IMHO "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" (5.2): I Heart Lily Tomlin

Kathy Griffin continues her "A-List training" with a trip to Canada to see the legendary out icon Lily Tomlin, but first there's more shilling for a Grammy award, which results in disses from Wynonna Judd ... and Charo.

Journey below to find out why this episode earns an up arrow (and I swear it has nothing to do with Kathy's constant mentions of 80's Gods Air Supply.)

The big news is that Kathy finally finds out that she's been nominated for a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. Unfortunately, she's up against the late George Carlin, whose last album was released posthumously, thus pretty much guaranteeing him the award.

That doesn't stop Team Griffin from doing everything they can to garner votes, including begging over the phone. Kathy provides scripts for Tom, Tiffany and her mother to follow as they call Grammy voters to "ask" them to consider her for the award.

I'm not sure how much of this bit was real and how much was planned beforehand, but some of the calls were pretty funny, especially the one to Wynonna Judd (whom Kathy's mom is hesitant to call, because "she might be eating"). Wynonna isn't very receptive to the idea of voting for Kathy, and says, "sorry, there's only room at the Grammys for one big-haired redhead," and then hangs up.

There are other amusing calls, to Chak-Chak-Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan and Charo, who is thrilled that Kathy is nominated (but then, when is Charo ever not thrilled about something), until she finds out that Carlin is also nominated, and says, "sorry Kathy, I guess it's back to prostitution."

Below you can see a deleted scene from the episode that has Kathy attending a radio junket to plug her CD and shill for more votes. It's an interesting behind-the-scenes look at why some segments are are used, and some are cut.

Kathy heads to a stand-up gig in Canada (where Lily is also performing), and the two discuss the Grammy nomination and the sad fact that only two women (Lily and Whoopi Goldberg) have ever won the Comedy Album Award.

Like I said last week, I love the "A-List in training" theme that seems to be going on. Kathy and Lily have a lot of fun together, including calling both Jane Fonda and Liza Minnelli, and it was nice seeing the somewhat guarded Lily open up and spill the beans (especially about that now infamous, and hilarious, viral video from I Heart Huckabees). This is good stuff.

Kathy performs her stand-up gig (and makes gentle fun of future club headliners Air Supply) and afterwards has a meet-and-greet with fans (including a couple of exuberant "Canadian gays").

I liked this episode more than last week's premiere, maybe because Lily seemed slightly less embarrassed at Kathy's antics than Bette Midler, and the "Kathy Telethon" for Grammy votes was fun (even if I do question its veracity).

What did you think of this week's outing?