Chelsea charms book-buying fans

"Thank you. Good looking out," said Chelsea Handler when informed Saturday that I had reminded her fans via Twitter that Belvedere is her preferred vodka now that she has cut Grey Goose loose.

Handler attracted about 550 fans to the U's Coffman Union, where the comedian and host of E! TV network's "Chelsea Lately" autographed copies of her latest best-seller, "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang." My time with Chelsea, like that of her fans, went fast. So fast that I forgot to tell her that Belvedere vodka importer Eddie Phillips lives in the Twin Cities. As smart as she is foxy, she probably already knows that.

Although Handler did not have much time for each fan, she left all who got to meet her smiling and practically bounding away, as you can see at startribune.com/video. Known for her laid-back, skewing, sardonic, no-BS style that never lets a celebrity avoid the juicy gossip, Handler could not have been more delightful with her fans.

Even though she doesn't comprehend why anyone would stand in line for an autograph, Handler was dedicated not only to signing but also to personalizing each book with a name and sometimes one of her irreverent catch phrases. Typically with such crowds, celebrities usually sign their name and don't take photos to speed the collection of the cha-ching. Not Handler.

Eva, one of Chelsea's Handlers, had to step in to cut off the signing line that grew to more than 1,000 by the count of Terry Labandz, trade book manager-buyer for the U's bookstores. With the line failing to shrink, Eva said Chelsea would have been signing right up until her early performance at Northrop Auditorium.

"Chelsea will sign every book if you let her. If there are 5,000 people with books, she will sign 5,000," Eva said. "But she's only one person." When the public autographing ended, Handler signed another 50 books and was open to doing more. "If people are outside as we are leaving, I'll sign their books," Handler told her team members, who seemed to be ignoring this offer.

A nugget of a fan Watch out, Chuy! Chelsea charmed another nugget while she was in Minnesota.

When asked what Handler had said while getting a book autographed for a friend, Shorts -- that's what friends call Dan Cohoes -- quizzically said, "She said she loves nuggets. I'm here for a friend; she couldn't be here."

If Cohoes was indeed unfamiliar with the term of endearment, I'm sure his friend has enlightened him. On my video, you can see Handler getting one of her people to take a photo of her with Cohoes.

Bravo's got a new book out, too, "Little Nuggets of Wisdom," co-written with Tom Brunelle.

Reading "Big Advice from the SMALL STAR of Chelsea Lately," I heard Handler's voice loud and clear, especially in the scatological humor.

I was sure she had written Bravo's book. "I didn't write it, but I doubt Chuy wrote it, either," Handler told me as she autographed the book.

"No way," said Heather Hofmeister, my friend who went to the show with me along with her sister, Shannon Allen, from New London, Iowa. That was as unbelievable to Hofmeister as my calm while having to be near the Asia knucklehead, who's just not comfortable with what little authority he has.

"Five minutes after you left, Eva, Chelsea's manager, came out looking for you," Azzone said. "She told me about it. He didn't swear or use bad language, right?" He did not, and neither did I.

Azzone said his security staffers were told that there would be no media backstage. It would have helped, he said, if I had told the security nitwit who I was. I have a feeling that wouldn't have helped.

Eventually, Eva arranged for my friends to meet Handler.

I told Azzone that the fans I really felt sorry for where the ones turned away from the 3 p.m. Coffman signing with the promise that Handler would sign their books at the show. But once at Northrop, these fans were told that Handler was signing books bought only at the auditorium, where wrist bands were given out with purchases.