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Kathy comes out swingin’
Kathy Griffin rolls out her new talk show this week on Bravo, and the celebrity-slaying Oak Park native promises that no one — not the pope, the president or her own 91-year-old mother — will be safe from her skewering.
Updated: May 20, 2012 8:35AM
Kathy Griffin rolls out her new talk show this week on Bravo, and the celebrity-slaying Oak Park native promises that no one — not the pope, the president or her own 91-year-old mother — will be safe from her skewering.
“They want me to let it rip,” said the outspoken comic, whose Emmy-winning reality series “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” lasted six seasons on the cable net. “This is going to be your no-holds-barred destination for water cooler talk.”
Her prime-time, hourlong chat fest, titled “Kathy,” airs at 9 p.m. Thursdays. Here’s what Griffin had to say about her new show:
On celebrity guests: Stay home. “No celebrities are booked on my show. They have an agenda. They have seven minutes to plug their movie or their television show or book and you can’t really get to things like, what are the discussions between Khloe and Lamar on the day he comes home and says, ‘Now I’m not playing on any team?’
“I’ve put a lot of thought into having the kind of environment where I can do my thing and fearlessly say what I’m thinking and, more importantly, say what the audience can’t say or is afraid to say.” The show will feature a discussion panel stocked with Griffin’s “civilian” (read: non-celebrity) friends, who will riff along with the redhead on pop culture’s topics du jour.
On the Kardashians, who might get the occasional name check: Kim and Kanye are “basically an arranged marriage. I’m calling BS on that one. I’m not trying to be negative. I love love. Although I prefer negativity to love because it’s funnier.”
Griffin wasn’t laughing last week when she threw a book party with “Entourage” actor Kevin Connolly, and an unexpected guest dropped by.
“I’m thinking, ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ In walks Kris Jenner. Let’s just say I’ve made fun of the Kardashians in a way maybe not all of the Kardashians appreciate. That’s the type of thing I’ll talk about on this show.”
On the show’s name: “I put my foot down when it came to the title. ‘Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List’ really came to bite me in the ass. I remember in seasons five and six when we were booking celebrities, certain celebrities would be like, ‘I don’t want to be on a show called ‘the D-List.’ ” Griffin vowed that her next show would simply be “Kathy.”
“I’m not going to call it ‘Kathy Griffin.’ I’m not going to call it ‘Kathy Griffin and her Inappropriate Jokes.’ I’m just going to freaking call it ‘Kathy’ and we’re done.”
On her new office, which happens to be next to the soundstage where Nickelodeon’s teen sitcom “iCarly” is shot: “I don’t really know the premise of ‘iCarly,’ but my goal is to make at least one of the cast members walk out of the Greystone nightclub drunk, a la Amanda Bynes.
“No one, by the way, at ‘iCarly’ knows I’m trying to do this. It’s sort of like my imaginary fight with Oprah that she doesn’t know or care about.”
