Kathy Griffin Biography (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Kathy Griffin (born November 4 1960) is a two time Emmy-nominated American stand-up comedian and actress. She has also been a voice actor and a red carpet commentator. Griffin is a self-proclaimed "D-list celebrity."

Biography

Griffin was born Kathleen Mary Griffin in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, and raised there and in nearby Forest Park. She is a 1978 graduate of Oak Park and River Forest High School.

Griffin married Washington, D.C. native Matt Moline in February 2001 whom she divorced in May 2006.

Griffin purportedly is dating Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak whom she met after he watched her stand-up show in July, 2007.

Griffin describes herself as a "militant atheist". While in high school she fell away from the Roman Catholic Church and wanted to become a Unitarian. Said Griffin: "I'm not really sure what that is, but it sounds better."

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 is open and proud about her multiple plastic surgeries, and claims that fat "grew back" after her liposuction procedure.

Kathy Griffin's father, John Patrick Griffin, died of heart failure on February 17 2007, during the third season shooting of her reality show. The episode related to his passing aired on June 19.

Griffin placed seventeenth on Oxygen's 2007 list of "The 50 Funniest Women Alive."

Career

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," later the title of Griffin's 1998 solo HBO special. She did some acting, breaking into film with the supporting role of Connie in the horror movie The Unborn (1991), starring Brooke Adams.

Griffin gradually amassed such TV and film credits as a role in comedian Julie Brown's Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful (1992), a Showtime 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.

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. She identifies her victory as the moment she became a "D-list" celebrity.

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.

Griffin's TV production company is called Inappropriate Laughter, a reference to her sometimes shocking form of humor.

The View

Kathy Griffin was considered to join the panel of The View in fall 2007 as a replacement for departing panelist Rosie O'Donnell. Despite running jokes in her act about Executive Producer Barbara Walters not liking her, Griffin co-hosted the show many times after Rosie O'Donnell left in May, 2007. Whoopi Goldberg was ultimately selected as a permanent replacement.

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. This show was originally developed as a scripted sitcom for NBC after her popular appearances on Seinfeld, where she played a version of herself, landed her a development deal with the network. Although that sitcom never materialized, NBC chose to develop a similar version as a reality show on its sister channel, Bravo. The show also featured then-husband Matt Moline, her parents, her dogs, and her personal assistant Jessica. The first season of the program was nominated for a 2006 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program, non-competition. The second-season of the show, also nominated for a 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program, non-competition, premiered on June 6, 2006. The third premiered on June 5, 2007, to an all-time high in ratings for the Bravo Network show with over 1 million viewers and capturing over a 77 percent increase in viewers aged 18 to 49, and 57 percent increase in overall viewers.

The new season introduced Tom, who was hired as a dog walker but was promoted to Kathy's housemate and tour manager, and Tiffany, Jessica's assistant. The third season also covered an emotional period of her life during the death of her father.

Style of humor

At a time when some stand-up comedy was turning from punch-line orientation to humorous social commentary and satire, Griffin established her career with candid observations about her dating life. Later she began to focus on mocking celebrities, and her act currently consists of recounting embellished stories 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, Barbara Walters, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Star Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan. While Kathy paints herself as a Hollywood outsider, she has a group of close celebrity friends that she only speaks positively about in her acts, such as Rosie O'Donnell, Joan Rivers, Brooke Shields, Whoopi Goldberg and Lance Bass.

Sometimes she is the butt of her own humor, particularly with regard to her D-List status. Her style has led to a number of controversies. Griffin has claimed 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." One of the most notable controversies occurred when she made a joke during a 2005 E! televised event that the child actress Dakota Fanning had entered rehab. This incident led to Griffin's firing from hosting duties on E!'s red-carpet award show coverage. Nevertheless, E! purchased rights to air My Life on the D-List for its British channel, a fact she noted in an episode of season 3.

Filmography

Film The Unborn (1991) Shakes the Clown (1992) It's Pat (1994) 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 (2008)

Television Fresh Prince of Bel Air (NBC, 1991) 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 (1998) Dilbert (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 (2001) The Drew Carey Show (one episode, 2002) Whose Line Is It Anyway? Celebrity Mole: Hawaii (2003-2004) Average Joe (host, 2003) "Spider-Man" (2003)(voice of psychic twin) 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 third season on Bravo Network) Kathy Griffin: Strong Black Woman (2006) CNN's Larry King Live (July 11, 2006) The View (July 27, 2006) Gameshow Marathon:Match Game(2006) Last Comic Standing- Guest Judge (2006) Ugly Betty (Fashion TV reporter in In or Out) (2007) Kathy Griffin: Everybody Can Suck It (2007) The View (June 5th 2007) Larry King Live (June 21st 2007)

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 appeared as a panelist on the June 22, 2006 episode of CBS' "Gameshow Marathon," which recreated the Match Game.
• Griffin appeared in the music video for Eminem's 2000 single, The Real Slim Shady, as an attending nurse in a psychiatric ward. Griffin said during a July 21, 2005, interview on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno that Eminem selected her for the video because fellow rapper Snoop Dogg told him she was "really funny." The single was noted for its caustic criticism of certain celebrities and the entertainment industry.
• Griffin, Jim Gaffigan, Debra Wilson, and Michael Ian Black have starred together in several commercials for Sierra Mist soda.
• Jerry Seinfeld was so amused by Griffin's caustic comments about him in her standup act that he cast her in Seinfeld (season 9), The Cartoon, as standup comic Sally Weaver, who makes fun of him. She had previously appeared in The Doll, Seinfeld (season 7).
• She won the first edition of Celebrity Mole
• Griffin was also briefly referenced in an episode of the FOX animated series Family Guy, where she is portrayed as the fast-talking and rambling cousin of protagonist Peter Griffin.
• Griffin was interviewed in her limousine by Fausto Fernós of the Feast of Fools (podcast) in December of 2005. Interview with Kathy Griffin

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