Chelsea Handler to Host the VMAs

Wisecracking author and E! talk-show host Chelsea Handler has been tapped to liven up the MTV Video Music Awards as host of the Sept. 12 show.

"The censors have been put on high alert," MTV.com says, as the "sardonic and sass-tacular" comedian becomes just the second woman to host the VMAs solo, following Roseanne Barr in 1994.

Handler, 35, the author of three humor books and host of Chelsea Lately on E!, says she fits the part – sort of. "This has been a huge year for hip-hop and rap, and it is well-known that I have the closest ties with these communities – musically and sexually," she joked in a statement. "I am to rap and hippity-hop what Warren Buffet is to finance, minus the sex."

And if she doesn't have a high profile in the music industry, well, that's just too bad. "It's an MTV audience, so I'm sure some people won't know who I am," she tells The New York Times. "But by the end of the show, I won't know who anybody is, just like I don't now."

Lady Gaga earned the most nominations for this year's VMAs, airing live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Sept. 12 at 9 p.m. ET. Her 13 nods are the most ever received by any artist in a single year.