LadyGang - Kathy Griffin

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

Today on the show, Becca recounts her "home invasion", Keltie's got a new mystery to solve and is Jac really ready for home ownership? Kathy Griffin makes Jac's jaw drop when she shares behind-the-scenes secrets of Seinfeld. Kathy talks about resilience, how Aubrey Plaza helped her during her epic cancellation, surviving cancer, Joan Rivers's advice, and her new tour, Life on the PTSD List.  Check out our amazing sponsors!! Quince: Indulge in affordable luxury! Go to Quince.com/lady for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Seed: Need gut support? Go to Seed.com/ladygang and use code "25LADYGANG" to get 25% off your first month! Huggies: Get your baby’s butt into Huggies best fitting diaper! Huggies Little Movers. We got you, baby! Progressive: Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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And when it's time to redeem those rewards, choose from Interac, PayPal, or Check. So go ahead, join today for free. Go to Rakuten.ca or get the app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. well what is this welcome to the lady gang that's amazing say that again the lady gang things are about to change around here each week we catch up with hollywood's hottest girl posse kelty knight becca tobin and jack vanik hello hello hello welcome to lady gang i am becca tobin here with jack vanik and kelty night

and my god callie callie and callie night she's gotta get away there you go um OK, well, let's dive right in. I can't wait to share mine. It's time for Good Week. Yes, it is. Bad Week. Oh, no. You guys, you know, I love talking about ugly babies and ugly kids, right?

Of course. There's a man on Instagram, Andy Gold Comedy. All he does is post pictures of kids and roast them. Amazing. And it is solid gold, pun intended, because his name is Andy Gold. Oh, I love it. these pictures are a lot of them from kids from the 80s oh and it is not like your friend no okay but it's really really funny and you have to watch him i can't even describe how i was like

snotting out my nose the things he was saying about andy gold andy gold okay i love him um so my bad week is zach and i were laying in bed one night middle of the night all of a sudden the dogs start barking their faces off and i hear zach sit straight up and say hey and the door to our bedroom because we have a door to our bedroom out to the backyard is flung open no uh-huh it's pitch black and the dogs are barking because the door just opened oh no and zach is like hey i sit up at the same time and within probably three seconds we realize the wind oh he had the gun the wind has blown open the door because somebody had forgotten to deadbolt it okay and the leaves are flooding into the bedroom oh my god but for three seconds i thought it was someone i thought

what would we do right i know well no what's that what attack zach would attack zach would have launched he was almost into launch yeah if he was like yeah there's like no like the hair on the back of his head went just it was so that's terrifying terrifying he also told me that i had a very delayed wake up and reaction in my mind i heard the dogs i heard the door and i you're up immediately but he by the time he was up and said hey was when i actually did come to so he was slightly concerned about my my um reflexes if you're home alone and that happens maybe they'll think you're already dead hopefully so hopefully it was so scary that's really really scary yeah biggest nightmare i lost a year of my life for my god one time i actually forgot to

close my door after i got my amazon groceries and i was home alone and i left my front door open all night and there were so many leaves inside but also like i left my front door open all night yeah that's i gotta have a gate anyway jesus i'm an idiot let's go ahead that's so scary i know what a dum-dum okay my good week is by proxy good week for my mom um remember back in the day on the apple apple iphone on the iphone when they like forced us to have that youtube album of course like they put it on every single phone still on my phone okay well the other day my mom was like you know what like i had nothing to listen to on my phone and i just started listening to that U2 album did she really like it she's like it's amazing everyone was so pissed they didn't even

want to give it a chance no I know I didn't I was like I hate U2 and I'm like why do I hate U2 and I'm like it's because they forced that album on us U2 is amazing U2 is amazing but it was just so funny she was like yeah I just randomly started listening to it and I looked what year that was it was 10 years ago so I'm like 10 years later they got it they got my mom they have one new fan wow isn't that that's also so wild that they just downloaded this album to every single person's iPhone at the time. I mean, they were definitely doing an experiment if they could do that. Yeah. And it honestly would have been great if it worked because if you would be able, anyway, use a business one-on-one go ahead. That's my good week, my bad week. So

last week I was going down to orange County. And as I was getting ready to leave, I was in the sink looking around and I'm like, my sink is leaking, like leaking fast. And then I turned, I forgot about it for a second. And then I turned my dishwasher on and then it started like really leaking. But I'm like, I got to get down to Orange County. But we have like a maintenance request that we can do. Yeah. So like I wrote in and I'm like, this is really urgent. Like it's leaking like a lot. Like I don't want my apartment to be flooded. I was like freaking out about it. And then I left and I like forgot about it. I was gone to Orange County for a couple of days until like three days later. And I woke up from like a nightmare being

like, I don't even know if they took care of it. Yeah. Like in all of my designer bags or like by the floor, I was like really scared. And I had no idea because nobody emailed me if they fixed it or not I get home and there's like a maintenance thing like on my door like a little flag and it said that they fixed it and then there was like a little a note attached to it and it said everything under kitchen sink has been checked for leaks and wiped down leak was coming from the gallon of distilled water that was under the sink so it was from a water bottle that I put under the sink and I was freaking out about it being the apartment so you had a water bottle that had a hole in it yes and you put it under the sink and it started leaking and why

did you have a water bottle under your sink i don't know what we had we had distilled water bottles for something you were doing an animal yes jared had one of those like nutty pot things yeah i know but it was it was also very old damn you're good damn i'd be a good detective yeah well what else do you have distilled watered for that's a great question but yeah i was like so i was like oh this apart because sometimes they don't write me back like they're not like the most responsive risky of you to just leave it it's like lighting a match and walking away we're going to be not having that kind of behavior well I know I can't leave my house because it's my responsibility you get anyway yeah okay next speaking of home next next speaking

of home so you know I've been really excited about my purse journey and being such a good organized purse first in the club kind of girl so I thought this is a great weekend for me to clean out my purse. You know, it's been a few months, make sure all the little garbages or whatever's happening. So I empty everything out and then I go to my, you know, my house is built into the hill. So I have a third story essentially, but it's like the living room. So I decide to just empty my purse over the edge of the veranda or the thing, because there's nothing in it. It's just all the little bits of seeds and like dust and like, you know, wrappers or whatever's in there yep and so i do it but nope guess what was in it my car keys my car keys went and landed in a

palm tree flan sitting like no up and so anyway i had to go and do a whole thing to get the car keys and i was like this is what i get for trying to be organized because you know what it's not even that you just are not thorough i'm not well whatever jack but all i'm saying is that honestly if my purse wanted to be clean it would be self-cleaning like maybe i just need a few peanut shells in the bottom of purse who cares stop shaming me earth i'm just don't you have your little baggies i do get junk in your still things get in there i don't know i'm trying okay here's the best yeah you should see your bathroom right now it's like an explosion or it looks like you had a you had a home invasion yes i know okay how would you ever know that's my bad

week here's my good week so the other day i'm opening the mail and well derek's opening the mail because that's one of his jobs and he's opening it and he's like oh here's your parcel from Shein and I was like that's crazy because I don't shop at Shein like I've never shopped at Shein no shame against Shein but like I just it's not where if I'm gonna buy cheap clothes it's not where I go and so I was like that's weird and then I open it and I was like god I don't know maybe this is something I ordered months ago and forgot in my sleep or something it's like a green dress. And I'm like, this is so strange. Like how weird. And I was like, must've been, or it's a mistake. They somehow had my name from something I bought five years ago. And then they, you know,

whatever. Two weeks later, another mystery. I've got two now. I have to tell you, I have no idea where they came from. I did not order them. I, Sheehan has sent me now a green stretch kind of TV looking dress, a pair of white skinny jeans in size 25, tiny, tiny, tiny, like wouldn't even fit mariana like tiny tiny tiny a pink cardigan sweater and a cold shoulder do you think they want you to wear it on e i don't but how did they get my address and also if you want me to wear it on e would you send a skinny jean a white or is it it's not even my size that's so weird like that's so funny so i hope someone is just like with you yeah i have no idea where it came from there's no return label it's to my it's at

my house are you being charged have you checked every credit card it's not charged to my credit card wait that's someone does it say but shouldn't it say whose name is on the credit card does not give you a paper it's not net-a-porter it just shows up in the plastic bag and you're like that's amazing anyway it's like a yeah it's a mystery it is a mystery let me know if you work for sheen and you somehow got my email because you used to work at a different brand and now you're sending me pr i'd love to get some pr and i'll wear it but not a white skinny jean on tv that's not my look okay when we come back an icon eating well shouldn't be complicated but somehow it turns into recipes prep cleanup and half your sunday gone factor solves all that these are fresh ready

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LGBTQ plus community. And she's one of the harshestly canceled celebrities during the rise of cancel culture. She's been on top and she's been on the bottom and she's crawled out of hell and she's here to talk all about it. She's got a brand new tour selling out across the country called My Life on the PTSD List. Please welcome to the Lady Gang, the iconic Kathy Griffin. Kathy! Oh, what an intro! Wait, I have to get your water.

What an intro! She has it. I have a water. I have Icon Water. It's special Icon Water. It's Icon Water. Yeah, it's just for icons. Humble icons.

This is humble icons. Listen, I'm so happy you're here. I'm thrilled to be here. And I know you saw Sharon Stone. The Sharon Stone interview went viral, and I was flipping around TikTok, and I kept seeing clips from it, so I wanted to do the show. That was a great interview, and I'm glad to be here, Lady Gangs. I love this so much.

There's so much to talk about. I want to start with something very light, working on Seinfeld, because Jack Zanuck has some anxiety and falls asleep every night to either Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm. I've seen probably every episode 87 times. Yeah. go ahead jack no just all your questions i mean how is larry david number one okay larry david is just like this character and except he may be even more of a curmudgeon really he's actually yeah he's actually it's actually a better version of himself that's on curb your enthusiasm

it's his more polite self than the way larry really is and i got to be on seinfeld and i was a total unknown actress at the time and so i went to the table read and all these big stars are there. And obviously it's the famous cast of Seinfeld. And you know, Jerry was like kind of a dick. And so my standup is stories for my act often involving celebrities I've met. So I went on stage. I did my, one of my first specials on HBO now max that it was HBO. And I did a bit about Jerry Seinfeld about what a dick he was. And sure enough, he saw it and I was mortified because I got a call from my then agents and they said Jerry Seinfeld sent you a letter like an old-fashioned and I have it framed in my bathroom of course so he actually had a good sense of humor about me

making fun of him so they wrote another episode where my character becomes a comedian who just makes fun of Jerry Seinfeld yeah so I got to come back my character of Sally Weaver and that was really amazing because I walked on set and here I am faced with this a-lister that I've just been ripping into and he just I just hear from the dark and Seinfeld said he's in the diner set yeah and he's in one of the booths by himself just going well well well oh my god and I go look what the cat dragged in and so it was amazing I got to be there the week they announced they were quitting the show and Jerry would do warm-up for the live audience and all the other stars were just incredible and it was it was really amazing to be on that show the week Jerry announced that

he was leaving the show and it was emotional and the cast was all talking about how they were such a family they would go to Jerry's Deli after every taping like it was a special place oh my gosh I love that so at least he had a good sense of humor yeah very rare yeah very rare for an A-lister yeah most of them they don't have one or it takes many tries before they realize I'm really just kidding and I'm quite harmless. Yeah. How many times in your career have you gotten the dreaded call from your agent and the slap on the hand? Oh, so many times. I've gotten slaps on the hand from the television Academy when I won my first Emmy. And I thought it was funny that all the award shows, everyone gets up there and they're like, I want to thank God for taking time to make

sure I won this award. And so I just thought it'd be funny to turn that speech on his head. and I said, Jesus had nothing to do with this award. In fact, suck it, Jesus. This award is my God now. Well, there's the first time I got in like Hollywood trouble. So the Academy wanted me to apologize. And of course I wouldn't. And, um, I've been confronted by celebrities personally, very famously by the late great Whitney Houston, who was not happy with me. And she came up to me when I was hosting the Billboard Music Awards and she was going to go on next and she came up to me and was waving

her finger right in my face and she was all sweaty and she was obviously upset and she just kept saying don't you talk about me! Don't you talk about me! And waving her finger in my face with her bodyguard right next to her so, and she went out and sang by the way and brought the house down

she didn't lip sync, she was amazing so I went out to bring out the next act and I just told the audience what just happened I was like, you guys Whitney Houston just scared the hell out of me she just waved her finger in my face and said don't you talk about me so naturally I just had to tell you guys that happened so there's a story of my life and my many cancellations before the big one six and a half years ago yeah we're gonna get to that but I want to ask you putting yourself back on the road I know this is completely

self-funded there's no like you know person behind the curtain of Oz no there's no sponsors It's just Kathy Griffin brought to you by Kathy Griffin. What has it been like for you and how healing is it to get back on stage and just be in front of audiences that love you? Well, the title is kind of tongue in cheek, My Life on the PTSD List, because I actually have been diagnosed with PTSD. And I know that sounds weird because we think of it just being for combat veterans. But I talk about it a lot in the show because after the Trump scandal, besides the fact that like most of my friends ditched me and I didn't work for six years and for a workaholic that really messed with my head and then I became addicted to prescription pills and I tried to take my life which I never would

have done if it weren't for the pills so now I'm happily in recovery in AA and then I got diagnosed with lung cancer even though I never smoked which is which is typical just want to say typical of course i've never smoked and half of my lung is gone on my left side so i kind of resent how you ladies are flaunting your two lungs in my face i'm so sorry i have a lot of flaws i hear you breathing and i get it you're so much better than me because of your two lungs well kelsey's losing her uterus so yeah something right that's something you know my fan tubes are so jealous yeah exactly let's just take it down a notch yeah and so fertile bitch. I don't know that right in my face. And so that's why I talk, I talk about this stuff in

the show. And I asked the audience, have you guys ever been affected by addiction in any way? Well, everybody claps. Have you been affected by cancer in any way? Everybody claps. Then I say, have you guys lost anyone either on Facebook or in your real life to MAGA or QAnon? And people clap at that too yeah so i make fun of the way the q anons think i went to epstein island with tom hanks and madonna and robert de niro and that we're harvesting baby parts and making face cream out of it because you have to laugh at that and the fact that i would buy it if someone does have a formula i am open to it you do look good yeah i mean i do it it might be one of my secrets who knows but like you just have to laugh at all of it because yeah it's just so

much and I also feel like I have my issues that I talk about I have some good celebrity stories um I went to Paris Hilton's Christmas party that alone is like hours it's like an hour I mean it was like did you go in the room where it's just all of her magazine covers as her wallpaper um we weren't allowed in the house oh because there was like police stanchions and caution tape so it was a little cold so a few of us sia and i snuck into the pool house okay and we're still nervous that we're in trouble from that okay because we're looking for secret cameras yeah but i did love how paris had kiosks selling her stuff so it was a party yeah but also it was advertising her cookware of course which of course she's known for she's not she's a huge

cook she's a brand yeah and i'm pissed that i'm a person because i'd rather be a brand uh-huh Yeah. That's my mistake. I've been wasting my time. You were too person. Being a person. Yeah. When really I should be a brand like the Kardashians and the, you know, oh, James Charles was there.

Oh, tell me more. And Rosie O'Donnell was there as my date. And Rosie went up to James Charles and accidentally said, oh, aren't you that guy, Jeffree Star? Oh, no. And I tell that story on stage and the whole audience goes, like the audience, they don't even laugh. They just gasp. And let me just say, James Charles did not take that well. I was trying to calm him down going, she's a lesbian.

She doesn't wear makeup. She's not responsible. She can't, you can't be mad at her. She doesn't know the makeup gay is a part. She can't tell. It's not. And James Charles kept going, Oh, Jeffrey, sir. Oh, oh, well, he only ruined my whole life.

That's all. So it was like, I forgot there was all that TikTok. So much trauma. It's all going down at the Paris Hilton Christmas party. So I still have my celebrity stories peppered in there. Trust me. Oh my God. I love it.

Let me ask you this because we're big housewives fans. And we, Dorit's big, Dorit for Beverly Hills, she had a home invasion. New York, New York. No, no, no. Oh, Dorit Hensley, yes. She's in Beverly Hills. She had a home invasion last season, and this season has been about her dealing with her PTSD. And I think, like, you're right.

When we think of PTSD, we think about people who can't hear loud noises because it sounds like. Combat zone. Or something like, you know what I mean? but like what does PTSD when you were like universally hated across the world and like your entire life came what and then I know your mom passed away I'm so sorry your sister passed away you had lung cancer like what what does that feel how does it how does that live in your body is it it did live in my body is it like what that's that the my form of PTSD is really physical And so I kind of kept it in, but I was, I was over, you know, using prescription pills.

I then tried to take my life by overdosing. I didn't. I ended up in the hospital on a 51 50 cycle for three days, like Brittany and Kanye combined. So I basically walked into my own act by doing that. But that did, that did get me into sobriety, which was key. Then I could kind of sort out my life. And after my cancer surgery in which I was injured, so I now have a permanently paralyzed left vocal cord and I have an aperture above my vocal cords. So when I do stand up, my, my pitch is a little bit higher in my voice, which I'm kind of self-conscious about.

So it's been like a litany of things. And in my case, when my PTSD made it such that I can't stop vomiting and I know that's gross and I'm sorry. But when you go day after day where no matter what, you're just vomiting, you can't do anything. You can't even leave the bed. You can't move. And I was that sick off and on for 10 months. And that really scared the hell out of me because I didn't exactly know what was going on. Then they said, it's the PTSD.

And in you, that's the way it comes out. So I have a team of people trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. And I talk about all this on the tour about how I've got a kundalini yoga instructor. I, you know, get on all fours and meow like a kitty cat and moo like a cow. I don't care how stupid I look. I have an acupuncturist. I do that cupping where it's like a vampire sucking the blood out of you. I have no idea if it works.

It probably doesn't. I do all these things just because somehow all together they worked and they got me to like be up and running again. but I make fun of it because some of it's woo woo. Some of it's like regular, like, you know, old lady meds, like my blood pressure medic center, something like that. But I'm just doing all the things. It's the yoga, it's the breath work class, whatever it takes. And then somehow when showtime happens, I'm fine. And it's because it's a muscle in me. I've been doing it for so many decades that even if I'm having an anxiety attack during show day, something happens where

I start to put my makeup on, it gets close to showtime. And when my, my feet hit that stage, I just relax and I'm home. I love it. I love it so much. And the audiences have been so loving because I think most of the people come into the show, they know at least part of it. They either know about the Trump thing or they know about the cancer. I filed for divorce 75 days ago as if my life wasn't chaotic enough. And I didn't think that would be happening, but it just kind of did. And so I'm just rolling with the punches. And like I said, I feel like audiences are in a place where we're all kind of rolling with punches. You know, there's a lot of division going on with people's relatives, whether it's political or religious, there's topics that

we are afraid to even talk about because they're so sensitive. And so I get on stage and I go, okay, I'm going to say a bunch of stuff that's inappropriate. You can groan, you know, and I'm learning too. One of the things I actually, I don't want to say, cause people ask me all the time about cancel culture. And in my case, I don't even like to refer it as canceled because I was investigated by the department of justice. Cancel to me is like, you have a couple of months where you stay off social media, right? I was put on the no fly list. I, um, you know, was in the middle of a 50 city tour and the rest of the 25 cities had to cancel on me because every theater got such strict death threats and bomb threats, et cetera. And, you know, to have my own industry

really blacklist me has been really painful. And I think it's turning around now and I don't know why, but I think it's somehow like enough time has passed because now the most common thing I hear from even people just walking down the street is I may not have liked that picture, but the fallout you had was way too much and way over the top. It didn't happen to any of the guy comics. I don't think it would have happened if I was a guy comic. Um, I didn't have any institutions at the time. I wasn't on a TV show. I wasn't on Bravo anymore. No one was, there was no big network to protect you. Right, right, right. And I tried to clarify my position and that was a mistake. And you know, it's funny because we were talking about Sharon Stone and what a great guest she was.

and I talked to her and she said, I think this is going to take five to eight years to calm down. And I said, you're crazy. Right. And you were like, not in my worst nightmare. Yeah. And she was right. It took six and a half years. Well, I think it's really interesting. And we've talked about this a lot is that, you know, there was this time, there was this time where it was so important for everyone to be perfect. Like you could not even toe outside the line without it being and i think it was mid-pandemic everyone was laser focused everyone's attention was just you know and they had no control over anything so we started to really control every all the public voices for sure now i think what's happening and it's taken this long is that

authenticity is key yeah owning the stuff you did wrong yeah i think you would change some things and change so many things you have no idea of course but like owning that and be able to get up on stage and be like hey i'm still kathy yeah the reason you fell in love with me in the first place for the first three decades of my career is because i told thing i said things that you were thinking that you didn't have the courage to say and now you're back the wheel has turned and now you're back being celebrated for being that person again and it was a weird climate it was a weird time and so i'm so happy you made it through oh thank you like you know on behalf of all the fans and people who have loved you if you're a pop culture lover you grew up with you being one of

the narrators of pop culture. I call everybody out. Yeah. Look, even people that aren't my friends, like we were talking about Sharon Stone. We, I saw you at her birthday party and it's so gratifying for me as I get older, I'm 63 now. And honestly, the best compliment I can get is when someone from my act laughs or comes up to me and says, and I've had this with everybody from Miley Cyrus to, you know, Bette Midler as someone come up and go, Oh, Oh, you were just kidding like you weren't being mean you were just giving me the business as we used to say or my mom would say give you giving you the business oh i love that i'm just giving you just giving you the business i'm just giving you the business yeah and and i think that there is a place for

that too but as a comic i also want to evolve look there's stuff in my specials from 20 years ago i would never say now like i just totally let me tell you something the 90s and the 2000s were a vicious time for standup comedy. Like the edict in the industry was go for the jugular. Everybody was getting roasted. Remember every week there was a new roast and it was, you know, if you're a woman, it was your dry vagina. It was like, you go the lowest of the low. And you know, I don't think that's always great either. You know, I, I like to tease people, but I think it's good that we're coming to a place where you are more conscious of, look, if I'm going to talk about Britney Spears, I am going to say, I know that this is a woman with a mental illness. I'm

not making fun of that. I'm making fun of everything from some of her followers that have the free Britney movement, say things that are funny because they're very, how shall I say, passionate. How should I say? Look, I'm human. I do look at her Instagram and I do get worried. I feel like we raised her and I want to make sure she's not just dancing alone in that house. I want to go to her house and dance with her a little bit. Yeah. But you know, I do, I still keep an eye on stuff and I still call people out and people still get mad, but there's a place for both. So the sensitivity, but also you got to have some fun with each other and you got to have a sense of humor about yourself. Oh yeah. I have a question. Yes. I want to know when did people

from the industry that turned their backs on you start coming back? Did they start coming back and were there apologies were there explanations like where are you at with that i haven't seen you in so long and you're like yeah you could have reached out i know no it's kind of funny because nobody came back there were no apologies and when i run into people now look i've just decided you know part of being part of being an aa in 12 step is you kind of sometimes you kids call you practice restraint of the pen and tongue which i of course never did but now so many people have come up to me and all right I'm just gonna be honest and just acted like they have my back and they were nowhere to be found so I could either go up to the hundred people

that I've seen just in the last few months who have been like oh my god you're doing so great I'm so happy you're back on the road it's about time and I just didn't stop any of them and go a call from you would have been nice or if you're a producer could you have just given me five lines in something, in anything. And so no apologies. As far as people coming back, I don't know that I'm back yet. I would love to do a special. And I think the fact that I don't have anybody ask me to do a special means I'm not quite uncanceled yet. So I'm still biting and scratching way back from the D-list. But I feel like if that happens, it'll be kind of official. But I think some of the buyers are still nervous. The material is getting there and I love trying new stuff. So

I do miss doing specials. You're, you're going to get one. What do you want? You know, we have so many listeners around the world and their need for resilience is probably not as dire as yours was with what you've gone through. But I think all women and all people, you know, they have their stuff, right? So whether it is a woman who's having a divorce, she lost her dream job. She's lost a parent. She's lost a sister. She's lost whatever that she's played too hard in the Percocet drawer, like whatever those, or maybe someone, what, what do you want our listeners to know about resilience? Okay. Number one, try to find the humor in every single thing, no matter how dark, no matter how twisted,

you know, like I make jokes about my cancer all the time because it's supposedly this forbidden topic, but I'll say to my assistant, okay, if I can't get a good table at Nobu, tell them my cancer came back. And it's just a way of like being horrible and inappropriate, but I have to laugh because it was real. And I feel like if stuff is real, it's on the table. Like, I can't tell you how many times I've been at the oncologist and they're like, Ms. Gifford, Ms. Kathy Lee Gifford. And I'm, it's like right here. I'm not even correct him. I'm going to like, yep, Ms. Gifford right here happened again. And I just think that stuff is hilarious. And number two, lean on your girlfriends my girlfriends have been so there for me and your good friends not the ones

that ditch me after the trump thing but i've kind of curated some newer friends because i now know who's naughty and who's nice and you'll instinctively know like for example on each leg of the tour i bring a girlfriend along just to keep me company and we have a coffee clutch in the morning and we laugh and she'll hang out backstage with me before the show and then she'll go in the audience and be like, okay, you have 40% gay guys, you have 40% women, you have 20% mystery, you know, like just, we just laugh about all of it. And so I would say find the humor and lean on your good friends. I love that. All right. When we come back, we have to know some pop culture things. You're listening to the lady gang. All right. We're back with Kathy. She is on her

tour right now my life on the ptsd list you can get tickets at kathygriffin.net um i want to know if you'd ever do the golden bachelorette oh my god i made a tiktok commercial for the golden bachelorette good and the funny thing is i was married when i made it so i was making a joke about like oh don't worry about the husband i'll ditch him if i'm the golden bachelorette yeah then i am actually getting divorced so i'm 100 available to be the golden bachelorette i would die and also i have a insane body can we just talk about my body you're like the tiniest little thing i've ever seen i have a bikini bod i'm happy to be in a thong or any or pasties and make them twirl different directions how tall are you five three me too you guys right all i talk

about on this podcast is how insecure about my height i am but then you came eight but you came walking and through kelty's living room and i thought that is a banging bod oh yeah you've got of banging because i work out all the time it's ridiculous because of my ptsd i work out like a what do you do i do a two and a half hour walk every day and i do pilates twice a week you look great well i know you love you listen if life goes to shit spend that time in the gym baby it's good for the brain it's good for the body it's good for the brain that's right um i want to know if you would ever consider or having a world in which some sort of version of fashion police came back yes i think the way to go is you have to i think make fun of the people and i'll

tell you why the fashions are are so perfect you know they have the greatest stylists the greatest designers the greatest hair and makeup people by the time these stars get to the red carpet you're really looking for stuff to make fun of. I think it's funnier to say, have someone do the fashion commentary. That's an expert. Don't have them trying to be funny. And then I would be the person making fun of the celebrity and maybe something they've said, but in a fun way, not like, Oh, they look like crap, but just like, Oh, look who showed up without her. So-and-so that she was complaining about on social media. Like there was a way to just research the celebrities. And also I think there's something fun about asking celebrities a little bit different

questions. So I would ask who's ever on the red carpet instead of who you're wearing, who'd you come here with? Just ask them random pop culture questions. You know, like, um, um, have you heard the new song by Northwest and ask that to like a really serious actor, like Paul Giamatti and just get his opinion on it. And then you could play with that in the fashion police part of it. I think it would be fantastic. And I want to say, when I think of you, I think of the very famous sort of section of Joan Rivers documentary when she was so mad that you were taking all the jobs. Oh, she was so funny. She would yell at me and Betty White. She would say, and this is Joan's joke, but she'd say, because Betty White was a dear friend of mine and Joan's, and she was

one of a kind. And Joan would go, oh, Betty, that cunt. She's taking all the jobs. Oh, ridiculous. she's not the only old one so yeah in her movie a piece of work joan does a funny bit about how i'm taking all of her and i and i i miss her every day she was one of a kind fashion police was iconic now i will also say let's be honest it doesn't exist now you could not do those jokes now yeah for real for real like so that's what i'm saying is you have to figure out how to kind of comedically go a little different direction but you should still do a show that's the definitive place to go for fashion because that's what I did like about fashion police. Everybody kind of waited to see what Joan would say. And also Joan really knew those designers. She put those

designers on the map. Right. And she was so like this, I mean, I don't know her whole story, but she seems so like Upper East Side, New York, like she actually could shop at Bergdorf. So it was like, oh, well, when she was reading your Prada, you were like, cause I bought the other bag and that was the right choice. She really owned that stuff. And there was something like, I remember when I first started in TV and Joel McHale had the soup. Yeah. And it was like an honor to be roasted by Joel on the soup. Thank you for saying that. Please God. He got huge guest stars to come on as he was roasting them. Like when he would be like, what the hell? I used to always, and Jimmy Kimmel did that bit where he would like, um, bleep the news. So he would take all the news

reports of the week and then he would put like where there were no, like, it was so funny. And And, you know, I think it will be nice. I think when the pendulum swings one way, it has to come back. And I do think it's, like, there was some people, it's an honor to be roasted or be in the pop culture. Or, like, you know, when we started Lady Gang, I used to always do this bit about, like, that it was an honor to lose a Who Wore It Better. You know? Because I just was like, well, you're fucking talking about me. Exactly.

I'm thrilled. I'm photographed. I'm in the picture as long as the hair and makeup is good. Yeah. Like, you know. But you're right. That's one thing. I have to be honest, as a comedian, and I know it's a big trend now, I don't like it

when the host makes a joke and they cut to the celebrity and they're rolling their eyes. Oh my God. I'm sorry. I just, I don't like that trend. Because people, these celebrities have to realize the reason we're roasting you, whether it's the host or somebody like me talking about it later, is because you're showing up in a $200,000 dress. You've had the studio pay thousands of dollars for your hair and makeup.

your shoes were thousands of dollars you've got a limousine you've got your assistant and team helping you you're winning okay you won everyone's punching lottery yeah you so I consider that punching up huge yeah so I have to say I don't like that trend of cutting to the celebrity and then the celebrity either taking the slow sip or eye rolling I'm like also just go with it it's one joke you'll live I know it's like not gonna kill you right right and none of them are that i'm so codependent i wouldn't want the host to feel like disappointed in my reaction it's true it's like this weird thing going on and i wonder why they keep put they keep trying though because the oscars well that was because when they do it and it's someone who's like

game like the Killian Murphy and um what's his face from Succession um Culkin um Kieran Culkin yeah when they do it yeah it's hilarious like they pan to oh sorry Pedro Pascal and Kieran Culkin because they've been against each they were against each other all award season and Kieran would get up there and be like you Pedro and then they'd go to Pedro and he would be like yes last night when Kimmel was making fun of Robert Downey Robert Downey played along and so did Steven Spielberg which was really what you want to see yeah so that's all I would have to say is A-listers take it from your D-lister who's making fun of you right to your face just smile yeah just go with it I've been on every worst dress list that I've ever gone to

doesn't matter if I'm in Oscar de la Renta I'm on the worst dress list I survived yeah that's not why I have PTSD I think it's funny I used to have them laminated and put them on my refrigerator when I was worse dressed come on relax everybody you saved all yours I have a whole binder I'm just like I was there yep but by the way all of you wishing you could get to Hollywood I was there that's right I'm trying to do one look better but that's fine um I want to ask you about um like just about the people who showed up for you yeah and have shown up for you Aubrey Plaza when i got canceled and like i said i was you know being interrogated by the department of justice under oath they were considering charging me with conspiracy to assassinate

the president of the united states and they were very serious about that charge and it was a really frightening time because i was running what they call murder rooms with my lawyers practicing because my lawyer wasn't allowed to interject when i was being interrogated by the feds it was just a rule they have and i was interrogated by the u.s attorney's office and the secret service. So two agencies within the DOJ. And so my lawyer said, if you screw this up, you're going to jail. So it was like important that that moment happened. And so I can just say, you know, prepping for that was very stressful. It was very real. It was very serious. I was getting calls from senators who were saying, I can't be seen with you. You know, it was,

I was, it was a crazy time. And Aubrey Plaza said, can I come over? And I was just sobbing in my pjs i was like i haven't taken a shower for two days and people think i'm a terrorist and this picture's already in iran and moscow and china and she came over with a casserole like it was the 50s and she just we just laughed and i i almost don't even remember all of it because i was like crying and she was being sweet and like so people that showed up i will remember that casserole the rest of my life and the very you're gonna laugh the very night the trump picture went live because when i took that picture i took it with a bunch of other wacky over-the-top pictures one i'm spoofing kim kardashian who lived next to me at the time and that was i could do a whole

special just called living next to kim and kanye because that was amazing and when that picture went live and it went to tmz i thought it was going to end up like an art gallery i'm serious i didn't think it was going to go to tmz and tmz has a relationship with the trump white house so that's how it got memed and sent around and all that stuff but um i you know i also did a press conference i wouldn't have done because i felt the need to clarify but when you're in it when you're in it you you're getting all kinds of advice and you're like i just want them to hear my side right and here i'm a good person that was a mistake i made i should have just well i should have just practiced for my interrogation and just done that but the night of the picture over for

dinner, my guests were Melanie Griffith, Rita Wilson, and Kris Jenner. And I was in my PJ sobbing and I was going to cancel and I'm so glad I didn't. So we ordered in and I was a wreck. And it was just kind of funny because Kris kept saying, Oh, just apologize. My kids just stuff like this all the time. And they just apologize. And it was just like a wacky girl's dinner. And even though my life was falling apart, just having those three women of a certain age, because that does matter just being like you're gonna get through this yeah and look it took a while but they were right I want to talk about something um a little bit hard because because everything has been so light right um but I I know you are newly uh gonna be divorced or filing for

divorce I'm so sorry about that but so many I I'm a divorcee myself but now remarried but like what do you want our girl to know? Single girls or engaged girls or newly married girls? Like what do you want them to know about relationships and marriage that you wish someone would can just slap you over the face? Okay. It's all about the guy being a nice guy and a good person. And I hate to say this, but it's about how he treats you. And the reason I'm saying that is some women have these lists, like I'll be watching the housewives of orange County or something. and they're like, well, he's got to own three businesses and he's got to do this. He's got to have this much money. Don't be too concerned about the money. I used to have that list. It

was like tall makes over this amount of money. And it's like, those are the things that do not matter at all. Right. And I think it's so much about how he treats you and it's about him respecting you. And you know, my situation in my marriage became untenable and I, I didn't ever want to get up because I thought I'd be with him forever. So that's my takeaway is being treated with respect and somebody you can just really be yourself with and have fun with. But it's kind of about having your antenna out for the nice guy and the good guy, not the flashy guy, not the guy with this kind of car necessarily. By the way, try to find a guy with a job. I'm not saying like you should be a loser. But just keep in mind at the end of the day, it's really about you guys hanging

out and how we treat you. And if he doesn't treat you with love and respect, it's not going to get better. It's going to get worse. Yeah. Yep. Scary warning. Amen. Isn't that so crazy? Keep your money separate no matter what. Yep. Always, always listen to Susie Orman. If you don't listen to me at suzy orman show she's the best she is the best she's amazing she has been keeping an eye on my money for years wow and my house is paid outright i have no debt and let me tell you something ladies and save your money all those years because i saved my money for a rainy day and it poured yeah it rained for six freaking years so save your money ladies don't be embarrassed about socking it away you don't always have to have the latest handbag like sock it away because

you don't know when you're going to need it. Susie Orman. Susie Orman, man. She's the best. We need to have her on. Seriously. She's amazing. I would love it.

Okay, my very last thing is I'm a big manifester. Every year at the end of the year, well, in the last episode of the year, I make these girls unwillingly, and we're almost 10 years deep, sit and manifest their new year. And then in August, I pretend it's the end of the year,

and we review. But since it's mid-quarter one, I'm going to add Kathy to the list. So I'm going to check in with you. I'm going to grab your number. I'm going to call you in August when we do our half yearly check-in and be like, Kathy, how's it going? So, you know, we manifest these things and it can be work related, be love related, be

health related. It can be really stupid, like stop drinking diet Coke or get bangs, like whatever those things are going to be. So I want you to manifest three things for Kathy 2024 and I'm going to check in with you in a few months. All right. So what do you want? The tour is a success.

You can't say successful tour. Can't say tour. Yeah. Okay. Um, okay. I actually have one big one. Okay. Oh, great. Even better. Just one big one. I long to be fresh off my divorce. I long to be one of these women of a certain age. Cause like I said, I'm 63. Who's just happy with myself, not being lonely, which I kind of am now. I admit not feeling alone, which I kind of do now. But like I said, I have a gorgeous house in Malibu that's

paid off. I have four dogs that I'm so in love with. I take them on the road with me. I have a female tour manager who's bad-ass and kick-ass. I have like a team now that I finally put together. So I just need to learn. I have everything. I don't need to feel like, well, without a man, I'm missing the big link. And so I'm not there yet, but that's what I want by August. I want to say, oh yeah. Oh, I remember when I was back lonely and crying all the time. No, I feel great now. In fact i love when linda evangelista that model i love when she goes i don't even want to hear a guy breathing in bed and i just think that's so funny so i like the trend of women my age saying i'm enough i'm enough i'm basically ken from the barbie movie so that's what i want to manifest

i love your girlfriends that have that i imagine sharon is one of those sharon stone has it kristin johnson has it jane fonda has it and i went to jane fonda's house right after file for divorce and I called the bad phone I picked up the bad phone I needed Fonda she said KG come over she's fine without a dude Sharon Stone doesn't need a dude you know I don't I want to be open if someone comes in my life that's fine but I don't want to be feeling sad and lonely alone because I really I'm really taken care of within my own do they tell you how to get there they say that the longer you do it, which I'm getting there as we speak, the more you realize, oh, like the house is quiet. I don't have some guy picking on me. Like, oh, that's a big improvement. Or, oh, I have a show

and nobody's like putting me down. Oh, that voice is gone. Like not saying that happened in my case. You realize how annoying men are. I mean, I just, I'm just saying those things that I, I'll be honest. I have to literally remind myself of the bad parts of the marriage and just saying, you don't have to do that today. And so when I was talking to Fonda and Sharon Stone and Kristen Johnston, they did think, yeah, think of the times you were in relationships that you were more lonely than you are now. And I've been there. And it was so much work. I like so much work. Yeah. And I, and then, so I, I it's, you know, learned to like myself. I know that's really woo woo but learning to go hey I I really do just want to watch like docu-series about cults on

Netflix with my dogs at night like right you know twin flames and a dog and I'm happy yes maybe a pizza amen you know I look to mean it yes to me like we're we're told this in the in the headlight or the highlights of like learn to love yourself like we're also it's hard being from the millennials like we're part of the generation that was like girl power like we grew up on Spice Girls so we were just told like you just love yourself but then the separation between like I love myself and actually in your day-to-day life yep loving yourself it's hard yourself like a prized possession and treating yourself with respect yeah two completely separate homes yeah like what you just said where you say you think about the times in your marriage where you were not happy or the

things you didn't want to do and you get to say I don't have to do that today yeah I'll be honest i don't miss that part that's great i don't miss that part so it's okay to be honest because you know i also have some shame about like staying in the marriage for so long and you know i could beat myself up about that but instead like i said i just have to look around i'm so happy to be here yeah i love you guys i love this show i think it's really really good and so it's just like taking those moments to be like hey i'm not at home crying i'm here with you guys having fun awesome this is a win i won already today oh we won we were the winners definitely win. You can all win possibly probably sold out, but head on over to Kathy Griffin.net. You can

follow Kathy for not already at Kathy Griffin. Um, also Kathy Lee and Hoda is her show. Um, you can, you can visit, uh, grab tickets to the, my life on the PTSD list tour. Uh, new cities are being added all the time. I know the cities are up on your website. I checked it out. Um, let's Go support our resilient queen and loved this conversation. Thank you. You're back. Sorry. I didn't know you.

I, we could have brought you a casserole because, uh, you know, but, but like really excited to see what this next era brings you. And congratulations on making it through and now building the fire. I'm coming out the other end.

Yes, you did. And we will see you next Tuesday. Thank you so much for listening. The lady gang is produced by Steve Delameter, Delameter, Stacey Parra, Jared Monaco, and social support from Amy Ryerson. It really means the world to us when you show up in our community outside the podcast. So sign up for our secret Facebook group. Just search The Lady Gang under groups. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at

The Lady Gang. And the most important thing you can do is share this episode with a friend. We would love that so much. Thanks for listening. She talks about etiquette. Get your fingers out of your mouth. She talks about where to find a deal. You know, if you sell me something on Instagram, I buy it. Whoever markets to me does a fabulous job. She talks about the economy.

We used to joke that'll be the thing to send them to therapy. Okay, we're creating jobs. Can we look at it that way? She talks about parenting. These kids want to come home. They don't want to leave. They don't want to drive. They want to stay in the womb.

Let's talk with Heather Dubrow every Thursday on Podcast One or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.