I interviewed comedienne and writer Chelsea Handler yesterday to promote her upcoming Vegas show at Caesars at The Colosseum.

Look for the highlights of  our conversation in an upcoming Vegas Seven closer to the May 29 date of the show.

But as we spoke yesterday news was shooting around the Internet of a supposed sex tape Handler made a decade or so ago.  She included the cut of naughtiness on an audition tape she sent out at the start of her career (so long ago that this was on VHS). And, so unlike other sex tapes hawked by ex-lovers on celebrities, this would be footage she created to use professionally.

Still, before putting Handler on, her representative asked that I please refrain from asking the comic about her private life since we only had 10 minutes on the phone. I assume she meant not to ask Handler about the sex tape though there were no specifics attached to the request.  Not that footage put out by Handler on an audition tape is her private life. And, Handler has made a career speaking publicly of things personal. But I had no plans to ask her about the sex tape, and for the very reason she supplied when I asked Handler, who become famous mocking celebrities, how she handles being covered now as a media figure. (She will be Katie Couric’s celebrity guest to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.) On the very day of the “sex tape” filling the gossip blogs this was Handler’s not particularly troubled response to the general question of the media covering her:

“It is fine. You got to be able to take what you can give. I have a lot of fun with it. The reason people know me who know me is for my personality and exactly who I am. So, it is probably a lot easier for me than a lot of these movie stars who people think they know as a celebrity but they don’t because they have just seen the person playing a character. I have an interesting time of it. I have a lot fun.”

A racy graphic audition tape would certainly raise questions about a performer less public about her sex and private life. But to me the alleged sex tape sounds like the early formation of the humor Handler developed that has since made her a very successful comic.

For the rest of our interview, again, look to a forthcoming Vegas Seven. In our brief time on the phone Handler also discussed how she is enjoying being single; why she wants Criss Angel as a guest on her show;  her strategy for blackjack; and how much does she really drink in Vegas?  (Photo: Sarah Gerke)