Hard to believe it was only a year ago.
But just weeks after Kathy Griffin wowed a crowd of more than 1,200 LGBT professionals and friends at Boston Spirit’s 2017 Executive Networking Night with her signature candor, keen social observation, political rallying and a little raunch, she posed for that infamous photo with a bad Halloween mask-style image of the president. And her career—at least in this country—seemed to basically tank.
Meanwhile, Griffin’s popularity in other countries soared as she hit the road for an international tour. Audiences loved her across the globe, and so did the critics.
Now she’s coming back with a new tour in the US of A, including a sold-out show in Carnegie Hall. And Griffin is playing the Shubert Theatre in Boston on Thursday, June 21. (For tickets and more info, go to bochcenter.org/kathygriffin.)
In anticipation of her return to town, Griffin spoke with Boston Spirit Publisher David Zimmerman:
[Griffin] I’m a comedy fugitive, David.
First of all, let me say something about “your crowd,” nothing made me happier in the days after the photo when I was hunkered down and the FBI was calling me about the investigation and all this other stuff, and someone sent me a tape of a bunch of drag queens on Fire Island all dressed as me, and my heart was all aflutter, and I was weeping tears of joy.
I said, “Of course, leave it to the drag queens to lead the charge as usual.”
[Spirit] So, can we chat?
[Griffin] Oh, we can chat! I am so excited to play the Shubert. I have never played there before and I am very proud of myself because at first the promoters had me in a much smaller venue but I had started my own list online where I was saying to people, “If you want me to come to your town then sign up for this mailing list,” and that is really what guided this tour.
We had a ton of requests from all of Canada. Canada was the first place to reach out to me en mass. Then I started looking at all of the other cities where people were signing up, and Boston was one of the places where I got the most requests. So I went back to the promoters and said I think the demand is there for a bigger venue. I had to fight for the Shubert and I had to fight for Carnegie Hall. And Carnegie Hall sold out in one day! I cannot believe it. It is absolute heaven.
[Spirit] And think of all of the money you will save by not having to travel to places like Kentucky and Mississippi and Arkansas…
[Griffin] I am always very touched when people get in touch and say, “Will you come to Knoxville?” I don’t think Knoxville is quite ready to re-embrace me yet. I did do one of my specials there called “Kathy Griffin Does the Bible Belt,” so who knows? Anything can happen. And you know, there is so much voter meddling happening that there is a part of me that wants our side to start doing it. They [the Republicans] have been cheating so much that now we’re all fucked. And don’t even start with the gays cause this guy [President Trump] is deadly and Mike Pence is even worse, so we have a lot of work to do. The clock is going backwards, so we have to run forwards.
[Spirit] Well the good new is that Mike Pence’s bunny book is losing to a book about a gay bunny.
[Griffin] That is fantastic! If I could do any show I would do the John Oliver show. He does such a great job with that show, and I thought that book was a brilliant idea. The fact that they made an actual children’s book instead of a spoof is even better … and of course that they are donating the proceeds.
[Spirit] I know you have been on tour internationally. How have those shows gone?
[Griffin] Oh my god! That was the first thing that helped me not give up. This was right after the investigation, which, by the way, I describe in full detail in the show, I get down and dirty in the show and there is a lot of meat on the bone because this really hasn’t happened before. A sitting United States President has used the power of the Oval Office, his family, Fox news and the Department of Justice to charge an American citizen, and the idea that they considered charging me with conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States is so insane! But dammit, I made it funny!
So, I decided to tour overseas. I have always played Australia and London, so I called my stand-up agent, the only one who stuck around, and I said, “Do you think you can find a bunch of cities and countries where they can’t stand Trump?” And that’s how the tour came together. Fifteen countries, twenty-three cities and a standing ovation at every show. It was great because everywhere I went people said, “Let him have it, don’t hold back, we get it, we’re embarrassed for America. We always thought America was a great democracy, what’s going on…?”
And the fact that I know him [Trump] and I have known this idiot for 20 years—there are pictures of us online and he has his arm around me and I am just trying to choke down my vomit. So I have real personal stories of my own run-ins with Trump, and add that to the fact that he tried to “decimate me” (Don Junior’s words from “Good Morning America.”) By the way, I call his sons “Eddie Munster and Date Rape.” It’s a historic thing that I get to talk about but also I get to bring out these Trump stories that I have had in my back pocket all of these years that nobody really cared about when he was just the guy on “The Apprentice.” So I get to tell everything from the investigation to the day I spent when I was on “The Apprentice” and I spent the entire day with The Donald and Liza Minnelli. So I take all of those stories and weave them in with the fact that, up until a few months ago my neighbors were Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West and, ironically, the day the photo went live on TMZ I had over for dinner Kris Jenner and Melanie Griffith. I had the perfect company that night to talk me off the ledge.
So … all of it comes together and it is really funny. Here I am making fun of the Kardashians for 10 years, calling them dirty whores to their faces, and now I am living next door to them, and I happen to become friends with Kris Jenner during the worst day of my career, although I did keep asking her to throw money at me and she wouldn’t. I am pretty sure they are just printing their own money. And all of this stuff swirling around comes together for really good comedy, and the audience knows that all of this shit is real. I am not making any of it up. The way I describe him is completely consistent with what you are seeing. I didn’t think he was that nuts before. I thought he was a bombastic asshole, I didn’t know he was a legit racist and had white supremacist leanings and all that shit. When you are going around having meetings at NBC that’s not the first thing that comes up… I don’t know if he is in the throes of dementia, but I always thought he was a harmless asshole, but it turns out he might be a spy.
[Spirit] There have been a lot of stories over the past year about some of your “friends” who did not stand by you. Who were some of the people who were there for you and did stand by you?
[Griffin] Well, I got a lot of support, although I have to say a lot of the support was in secret and that was tough. What didn’t happen—and I have to be honest what I wished would have happened—no one lifted a finger. A few people tweeted a few things that was nice but when this machine decides to ruin my whole life, not just my career—and by the way, people still send me Bibles on a daily basis—the words of support are nice but the power players in Hollywood, it’s the same group of guys who have been saying no to me my entire career. I think there is a big part of this story that is based on misogyny, sexism and ageism. These people didn’t go after Johnny Depp. They didn’t go after Snoop Dogg. They didn’t go after Morrissey. They didn’t go after any of the men who did this. I had several friends who are big-time producers and show runners who would say, “We’re rooting for you,” and I would say, “Can you do more than root?” That part hurt. So I did what I have always done. I did it on my own. I wrote all my own material and hit the road. I don’t have any television series offer. I don’t have a television special offer. Everyone in television is afraid of me, but the actual ticket buyers are not.
I think Hollywood is the last group to get on board with the whole “maybe Kathy isn’t a member of ISIS.”
[Spirit] How have the overseas shows been going?
[Griffin] I have never got reviews like the ones I have been getting from these recent overseas shows. The New York Times sent someone to Dublin for my show, and by the way, that’s the show where I fucking fainted. It was a long day. The reviews have been amazing and hopefully it leads to another television series but if it doesn’t, I hope I can just tour to my heart’s content. There is a different feeling with this tour. People know that I am not going to hold back. They know I have fucking had it. There’s a real energy behind the show.
[Spirit] Is there more satisfaction for you knowing that there is not some big machine behind you, that’s it’s just you and this sort of grassroots community?
[Griffin] Yes, yes! It’s always been just me on stage. I don’t have an opener. It’s just “An Evening With…” I open with a five-minute video—like Cher!—and then I do two to three hours a night. It’s a lot. The promoters did not want to book me at Carnegie Hall, and I said, “You’re booking me at fucking Carnegie,” and it sold out in a day. The same thing happened in Chicago. I haven’t had ticket sales like this in 10 years but people know I have an incredible story to tell, and they know I can make it fucking funny at the same time.
[Spirit] Any message for “your gays” here in Boston?
[Griffin] Yes. First of all, gay, this is not the time to relax, get off Grinder and start protesting. We have work to do. It’s like Stonewall all over again. I think it is very important that people stay aware and mobilize and definitely keep a sense of humor. For me, it is important to shine a lot on a situation that I think gay people are far more susceptible to, which is abuse by this current administration, and if I can shine a light on it I am certainly not going to back down from this fucking fool. This guy is a homophobe-racist-bigot all wrapped into one. So let the gays know, the fight is back on so hit the gym boys!
And come to the show, you’ll laugh your head off … Get it?
