Sunday, April 30, 2006


THE D-LIST

Last night we saw Kathy Griffin - live and in person. We've been fans of her cable specials and her 'reality' show, My Life on the D-List. We are not big reality show people. I've never seen an episode of Survivor, the Apprentice, Big Brother etc. Sure, I've seen some Real World - but who can't watch Puck like the on-coming train wreck barreling down the tracks?

The original plan was to go to Columbus and see her - but she was performing there on a Thursday and the issue of taking off work and traveling just seemed complicated. Not undoable. Well....yes....undoable b/c unbenounced to us, the show was already sold out. As my friend Diane would say, "the point was mute".

After perusing Griffin's site, I noticed she was coming to Cleveland two days after Columbus. Again, I fucked around deciding whether to go, blah blah blah - but we finally got tickets - two rows from the top in the balcony. Tom Green & Jack decided to go w/us. Really not a bad seat in the house. You could see and hear and it pretty much satisfied Jack's fear of not being called-out by a stand-up comedian. I never saw that as a worry as Griffin pretty much preys on the celebs. We don't quite fall into that category.

She was great. If you see her progression of stand-up specials she has really developed into a pro. Her first HBO special was almost painful to watch. She had no structure on how to end a bit. The material was still funny - but she's evolved quite a bit in how she performs and carries herself. Her Bravo specials are even funnier - even w/the bleeps. Clearly those shows cut a lot of her routine. Not just the 'bad words', but the length. Her TV specials are an hour w/commercials and she did a solid two hours w/us. ...btw...she has a new Bravo special on May 9th: Strong Black Woman

You automatically think no one is safe w/her - Oprah, Cruise, Celine, Secrest (sp?) all get skewered. But something you don't see on these shows is the political folks taking it. It would probably alienate the networks, but she went after Cheney and both George and Laura Bush. (I had no idea Laura killed someone when she was 18 after running a stop sign.)

The show was quite fun and she has no illusions on how her profession views her. But in a very limited role you should really check her out in the Madonna parody: Medusa: Dare to be Truthful.

Downtown was all a-bussle (is that a word?) which is rare for Cleveland. An evening Indians game (usually weekend are day games), shooting Spidermen 3 (ok, 2nd production team - no Tobey, no Kristin, no Doc Oc - just stunt doubles and a really crappy job of trying making Euclid Ave look like NYC. go figure), Kathy Griffin.....oh and Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend (or lots of guys in faux uniforms and chaps - and the site is probably NSFW). The Cavs had the night off in the playoffs.

Afterwards was just some drinks w/the boys. Michael Carmichael (yes, it's his name) joined us after the Indians' loss. But Blobby can no long drink like he used to. Four drinks and I was ready for bed. Not that I could get a full night of sleep. Why should alcohol assist in me getting more than 5hrs of sleep?

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