“I just don’t give a shit anymore. So I will drop an F bomb as well as my pants at anytime for a laugh. I am guilty of only one thing in this world, and that’s having a hot banging bikini bod and I refuse to apologize for it.” _Kathy Griffin | Kathy on Bravo
Kathy Griffin Letting It Rip | Kathy on Bravo
By: Daedrian McNaughton/ Premier Guide Media
Caution! Chatty Kathy is on Bravo with a new talk show and she admitted she does not give a shit, and is not afraid to share what’s on her mind.
“I guess I might be a little bit afraid of Lou Ferrigno because he did threaten to throw Lisa Lampanelli out a window on The Celebrity Apprentice. I’m a little nervous around DMX when I watch him on Couples Therapy,” she said.
Hollywood is the city of dreams that can make you or break you, but in Kathy’s mind, “Hollywood is full of shit.” In our recent interview with Kathy Griffin, Gay Ambassador, she spilled about her biggest support from the gay community, talking behind people’s backs, Anderson Cooper’s continuous giggles and her new talk show, Kathy.
She also made it clear her disdain for Arizona’s governor, Jan Brewer. “I’m just saying I’m not a fan of that Jan Brewer. She’s got to go. There’s nothing like a finger in the face to really endear you to a governor.” Kathy continued, “I mean, really? That’s such fucking bullshit. I can’t believe she – she should just fucking go work at Forever 21, she’s a dumbass.
Levi Johnston was rumored to be her lover. She has not spoken with him for a while, However, she thinks she is the perfect girl for him. “When I talk to Levi, my vagina does the talking,” she shared.
From her accidental nakedness exposing her banging bikini body, this sharp tongue comedienne will do anything for laughs, will give good laughs and take jabs at everyone on her new talk show.
“I don’t think I could complete a sentence if I have issues dealing with the lights coming off of NeNe’s sparkly – and I believe she says (Louboutins) because she can’t pronounce the name of her own shoe. So I might find that blinding. I don’t know if I can handle all that bedazzling,” she said.
Kathy, an all new one hour weekly pop culture talk show, hosted by two-time Emmy Award Winner Kathy Griffin premieres on Bravo on Thursday, April 19, at 10 pm Eastern Pacific.
How is your mom, Maggie?
Kathy Griffin: Well I’m not going to lie, she has a lot of demands for the Kathy show that have not been very easy to meet. First of all, she doesn’t want to do the show if she has a stomach ache or feels she might get the runs.
Why were you recently banned from the Today Show?
Kathy Griffin: Yes. I’m proud of that. I was just banned from the TODAY Show and I’m not even sure why. From what I understand, my publicist called the show and said, “Why isn’t Kathy going to be on the TODAY Show?” Because NBC Universal is, of course, the owner of Bravo. And I heard that the newsreader Natalie Morales — who’s a nice girl who I know, I’ve met a couple times — thinks I was rude to her at the Golden Globes. The downside of that is I didn’t go to the Golden Globes. So clearly she had me confused with Gwyneth Paltrow.
What is the current status on that?
Kathy Griffin: I was in my bathroom — where I have a TV because I’m famous — and I was the lead story on CNN for the half hour. And I couldn’t believe my good fortune when the banner actually said, “Kathy Griffin re-banned from the TODAY Show.” I don’t care how many Emmys you have — and by the way, I have two — when you see yourself on CNN in the bathroom you stop whatever you’re doing. So I was frozen naked with a toothbrush in my hand watching myself on CNN. It was very exciting. I am waiting for my 15 minute segment as opposed to the three minute segment. So I’m sure that I will be getting a lovely muffin basket soon.
Do you think you will be a rating boost for them then?
Kathy Griffin: Maybe I’ll be the ratings boost that they so sorely need.
So Kris Jenner crashed the party you co-hosted for Lara Spencer…
Kathy Griffin: I co-hosted a book party for my friend Lara Spencer’s book. And I co-hosted it with Kevin Connolly who is on Entourage. I wish them good luck. It sounds like a fun pilot. And yes, Kris Jenner walked in and a little hush came over the room, I’m not going to lie. But she couldn’t have been nicer and couldn’t have been more friendly. And I think I actually heard like the sound of a cash register as she was talking to me. So you could just hear her stockpiling money in her mind. (Because frankly), what does she care about my dumb jokes? I believe in the time it took her to talk to me — which was about five minutes — I believe she then netted $4.2 billion. And it was weird because Ryan Seacrest was there with one of those change purses making sure he got his cut.
What’s the story with your clothes accidentally falling off? And are you just doing this for laughs?
Kathy Griffin: The beauty of it is I just don’t give a shit anymore. So I will drop an F bomb as well as my pants at anytime for a laugh. I am guilty of only one thing in this world, and that’s having a hot banging bikini bod and I refuse to apologize for it. So when I put on a bikini — for the first time in many years — with Paris Hilton for an episode of My Life on the D List, I saw Paris Hilton sobbing in the bathroom screaming, “Why, why?” like Nancy Kerrigan after she got hit with a baton. All right, I’m exaggerating a little bit. I didn’t really see Paris cry, but I saw it in her eyes. And by the way, her eyes are not always very easy to read. And so in my effort to do anything for a laugh, I ended up doing a series of things where my clothes fell off. Everything from New Year’s Eve with Anderson Cooper to the David Letterman Show. Sometimes I’ll just have a friend ring the doorbell and then I’ll just run down and answer naked for fun. Being completely nude screaming, “Look at me, look at me” from my balcony is not the same as a wardrobe malfunction.
What do you think of Kelsey Grammer’s tattoo of his wife’s name on his hip?
Kathy Griffin: It’s ridiculous. Well first of all, I’m fucked more than anybody. Because I don’t know if you know this, but I have one tattoo on my whole body like an asshole and it’s a fucking wedding ring and I’m divorced. So why you don’t tell that to Kim Kardashian? She’ll be thrilled. So I got married. And I don’t like to wear rings, so I got a ring tattooed on my finger. Now I’m divorced and I tried to get it lasered off five times and it won’t come off. And so I think I’m just going to put a freaking cigarette on it one day and just bite a piece of cloth like I’m a Civil War victim. I’m actually going to get a tattoo over it of Chris Brown’s current girlfriend.
What do you think of your pal Anderson Cooper’s inability to stop giggling?
Kathy Griffin: I love it. I mean, when he lost it last week where he actually had to leave the chair. And my favorite moment was — with tears in his eyes — saying – because I know this is genuine, “This is torture.” You know, he’s like laughing so hard, and you could tell that he had to still keep doing the ridiculous. But when he actually said the phrase, “This is torture,” because he knows that he will never hear the end of it, certainly not from me.
Are you still friends with Levi Johnston?
Kathy Griffin: I have not spoken to Levi. But usually when I talk to Levi my vagina does the talking, if you know what I’m saying. Look, I’m the perfect girl for him because I don’t even have one egg left. So even though Levi is just coming out guns blazing every time he unzips his pants, nothing’s going to happen with me. So, he should’ve stayed with me when he had the chance. Apparently now he just looks at one of the teen moms and then they get pregnant. I think he might want to just hook up with Jenelle from Teen Mom 1, 2 and 7.
Are you really a pro-Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader?
Kathy Griffin: Oh this is just one of those stories that catches my attention. Because I have been running it passed all of my straights. And if I know one heterosexual man, I must know four. And all of them, same way. Which is that they all say that of course, she’s breaking the law if you want to get all technical. But they all think she’s hot and they would’ve loved nothing more than when she was 16 to have had sex with her. And by the way, you have to admit the photo they show of her in a cheerleader outfit is already a porn fantasy, and the idea that the mom colluded and allegedly tampered evidence just makes it funny. So I can only imagine my 91-year-old alcoholic mother and I getting together, and of course it might be a little weird if at 51 I joined the Cincinnati Bengals cheerleaders, but the point is I could. And I just think the idea of it is kind of funny when I run it past my heterosexual friends.
How did the talk show come about?
Kathy Griffin: I’m just begging for my career to go in the crapper and saying, “Please can’t I go back to being a temp?” I was very happy making $140 a week. It was sort of the natural progression. I have appeared on so many shows, and in fact co-hosted everything from Week 2 of Jimmy Kimmel Live to, of course, rather infamously, The View, to The Talk to the old 90s Rosie O’Donnell Show. And then Bravo finally came to me with the idea that I host a talk show. But believe it or not, a couple of years ago I told them I felt I had more D-list left in me and I was able to go to Iraq and perform there and perform in a maximum security prison and do the type of things outside the studio I still had a burning desire to do. So when I felt that had really run its course in a good way, then I did four standup specials last year, and then we started to have a serious talk about a talk show.
Where did you get the inspiration for the show?
Kathy Griffin: You can see the challenges that I have with the show. I really do need to be able to talk and gossip about everything. Kids Say the Darndest Things, Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader. I’m 51 years old, so truly my inspirations go back to Jack Paar who was before my time. Elements of Johnny Carson inspired me, I’m not saying I’m Johnny Carson. But everything from when Joan Rivers took over and, of course, was outrageous and unlike anybody we’d seen on TV before, to the Mike Douglas Show. All the shows that are currently on, I watched them, I love them. But the shows I have to say that I’m the most drawn to and what I’m going to do on the show — and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell anyone at NBC Universal this — but I’m going to really have a lack of structure that’ll be dazzling to you and will be a nightmare for the editing booth. In other words, I think it should have kind of a discussion feel, a chatty feel, and more importantly, people should feel free to say whatever the fuck they want.
Do you like your name for the show?
Kathy Griffin: Every so often somebody will say that I should shorten my nickname. But, you know, now that I’m a single name marquee-valued talk show star, I think I should just stick with Kathy.
Why will you not have any celebrity guests on the show?
Kathy Griffin: Why would I? Why would I? How could I possibly say the things to celebrities that America wants to say? And when I say America, I mean also Canada and maybe a few Secret Service Agents in Cartagena. On the show I really don’t want celebrities as guests because you can’t just have Madonna on and say, “When’s the last time you got your fillers? Who’s your doctor? What was the healing time? Do you have any before and after pictures?” So you get fired for all of those. I’m in the business of getting fired. So if you want to know how to get banned or fired, I’m your girl.
What topics will you discuss?
Kathy Griffin: There’s so many. Everything from actual genuine news items and I am very into The Celebrity Apprentice, although I do not concur with Donald Trump who I believe is a birther now. But I do like the cast of that show. Also I went to my mom’s apartment because she only stays at my house until she finds me annoying, and then basically she kicks herself out. And she would really like me to just have a panel of Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. So unfortunately I had to shoot that one down. I’m loving everything from the fact that the Wilson Phillips gals have their own reality show, to the fact that they performed at a Loehmann’s days ago. Loehmann’s is a clothing store where (people) sell clothing for women. It’s not typically a concert arena.
Will anything be off limits?
Kathy Griffin: No one is off. No, no thing is off limits and no person is off limits. And that’s another reason I really kind of have to just surround myself with civilians. And by the way, I know I’m kind of talking like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men, but I do say civilians because I feel that — unlike celebrities — they can probably speak freely.
Your show is intended to be no holds barred. Will sponsors fully support the show fully once it’s aired?
Kathy Griffin: Let me tell you something. We are 100% sponsored by ChristianMingle.com. Or the Latter-day Saints, Latter-day Saints united. And Focus on the Family, Focus on the Family bought a ton of ad time.
Are you afraid of anyone in Hollywood?
Kathy Griffin: No, that’s the problem. I’m trying to think of people I should be afraid of. And I know that there are people that logically I should be afraid of. But I just think that it is antithetical to all things comedy to be afraid of someone because I think that it’s important that they’re all fair game and that they’re all on the table. I guess I might be a little bit afraid of Lou Ferrigno because he did threaten to throw Lisa Lampanelli out a window on The Celebrity Apprentice. I admit it, I’m a little nervous around DMX when I watch him on Couples Therapy. But these aren’t people that are really in my daily world.
Why do you think you are shunned by Hollywood?
Kathy Griffin: Hollywood’s full of shit. Look at Ricky Gervais with the Golden Globes. So Year 1 he was so naughty and they were all so afraid of him. Year 2 they couldn’t wait for him to come back. And guess what, there was a ratings bump. So what I’ve learned about Hollywood is that they’re full of shit. And not unlike high school, you have to call them on it. And so that’s what the show’s going to do. So in addition to the insane and hilarious political landscape and stories that may have a comedic twist. For example, I’m pro-Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader. Go ahead, print it, I don’t give a shit. And before I cast complete judgment on the Secret Service I’d like to see photos shirtless. And then of course we’ll be making fun of all the ridiculousness on the shows that we’re watching or not watching. So this is your destination if you don’t happen to have a life because I’m going to fill you in on all the things you should be watching shunned or not.
So you will be competing with Andy Cohen on his own network. How do you feel about that?
Kathy Griffin: Well I wouldn’t say I’m going to go down on Andy Cohen because I don’t, frankly, think he would appreciate it. And I tend to gag. I have a bad gag reflex I’m working on. And look, we might talk about blowjobs on this show. I’m not worried about it. But I will say the one thing Bravo’s been very nice about is they actually said I don’t have to have any of the Bravo people on if I don’t want to. So if it lends itself to what we’re talking about – well actually I don’t actually know if I’m ever going to have those Bravo people on. Because the nice thing is I want to be able to really talk smack about them, which I can’t do if they’re sitting in a swivel chair two inches away from me. And often I don’t think I could complete a sentence if I have issues dealing with the lights coming off of NeNe’s sparkly – and I believe she says (Louboutins) because she can’t pronounce the name of her own shoe. So I might find that blinding. I don’t know if I can handle all that bedazzling.
Are you saying you can’t talk about them in front of their faces?
Kathy Griffin: It makes me a lady because I prefer to talk about people behind their backs. I find it more freeing and I can really say what I think. So I prefer to wait until someone’s left the room, and then I just fucking let it rip. So if I were you, next time I saw you, you better hold my hand.
Will the gay and bi-sexual community be represented on your show?
Kathy Griffin: Honey, let me tell you something, the struggle on this show is to get one fucking heterosexual. All right, trust me, this show basically is straight-bashing at this point. We are very, very LGBTQIA-friendly. We talk about those issues. And what I’m really proud of is Bravo has actually just given me my own campaign because obviously I tell my dick jokes. But in my real life I go to the Hill and I have rallies and I’ve been doing all that stuff for a long time. So my tentacles have been reaching into the LGBTQIA community long before this show started. So I promise they will be represented. Now I can’t speak for them because on this show I don’t know what is going to come out of anyone’s mouth, mostly my 91-year-old alcoholic mother. But you will probably see more bisexual people on this show per capita than you even knew existed on the planet, much less on any other show.
Can you talk a bit more about your gay following?
Kathy Griffin: Well I have a little too much for them. Look, my struggle’s going to be to get the straights. So this show is for women and gay men. And it’s for married men on the down low. It’s for experimental men that have girlfriends that dress very well and have something to tell her but they can’t find the right time. It’s for guys who maybe just cheated on their girlfriends and now they need to make it up to her, so they will do fucking anything. It’s for guys that fake it and act like they care about women’s issues, but don’t give a shit and they’re trying to get laid. That’s my demographic. I love it.
What are your thoughts on Rick Santorum and his views on gays?
Kathy Griffin: Well he practically said the F word, who are we shitting? Oh let me tell you something. I’m taping this week. He is still very much on my gaydar. You might just have to hear some of my favorite Rick Santorum quotes, because he doesn’t even walk upright at this point, that’s how backwards this guy is. I do kind of miss him in the race as a comedienne, but these conservative like hater dudes, anti-LGBT dudes, they always find some crazy fucked up job in the private sector. He’ll probably start some like group what’s called like, Families Who Care About Puppies or some shit, and they’re always like an anti-gay group with a pretty sweet name. What the fuck’s he doing in Pennsylvania, by the way? Maybe he was raised by like two bitchy gay guys who didn’t get along. Look, they’re not all good, honey, sometimes you got to throw the baby back with the bathwater. So who knows. He could’ve got a hold of a couple bad gays, you never know. Or he clearly just didn’t watch enough of My Life on the D List. He probably has never seen a good pageant. And doesn’t believe in civil rights.
Who would you not invite to the show?
Kathy Griffin: I’m not banning anybody. I have not banned myself. But that’s up to the network’s discretion. I guess I could try to be cool and act like I banned some dead people, like Napoleon’s totally banned, Elvis, not invited, Tupac Shakur or Biggie or a hologram of any of those people. I haven’t banned anybody. I haven’t banned a fucking throw pillow. I haven’t even started yet. I’m just saying I’m not a fan of that Jan Brewer. She’s got to go. There’s nothing like a finger in the face to really endear you to a governor. I mean, really? That’s such fucking bullshit. I can’t believe she – she should just fucking go work at Forever 21, she’s a dumbass.
How do you think you will do on this show?
Kathy Griffin: Well because nobody knows how to fill dead air like a comedian. We love to talk about ourselves and our thoughts and our feelings and our musings. And we like to also be offensive, which you will certainly get in buckets on this show. Being picked on as a child with wiry and fiery red hair and the pale skin and freckles didn’t exactly help. And then it makes you have to be funny to survive. I’m going to be the funniest redhead on my show.
As for libations, what will you and your guests be enjoying the most?
Kathy Griffin: There’s going to be box wine. And then my mother who has become a rather famous international superstar — now she’s trying to pull some typical diva BS where now she wants wine in a bottle. It’s going to be a little McLaughlin Group, but with a drunken 91-year-old. What I meant to say was it’s going to be Wendy, Wendy, Wendy Williams.
On Andy Dick:
Kathy Griffin: Well he’s in a box outside the (abbey) on (Robertson). No, it’s funny. I asked Andy one time, I said, “What is your sexual orientation?” And he basically just said, “When I’m with a girl and I love her and she’s really beautiful, I think oh my gosh she’s so beautiful, I love her until I start looking at boys. And then I see a boy who’s beautiful and then I want to be with him.” So just so you know, my intricate knowledge of bisexually is as told to me by Andy Dick, who may or may not have been under the influence of crack.
On Wendy Williams height:
Kathy Griffin: I didn’t realize how tall Wendy Williams was until I was standing next to her even though I’ve been on her show many times. She is very imposing, but very sweet. She’s a gentle giant.