Kathy Griffin: This Joke Made Me The Most Hated Woman in America
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How did Kathy Griffin's early life in 1960s Chicago shape her comedy and worldview?
I was the most hated woman in America. Then I was on the no-fly list. Then on the Interpol list, they wanted to charge me with the crime of conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States.
So, Kathy, what happened after that moment?
So... I was getting kicked out of school in first grade because I was the class clown.
So at a young age, you know, I'm going to be a comedian.
Yeah. They used to say that right to my face. So it's not personal, Kathy, that you had a good audition, but they're going to go pretty. And I'd be like, oh, OK. There was no Ozempic then. No. You had to starve yourself. I thought, if I stick with it and get better, it will be my turn someday. And then it eventually was my turn. Your uncle's back.
I did definitely want to talk about relationships. So Quentin Tarantino, Conan O'Brien, and then Steve Wozniak.
I'm going to be honest.
You could see how there's many traumatic events.
Lip picture, cancer, divorce, addiction, not working. I have learned that the cliche there's no such thing as bad publicity is actually not true.
Your career, your friendships.
Everybody abandoned me. So I then became addicted to prescription pills. I took like 100 pills because I was like, who am I if I'm not being Kathy Griffin and making you guys laugh?
Would you go back in that moment and change anything?
The only thing I regret is
there. Before we begin, I just want to say, if you enjoy this conversation, be sure to like it, be sure to comment about what you appreciated, and be sure to subscribe. It helps us to bring more guests that you want to see.
Thank you.
Kathy Griffin, we need to talk. We need to talk.
Right now, I mean today, at this moment.
Exactly.
In these outfits right here.
Right here, right here. First can I say, the outfit is 10 out of 10.
The jeans are the most expensive jeans I've ever had, and they're by Victoria Beckham, and they're $524. Oh my goodness. And I bought them in four different kinds of like levels of stonewash, and it comes with a note signed from Victoria Beckham, so I kind of feel like we're friends.
And you have four pairs of these. Four pairs. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Can we go to 1960s Chicago?
Sure.
Okay. So this is where you're born.
Yep.
All right.
In 1960 in Oak Park Hospital, Oak Park, Illinois.
All right. Can you, because a lot of people will not understand what Chicago was like in the 1960s.
Oh, OK. So Chicago in the 1960s. Remember, I was zero to 10. So I'll tell you what I remember. I remember probably first memory is when JFK was assassinated and the world just stopped. And I think my mom was ironing. So I have either I've made that up or I really remember it. The racial stuff was really intense because we had our convention there and. White people would call them riots and black people would call them a protest. I now think they were a protest. And we had something called the Chicago 7. So it was a very politically charged city. And luckily, my parents were very intellectual, especially my dad. My dad was like book smart. My mom was like real life smart. And you had to come to the dinner table knowing your shit.
Really?
Because we would go over what was in the papers, not one newspaper, but multiple papers for the city of Chicago. And there was always an alderman on the take or some scandal going. We were always pissed off at our mayor, whoever the mayor was.
Richard Daley.
Honey, talk about a machine. They literally called, he was so corrupt, they called it the Daily Machine. Yes. And so I remember being raised Irish Catholic. I'm now a fallen Catholic, but being raised Irish Catholic, we were sort of in the machine.
Yes. And so... Can we spend a second on... The racism. Yeah. So I've read lots of Martin Luther King Jr. 's work, and I will never forget he was talking about the west side of Chicago roughly in 1966, that it was the most hostile racism ever. that he had ever seen. And this is Martin Luther King Jr. saying this. So I can't imagine what the hostility was like. You're only, what, six, seven, eight at the time.
Yeah. But I had an uncle that was a real racist cop.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
How did Kathy Griffin's early life in 1960s Chicago shape her comedy and worldview?
0:00–6:58
2
How did Kathy convince her parents to move to Los Angeles and what did she learn from red carpets?
6:58–54:06
3
How do gender biases affect ticket sales and female comedians' careers?
54:06–55:59
4
What led to Kathy Griffin’s controversial 2017 photo and immediate fallout?
55:59–59:47
5
How did the cancellation impact Kathy’s safety, finances and mental health?
59:47–1:03:16
6
How did Kathy rebuild—addiction recovery, new friendships, touring and self‑esteem?
1:03:16–1:49:11
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