IMHO "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" (5.7): Kathy at the Apollo

This week's episode of My Life on the D-List is certainly not the funniest of the season, but is definitely the most ambitious (concerning race and stand-up), and contains what may be the most cringe-inducing moment in the show's history.

Look below for the details about why Kathy will never be invited back to play at The Apollo Theater. Ever.

Kathy has been booked at The Apollo Theater in Harlem, and enlists the aid of several black friends to try and answer the question: Is comedy color-blind?

First up is Rachel True, Kathy's BBFF (Best Black Friend Forever), who gives some helpful tips about what not to do. You can see more of that conversation in the deleted scene below, in which producer John Hill cryptically mentions "there were things in this episode that we're not allowed to show, because of things that went down". Hmm ...

Next up is stand-up comic extraordinaire Katt Williams, who tells her point blank "no, comedy is not color-blind". There are definitely things that only work with particular audiences, and as Kathy heads off to NYC (after an amusing but pointless to this episode introduction to rapper T.I.), she's praying there will be black gay people in the Apollo audience.

Before she hits the stage, she meets up with Rev. Al Sharpton, who invites her on his radio show, and gives her such helpful advice as "don't say the 'n' word". Really?

The countdown to "the incident" begins when Kathy gets to The Apollo and hears the sound of ... happy children. It turns out that not only is she performing, but she'll be preceded on stage by a gaggle of fifty kids singing and dancing. This is not good. Kathy's act relies on being potty-mouthed, and happy children have a way of curbing that. Damn them!

She convinces herself that the kids will be gone by the time she goes on stage, and after Rev. Sharpton introduces her to the notoriously hard-to-please Apollo audience, she begins her act.

It starts off great, and she seems to have the crowd in the palm of her hand, but then ... she decides to throw caution to the wind, and brings out the "Octomom" jokes, and has some very adult things to say about all of the plastic surgery the "Octomom" has done to her face (including using a euphemism for a certain part of the female anatomy).

In the span of that one sentence, she completely loses the audience, and after some hasty changing of the subject, the band behind her starts playing, signaling that it's over for her. She says "thank-you" and makes a quick exit, and is accosted in the wings by a man who blasts her for "disrespecting the Apollo", and "permanently warping kids minds and sending them into a lifetime of therapy for saying the "p" word". Okay, I'm paraphrasing the last quote, but that was the jist.

She rushes to the exit and is anxious to make a quick getaway, after first apologizing to Rev. Sharpton, who seems to take it all in stride. In the limo she immediately calls Katt Williams, and after telling him what happens he responds with the funniest line of the night: "That is the greatest sh*t ever".

That breaks the enormous tension that had built up, and Kathy is able to laugh it off. But she learned a valuable lesson this week ... don't tell "p" jokes during Apollo Kid's Night.

Like I said, this was the most ambitious episode of the season, and that one infamous, cringe-worthy moment aside, It continues the season's resurgence. What did you think?

Next week's episode looks to be the highlight of the season, as Kathy becomes an advocate for marriage-equality. Can't wait!