Kathy Griffin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kathy Griffin
Griffin at the 2019 South by Southwest Festival
Birth name	Kathleen Mary Griffin
Born	(1960-11-04) November 4, 1960 (age 64) Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up television
Years active	1980–present
Genres	Observational comedy black comedy improvisational comedy
Subject(s)	Popular culture current events Catholicism LGBTQ community Irish-American culture
Spouse	Matt Moline ​ ​ (m. 2001; div. 2006)​ Randy Bick ​ ​ (m. 2020; separated 2023)​

Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television series, comedy specials and has released multiple comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. She has also appeared in supporting roles in films.

Griffin was born in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. In 1978, she moved to Los Angeles, where she studied drama at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and became a member of the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings. In the 1990s, Griffin began performing as a stand-up comedian and appeared as a guest star on television shows, including a supporting role on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan (1996–2000).

The Bravo reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (2005–2010) became a ratings hit for the network and earned her two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Reality Program. Griffin has released six comedy albums, all of which received Grammy Award nominations. Her first album For Your Consideration (2008) made her the first female comedian to debut at the top of the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart. In 2009, she released her autobiography Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin. After being nominated for six years in a row for the Grammy for Best Comedy Album, she won the award in 2014.

Griffin has recorded numerous standup comedy specials for HBO and Bravo. For the latter network, she has recorded sixteen television specials, breaking the Guinness World record for the number of aired television specials on any network. In 2011, she also became the first comedian to have four specials televised in a year. Griffin is known for her controversial style and statements.

Early life

Griffin at the VH1 Divas Awards in 2009

[File:Dadt.JPG|thumb|left|alt=Griffin arriving at the rally to Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (Freedom Plaza, Washington DC)|Griffin arriving at the rally to Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (Freedom Plaza, Washington, D.C.)]] Kathleen Mary Griffin was born on November 4, 1960, in the Chicago suburb Oak Park, Illinois, to Mary Margaret "Maggie" Griffin (née Corbally, 1920 – 2020) and John Patrick Griffin, both of whom were first-generation Irish-Americans. Kathy Griffin has four older siblings; Kenny (died in the 2000s), Joyce (died 2017), Gary (died 2014), and John. Griffin described herself during her early years as "a kid who needed to talk, all the time". Her brother Gary and her sister Joyce both died from cancer.

She would often visit her neighbors to tell them stories about her family; she has referred to those visits as her first live shows where she learned "the power of juicy material". After most of her siblings had moved, Griffin developed a binge eating disorder. In her 2009 autobiography Official Book Club Selection, Griffin said she "still suffers [from food issues]" but has learned to "deal with them".

At elementary school, Griffin began to develop a dislike for organized religion because of the punishments she and other "vulnerable" students received from the nuns. At her high school, she sought refuge in musical theater, playing roles such as Rosemary in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof. During her senior year, she wanted to become a professional actor. Her first appearance on television was as an extra on a Chicago White Sox commercial, and she was signed with several Chicago talent agencies. At 18, Griffin persuaded her parents to move to Los Angeles to help her become famous.

At 19, Griffin attended a performance by the improvisational group The Groundlings. She said, "I thought this is where I want to be. This is the greatest thing in the world."

Career

Stand-up comedy, television and film

Griffin performing stand up in Las Vegas in 2008

Griffin began performing in the early 1990s in the Los Angeles improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings. She went on to perform standup comedy and became part of the alternative comedy scene in Los Angeles. With Janeane Garofalo, she created a standup act called "Hot Cup of Talk", which became the title of her 1998 solo HBO special. Griffin earned a number of television and film credits during the 1990s. She appeared in Julie Brown's Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful, a Showtime parody of the 1991 Madonna film Truth or Dare. Griffin twice appeared as Susan Klein, a reporter on NBC's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; it was her television sitcom debut.

On June 12, 2008, Griffin hosted the first Bravo! Canada A-List Awards, which included a parody of the "wardrobe malfunction" experienced by Janet Jackson in the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004. She also hosted the 2009 Bravo A-List Awards, which aired on April 15, 2009.

On September 8, 2009, Ballantine Books published Griffin's memoir, titled Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin, which debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list. A week prior, she released her second comedy album Suckin' It for the Holidays; it was her second bid to win a Grammy Award. It was announced on November 3, 2009, that Griffin was to host ABC's new show Let's Dance, on which celebrity contestants would have re-enacted famous dance routines while competing for a $250,000 grand prize for their favorite charity.

Griffin hosted CNN's New Year's Eve broadcast on December 31, 2009, along with Anderson Cooper. Griffin has also guest-starred in a 2009 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, playing a lesbian activist.

Since the 2008 presidential election, Griffin has made frequent jokes about Republican vice-presidential contender Sarah Palin and her family. On US television program Glee, Griffin parodied Palin posing as a judge at a regional singing competition. Griffin also made fun of Christine O'Donnell in the show by stating, "Before we start, I would like to say I am not a witch".

On January 7, 2012, it was announced that Griffin would host a weekly one-hour talk show on the channel Kathy, which would consist of standup routines, "rant about pop culture", and celebrity interviews. On April 8, 2013, during a live standup performance in Cincinnati, Ohio, Griffin announced that her show would not be renewed for a third season. She confirmed it later on her Twitter account. According to FOX 411, Bravo was planning to film several comedy specials starring Griffin after the show ended.

On June 13, 2014, it was announced that Griffin would host the 41st Daytime Emmy Awards. For the first time in the event's four-decade history, the show bypassed a network television airing for a live online streaming media event. The ceremony took place on June 22, 2014. Griffin's performance was well received by critics.

Guest co-host of The View

Kathy Griffin served as a co-host of The View from May 2007 to September 2007, replacing the recently departed Rosie O'Donnell. She declined to discuss the ban on Access Hollywood As of August 2009, Griffin had been un-banned from The View and was a guest on September 18, 2009, and June 15, 2010. In an interview on The Talk, Griffin said that she has been re-banned from The View due to an argument with its co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Laugh Your Head Off World Tour 2017–2018

In August 2017, Griffin announced a worldwide comedy tour. The title "Laugh Your Head Off" was a reference to her depiction of an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump's head. The tour visited major cities in Singapore, Australia, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and many more European, and Asian cities. Several shows sold out within minutes of going on sale, leading to Griffin adding several shows to the lineup. She continued with a North America leg of the tour, commencing May 23, 2018, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and including both Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Style of humor

Griffin at the VH1 Divas Awards in 2009

Griffin developed her love of popular culture through her immediate and extended family, who were frequently commenting about the latest news. She said; "I may have been into The Brady Bunch like every other kid, but I also wanted to watch John Lennon and Yoko Ono on The Dick Cavett Show, and every minute of the Watergate hearings. It was fear of the dinner table that got me hooked." She has also named her mother Maggie as influential in her consumption of pop culture, calling her "the ideal audience for the Hollywood dish". Griffin named the character Rhoda Morgenstern of 1970s sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show as an influence.

Griffin established her career with candid observations of everyday life and her dating experiences, later focusing on mocking celebrities; her act currently consists of embellished stories involving celebrities. Griffin hopes people understand that no malice is intended by her humor. "I'm genuinely a fan of most of the people I trash in the act", she said; "I really, really try and focus on making fun of people for their behavior. I'm not so into making fun of someone for the way they look, or something that's out of their control."

Griffin is sometimes the object of her own humor, particularly with regard to her D-list status. She portrays herself as a Hollywood outsider and has a group of close celebrity friends such as Rosie O'Donnell, Joan Rivers, Jerry Seinfeld, Gloria Estefan, and Lance Bass. Her longtime friendship with Bass was the catalyst for a feud between Griffin and gossip blogger Perez Hilton.

Griffin and Hilton ended their feud after the death of Griffin's father, and Hilton appeared on an episode of Griffin's show in 2007.

LGBT rights and political advocacy

Griffin arriving at the rally to Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (Freedom Plaza, Washington, D.C.)

Griffin is a supporter for LGBT rights including same-sex marriage. She has protested with fellow proponents in West Hollywood, California and included the footage from protests on her reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Her mother was also a supporter of LGBT rights during her lifetime. She was often seen on the same television shows protesting alongside her daughter. Prior to the Proposition 8 ballot results, Griffin volunteered for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center's "Vote for Equality" campaign, going door-to-door asking Los Angeles residents for their opinion of LGBT marriage rights.

In March 2010, Griffin helped organize a rally in Washington, D.C., to advocate the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell". She said that she organized the rally after meeting with several closeted gay people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Griffin held meetings with several Members of Congress to encourage its repeal; she also organized a rally in Freedom Plaza.

Griffin caused controversy when she confronted Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann over her views on homosexuality at the 2010 Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner; according to Griffin, she asked Bachmann "were you born a bigot or did you grow into it", a reference to Bachmann's belief that homosexuality is strictly environmental. Griffin said Bachmann replied, "That's a good question, I'll have to think about that". Bachmann's office confirmed the exchange but said Griffin confronted Bachmann after Bachmann approached Griffin to compliment her appearance.

Griffin is a long-time supporter of the Aid for AIDS annual fundraiser Best in Drag Show in Los Angeles, and hosted the opening of the show for more than five years. In November 2009, Aid For AIDS presented Kathy Griffin with an AFA Angel Award at their silver anniversary celebration.

Griffin is a long-time critic of Sarah Palin and has made fun of Palin's daughter, Bristol Palin, using the Palin family as material for her comedy routines. In March 2011, Sarah Palin responded to Griffin by calling her a "bully". In her reality television show, Griffin visited the Palin family home in Wasilla, Alaska, and invited Palin to attend her stand-up show in Anchorage, Alaska. Griffin has also poked fun at Willow Palin as a result of Palin's Facebook statements on homosexuality.

Personal life

Griffin at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival

Griffin is an atheist. Speaking to Sacramento's Outword Magazine, Griffin said: "I think I'm getting more atheist because of the way the country is getting more into bible-thumping". She also describes herself as a "non-believer". In her book Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin, Griffin said that while in high school, she fell away from her Roman Catholic Church beliefs. She considered becoming a Unitarian but was not sure what that would involve. On March 9, 2008, Kathy Griffin became an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.

She is an opponent of LASIK eye surgery, having had a series of operations that left her partially blind in one eye with a visible eyeball deformity.

Griffin's only sister, Joyce Patricia Griffin, died in September 2017 from an undisclosed form of cancer. Kathy had shaved her head in solidarity with her in late July. Her brother Gary died of esophageal cancer in 2014. Her estranged eldest brother, Kenny, died in October 2001 in their mother's arms.

Her father, John Patrick Griffin, died of heart failure on February 17, 2007; he was 91 years old. The episode related to his death was aired on June 19, 2007. Her mother, Maggie Griffin, who was featured in her reality show, died on March 17, 2020. In a post on her social media accounts, Griffin said, "I am gutted. My best friend. I am shaking. I won't ever be prepared. I'm so grateful you guys got to be part of her life. You knew her. You loved her. She knew it. Oh, and OF COURSE she went on St. Patrick's Day."

She placed 17th on Oxygen's 2007 list of "The 50 Funniest Women Alive". In 2009, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.

Griffin lived in the Hollywood Hills from 2004 to 2016. Since then she has resided in Bel Air. In August 2021, she announced that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer although she is not a smoker, and needed to have half of her left lung removed. She underwent surgery the same month.

In April 2023, Griffin revealed she was diagnosed with an "extreme case" of complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Marriages and relationships

Kathy Griffin with her then-boyfriend Steve Wozniak in April 2008

Griffin and Jim Weiskopf of the Fisher House Foundation during her visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in April 2008

Griffin married computer administrator Matt Moline in 2001, after being introduced by Moline's sister, television producer Rebecca Moline. They divorced in May 2006. On Larry King Live, Griffin accused Moline of stealing $72,000 from her; Moline did not respond to the allegation publicly but said that he was saddened by it.

In July 2007, rumors that Griffin was dating Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak circulated. Griffin and Wozniak attended the 2007 Emmy Awards together. On Tom Green's House Tonight on February 6, 2008, Griffin confirmed her relationship with Wozniak. Wozniak and Griffin served as King and Queen of the Humane Society of Silicon Valley Fur Ball on April 5, 2008, in Santa Clara, California. In June 2008, it was confirmed that Griffin and Wozniak were no longer dating.

On August 9, 2009, Griffin attended the Teen Choice Awards with Levi Johnston and then interviewed him on Larry King Live. In the interview, Griffin and Johnston joked that they were in a serious relationship.

On March 7, 2011, while appearing on The Howard Stern Show, Griffin announced that she was romantically involved with actor and former NFL practice-squad player Isaiah Mustafa. He later said that he was single.

In the same interview, she said that the previous July, she had ended a four-year relationship with a man she did not identify but said he is "a regular guy with a regular job", and that it was a "messy breakup". It was later revealed that the man is Griffin's tour manager, who had appeared on several seasons of My Life on the D List.

From 2012 until November 2018, Griffin was in a relationship with marketing executive Randy Bick. They also reconciled in April 2019. Griffin married Bick at her home on January 1, 2020, in a ceremony officiated by comedian Lily Tomlin. On December 29, 2023, Griffin filed for divorce from Bick, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized on January 13, 2025.

Filmography

Film

Television

Other

Stand-up specials (selected)

Discography

On June 10, 2008, Griffin released a comedy CD titled For Your Consideration. The disc was recorded at the ETK Theatre at the Grand Theatre Center For The Arts in Tracy, California on February 17, 2008. Griffin stated she decided to release the CD to try to win a Grammy award.

On August 25, 2009, Griffin released a second comedy album, Suckin' It for the Holidays, in another bid for a Grammy.

Griffin received her third Grammy nomination for Kathy Griffin: Does the Bible Belt in 2010,.

On May 4, 2012, the full length version of "I'll Say It", the theme song of her show Kathy, was released to iTunes as a single. On August 20, 2012, Griffin released a seven-track EP containing dance remixes of "I'll Say It".

Her fourth and fifth albums are 50 and Not Pregnant (2011) and Seaman 1st Class (2012) respectively.

Calm Down Gurrl (2013), her sixth album, won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album at the 56th Grammy Awards.

Her seventh album was recorded in Las Vegas and released in 2014.

See also

In Spanish: Kathy Griffin para niños