Kathy Griffin

Actress and comedian Kathleen Mary Griffin is spending this holiday season in her hometown this year. The Oak Park, Illinois native rose to fame after a series of television appearances before becoming a regular on Suddenly Susan.

Her improvisational skills paid off in the world of reality television and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List was a hit. Her LGBTQ+ following was cemented thanks to her advocacy for the community and her loyal queer crowds have continually supported her work.

This outspoken performer has released six comedy albums and won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 2014. From hilarious television specials to her concert film titled A Hell of a Story, Griffin always spills the tea on hot topics.

Griffin brings her new live act of My Life on the PTSD-List to The Chicago Theatre ringing in a New Year. She talked about her plans for the show shortly before her arrival in the Windy City.

JN: (Jerry Nunn) We haven’t talked since 2017!

KG: (Kathy Griffin) Honey, my whole life has been on hold since 2017. I am so excited to have a gig this New Year's Eve after being on America's shit list for seven years.

Now that I'm 64, single and sexy, I decided to spend last weekend celebrating by eating nothing but pie.

JN: Like pumpkin pie?

KG: I actually had a pie bar, I had lemon meringue, two different brands of chocolate cream and a Dutch apple, which is the crumbly one.

My self-loathing is so deep that I can only find a remedy in making people laugh with my very inappropriate comedy material.

JN: We get to spend New Year’s Eve together in Chicago.

KG: Absolutely. I feel like I'm back at the comedy table and this time with pie!

JN: Now I’m hungry. I don’t drink liquor, do you?

KG: I've never had a drink in my whole life.

JN: Oh, I remember that now.

KG: I'm trying to become more filtered these days, not less filtered.

JN: What about CBD drinks? Do you drink them?

KG: No, is that a thing?

JN: Yes sometimes for people that don't drink.

KG: Wait, like pot in a fluid?

JN: Yes, a drink infused with cannabis.

KG: Okay, that's a wild night already. I'm just going to be honest guys are going to be lined up in the bathroom blowing each other as it is.

Thank God, it's not a 10 o'clock show and it starts at 8 p.m. I have no opener and it's just me, baby, so get there on time. I'm bringing one of my staffers to do nothing but monitor the men's room. Do you know why? Because at a Kathy Griffin show it's not just a men's room, it's also a meeting place where men fall in love with one another.

First, they can meet a daddy and then I need everyone in their seats laughing at my jokes.

If people can just pay attention from eight to 10 then they can hook up or do whatever they like at 10:30.

JN: As an older gay I was hoping your meet and greet would be before the show so I am not up all night.

KG: It’s totally before. I always do it before and it’s like you said because of the age thing. I can't be doing meet and greets like the old days when I'm still at the theater for an hour and a half after I just did two solid hours of material!

JN: Do you have a New Year's resolution planned?

KG: I'd like to be more bitter. I'm a little bit bitter these days, but I think there this room for growth.

Another resolution is to be on a news blackout, just like many liberals, and live in a sort of fantasy land in my mind for the coming year, where Donald Trump is not even a mayor, much less the president.

I now live in Malibu, California and I'm going to look at the ocean every day.

I'm going to play with my four doggies and I'm going to watch every cult documentary that's on Netflix. I will take out my anger with shows like Why Women Kill on Paramount+

You know, light fare to just get me through the next four years.

I will continue to do my shows and just try to make people laugh. We need comedy more than ever because everything is so heavy.

People don't watch the news anymore because they are scared to watch. We are in the Upside Down on Stranger Things and things are going to get weirder.

I want to make people laugh and remind them that laughter is the best medicine.

That's my job.

JN: Doesn’t your bestie Cher live in Malibu also?

KG: Yes, she’s only minutes away from my house. I call it Cher Island because she owns the whole block.

JN: That Cher is one of a kind and such a gay icon.

KG: Now, you do realize you will be going back into the closet

on January 20th. I don't know who's going to break it to you,

but you're going to have to marry me. In fact, I'm proposing right now.

JN: I will say “I do” for pie every day…

KG: Deal, we’re going to live a life with a lot of denial. When you go out at night,

I won't pressure you for details. You can just do whatever but just try to stay safe.

I am legit worried about the community and its safety.

I can make Trump jokes all day and God knows I have, but I don't even mention Trump in this new show My Life on the PTSD-List.

JN: Oh, really?

KG: I feel like I covered that with my movie A Hell of a Story. Audiences know how I feel about him. I talk about the PTSD stuff in a way where Trump can go unmentioned.

I tell my own journey with everything from prescription pill addiction to getting sober.

I talk about my life of being single and there are moments where I make fun of stuff that isn't totally light but will hopefully elicit a laugh.

I'd rather tell the audience to find their people and stay close to them.

I know so many LGBT folks that live in parts of the country where overnight,

they're not going to feel safe.

I don’t want to hear one more person be insensitive and tell people they need to move. There are gay people in Florida who are still in the closet and have built a house from the ground up.

The LGBTQ+ community can’t just uproot their entire lives and go to some blue part of the country. It's just not realistic.

I think our trans brothers and sisters are in for bad trouble with the military with what he's trying to already do. It's just scary, so I want to make people forget about their troubles with this show.

JN: How are you taking care of your voice on tour?

KG: Getting the vocal cord implant was life-changing. I had lung cancer even though I never smoked. They took out half of my left lung. My voice went up to a high register and now that it’s better I use a headset microphone, which has better amplification.

I had a bad surgeon, but my friend Sia told me about an implant for my vocal cords. I was so grateful because it was only 13 weeks ago that I had the surgery and it changed my life overnight. Now I can talk again and my old voice has returned about 90 percent. I do vocal exercises and voice therapy to keep it healthy.

JN: I love your relationship with Sia. I interviewed her once and told her I was excited to talk to her. She responded with “Goody, goody gumdrops!”

KG: That is so her and I can hear her saying that right now.

I have a story about her in my current act about when we went to Mexico together and basically everything went wrong. We were like the Lucy and Ethel of Mexico. I love her and I am going to her house for Christmas. She's a cook and a genius!

JN: What do you think your friend Joan Rivers would say about the world today?

KG: I thought about that a lot and nobody can know. Joan was friends with Donald.

She felt gratitude toward him when she won The Celebrity Apprentice.

Let's face it, she didn't get the respect when she was alive that she deserved.

It's not lost on me that a lot of people who talked about her now lovingly kind of left her hanging when she was alive because she was constantly getting in trouble for going too far.

I think she would not have been able to resist really giving it to Donald and letting him have it.

It's hard for me to imagine them not having a falling out at some point.

JN: What are you working on after this tour?

KG: I'm going to do a YouTube channel show for fun and see what it turns into.

I don't know if it's just going to be me popping off or Kathy reads Charles Dickens.

JN: Well, I look forward to seeing you again in Chicago.

KG: Well, I'm so thrilled that you're going to be there for New Year's Eve. This is a chance to be in Chicago after always being in New York.

JN: The LGBTQ+ community will be there for you, Kathy.

KG: I am owned and operated by the queer community and they are the best bosses I have ever had!

For tickets to Kathy Griffin’s My Life on the PTSD-List at The Chicago Theatre on Dec. 31, 2024 visit msg.com and kathygriffin.net