Ellen DeGeneres asks Kathy Griffin about her biting sense of humor

Yesterday, Kathy Griffin made an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' show and the two different styles to comedy was one of the topics. Ellen pointed out, "I didn't watch (My Life on the D-List) initially because I thought it would be mean-spirited ... but I watched it and I really loved it."

Ellen's good-natured style of humor made for an interesting conflict with the sharp, pointed jabs Kathy is known for taking against celebrities, a difference the host brought up in the interview.

Ellen: Here's the thing — and I agree with a lot of what you're saying about Britney (Spears) — what happens if, tomorrow, you happen to run into her? Do you feel bad? Do you feel like you could then go up — because I know all these people. So, for me — and I was also on the other end of it — I used to get... After I came out, I was the butt of everybody's joke. So I know what it feels like to be talked about all the time.

Kathy: Not mine. Not mine. And that's really — people say "Do you have lines? Do you have lines?" Yeah, I don't make fun of people who have a sense of humor about themselves, I don't make fun of people — honestly, what I do is I make fun of people who created a situation. I don't say about Star Jones, 'Uhm, she's fat. Goodnight everybody!' I say 'I worked with her and my experience was she was a [censored].' That's my experience with her, we all know it. Don't act like I'm the first one to say that ... but, also, if you were puking all over in nightclubs or get out of the car without the panties that's a different story because that's something you're controlling ... and it's fun. Honestly, I make fun of people's behavior more than I make fun of how they look. And I've been that person too, I've had the nasty pictures and had the 'worst dressed' and all that too.

Ellen followed up on the question by challenging Kathy to find say nice things to say about Spears, Jones, Paula Abdul, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Dick Cheney. Ellen let Kathy off the hook for saying something nice about Cheney, however, saying "Don't even try."

Here a clip from the interview: