The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - Kathy Griffin - HoneyGriffin

Episode Date: September 16, 2024

My Honeydew guest this week is comedian Kathy Griffin! Catch her out on her latest tour “My Life on the PTSD List.” Kathy joins me to Highlight the Lowlights of a complex PTSD diagnoses, overcoming health issues, and the loss of her mother. We dive into what it was like for Kathy to be investigated by The Department of Justice, and how difficult it is trying to travel when you’re on the Terror Watch list. Kathy also opens up about losing half of her lung to cancer, and a botched surgery that paralyzed one of her vocal cords. SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE and watch full episodes of The Dew every toozdee! https://youtube.com/@rsickler SUBSCRIBE TO MY PATREON, The HoneyDew with Y’all, where I Highlight the Lowlights with Y’all! You now get audio and video of The HoneyDew a day early, ad-free at no additional cost! It’s only $5/month! Sign up for a year and get a month free! https://www.patreon.com/TheHoneyDew What’s your story?? Submit at [e-mail] CATCH ME ON TOUR https://www.ryansickler.com/tour La Jolla, CA - Sep. 20th & 21st Salt Lake City, UT - Sep. 27th Denver, CO - Sep. 28th Chicago, IL - Oct. 11th & 12th Detroit, MI - Nov. 8th Minneapolis, MN - Nov. 9th Madison, WI - Nov. 15th & 16th Portland, OR - Nov. 23rd Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Dec. 6th Tampa, FL - Dec. 7th Tempe, AZ - Dec. 20th and 21st Get Your HoneyDew Gear Today! https://shop.ryansickler.com/ Ringtones Are Available Now! https://www.apple.com/itunes/ http://ryansickler.com/ https://thehoneydewpodcast.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO THE CRABFEAST PODCAST https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-crabfeast-with-ryan-sickler-and-jay-larson/id1452403187 SPONSORS: Harry’s -Get started with a $13 trial set for just $3 at https://www.Harrys.com/HONEYDEW

Hey everybody, want to let you know I'm headed back on tour. I'm back at the La Jolla Comedy Store Friday, September 20th and Saturday, September 21st, Salt Lake City, September 27th at the state room and Denver, Colorado, Saturday, September 28th at the Oriental theater. Get your tickets for those shows and all shows on my website. Now at RyanSickler.com. The Honeydew with Ryan Sickler. Welcome back to The Honeydew, y'all. We're over here doing it in the Nightpant Studios. I am am Ryan sickler, Ryan sickler dot com and Ryan sickler on all your social media.

I'm going to start this episode like I start all of them by genuinely saying thank you. Thank you for whatever you do to support anything I do, especially this show. I love doing this. And if this is a show you love and you've got to have more than you've got to check out the Patreon. All right. Right now, we're over I think it's like 8000 subscribers, but only 5300 of them pay. I want to get that number up. OK, we want to get that number up. And I'm telling you, it's this show, it's the honeydew with y'all.

And y'all have the wildest stories. Watch if you want to see what it's like. Go watch the best of episodes that we do and we release for free here on the YouTube by doing with Josh Wolf. And we just highlight some of the craziest stories that you guys share. It's five bucks a month. It's nothing. It's a cup of coffee for hundreds of stories of your stories. It's your show. So if any of you have a story that has to be heard,

please submit it to honeydewpodcast at gmail.com. Come see me on tour. All my dates are on the website. Everything's at Ryan sickler dot com. If I'm in your town when you're around, please come out and check me out. And that's it. You guys know we do here. We highlight the low lights and I always say that these are the stories behind the storytellers. And I am very excited to have this guest on here.

First time, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Cathy Griffin. Welcome to the Honeydew and Kathy. And Mary, and Mary. I don't wanna- My service dog, Mary. Mary too, welcome. Thank you for doing this for real. It's a pleasure, especially since you met me and helped me use the meter

because I don't know if your fans know, I'm too famous to know how to use the meter with that modern credit card thing. In my day, it was a quarter and then you walked away safe and sound. Yeah, you did. You did. And also you came under stress. Your dog threw up in the console. Vomited all over the cup holders. Very not at all trained service dog that does have the certificate, but is- And the vest.

And the vomit. She comes with love and vomit. Well, before we get into whatever we're gonna talk about today, will you please promote everything and anything you would like? Yes, please come see me. I'm a Kathy Griffin, my life on the PTSD list tour. I'm 43 cities in, and I have about 30 left. And one of them is in Los Angeles at the Wiltern.

And one of them is in a little place the Wiltern and one of them is in a little place called Carnegie Hall. Damn, are you really doing Carnegie Hall? I'm doing Carnegie Hall for the sixth time. Is that your first time? Sixth time. I'm sorry, my ignorance. In fact, I will have broken the record for the most times a single female comic has done Carnegie and I broke the record that I shared with my dear friend, the one and only Joan Rivers. Oh, I did a tiny bit of work for Joan Rivers and I'll forever be. Was she not the sweetest? Let me tell you something, Kathy Griffin.

The sweetest? She was doing her, yes, to answer your question right away, she was. And she was doing her show with her daughter at the time, might have been on E, I think. And a guy I knew was producing on it, and he said, hey, they're looking for writers, just come, just stand off to the side, listen to Joan, and see if you can think. And you know, I'm a comedian,

I was over there in my little phone, in my notepad, and just bam, bam, bam. One after another. And I had a feeling, and she walked over to me, and she said, what do you got? And guess what? I was fucking ready. And I said, this is what I got.

Bam, bam, bam. And she's like, I fucking love it. And she hired me to write for just like three, four episodes, just like punch up stuff or throw it at. And then I was like, use it wherever you want. I would see it on Twitter, things like that. And then the best part of the whole job is that she signed her check to me. I still have a photocopy of it, but it came from her personal account, Joan Rosenberg.

Joan Rosenberg, baby, she knew how to do it. That's the best fucking thing I, it's one of my favorite things I have from entertainment is a check from Joan Rosenberg. I feel like I was raised, cause I was lucky enough to be friends with Joan Rivers and the great Don Rickles. And I hate when people say they were mean

or whatever their gripe is. You couldn't have found two nicer people and they were so generous with little old me and my D-list life. I mean, Joan was on my life on the D-list, Rickles was on my life on the D-list. And which is, by the way, please watch it on Peacock, even though I don't get another penny, but I do want people to rediscover the show. My mom and dad were on there and they were such naturals. There was nothing scripted on the show. It was real. Like it was a real reality show.

But come see me live where the fur really flies. Well, I wanna talk to you because I always ask our guests, whoever they are, even if I know them, just send some things you wanna talk about. And your list, I mean, it's quite some things you want to talk about and your list. I mean, it's quite a list outside of. I mean, I love talking to this show.

Maybe fall in love with comedians all over again, because I don't want to hear about your worst show or, you know, neither do they. They don't want to hear about that bullshit. They want to know, like, what's really going on with Kathy Griffin and who's sitting in that chair. And I mean, this list is, I mean, can we start with lung cancer? I mean, it's, where would you like to jump? Let's start with the Trump thing. Let's just cut the crap and start with the Trump thing. So first of all, I call the show My Life

on the PTSD list because even though I actually feel guilty about saying it, I have been diagnosed with complex PTSD. Why do you feel guilty about saying that? Because look, I performed in Iraq and Afghanistan under mortar fire for our troops. And so I feel like that's something combat veterans kind of own. I get that, yes. And yet you want to hear something? I'll have haters come at me for calling the show that, but I can't tell you how many military folks have reached out and said, no, no, you can have complex PTSD too. Like we get it. And that means the world to me. Cause I didn't want people to think it's like a gimmick. Trust

me, I'm a wreck. And so I opened the show with just the Trump stuff. And when I took the picture and the photographer who got no blowback at all, sold it to TMZ of all places where Harvey Levin is a gay Trumper, which I can't figure out how that works for him, but okay. And so that photo was sent to China and North Korea and Russia. And then I was a member of ISIS and then Trump was tweeting against me and then CNN fired me for my New Year's Eve gig. But everybody had to like make a statement and everybody turned on me left, right and center. And then, you know, I was in the middle of a 50 city tour, 25 cities in, that picture went live and my entire tour was canceled within 72 hours

because of death threats to me. Now I will, can I swear on this show? Yes. So almost all the threats to me at that time, still, but at that time were, oh my, just, I don't know how to say this, but Trumpers love cunt. Hear me out, hear me out.

It was a lot of like, if that cunt is at that theater, I'm gonna cut her cunt out, throw that cunt in her cunty face, and then step on her cunt and shoot her in the cunt. Miss Cunty from Cuntsville from Cunty Town. Like they, and then you look at the profile and it goes friend of the Lord. You know, proud homeschooling. Yeah, Psalms. Exactly. Exactly. Love and light. Love and positivity, but I'm going to shoot you in the cunt.

And so I don't even blame these theaters because they're used to like Stomp and Blumen Group. And then all of a sudden they got people that want to shoot me in the cunt. And so I don't even blame these theaters because they're used to like Stomp and Bloomin' Group. And then all of a sudden they got people that wanna shoot me in the cunt. And so I don't blame the theaters, but to not work, like you know what it is to not do this for six and a half years. I mean, the pandemic portion of this was maddening. I couldn't imagine five times that.

I mean, having the federal government, people don't know. That's the other thing. Yeah, I was investigated by two agencies within the Department of Justice, the US Attorney's Office and the Secret Service. Investigated how? They were very seriously considering charging me with conspiracy to assassinate

the President of the United States, which holds a live sentence. This is definitely not getting monetized. No, not one bit, not one bit. So wait, they took the photo of that was- I was the only one, out of all the people that Trump got mad at, I was the only one that was singled out.

So they took the photo and they decided that that was a threat against Trump personally. So it came directly, I filed a FOIA, which is a Freedom of Information Act. So I found out how serious they were about trying to charge me. They would call my lawyers. I mean, my lawyer bill for this whole trick alone was probably about a million dollars trying to stay out of jail because they were calling my lawyers every day, the Department

of Justice. They wanted video from a chopper above of me doing a perp walk into the federal building in Westwood, California. My lawyers who are very good First Amendment, very expensive, but very good First Amendment attorneys, first of all, I cleared the photo with them before I posted it. I've been doing standup and being outrageous for decades. I'm not so dumb that I would just post it. I called all my lawyers first.

I said, I got this picture of Trump. It's kind of a protest slash joke, whatever you want, but it's out there. It's really out there. And it's a Halloween mask of him, and there's ketchup all over it. And I have the stoic look on my face, and I send it to every one of them.

They said it's absolutely covered by the First Amendment. So, people think that sometimes the First Amendment violates you if a company fires you. So, like I didn't like that CNN fired me, but that wasn't a violation of my First Amendment. Having the Department of Justice put me on the no-fly list, the Interpol list, the terror watch list. Wait, I don't even know what the Interpol list is. What is that?

Internationally, they stopped me, because I knew I couldn't- Traveling altogether? Oh yeah. So I was stopped at every airport starting in LAX, going to Sydney, because I knew I couldn't tour here. At first there was too much heat on me. So overseas, I was very welcomed.

I never actually toured like that in my life, frankly. I played Singapore, where I was in the airport jail for four hours. No. Yeah. So what happens when you're on the terror list, they take your phone, they take your passport, and they just go away for an indeterminate amount of time. And you don't know if it's going to be five minutes or five hours. But let me tell you, being in airport jail in Singapore, where

it's illegal to be gay, and many of my audience members are gay, it's scary. And to be stopped at LAX and then- How are you traveling with Mary or any of your other dogs? I did not. I couldn't do the quarantine overseas, but I did actually bring two of my dogs to the whole Canadian part of the tour and I brought them to every leg of the American part. So I was able to finally tour about this issue in 2018. I'm sorry.

You land in Singapore. They detain you. Yeah. I'm on the terror watch list. They put you in a cell, like a room? No, it has bars. And are you by yourself? Yeah.

So they separated me from my tour manager. I have no phone. Oh, he or she's going over there? They get to be in the airport, but they took his passport and phone as well. So city after city after city, that stress of not knowing. But you're also going to start building that in your fucking schedule. 100%. I mean, getting to the airport two hours early,

I wish I was getting to the airport a half a day early just to make the show and trying to explain to the Singaporean authorities like I have a show with a bunch of maybe not at all gay people that are waiting for me. And they've paid good money for those tickets. And my show's at eight o'clock and if there's any way I could make that show, sir, like I got stopped at London Heathrow, I mean every single airport.

So I'm finally off that list, cause I'm touring now. But- Maybe you can't answer this question. What? Did any of the people be like, look, we know who you are, take a picture with you or anything or are they always- Oh no, half of them wanted selfies. I knew it. Half of them wanted selfies.

I fucking knew it. Because they all know me. They all know me. That's what I'm saying. Now sometimes they thought I was Reba, which is fine. Everybody loves Reba. There ain't nothing wrong with Reba. Everybody loves Reba.

So I am more than happy. You don't know how many autographs I have signed. Love Reba. And I used to get indignant, like, excuse me, I'm Kathy Griffin. Now I just go, love y'all, love Reba. And I used to get indignant, like, excuse me, I'm Kathy Griffin. Now I just go, love y'all, blessings Reba. Oh, that's too good. Yeah.

Reba is beloved. Reba, no doubt. So if people want to think I'm Reba, that is fine with me. And I apologize to you, Reba, if you're listening, but I had to. So that happened. Then after that, I get addicted to prescription pills. Who the hell becomes a junkie at 57? You know why? You know what it's like. My whole life is touring.

It's my favorite thing to do in the world. I love doing stand up specials. And to have that taken away overnight, and have everybody issue statements, all these companies I've made and generated millions of dollars for. She's never welcome here again, blah, blah, blah. CNN, I read it on the ticker. Nobody called me and even gave me a heads up. No.

It was gnarly. And then I started getting- Tammy Griffin, you found out you were fired from CNN by the ticker. On the ticker. Oh, that's ice cold. On the ticker. That's a's ice cold. On the ticker. That's a wild thing to fucking see. I know, it was wild.

And then to watch like other shows that were talking about me, like other news, of course Fox went crazy, but like even MSNBC would have like a tri-split of three different experts talking about, is she a terrorist or not? I mean, I had Senator Al Franken call me, how could you do this? I can't be seen with you. I had had fundraisers for Al at my home.

I love Al Franken. I love him. You know who the only one who stuck by me? I wanted to ask. Booker. Really? Cory Booker still checks in. All right.

About once a year, how's my girl? Okay. And that meant the world. Because here's the thing, you can hate that picture. I get it. I get why you would hate that picture and that's totally fine. But you do need to know the fallout from it is not something you would want. Like you can say, you know what, she should have been fired from CNN.

That's kind of debatable. But to be put on the terror watch list and to not be able to work, because yeah, I could have sort of driven to gigs, but my goodness, I live in California. Last Saturday night, I had two shows in P-Town in Outer Massachusetts, out on the Cape. So like to be on the no-fly list, you kind of can't work.

And so I had to- And what else, you said the other, what was the other, the federal watch list? Yeah, the terror watch list, the Inter fly list, you kind of can't work. And so I had to- And what else you said, the other, what was the other, the federal watch list? Yeah, the terror watch list, the Interpol list, and then there's one called the Five Eyes. And so I was on the Five Eyes list as well. What is that one? The Five Eyes list is where you're most likely to find terrorists. And so if you're on the Five Eyes list, it's even worse than Interpol because it's specific to ISIS. Are you on the list with hijackers and shit from? Yeah.

No. Yeah. It's like this person, this person, Kathy Griffin. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Isn't it? You have to laugh.

Are you at the post office? If you walk into the post office, Kathy Griffin will know. I should. Although one year, Oh, I live right here. for Halloween, I did my own mugshot. Yeah.

And I, although I didn't, I actually never had to do the perp walk. Like I said, it was a lot of negotiating, but I was interrogated under oath. And my lawyer said, if you screw up this interrogation, you're going to jail. Whoa. And during the interrogation,

my lawyer was allowed to sit next to me, but he was not allowed to speak to me or intervene or help in any way. He couldn't nudge under the table. No, but let me tell you what made me very, what made them nervous. Okay, so this is, I'm just going to blurt it out. I have a sword. Hear me out.

Hear me out. I know they're okay. So I work with the LGBT community a lot. I am the recipient of the gay swordsman or in my case swordswoman, which may or may not be a gay porn company. And I may be as proud of that as my Emmys, but me explaining to the feds, they're like, ma'am, do you have any firearms? And I said, no, I don't.

Oh, I do have a sword. And then my lawyer kicked me. He's like, okay, there's a picture of you holding Trump's head and now you're telling the feds you have a sword. So I get nervous and I'm like, okay, there's a picture of you holding Trump's head and now you're telling the feds you have a sword. So I get nervous and I'm like, oh, but it's from the Gay Swordsman, which is a gay porn company which gave me an award, which felt really nice because that was a nice night. And it's funny because the movie that won that night for the Gay Swordsman Award was

called Justice. And it was a gay porn about justice and interrogations that were not as professional as this one, sir. This one is very professional. I have my clothes on, no one's having sex. And my lawyer is just kicking me like, stop talking about gay porn. Stop it. So then he had to then,

he had to make a whole statement saying, he has witnessed my gay sword. It is harmless. It is harmless. It is not- Is it encased? It is, of course. It's not just all on the wall. You know the gays.

I figured it was in a pretty box. Are you kidding? It's in a flag box, please. And so the interrogation, even in spite of that, went well and I was finally taken off those lists. How long? I was on them for two months. And then you're off those.

And then I was off, yeah. And then I think I became addicted to prescription pills because I went from working my butt off, happily so, to just nothing. The phone wasn't ringing, I'm untouchable, I'm toxic. And I didn't have to do myself. This is what Joan talked about in her documentary. Yes, which is a piece of work, is the name of it.

It's a great doc. And when she opened her day planner to White Page as being empty, six and a half years of not working. So then I tried to take my life. I know that's out there. I was on a three-day 5150 psych hold, which basically had me walking into my own act because I've made fun of people for being on psych holds. I looked at the ceiling and wanted to get out from the pills. Were you overdoing pills? I was overdoing

them. I, and that was the pills talking. I never would have done it without the pills. Then I got sober. So as of June 25th, I'm four years sober. All right, congrats. It's not been easy, but it's been worth it. All right, let me ask you this. What moment do you hit where you finally go, I gotta fucking get off this shit? When I tried to take my life. That was when you turned it all around?

All that happened was I took a bunch of pills and I thought I would just gently go to sleep and go, and instead I fell down two flights of stairs in my own house. I'm laughing because if you could have seen this house, it was in Falaire, California. It was next door to Kim and Kanye. My hand to God, my next door neighbors were Kim and Kanye

at the height of their Kim and Kanye-ness. So there were already like helicopters over the house for them. And I'm thinking, oh, little do they know, the comedian that's been calling Kim, God love her, a dirty whore for decades, and we're friends, but she does let me call her a dirty whore. And then Kanye with his, can we, okay,

this is really inappropriate, but I just have to say it. How funny is it that Kanye is a black white supremacist? It's wild, isn't it? It is. Remember the Chappelle sketch? Yeah, that's him. He's the black Klansman in real life. Jordan Lee Peterson, he is too.

He went to a Trump, this is an African-American man with African-American children who goes to Trump rallies. That shit's funny, I'm sorry. So he does not enjoy my work, I can tell you that. And you live next to him too. Next door, so close, they couldn't make a move

without me putting in my act. I mean, they were basically in hiding from Kathy Griffin for two years, but that was fun. She was actually very sweet to me. And I'll be honest, as much as I love to make fun of that family, and I do, when nobody would take me in on Christmas Eve, including my family, I went take me in on Christmas Eve, including my family. I went

to their house on Christmas Eve. That's nice. Well, my cousins all think I'm in ISIS. So you have family that turned on you and stayed? Most. Really? Like 95%. Yeah. But also like going out of their way to call me and say, why are you joining ISIS, Kathy? You're my cousin. You shouldn't be in ISIS. And I'm like, Oh yeah, take a look at me. I'm a real

poster for ISIS. Yeah. I'm on the jungle gym in Syria training for my ISIS assignment. Kathy, if you're at the post office, I'm going to shit. I'm taking a picture of you. I hope I'm in hair and makeup and I hope I have the lashes on. Cause you know, I got to have the lashes. And you know, in ISIS training, they teach you that. Make sure you wear your fake eyelashes and lots of hair and makeup. Forget about whether they're Trump supporters or not. They turned on you. Everybody.

Left, right and center. My own agents were like- If my brother did some shit like that, and even if I did support Trump, I would still just be like, I don't know. I think you're fucking, at the most I'm like, I think you're pretty fucking crazy. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. Yeah.

Because then you don't even think about the backlash coming where you know you're going to get some, but you certainly don't think a no fly list and all these lists. Honey, I thought it would be on a gay blog. I thought this picture will be on some, I didn't have a publicist at the time and I took other wacky pictures that day. Like I took one where I was spoofing Kim. So I like dressed up as Kim Kardashian and I went like, it was me peeking into their backyard,

which I may have done often. Come on, don't act like you wouldn't. Don't act like you would. If you live next door to Kim and Kanye, you're gonna do a little peeking. I'd be like, I'd just want her in my driveway. Exactly. Oh my God, they couldn't escape me. They couldn't escape me. One day I saw Kim with one of the kids, North or South or East or West. I don't know, can't keep track. And she had a Rolls-Royce golf cart. It was driving to get around. And I stopped her and I tried to make a citizen's arrest.

Yeah, that's ridiculous. I didn't hold. You know, when you're a terrorist, it's hard to then arrest someone for a golf cart violation, which it turns out wasn't. And she's like, oh my God, I know, I got it from my mom. She's like so extra. Rolls Royce golf cart. Okay, so get this. Couple months later, I'm doing my little walk around the gated community. I'm like one of those power walking dames and I see a tow truck and Kanye and the Rolls Royce golf cart has pooped out. So I'm such a bitch that I stop and I just look at Kanye who I know hates me and I go like this. And keep walking. I gave him the end of Hoosiers, any football movie

where like the little guy gets a touchdown and the coach does the slow clap. I gave him the slow clap and he did not enjoy that. But I, and then I walked a little faster, you know, I don't want that kind of heat. And so yeah, so after I got out of the 5150 for three days, then it was sober time, got a year sober, proud of myself, and then I freaking get lung cancer.

And I've never smoked a day in my life. This is what I want to add. I got, they took out half my left lung. How'd you know what was happening in your body where you were like, something's fucked up here? Okay, first of all, I don't like the way you're flaunting your two lungs in my face right now. You don't even know my story.

No, you are breathing. I clotted last year and almost died. I'm lucky to be breathing. Wait, what? Yeah, yeah, see. What? It's a long story I'm falling to. I didn't know I was talking to a clotter.

In detail, yeah. I went in for back surgery. There was a small tear. They fixed me up again, but then they let me lay still. I lay for a week at Cedars. I clot. And I knew I clot, because I had clotted before and almost died, but I'm telling them the whole time,

they're like, wow, you're really worried about this. And I was like, yeah. And then on day seven, I fucking clot. I collapse. I wake up, thank God. And they tell me that I've- Not to vibulator. Nope. They tell me I have massive pulmonary embolisms,

my heart is swollen twice its size, and they tell me to call family because I have 48 hours of touch and go. And I was like, what? And it took eight months for my lungs to clear on their own. So I'm not the only one at this table with PTSD. No. Like seriously, that's-

That's why I'm saying with the lung thing, especially something to touch. But I'm, I smoke cannabis and you say you don't smoke. So I want to hear about how someone who doesn't even fucking smoke is getting lung cancer. I do not know that the surgeon goes, do you think you were around Radon as a kid? I go, I'm 63. I was around everything as a kid. We used to run and follow the DDT truck,

and I'm not kidding. There was a pesticide truck. I'm from Oak Park, Illinois. Anyone from Oak Park can verify this. And the mothers, when the truck would come around, go, kids, it's time to run in the cloud. And I'm not kidding. All the neighborhood kids would run behind

the pesticide truck and go, I'm dancing in a cloud. I'm dancing in a cloud. Now, my parents did enjoy the drink. I'm not saying my mom wasn't maybe a little tipsy when she was encouraging her children to run into a pesticide truck, but you know, it was fun. I'm not gonna lie. It was a fun feeling, but I don't know how I got it. I don't know. Everyone in the comedy world knows that not every joke delivers, but Harry's always delivers.

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Oh, okay. And then they said, well, we found this spot. And I'm like, oh yeah, that spot's been there since like 2009. And they're like, yeah, it just doubled in size. I don't know why. Look, there's woo woo people that would say probably the trauma of the Trump thing

maybe played into it. You know, with cancer, you don't know what really causes it. Is it mental? I feel like we all have it in our bodies. Like, do you feel like there was a mental component to your health stuff? There's their mental fucking lapse of not taking care of me and listening to the patient telling them, like, thank God I was an advocate for myself and I knew my health issues because if I hadn't said anything, I am dead.

Yeah, I'm dead. dead as a doornail. And I'm telling the guy when I'm collapsing, I'm clotting, I'm clotting. And he's like, you might be having a heart attack too. That's the last thing I heard. And I was like, what? And I was like, duh. Isn't it crazy? Yeah, it's crazy. Even at Cedars, one of the great hospitals.

I say all the time, man. The best of the best. And yet- Didn't Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston die at Cedars? Kinda. I'm pretty sure. Kinda. If you want to really be technical about it. Now, although I did want the Beyoncé birthing suite, but I did not get it. And I understand it's the top floor.

And I was like on my way out going, but can I have the Beyoncé birthing suite? You know what they told me? And maybe you were there. They were. It was also like kind of a backhand too, because I'm laying in this room just on my back, all tubed up and they're telling me about this floor for the rich who, it's like a very. A list? Yeah, you're D, but A list. I'm D, wait a minute, so.

And they said it's like a full on concierge floor, so the people that are there to visit you are having wine and cheese and there's jazz. I was like, what? How do we get in that click? That's what I said. I didn't even know that was a thing. You know, we have to buy a wing.

You might have to donate. We might have to buy a wing. Yeah. And frankly, based on your Patreon, that doesn't look too good. You guys, it's five bucks a month. Sign up for his Patreon. Are you kidding me?

This man is making a living. He's working his butt off. Patreon, of course they should subscribe and pay. Okay, so wait. So abdominal pain, the spot doubles. They go, we're going to take out half a lobe. On the left side, you have two lobes. On the right, you have three. They said your lungs will be fine. They expand back, they adapt. But during the surgery, leave it to me with my luck of the Irish, I don't know what the hell this surgeon did.

Dr. Rob McKenna, Dr. Robert McKenna, I did not care for his work. That statement is also covered. It's covered under the first amendment. It is. You let me know if we need to cut that out. It is. You don't. It is.

But anyway, during the surgery, they paralyzed my left vocal cord. Whoa, that's your job. I'm a comic, it's my job. He said to me, I know exactly who you are, I know what your job is, I'm gonna be careful. So for three and a half years, I could only talk like this.

Now, honey, if that didn't cause the emotional spiral, nothing did. And then just to add to the fun, on December 23rd of last year, I had to file for divorce and I'm heartbroken and I thought I was going to be with this guy forever. So it's just been one thing after another, but thank God I'm back on tour. Thank God people are buying tickets. I'm still considered, wait, what did my agent say? For a special, they're still squeamish about hiring you since the Trump thing.

And yet I'm in the Guinness Book of World Records. I've done more televised standup specials that any comedian, male or female, living or dead. Wow, I know that. 21. I've done 21 specials. I'm, male or female, living or dead. Wow, I know that. 21. I've done 21 specials. I'm so ready to do another one. Somebody take a chance on me, please.

And like I said, to play Carnegie for the sixth time, I don't have an opener. I don't do a lineup. It's just me with two hours. I write every single joke myself. Oh wait, can I brag about something? Please. I've written for one other person,

one joke in my entire life. So in 2016, I'm sitting in my PJs watching the Democratic National Convention. Yes, I'm a proud LibTard commie, I know. But I get a call from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. No. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. No. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Now it was from his manager slash maybe girlfriend.

I'm not sure, but she's the one who had my number. And she says, Kareem's gonna go out in 20 minutes. Do you have anything? I go, me? I go, it's gonna be inappropriate. Hold on, I'm sorry. You're sitting home? In my PJs.

And he's there live about the walkout and they're hitting you up like, yo, we're about. And it just occurs to them, like maybe he should open with something funny instead of just... And by the way, I don't know if you're a sports guy. Oh, yeah. He doesn't go anywhere. Kareem doesn't sign autographs. He is famously moody. He is one of the greats. I absolutely am in love with this man. And I, just like you, I start just sending jokes one after another, boom, boom, boom. And I'm thinking, oh, he's, he'll never say this.

This is too controversial. He'll never say this. And he walks out on stage and he says- And you're seeing this live now. After you just said- Live in my pajamas by myself. This is fucking crazy. Nobody's even home.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar walks out and he says, hello, my name is Michael Jordan and I'm with her. Well, it's not like Trump will know the difference. So that was my joke. It got carried internationally. Kareem said people were running up to him saying, who wrote that joke? And he was like, Kathy Griffin.

So I get a call from ESPN to confirm it. And I said, okay, now you owe me dinner. So he took me out to dinner. He gave me a basketball sign. So there's the one other person I've written for in my entire life. That's great. I know.

That's a great story. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, delivering a Kathy Griffin joke at the freaking convention where I would never be welcome. Like I'm way too controversial for anybody's convention, but I can still write a joke for Kareem. So can I go back to losing half your lung here? Half my lung, I'm one and a half down.

So does that affect flying or anything like that for you? It doesn't. Now I'm a huge workout person. So I do a two hour walk every day. I do Pilates twice a week. And what's odd is if you look at an X-ray, you can't tell. So the lobe that I have left expanded. And so, but I'm always afraid and I wanted to ask you,

like once you've had this, like I'm, I always think now I'm gonna get cancer in a different body part. I can't get that thought out of my head. Do you fear like, oh no, I could get this sick and clot again. Yeah, but not any what like situations would you be scared? Any if I'll have if I'm on bed rest? If I'm late, you know,

like, here's the other thing, my daughter's about to be 10. It's a genetic disease I have. So I have what's called factor five light and then I'm prone to clotting. Did your parents have it? So we this is all found out over. So I have what's called factor five lighten and I'm prone to clotting. Did your parents have it? So we, this is all found out over the, so. Yeah, yeah. Of all the people that had it, my dad had it. Did not give it to either of my brothers. My mom doesn't have it.

So it's just dad and me and he died from this. Oh, sorry. Which is what made me at 42, which is what made me. 42. Yeah, he's a baby. So I'm like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You gotta take it seriously. And then it happens to me. See you arguing with the doctors. I'm sorry, you had to go through that. No, really, you

need to take this serious. So now I'm on blood thinners. And it's funny because this little ear right here was, I don't know what was on it. And I just scratched it. And for an hour and a half, it just leaked. You just gut. You just gut. I mean, and that's what I have to worry about getting into a car accident or anything like that because of this thing. But bed rest. So my daughter, if she does have it, they don't recommend birth control because that

is already prone to women clotting. And also if she's pregnancy, bed rest or accident or surgery, they need to know, cause if not, you're just a ticking time bomb laying there and you don't even know it. Oh my God. Yeah. So I don't, I do worry about it,

but I know if I'm able to speak for myself, I'll be able to tell them. And now you've learned the language to say, and you've got the history. Well, here's the thing, I knew it before. I'm just going to yell out or next time, but listen, I've thought it twice now. No life or death. Fucking help me here. Fucking help me out. I'm just gonna yell louder next time. Like, listen, I've plotted twice now. No, life or death.

Fucking help me here. Fucking help me out, it's a matter of life or death. I joke, but I say, don't go to the hospital. No. If you can help it, stay out of the hospital. I know it sounds- For real. No, I've had doctors say, if you can help it, stay out of the hospital.

Now, I will say, I don't know if you can see my scar, but I'm very excited. Just six weeks ago, I had Dr. Anka Barbu, an amazing surgeon, she put in an implant in my left vocal cord so I can now speak like I used to, which is just a miracle. How long ago? Six weeks ago. Up till six weeks, you were still high-pitched speaking. It never changed?

I was still doing my act, and I would say to the audience, I hope you guys get used to this, but you know, I couldn't do impressions anymore. I couldn't do certain sounds. You know, when you start a show, you want to go out there. Hello, Los Angeles! So to lose that ability, in my opinion, attributed to the PTSD a lot. Because it's like I'm asking the audience to come along and laugh at me

because I don't want them to feel sorry for me and think I'm sick. So I do two hours balls out. I now wear a headset mic and it makes it just as much better amplification anyway. But I have only done three shows since my implant surgery. And I'm telling you- And you're doing two hours?

Doing two hours. And how's it hold up and how's it feel to end? Perfectly. It feels just like before the surgery. And I just- I have an interesting question. Go ahead. You sounded different for how many years?

Three and a half years. Do you, in your head, do you sound like you think you used to sound? Yes. You do. Yes. So the old you, in your head, do you sound like you think you used to sound? Yes. You do. Yes. So the old Cassie voice in your head. There's still a couple sounds I can't make, and I do voice therapy, and I gotta give credit to the person who really helped me.

Are you ready? Do you know who the singer is, Sia? Yeah, of course. Titanium chandelier, she's got a big hit now called Immortal Queen. She just kept saying, there's something wrong about this mate. She's Australian. There's something wrong. And so she got me to her voice therapist and the surgeon,

Dr. Barbu. And if it wasn't for Sia, she just kept digging and digging and saying, no, there's gotta be a way. And the surgeon who, in my humble opinion, caused it, just kept saying, there's nothing you can do, there's nothing you can do. And CEO would not let up, and then it led to the surgery. I call it my boob job. So I have an implant, not on my chest, but I basically have a boob in my left vocal cord, and I'm so grateful.

And just, you know, when you've gone through something like that, every show is a gift. And that's another reason you and I both love Joan, like that, every show is a gift. And that's another reason you and I both love Joan, is Joan knew every show is a gift. And one time I was bitching to Rickles about how hard doubles are, you know, you almost, did I wait, did I say this in the first quarter of the show or did I say this in the last show?

And Rickles said, quit complaining because someday they won't want doubles anymore. And he was right. And another thing I got to say to your listeners, save your money. Don't spend, don't go crazy with the cars and the Rolexes because listen to Mrs. Kathy, a rainy day came and my rainy day was six and a half years of just bleeding money and not making a penny. But thank God, years and years of touring, you know what it's like, touring your butt off. I've been to cities I can't even pronounce. I've been to every town you can think of. I've played

every college, all this stuff. But be wise with your money because truly you never know. I lost my health insurance, of course, you know, all that stuff. So it's OK to just stockpile money. You don't have to show off. We get it. Just be smart with your money and keep as much as you can. Yeah. When the apocalypse comes, you want to be that guy. You want to be like this motherfucker over here eating an apple. I have no debt. I have no debt.

I pay cash for my house. I don't want any debt. I have no credit card debt. My parents, God love them. They love the drink. But they always instilled that in me like save your money. Be good with it. Show business. That's it. And the amount of money when Joan Rivers passed away. And when I heard she had $140 million, I said, you go. Is that what it was? 140.

Good for her. And live the high life. I mean, the apartment in New York was three floors. Yeah, that New York place was sick. Are you kidding me? On Fifth Avenue? So those are my role models. I don't care how inappropriate they are.

And look, we all said stuff back in the day we wouldn't say now. I'm not covering for the naughty. I said, I'm like afraid to watch my old specials. God only knows. I like how you're whispering. I am whispering because I, it's only, you know, God only knows the shit I said in the nineties.

Don't get me started on the two thousands. It was go time. It was go time. It was go time. It was like everything was on the table, everything. So 21 specials later, I'm somehow still here. I'm somehow back in Carnegie and nobody has loved Carnegie Hall more than me. I swear to God.

When they go to me again. I didn't know that about the Guinness. That's fucking awesome. 21 specials. I wrote every word. I produced them all. I own them. I bought back my entire awesome. 21 specials, I wrote every word, I produced them all, I own them, I bought back my entire library. Oh you did, hell yeah.

I own all six seasons of Kathy Griffin, My Life on the D-List, I own every one of my specials. And here's the kicker, for nothing, I can't give them away, I thought I was gonna sell them for millions of dollars to like some streamer, they're just sitting in my wine room at my house. They're literally in our, I took, cause I don't drink. So I took my wine room and my library is in there. So if there's a fire, the only thing I'm going to grab is the dogs in my library and fill up the car and go.

But I really, so here's my theory. I think when I croak, somebody's going to buy him. So I, it may take a near death experience. I may need to do a little clotting to make the sale. And I know that sounds cold, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do. Business. Show business. Show business.

Okay, so after lung surgery first, then we come to this next, right? Then we do the implant. What's the recovery for something like this? What was crazy about- Even if you could, were you working then? No, yes, I had just done 40 cities with this voice, and then I had a six week downtime,

so I was no talking at all for two weeks, which was a nightmare. Is that the longest since you've been speaking that you didn't speak? Yes, yes. And you walk around with a dry erase board around your neck and you're trying to text people stuff. I mean, it was, and I'm super dyslexic, so I'm saying horrible inappropriate things

to people by mistake, because I'm texting and I just hit send. Like I never think like, oh, Kathy, maybe you should see what you've sent. And so it's just so wrong that I said, I have to turn it into a show. I have to turn the whole thing into a show. So I did a show about the whole Trump thing

that I made into a documentary concert movie called Kathy Griffin, A Hell of a Story. Once again, I paid for it myself, million bucks. Troy Miller, a great director. Best reviews I've gotten in my entire career. Not one person would distribute it, but you can see it for free on Amazon, so enjoy it on me. What do you mean?

I mean, you can watch- Not one distributor? Not anybody, not Netflix, not Hulu, nobody. So Amazon just hook it? Well, you can put anything on Amazon because it's pay. So they just take the $4.99. And then after a while, it's so unpopular. They just put it on there for free, but enjoy it. And so now in my new show, I don't mention Trump at all.

It's not political. I do a lot of PTSD stuff. I still got a lot of the fun classic celebrity run in stories like the Kanye and the slow clap and the Rolls Royce golf car. I'm still giving the old razzle dazzle. I'm still giving celebrity shit. I still have celebrities who aren't speaking to me. I'm used to it. But but you know, I don't see him out there in the wild? Oh, absolutely.

And how's that go? It can go either way. I was in a 10 year beef with, you know that singer Debbie Lovato? Yes. Did you hear me? Yeah. Debbie?

Debbie, I heard what you said. Okay, guess what Debbie doesn't like? Is that her real name? No, her name is Demi. Yeah, I know it's Demi Lovato. But I'm dyslexic. And so I put Debbie- Well, I say, I'm vey them, I believe. I don real name? No, her name is Demi. Yeah, I know it's Demi Lovato. But I'm dyslexic. And so I put Debbie. I'm they them, I believe.

I don't know. No, she's back to being a chick. I'm troubled. I can't keep up with it. You know, I gotta be up on this. This is my living. I know you do, but I just can't keep up with it anymore. Well, that's why I was invented.

So she was they them and she's back to she. Okay. But you called her Debbie Lovato? Somebody, you know, I get in trouble with the late night tweeting. I admit it, I get in trouble. And somebody tweeted, who's the biggest asshole in Hollywood?

And I go, Debbie Lovato's kind of an asshole. And then she sent her fan army on me. Oh no. And honey, they are like Cowboys fans. I mean, they are hardcore. They also wanted to cut my cunt out. They wanted to shoot me in the garage. Those ladies?

Yes. Oh, shit. And you know, when you piss off Debbie's fans, you pay the price. And so finally I ran into her about a month ago and we were as close as you and I are. And I finally just looked at her and I go, Debbie. Duh.

Yeah, I swear to God. I go, Debbie, can we please make up? And finally she giggled and said, OK, and we hugged. That's nice. All right. And can I tell you, I'm such a sucker that actually like makes my day beyond. Like as much as I love to give these celebs shit, I don't want to. I don't want anybody actually crying. Yeah, I'm just giving them shit.

This girl is one of the richest, most successful, most talented singers out there. And so finally she's decided, okay, okay, I guess it's not a really big deal if D-list Kathy Griffin calls me Debbie. And so, you know, they don't always take it well. There's some that are still pissed. Not everyone's a comedian, you know. Not everyone enjoys a little teasing.

I get called Rick Sickler all the time. Oh, big bad one. Oh. But I'm saying I don't, I lean into it. Like when I went out with Tom Segura and I was featuring for him and they had us up on the, it was at Notre Dame, had on the marquee and it said featuring Rick Sickler.

And I just thought they were doing it to be dicks. And I was like, you guys did that shit, which I'm cool with, you know, I'm like, that's hilarious. But you're coming back. You're going to make them pay. You're going to make them pay. But then his manager is like, no, I'm like, no, they really fucked that up. He's like, they did. I'm calling them now. I go, don't.

We're here one night. Don't change a letter. Don't fucking change it. And I took pictures of it and put it out there. You need verification. You need the receipts. Yes. Yeah, because that is beyond fair game. Beyond. And I do love fair game, which I have a very wide breadth

of what I feel fair game is. All right, so back to your health here. We get through lung cancer. Get through lung cancer, but then we can't talk. But hold on, do you have to do radiation or chemo or any of that for the lung cancer? The surgeon just made it sound like, you know. We got it.

We got it, and you know, he was one of these guys. You know, I've had patients that are going to dance class three weeks after this. Honey, I had a tube in my back for a week in the hospital. Like there's no dance classes for me. That was a gnarly surgery. It took me a long time to like be able to go on my first walk and all that other stuff. So it's been a lot of- So you get physically better. Get physically better. How many months does

it take for you really to start being like, all right, I feel like myself? Well, because of the voice, three and a half years. Years, yeah. You know, it was just, look, I've always had a gravely weird voice, but to then be up here, the only talk show that would book me was Jimmy Kimmel because everybody was like, well, what do we do with this comedian who has to explain half of her seven minute segment why she talks like this?

And, you know, I'm so grateful to anybody that like gave me that chance. And like I said, I'm dying to do a special again. Somebody take a chance on me. I promise I know how to produce it. I know how to edit it. You can have input. We'll cut it down if you don't like it.

I'm easy to work with. We'll put it on. We'll make people laugh. And yet I'm still auditioning. I'm still happily on the D-list. Tell me about your mom passing. During COVID. It was?

During COVID. So no memorial, no nothing. Was it sudden or? No, what was really sad is my mom had a slow, horrible dementia. And this is gonna sound awful. So I know as my mom would say, I'm going to hell in a hand basket. By the way, what's a hand basket?

It's a little guy like this little red riding hood. I feel like little hand picnic basket. What the hell? What does that mean? I'm going to hell in a hand bat. Why? Is it like an airplane? Does it move? Is it fuel powered? In my mind, it's little red riding hood skipping some shit. I'm in it. Going right to hell. Right to hell. It's a cute way to go to hell though, I feel like. I might see you there. You're not so clean. You're not so clean. You might be there for a couple of days. And so after that, it was just the road back and trying to get back and to not be able to memorialize my mom and the way she deserved is something that still

lives with me. Were you able to, was she out of state? Yeah, she was out of state. And was she in a hospital? She was in. So you couldn't go see her or anything? I could see her, but the dementia was so bad. She didn't know who I was. And she really wasn't Maggie.

And let me tell you, dementia, it's invasion of the body snatchers. I feel like that disease took my mother's soul and just threw it in the fireplace because my mom was so naturally quick and smart and funny. And my dad was like us, he was like comedian funny where if you gave him an assignment to be funny, he would do it. Like my dad would do stuff like one of my uncles spent like a half a year redoing his rec room. Remember rec rooms? Where there'd be like a pool table, club basement, maybe a bar. And my dad, well, I'll never forget this. My dad walks me and he's holding my hand. I'm probably seven years old and we're going to see the new rec room. And my dad looks around and says to my uncle, what a shit box. And I thought that was

the funniest thing. I thought my dad was the coolest funniest. So my dad was like comedian funny, but my mom didn't know why she was funny. She would just say stuff that was, she thought was real, that was insane, you know, and it was hilarious. She lived for a box of wine. I want my Franzia Kathleen. The white zen, what was season? White zen, no, two buck chuck. I like my, and I am not paying a penny more

than a goddamn two dollars, which is highway robbery. And my, God love my parents. My dad lived to 90, my mom to 99. Damn. Drinking like fish. Yeah, you were saying that. And eating Swanson's TV dinners and Cheez Whiz on Ritz. They were like, someone should study their bodies.

This is what I'm saying about cancer. I am telling you. I believe it exists in us and just, it's probably in all of us and sooner or later, if you live old enough, it pops up and takes you out. It pops up. Keep an eye on it. Some people younger, older, but Swanson's in alcohol and they lived in their 90s. Yes. And then my parents became kind of gay icons because I got the Macondo in West Hollywood, which is a very gay area of Los Angeles, And they would go to happy hour in gay bars,

not knowing they were gay bars. But my mom would say, honey, there's this place called Rage. And let me tell you, the hors d'oeuvres are much better than any other part of town. And the hors d'oeuvres are free Kathleen. So I sit there with my glass of wine and I nurse it

because I'm not gonna be ordering at these prices, five and six, by the way, of course she had five and six glasses. But she did later on say, you know, we go to the gay bars because let's face it Kathleen, the gays do make better hors d'oeuvres. Is that true or not? Listen, I think the gays do everything better,

to be honest. Like, so that- When I go to Palm Springs, I'm like, could the gays be in charge of Los Angeles and clean the fucking thing up and make it look great? Clean it up and flip the houses and get the restaurants going and clean the streets up. Put them in charge.

100%. Yes. So that was one of my great joys was to put my parents on my reality show because they were so funny that Bravo mandated more scenes with my parents. Wow. That was one of their notes. Like you got to have more Maggie. Even then they were like in their seventies, more John and Maggie. And to this day, I show a little opening video before my show

and I put a little of my mom in there and people clap and it really touches my heart that they remember her drunken loveliness. Were they still together? Oh yeah, they were like tied at the hip. They were one of those old fashioned couples and you know, always both of them work full time. I was a latchkey kid.

So I would let myself in after school, watch the after school special, boy in the plastic bubble, maybe make a Jiffy cake. Remember Jiffy cakes? I do remember Jiffy cakes. Little boxes where you could make like an individual cake. And I would try to make one

before my mom came home from her job. And then I would put the empty boxes in the garbage cans down the alley and blame the neighbors. I just thought you were getting rid of them. And I'd say, oh my gosh, the shoe markers came over and brought a cake. And my mom was too drunk to not believe me. So she was tipping it.

She would say that when she would have her glass of wine, she'd go, I'm going to tip it, Kathleen. So I would sell t-shirts at my concerts and say, tip it. And yeah, so they went on the journey with me. Do you have siblings? Yes, I have one remaining. I was the youngest of five. Now I'm what's called an accident baby.

Okay. Do you know what that is? I guess you're a little ups, your parents got together a little ups. My parents were Catholic and they did something called the rhythm method, which is where my father was supposed to pull out because he was 45.

And my mother was 40. I know Glo and the mom and I knew Gloria's mom and she was also an accident. And like, Oh, every Christmas my parents would be like, what are we getting the accident baby? Like right to my, I just want you to know, they told the world I was an accident. Okay. And when your father found out I was praggers again, how were they that this time? Mom was 40, dad was 45. And so they would get drunk and brag about how while my mom was delivering me, she's like, God damn it. I thought I was done for Christ's sake.

Somebody get me a bottle of wine. I'm having a goddamn baby. Jesus. I'm having a baby. I'm having a goddamn baby. Get me some wine. And no nannies, none of that business, lower middle class accident. We all knew the accident babies in our school and we accidents kind of hung out together. And I think that's how my audience kind of is gays and outsiders and women who feel different or people who are, you know, like I said,

I have a lot of combat veterans because I went overseas and performed and they can't be shocked and gay audiences can't be shocked. And that's what you want as a comic. You want to be able to get out there and at least for the live shows, just say the most wrong, awful things possible to get that gasp laugh. It's not last. Not just a giggle, it's that, oh my God, I can't believe she said that. I feel guilty for laughing.

It's the last place we're supposed to be allowed to do this. I embrace the shame. If you want us to be politically correct in schools and churches and government buildings and all these things. That's fine. Okay. Fine. But where are we allowed to go cut loose and say wrong, foul, funny, off shit?

Where are we allowed to do that? Especially when you're telling your own story. So when I'm describing what it's like to be an accident baby, don't you dare come at me and say, I'm offended by that term. And excuse me, my parents told me I was an accident my entire life, that shit's funny. Don't be telling me I'm a living accident.

My friend used to be, they would call them an oops baby. And they just did the same thing and they were older and kept them. But you know, today you could never do that. Like today everybody's kids are gifted. All my friends think their kids are gifted. Ryan, what can I tell them? They're not. They're not gifted. They're not gifted. They just shit and eat and that's their gift. They're messy meat sacks. That's it. Not a gift, but they all think they're gifted. Tell me about your dad. How did he pass? My dad passed from myocardia. You say 93? Yeah, 90 and mom was 99. And I will say my dad's passing was luckily swift swifter. And I say that, like

I said, I know I'm going to hell for you saying that, but watching my mom's demise, I'll never get over it. So at least my dad went fairly- I sit and listen to people who were caretakers and they talk about it. They are saints. Those people are saints. And it's brutal because this person who loves you and is your mother gave you, and then all of a sudden, she's not gonna remember you. She's saying stuff that isn't her and she doesn't remember me.

And of course she remembers something from 70 freaking years ago, like it was yesterday. But yeah, it was gnarly. And my mom still kept on going after my dad, but she never got over him. She never wanted to see another guy. She never wanted to even joke about it. Never just a travel companion.

Exactly. No. Okay. So first of all, look, I really am glad you came on here. I was surprised you said yes. Pleasantly surprised. Of course. I really, I'm all about comedians.

And you're a comedian's comedian. I'm a comedian, so I wanted to have you because you're a fucking comic and you go back. And you write your own shit and you do your own shit and I go back. Don Rickles, you're a hand to the legends. I mean, I got to present at the Emmys one time with Rickles and in rehearsal to watch him give Betty White shit and to watch her fling it back at him while Mary Tyler Moore was clutching her pearls. Like moments like that.

I mean, man oh man. Man oh man, haven't. I still tell everybody the story with the Rickles and Sinatra, the dinner story. He made him tell on the Tonight Show. It's so fucking funny. It is so good. And he's got so many of them.

Just the shit on Frank Sinatra. Shit, I mean, that is balls. That is balls. Do you know the story how they met? No. Do you know that story? No, tell me. So I went down to Don Rickles' rabbit hole

just a few weeks ago. Because then you forget he's Mr. Potato Head, was RIP. He's done a lot of films. So much. Casino. And the shit he would give De Niro. Yes, I was reading about that. The clips of De Niro trying not to laugh when Rickles is giving him shit.

But he said they're moms. Frank Sinatra, Don Rickles' mom hit up Frank Sinatra's mom and said, you know, your son, I really think would love my son. He's doing this show in like Tampa or whatever. Oh, the mom went to every show. And then Rickles' mom went to every show. And then Rickles mom went to every show. And then Rickles is ups.

He said there was barely anybody in there. And he said, Frank Sinatra walked in with his henchmen. And he said, I was scared to fucking death. And he said, he just looked right at him and figured, fuck it. And he said, come on, come on in, Frank. Make yourself at home, punch someone. He said, he said he's scared to death inside.

He looked and he said, Frank Sinatra was laughing so fucking hard. He's like, thank God I'm not getting killed. And we know that moment. And that was it. We know that moment where you bust somebody's balls and maybe it's a new person. He's the only one that could bust Frank Sinatra's balls.

The only one and Sinatra loved it. Loved it, loved it. And I love anyone that loved them. Yes. You know? Yeah. Okay, last question for you. Yes. You know? Yeah. Okay, last question for you.

Yes. After everything we've discussed here, advice you would give to 16-year-old Kathy Griffin? Honestly, it really is valuable to not give a shit. And I don't mean that like to be mean or being inconsiderate, but when I think about the stuff I gave a shit about, it just didn't serve me. And so, this is a celebrity dropping story, so I know it's annoying, but I got to spend some time recently

with the great Shaka Khan. And I never thought I would even meet her, but she's doing an album with Sia and I was at Sia's house and Shaka was in the guest room and I know that's even crazy. And Sia was doing something and she said, will you go keep Shaka company? And I'm like, ah, yes. And we were just talking and I was bitching about my divorce and we were, she said, will you go keep Shaka company? And I'm like, ah, yes.

And we were just talking and I was bitching about my divorce. And she said, I haven't been with a guy in 25 years and I'm busy with my grandkids. And Shaka Khan, who is gorgeous beyond and 70 and sexy, like seriously. But she said, you know, I know you say you don't give a shit, but I can tell you kind of

give too much of a shit. And she said, the day you really stop giving a shit is when you're going to be truly free. So that's what I would say to 16 year old. When it comes to things, harmless jokes, teasing somebody, ribbing somebody that you love, giving somebody the business, as we used to say, don't give a shit, just go for it. Because every so often you're gonna get that Sinatra. You're gonna get that person that you didn't think would laugh and they burst out laughing. And then it's all worth it.

That's great. Thank you so much for doing this. My pleasure. One more time, promote the tour, all that, please. Kathy Griffin, My Life on the PTSD List Tour. Go to kathygriffin.com, go to my Instagram, go to my TikTok. I'm even still on Twitter. I'm on threads.

The tour schedule is there. Come see me and come with an open mind. Great. Go see her, go see her for sure. As always, Ryan Sickler on all your social media, ryansickler.com. Come see me on tour as well. If I'm in your town when you're around, tickets are up on my website at r RyanSickler.com. Come see me on tour as well. If I'm in your town when you're around,

tickets are up on my website at RyanSickler.com. We'll talk to you all next week. you