two pictures – one where Koy took a selfie while Handler wrapped her arms around his shoulders and another where they were kissing on a dark city street. The first photo showed a ring on Handler’s finger which got some fans excited, but it was clearly her right hand.
“He’s on tour, I’m on tour, sometimes we tour together,” Handler captioned the post. She added the hashtags “vaccinated and horny” and “funny is funny” – the names of their respective tours. Koy shared this post on his Instagram Story.
Openness
Since then, Koy and Handler have been relatively open about their relationship on social media. Many of Koy’s recent posts feature himself and Handler together with public displays of affection around every corner. Likewise, Handler has shared lots of photos and videos with Handler and created some memorable gags with him online in recent months.
Leisure
Early on, Koy and Handler’s couple posts mostly concerned their complimentary comedy tours since they were both on the road at the same time. It wasn’t until late December when they began to share glimpses of themselves as a regular couple in their downtime. Fans fawned over their ski trip just before Christmas.
Dogs
Handler’s followers are very familiar with her dogs Bert and Bernice, but many of them felt like it was a milestone when she began posting photos of them with Koy. They felt like this was the most enviable part of a new relationship.
In Sickness and in Health
Finally, the latest update on Handler and Koy is that Handler suffered some kind of health scare this weekend and she needed to cancel several shows to “chill out for a couple weeks to recover.” She also said that Koy came to “rescue” her. Fans felt like this display of intimacy was proof that Handler and Koy are in it for the long haul.
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