This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

For nearly eight years, Chelsea Handler hosted a late-night talk show on E! And she has absolutely no regrets about leaving it behind.

"I don't really wallow or think about it, I just would like to press forward," she said. "It was a great, fun time for me. It brought me to a different level of success. I was able to do a lot of things that I wanted to do, but it wasn't a place where I wanted to live for a long time."

So she's made the "natural progression" to something else — doing documentaries for Netflix.

The first of those, "Chelsea Does Marriage," will premiere at a Sundance Film Festival special event on Friday, Jan. 22, in Park City.

That program, along with "Chelsea Does Racism," "Chelsea Does Silicon Valley" and "Chelsea Does Drugs," starts streaming on Netflix on Saturday, Jan. 23.

On Friday, the subject will be marriage, which has "always been a really interesting topic for me because I've never felt compelled to be married. And now that I turned 40, I'm totally open to the possibility, even though I have absolutely zero prospects."

The 75-minute documentary shows Handler talking to members of her family. To some of her ex-boyfriends. To long-married couples. To thruples — those in three-person relationships.

The result is a documentary that is "really, kind of, personal for me because I felt very vulnerable doing it," she said. "So it was nice for me to open up."

When it was announced that Handler had signed on with Netflix, there was speculation that she was doing another talk show, never mind that such a format wouldn't really work with the streaming service. Plus, it wasn't something she was interested in doing.

"I wanted to do something else," she said. "And I'm really fortunate that I was in a position to actually quit [the E! show]. It didn't occur to me that that was a gutsy move or anything. I just always felt like I don't want to coast."

She sees "Chelsea Does" as serious documentaries, but that doesn't mean she's serious in them. "Chelsea Does Silicon Valley" highlights her shortcomings.

"I don't know what streaming is," despite the fact she's working for Netflix. "I can barely use the things in my house. Everything is on iPad, and I'm so frustrated all the time. I have a Tesla that I don't know how to use," she said.

"Technology makes me so irate that I was, like, 'I need to talk to the people because is this is making our lives easier, or is it making it harder?' "

"Chelsea Does Racism" is about "not just racism on the black/white front." Among other things, she visits an American Indian reservation to talk "to them about how they've been marginalized. Nobody ever sticks up for those people."

She tackled "Chelsea Does Drugs" because "I thought it would be nice to illustrate how irresponsible people are with prescription medication and when combining that with alcohol. I know I've done it, and I know a lot of people that do it."

For that installment, she ate "a marijuana-infused dinner" and "by the end of the night, you just see what happens to your brain." She "experimented with different pills and flew to Peru to do ayahuasca."

"I'm willing to do anything to learn about something," she said. "I'm willing to put myself out there, and I feel like we should take advantage of that.

"I don't really have a problem looking bad or making an idiot of myself. I can be thoughtful about stuff, or I can look like a total jackass — and that's good television." —

Chelsea Does

The first of Chelsea Handler's four-part documentary series for Netflix, "Chelsea Does Marriage," will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Handler, director Eddie Schmidt and executive producer Morgan Neville.

When • Friday, Jan. 22, 4:45 p.m.

Where • Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main St., Park City

On TV • The series, also including "Chelsea Does Racism," "Chelsea Does Silicon Valley" and "Chelsea Does Drugs," starts streaming on Netflix on Saturday.