Kathy Griffin

Kathy Griffin
Kathleen "Kathy" Griffin is an Emmy-nominated American stand-up comedian and actress. She has shown her excellence as a voice actor and a red carpet commentator. Griffin has also proclaimed herself a "D-list celebrity".

Early life
Griffin was born on November 4, 1960 in Oak Park, Illinois. Her father, John Patrick Griffin, worked in an electronics store and her mother, Maggie, assisted in a hospital's administrative office. Kathy is the youngest of three boys and two girls.After Griffin's graduation from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1978, Her parents retired to California.

Career
Early credits
Griffin began performing with the Los Angeles improv comedy troupe, The Groundlings in the early 1980s. 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 also tried her luck in the films by playing the supporting role of Connie in the horror movie The Unborn (1991), starring Brooke Adams.

Gradually, Griffin was successful in amassing many important roles as comedian in TV and films. These roles include Julie Brown's Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful (1992), an HBO 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.

Television
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.

Griffin starred in her first one-hour special, HBO's Kathy Griffin: A Hot Cup of Talk in 1998. She has made frequent appearances in such self-consciously tacky projects as the reality show competition Celebrity Mole Hawaii - in which she won the 2003 edition. She identifies her victory as the moment she became a "D-list" celebrity.

Voiceover work has been adopted by her as a secondary career. She has been featured on a variety of projects such as the Dilbert animated series and one of the Spider-Man animated series.

There is a recent announcement of upcoming release of Kathy's new comedy special, Everybody Can Suck. It may by on air the same week or day as the 3rd season of D-List.

Solo reality show
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List was Kathy's own solo reality show. It was aired on the cable network Bravo in 2005.The show also featured then-husband Matt Moline, her best friends, Dennis Hensley and Tony Tripoli, her parents, her dogs and her personal assistant Jessica. The first season of the program became very popular. It earned the nomination for a 2006 Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Reality Program, non-competition. The second-season was premiered on June 6, 2006. It has been renewed for a third season.

Style of humor
At a time when stand-up comedy was turning, to an extent, from punch-line orientation to humorous social commentary and satire, Griffin established her career with candid observations about her dating life. After several outrageous experiences with other celebrities, she began to include them in her act as well. Her act invariably consists of recounting events involving celebrities.

Kathy had many favorite celebrity topics. Her favorite celebrity topics are plastic surgery, Scientology, drunkenness, substance abuse, snooty attitudes, eating disorders, and stars whose sexual orientation is disputed. Clay Aiken, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Star Jones, Oprah, and Anna Nicole Smith are among Griffin's staples. With regard to her D-List status, she is the butt of her own humor sometimes. Many controversies have arisen due to her style.

Griffin was banned from many leading Shows. She claims 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.

One of her most notable controversies occurred when she made a joke during a 2005 E! televised event that the now 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning entered rehab.However, Griffin's caustic comments about Jerry Seinfeld in her standup act made him so amused that he cast her on Seinfeld as a standup comic who makes fun of him.

Kathy is been name as the "9th Worst Comedian of All Time" by the A 2006 Maxim article.