"Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List" (4.03) recaplet: Will the Gay-O-Meter Survive?
The third episode of the fourth season of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List premiered on Bravo last night, and because it promised so much gay content, we decided to haul out the rarely used Gay-O-Meter to scientifically assess the gayness. We start with Kathy and Team Griffin (Tom, Jessica, and Tiffany) discussing their upcoming flight to Australia. Not just any flight, BTW, but the all gay Pink Flight, where Kathy is scheduled to perform ... over the P.A. system. The fact that there will be drag queens on the flight doesn't sit well with Jessica, who has an irrational fear of them: "They're big and tall and clown-like, and I'm afraid they're going to touch me when I'm sleeping". As soon as I heard that, one word sprang to mind - Maury. This would make a perfect topic for one of his "phobia" shows (which are even more entertaining then the constant baby-daddy shows). Some poor woman would come on his show to talk about her all consuming fear of cheese, only to be tormented on stage by a Maury staffer wielding a tray of Kraft Slices, and if she made the mistake of running backstage ... a guy dressed up as a cheese wheel. Tom (who has quickly become my favorite Griffin team member), chimes in with this loveable schlub classic:
Tom: "Can I hope that someone touches me when I'm sleeping? Kathy: "Tom, how many times do I have to tell you, you're not hot enough for them! Tom: "....But I've been working out." Kathy: (exasperated) "Meeting adjourned"
Before the Pink Flight takes off, there's a party at the terminal, which involves the entire crew, including the pilots. All of them are wearing feather boas and go-go dancing (don't tell, but that's how Air Force One prepares, too). Once the flight starts, Team Griffin passes out the official My Life on the D-List Condom to all the passengers, and Kathy prepares for her first stand-up gig aboard an airplane (or as she calls it "Chaos at 30,000 feet").
Kathy takes tickets at the gate. No, seriously. Unfortunately, the logistics of using an airplane P.A. phone to perform stand-up leave a lot to be desired, so Kathy decides to entertain the passengers the old fashioned way - by sitting on laps, performing certain faux sex acts on cute sleeping passengers. The next morning she flings breakfast foods around the cabin with a surly attitude just like a real flight attendant. Before the Pink Flight ends, the passengers hold a "bare chest" contest, and Kathy proves again why she's a gay's best friend by whipping off her shirt and joining in. After fourteen hours, the Pink Flight finally ends, and I have to admit to being a bit disappointed that Kathy went all that way without making a single "cockpit" joke.
Find out what happened in Australia, and if the Gay-O-Meter explodes, after the break! In Australia, Kathy hatches a plan to get publicity by announcing an upcoming fake rehab stint for something called "Tall Poppy Syndrome", and while she's appearing on a morning talk show, is surprised with a taped message from Backstreet Boy Nick Carter (who's almost 30, and still acts like a 15 year old suburban white boy trying to sound black). After recording some hilarious promos for the Australian showing of D-List (in which Tom proves to have excellent unintended comic timing), Kathy meets up with out former boy bander Lance Bass, and everyone visits the Sydney Zoo (where Kathy makes some inappropriate comments about the animals, like "How much is the koala?" and "Is it gay?").
Anthony Callea, Tim Campbell, and someone we don't know Next up is a trip to the venue for Kathy's first Aussie stand-up gig, and she's nervous about not being able to connect with the gays in Oz, so she frantically searches for Australian gays from which to gain insight. She runs into out actor Tim Campbell and his boyfriend, the Australian Idol runner-up Anthony Callea (Thanks to Brian for informing me about Tim and Anthony ... you've out-gayed me, Barrowman!). They may be big shots in Australia, but Kathy questions their gay commitment when they admit to not having seen the new Paula Abdul music video.
Kathy performs her stand-up to a packed Aussie crowd, and makes some hilarious jokes about Nicole Kidman and her frozen face, which the Sydney gays absolutely love. Afterwards, she meets up with Carson Kressley, and the two of them meet the Oz Goddess herself, Olivia Newton John. Is it just me, or did the Gay-O-Meter just start humming loudly? Carson and Kathy sit down with Olivia (who still looks fab, BTW) and immediately get off on the wrong foot (with me, at least) by misquoting the lyrics to "Physical" (seriously, how the hell do you not know it's "Let me hear your body talk?"). Kathy makes highly inappropriate remarks about Richard Gere and a wallabee, and about Olivia's unitard and a yeast infection. The she mortifies me personally by saying the words "c**k features" to Olivia. Let me reiterate ... Kathy Griffin said "c**k features" to Olivia Newton John.
Kathy meets up with Margaret Cho, and the two of them meet up with Cyndi Lauper. Together, they... Wait a minute...did you just hear that grinding noise? As I was saying, Kathy Griffin meets up with Margaret Cho and Cyndi Lauper, and... There's that grinding noise again ... what could it be?
Um ... the three icons discuss giving back to the gay community, and Margaret announces that she's the "Chief Of Parades", and they take turns trying on gay parade garb. Do you smell smoke? The long awaited Gay Mardi Gras gets underway, and it puts American parades to shame. In the thick of it is Kathy, and even though a reporter calls her "Kathy Grissim", and then "Kathy Griffith", she doesn't let it faze her. She's still our Kathy, and she's the belle of the gay ball. That's it for this episode, which may have been the gayest thing seen on tv since the Paul Lynde Halloween Special. Paul Lynde Halloween Special? ... Uh-Oh. R.I.P. GAY-O-METER Submitted by on Fri, 2008-06-27 12:35. |
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OOPS
i thought it was "c-nt features."
Seriously... BRAVO is so awesome.
Forget here and certainly forget that channel this website is associated with. BRAVO is America's one and only true gay TV channel. :-)
Seriously, BRAVO single handedly made this the TRUE BGWE - Kathy's episode yesterday must be the gayest hour of television ever produced for mainstream American TV.
And tonight there are both the GLAAD Awards - and while I not necessarily approve of every step of that organization, kudos to BRAVO to consider this broadcast- worthy - followed by the long overdue television premiere of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.
Maybe the guys at BRAVO should consider adding a daytime drama to their lineup (either come up with their own or buy a certain British show that's awesome, hint hint), I'm sure it would rock. :-)
--
The Gays Of Daytime
Jason Bellini
Did anyone else notice TV journalist Jason Bellini on The Pink Flight? And yes, when I saw Tim Campbell I literally screamed, Lord knows why. I really need to get out more.
That said, while this was no doubt the gayest episode of the show ever ... I can't say it was the best. Was anyone else a little disappointed? Maybe it was the jet-lag or the toilets flushing the other way or whatever, but Kath seemed a bit off her game.
Except at the zoo, because telling animals to "lose the attitude" is always funny.
yes!
Yep
I wonder....
Jet lag?
If it wasn't completely made up for TV and her schedule WAS as hectic after a 14 hour flight, I can understand why she was a little on edge. :-)
--
The Gays Of Daytime
I thought that it was only me. My D-lister had an off week
Bellini actually did a frothy piece on the flight which I saw on the LOGO website shortly after the historical pink plane took off and it was much better than anything on the air.
But I'll be there for my D-lister again next week hoping that she'll rely less on tired jokes and that observational humor that I think was off.
Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.
http://springintoaction.typepad.com
Someone we don't know...
Okay, as an Australian - that's Nikki Webster...
How do I describe Nickki Webster to the yanks? Well. yeah, she's on the lower end of the celebrity radar - her career kick-started when she was in in her early teens the Olympic Opening Ceremony as "Girl who Flies", and ... frankly, ever since then, a lot of us have wished she still had a harness attached so we could hoist her out of our line of vision...
Since then, she had a couple of pop singles (most popularly "Strawberry Kisses", which, well, looks remarkably like Robin Sparkles' "Lets go to the Mall", but with an alien replacing the Robot), did a stage tour in "The Wizard of Oz", has embraced that awkward "I wanna be hot now" phase by posing for mens magazines like FHM etc, apeared on "Dancing With The Stars" and had a major catfight with one of the judges (the original star of "Boy from Oz" in its first Australian incarnation, Todd McKenny - who basically said "you've been dancing professionally for years, you really should be better at this").
So .. basically, yeah, she's sub-D-list material. And therefore fully qualifies as "someone we don't know".
Tired
The show itself is getting a little tired, wouldn't be surprised if this was the last season (Kathy kind of hinted at that in a recent interview with EW). Certainly not her best (especially her "gays having sex in the bathroom" shtick ... no Kathy, gay men do NOT want to be Diana Ross when they are ****ing).
And her assistants have got to be the three most personality-less people on television these days. I miss the days of "her main gays", Dennis and Tony, but I heard they all had a falling out with each other a while back, thus why they are no longer on the show.
- Kirby, moviedearest.blogspot.com
"I concur"
Some hilarious moments, but also some tired ones. I mean Team Griffin's adventures are starting to feel really staged; not that I expect them to just bump into crazy situations but... well I hope the next episodes will make me change my mind.
I'm sorry I said this, perhaps Kathy in her gay wisdom will forgive me.
And yes, we're missing Kathy's gays!
Bravo
rocks and so does Kathy. I can't imagine her show not being on and, quite frankly, it's better than most of the shows that are supposed to be about gay people. She's hilarious and Bravo would be insane to not renew the show given her Emmy and the ratings, especially since PR is moving to Lifetime...so weird...still trying to digest that. Thank God Lifetime is so gay friendly!
As a side note, it was nice to see Lance Bass come out of his shell a bit and I give him the benefit of the doubt b/c if Kat hangs out w/ him and really enjoys his company...the kid's gotta be alright.
And I'd like to remind people that Kathy had a 15 hour flight so 1) she's jet lagged and 2) of course she's none too pleased that she got woken up--I wouldn't be either! Anyone who has been on a plane for only 3 hours can tell you that jet lag sucks and that the plane literally sucks your soul from your body. So for her to be even remotely funny after 15 hours is heroic in my book. I'd literally be slitting people's throats with just a glance.
And I don't know what people are talking about that she wasn't funny. The promo by Team Grif? Her appearance on that one-woman view show? Her trip to the zoo? Her backstage anxiety? Her yanking the pink card from the gays who knew nothing about Paula Abdul? Her stand-up? Her meeting with ONJ? Her "walking float" at gay Mardi Gras? None of that was funny to you guys? Wow. That really mystifies me.