Kathy Griffin: The D List Gives Back The Comic’s Status

Kathy Griffin: The D List Gives Back The Comic’s Status by Roxanne McDonald

I came into the brilliant Kathy Griffin: the D-List a couple of minutes late and yes, am kicking myself. But from where I picked up, Kathy Griffin was bringing down the house with tales and anecdotes of her encounters and relationships with celebrities, with details of celebrity behaviors, attitudes, and actions.

In this stand-up show, not to be confused with her reality TV show, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, she started early on with a story about Little Richard, and how you are supposed to respond when he injects the “whooo!” into his conversation with you. After including a bit on Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, whom she says is billed as Dat Dog and which she uses to work into the later jokes, she launches into the kind of character assassination she does best –implicitly and explicitly.

She describes

how Anna Nicole Smith who is “allegedly” out of it, interacts, or fails to, with other celebs. Chakka Khan approaches Smith, Kathy says, and makes nice with general compliments and introduction, and Smith just does this heroin-like nod and gives a curt “hi”—which Griffin acts out impeccably.

Little Richard, Kathy continues, also approaches Smith, who has one of those little dogs on her lap. Little Richard does the Sir Walter Raleigh posturing he is known for (which Griffin also acts out), presenting himself to Smith. Then, getting no response, Little Richard says to the dog, “Are you Dat Dog?”

Kathy Griffin is so good at referential comedy, and delivers it in this informal, chatty, “oh-I-forgot-to tell-you” or “Oh, yeah, I have to tell you about X” format that the audience is drawn in, trusts her, and stays with her from her first head-bopping appearance on stage to her last thank-yous.

Telling the people, her peeps, she has another great story, she goes into a mocking story about Sharon Stone, when Kathy is presenter at an AMFAR awards ceremony. She makes jabs at Uma Thurman, who like so many of those chicks “walks as if their bones are going to collapse” (a walk she of course mimes); talks about how nice Kenneth Cole is and how Rosie hives her support regarding what lengths to go to in chatting during her presentation speech(es). Griffin also tells us how Cole donated a million to AMFAR, Rosie donated a million, and Natasha Richardson donated some Oscar dress. “Come on,” she gripes. “Where’s your mill?”

In typical

self-effacing and other-defacing efforts, Griffin tells about her interactions with Rosie Perez, whom she says she was trying to buy laughs from; about how she gets all freaked when she looks around and realizes this isn’t her crowd; and about how she tries to pull off some roast-like humor during presentation and says something about how she “fu—ed Elvis,” then has to present the next presenter, Sharon Stone.

The crowd adores Kathy Griffin, sharp-cracking sharp-shooting diva who gives us celebrity dirt that often comes flying back into her own face … making us laugh even more.

Kathy Griffin pretends to be on the D-list, but the laughs, were they score cards or grade reports, result in straight A’s.

Sir Links Alot Kathy Griffin My Life On the D List Links

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