Kathy Griffin

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Kathy Griffin

Kathy Griffin, 2005
Born:	November 4, 1960 (age 46) Oak Park, Illinois
Occupation:	Stand-up comedian
Website:	www.kathygriffin.net

Kathleen "Kathy" Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American stand-up comedian and actress.

She has also been a voice actor and a red carpet commentator. Griffin has proclaimed herself a "D-list celebrity".

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Early credits 2.2 Television 2.3 Solo reality show 3 Style of humor 4 Other credits 5 Personal life 6 Trivia 7 Selected filmography 7.1 TV 7.2 Film 8 References 8.1 Footnotes 8.2 Web sites

[edit] Early life

Griffin was born in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, and raised there and in nearby Forest Park, Illinois.^[1] Her father John worked in an electronics store and her mother Maggie assisted in a hospital's administrative office. Kathy is the youngest sibling of three boys and two girls. Her parents retired to California after Griffin graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1979.

[edit] Career

[edit] Early credits

Griffin began performing in the early 1980s with the Los Angeles improv comedy troupe, The Groundlings. She went on to perform stand-up comedy and teamed with fellow Groundlings alum Janeane Garofalo on the comedy act "Hot Cup of Talk"^[1], later the title of Griffin's 1998 solo HBO special. She did some acting, breaking into film with the supporting role of "Connie" in horror movie The Unborn (1991), starring Brooke Adams.

Griffin gradually amassed such early TV and film credits as a role in comedian Julie Brown's Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful (1992), an HBO parody of the backstage film Truth or Dare (1991); two appearances as the character Susan Klein on NBC's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, her TV sitcom debut; fellow comic Bob Goldthwait's movie Shakes the Clown (1992); and an episode of ABC's divorce-attorney series Civil Wars, Griffin's dramatic-series debut.

[edit] Television

After starring in an HBO Half Hour Comedy Special, Griffin's first consistent public exposure came in 1996, when she was cast as the acerbic colleague of Brooke Shields' title character on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan. In 1998, Griffin starred in her first one-hour special, HBO's Kathy Griffin: A Hot Cup of Talk. She honed a comedy and television career that poked fun at her relatively modest place in the Hollywood hierarchy in a self-deprecating manner. She frequently appears in such self-consciously tacky projects as the reality show competition Celebrity Mole Hawaii — in which she won the 2003 edition after undergoing such experiences as walking over hot lava with her bare feet.

Griffin also has a secondary career in voiceover work, and has been featured on a variety of projects such as the Dilbert animated series and one of the Spider-Man animated series.

[edit] Solo reality show

In 2005, Griffin starred in her solo reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, on the cable network Bravo. The show also featured then-husband Matt Moline, her best friends, Dennis Hensley and Tony Tripoli, her parents, her dogs and her personal assistant Jessica. The second-season premiered on June 6, 2006. The first season of the program was nominated for a 2006 Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Reality Program, non-competition. It has been renewed for a third season.

[edit] Style of humor

At a time when stand-up comedy was turning, to an extent, from punch-line orientation to humorous social commentary and satire, Griffin established her career with candid observations about her dating life. After several outrageous experiences with other celebrities, she began to include them in her act as well. Her act invariably consists of recounting events involving celebrities. Her favorite celebrity topics are plastic surgery, Scientology, drunkenness, substance abuse, snooty attitudes, eating disorders, and stars whose sexual orientation is disputed. Among Griffin's staples are Clay Aiken, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Star Jones, and Anna Nicole Smith. Sometimes, she is the butt of her own humor, particularly with regard to her D-List status.

Griffin frequently mentions her admiration for gay men, and in her live performances cultivates and acknowledges her large gay following, referring to them as "my gays".^[2]

[edit] Other credits

Griffin has made frequent appearances on reality programs and game shows.

• Griffin is a favorite of the late night radio call-in show Loveline, once hosted by Adam Carolla.
• She has played on Celebrity Poker Showdown for the Face to Face: National Domestic Violence Project charity.
• She appeared on a Comedy Edition episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and won $32,000 for charity.
• Griffin was also on a Celebrity Edition of Weakest Link, but lost to Aisha Tyler in the final round.
• She also appeared as a panelist on the June 22, 2006 episode of CBS' "Gameshow Marathon," which recreated the Match Game.

[edit] Personal life

Griffin met Washington, D.C. native Matt Moline (born December 18, 1970) on a blind date in July 1999. They were engaged in Punta Mita, Mexico on September 23, 2000. They married in Los Angeles atop the Hollywood 360 Degrees Restaurant in February 2001. Brooke Shields served as Griffin's maid of honor.

On September 27, 2005, Griffin filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. She and Moline reconciled in February 2006, but the reconciliation did not last; their divorce was finalized on May 15, 2006. Griffin later claimed that Moline had stolen $72,000 from her during the course of their marriage.^[3] Moline did not comment about her allegations, saying that he would not comment publicly about private matters.

On November 29, 2006, Griffin was involved in a mid-flight, near-death experience. According to representatives from her website, Kathy rented a commuter plane that took off at 4:45pm in Burbank, California. The plane was scheduled to take her to Stockton, California where she had a comedy show to perform later that evening. The following is from her website, kathygriffin.net:

20 minutes into the flight, They hit extreme turbulence. Things were flying all over in the plane. Kathy smelled smoke. She noticed the pilot had to put on his oxygen mask and then the other masks dropped for the passengers. The plane had to return to Burbank, which was a very bumpy ride. There were fire trucks waiting on the runway for her plane to land. Luckily, they landed and were pulled out of the plane quickly and safely. They didn't have another plane available earlier than 9:30. Her agents/managers had to cancel the show.

Kathy Griffin was unharmed, and rescheduled the show. She later went on to Larry King Live to talk about her experience.

[edit] Trivia

• She has a cameo in Pulp Fiction, in which she played an on-the-scene witness when Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) intentionally used the car he was driving to hit Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Quentin Tarantino, the film's director, dated Griffin in the early 1990s.^[4]
• One of her most notable controversies occurred when she made a joke during a 2005 E! televised event that 11-year-old actress Dakota Fanning entered rehab.^[5]
• She has made it known that she opposes the Iraq War, President George W. Bush, and the Republican Party. She also states that she is a liberal Democrat, but her mother is a big fan of Bill O'Reilly.
• She is an outspoken opponent of LASIK eye surgery, having endured a traumatic series of operations for her own eyesight, which has left her partially blind in one eye with a visible eyeball deformity. She discusses this on her website and on the Tyra Banks talk show.
• Griffin describes herself as a "militant atheist, however she stated on Larry King Live in 2006 that she wanted to become a Unitarian."^[6]
• Griffin, Jim Gaffigan, Debra Wilson, and Michael Ian Black have starred together in several commercials for Sierra Mist soda.
• An episode of the animated TV series Family Guy, "A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Bucks", includes a cutaway scene where Peter Griffin's cousin Kathy Griffin talks so much that he puts Rohypnol in her drink to shut her up, but accidentally gives his son her glass.
• Griffin also voiced a character on Family Guy, playing Angie, an ex-girlfriend from high school that Peter Griffin goes to see to make his wife jealous. However, Kathy Griffin was later parodied in MADtv in a Family Guy re-enactment sketch with Seth MacFarlane, who is "dubbing" over Lois' voice.
• Griffin claims to be banned from appearing on The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Live with Regis and Kelly, Late Show with David Letterman, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She says Ellen's producers told her they can't have her on "trashing celebrities".^[7]
• Griffin also claims her presence (and eventual victory) on Celebrity Mole: Hawaii as the moment she became a D-list celebrity (referencing how Celebrity Mole and other popular reality shows tend to cast non-A-list celebrities). This joke can be heard on her Kathy Griffin: The D-List special.
• Jerry Seinfeld was so amused by Griffin's caustic comments about him in her standup act, that he cast her on Seinfeld as a standup comic who makes fun of him.^[4] A letter from Seinfeld is also seen framed in Griffin's house on the season finale of The Adam Carolla Project.
• Griffin was spoofed on the MTV2 animated show Where My Dogs At? as a plastic surgery-obsessed woman who carries body parts in a plastic bag.
• She is a teetotaler.^[8]

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] TV

• Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful (HBO, 1992)
• Big News (1995)
• The Barefoot Executive (1995)
• Suddenly Susan (NBC, 1996-2000)
• Seinfeld: "The Doll" (NBC, 1996) and "The Cartoon" (NBC, 1998)
• Saturday Night Special (Fox late-night series 1996)
• Premium Blend (Comedy Central; host in 1997)
• Kathy Griffin: Hot Cup of Talk (1998)
• Instant Comedy with the Groundlings (series, 1998)
• Dilbert (UPN animated series, 1999-2000; voice)
• Jackie's Back! (1999; cameo)
• A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000)
• "X-Files - "Fight Club" As identical twins Betty Templeton and Lulu Pfeiffer (2000)
• Kathy's So-Called Reality (series, 2001)
• The Drew Carey Show (one episode, 2002)
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?
• Celebrity Mole: Hawaii (series, 2003-2004)
• Average Joe (host, 2003)
• "Spider-Man" (MTV series, voice of psychic twin 2003)
• Kathy Griffin: Allegedly (2004)
• Kathy Griffin: The D-List (2004)
• Kathy Griffin Is... Not Nicole Kidman (2005)
• Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (2005-present, in second season according to Bravo Network)
• Kathy Griffin: Strong Black Woman (2006)
• CNN's Larry King Live (July 11th, 2006)
• The View (July 27, 2006)
• Gameshow Marathon:Match Game(2006)
• Last Comic Standing- Guest Judge (2006)

[edit] Film

• The Unborn (1991)
• Shakes the Clown (1992)
• It's Pat (1994, cameo)
• Pulp Fiction (1994, cameo)
• Four Rooms (1995)
• The Cable Guy (1996)
• Who's the Caboose? (1997)
• Trojan War (1997)
• Courting Courtney (1997)
• Can't Stop Dancing (1999)
• Dill Scallion (1999)
• Muppets from Space (1999, cameo)
• Lion of Oz (2000; (voice)
• The Intern (2000)
• Enemies of Laughter (2000)
• On Edge (2001)
• Run Ronnie Run (2000, cameo)
• Lovewrecked (2005)
• Dirty Love (2005)
• Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone (2005; voice)
• Her Minor Thing (2005)
• Vegas Baby (2005)
• The Last Guy on Earth (2006)

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] Web sites

• Kathy Griffin at the Internet Movie Database
• Kathy Griffin at TV.com
• Kathy Griffin at the Notable Names Database
• Kathy Griffin official site
• Bravo official site: Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List'